:
Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to appear before this committee to talk about the 2007-2008 Supplementary Estimates.
[English]
Of course, Mr. Chairman, it's always a pleasure to be amongst friends here at Christmastime, a real pleasure.
Let me briefly outline my department's proposed investments and ask your support in helping Canadians create a productive and prosperous economy.
Human Resources and Social Development Canada touches the lives of all Canadians. Our programs and services directly benefit Canadians through employment insurance, the Canada Pension Plan, old age security, the universal child care benefit, loans disbursed under the Canada Student Financial Assistance Act and other student assistance programs.
We assist Canadians through Service Canada's 597 points of service and by working with our federal, provincial, and voluntary sector partners.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, CMHC, is helping Canadians access quality and affordable housing by supporting low-income Canadian households, including seniors, persons with disabilities, aboriginal Canadians and women and children experiencing family violence.
Earlier I mentioned that my portfolio provides services directly to Canadians. I want to take this opportunity to update you on our progress in providing eligible citizens funding under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. To date, we have received 79,600 common-experience payment applications and have issued 25,900 payments, totalling $512.7 million. This is in addition to advance payments of $82.6 million, which have already been paid to individuals 65 and older, for a total of $595.3 million.
The funding sought by HRSD in these supplementary estimates is in support of a vision to build a stronger and more competitive Canada, to support Canadians in making choices that help them live productive and rewarding lives, and to improve Canadians' quality of life.
I would like to take this opportunity to highlight some of the ways in which these supplementary estimates enable the government to deliver on its budget commitments: making improvements to the temporary foreign worker program, $15.9 million; expanding the New Horizons for Seniors program, $8.2 million; improving labour market outcomes of aboriginal people, $4.9 million; providing domestic in-person service and a dedicated phone line for the foreign credential recognition office, $4.2 million; creating a new human resource sector council for the forestry industry, $0.3 million; enabling the transition from the national homelessness initiative to the new homelessness partnering strategy, $25.1 million; supporting the delivery of the Transport Canada ecoAUTO rebate program, $6.3 million; delivering renovation program assistance for low-income households over the next two years, $181.9 million; creating affordable housing under the bilateral affordable housing agreements, $40.8 million.
Today I would like to focus on what my department is doing to address the changing nature of the labour force and to support Canada's families.
[Translation]
Let me start with the labour market.
[English]
Canadians can take pride in our performance as a society and an economy. Our unemployment rate, at 5.8%, is the lowest in 33 years. Half a million jobs have been created in the past two years alone, and almost 80% of working-age Canadians are in the labour force today, a record level.
But when we look at the long term, it becomes clear that the demographics are working against us. For the last 50 years, our labour force has been the single greatest factor contributing to economic expansion. Over the past half century, it grew by nearly 200%. But in the next 50 years, that labour force is projected to increase by only 11%, and that includes immigration.
Our challenge is too few skilled workers to meet demand. In the past, we didn't seem to have enough work to go around for the number of workers. Now many jobs are going unfilled. Even in areas of high unemployment, we don't have enough skilled workers to fill job openings.
[Translation]
This is a challenge, Mr. Chairman, but it is also a wonderful opportunity.
[English]
We can raise our standard of living by ensuring all Canadians can access our labour market. Far too many Canadians are unemployed or underemployed. The best way to help them create opportunities in the emerging economy is by helping them acquire knowledge and skills.
This brings me to Advantage Canada, our long-term economic strategy. It sets an achievable goal:
[Translation]
to create the best educated, most skilled and most flexible workforce in the world.
[English]
Mr. Chair, our government wants to ensure that students can access post-secondary education. That's why the Government of Canada is investing 40% more per year in our post-secondary education system through the Canada social transfer.
In budget 2007, we also formally launched a review of the Canada student loans program, in consultation with provinces, territories, and stakeholders. In that regard, my officials have worked with national advisory groups representing a wide range of interests, held regular consultations with provinces and territories, and have sought the views of Canadians. We plan to announce the outcomes of this review in budget 2008.
I would now like to say a few words about the Canada summer jobs initiative. I am pleased to report that this initiative created about 42,000 summer jobs and offered funding to over 18,000 applicants. As you all know, I asked the department to accelerate a second round of funding decisions when it became apparent that some organizations delivering vital community services could be denied funding.
When the books are closed, we expect to have spent between $103 million and $105 million under this initiative. In the supplementary estimates, we are requesting $44.3 million for Canada summer jobs.
I am proud of the Government of Canada's role in helping students find career-related work while helping them save for school. I seek the support of the committee in continuing to make that happen. I look forward to announcing the government's new approach to the Canada summer jobs initiative for 2008 in the very near future.
Mr. Chair, through our labour market initiative announced in budget 2007, we will make significant investments through negotiated agreements with provinces and territories to provide training and labour market programming to people not covered by employment insurance. This includes members of underrepresented groups such as persons with disabilities as well as those with low education and literacy levels.
That same philosophy of collaboration also exists under the aboriginal skills and employment partnership program. We have more than doubled the program to provide training and jobs for aboriginal workers in major economic development sectors across Canada, such as forestry, mining, and construction.
I would like to draw committee members' attention to the forestry sector, which has been faced with some serious challenges in recent years.
[Translation]
Our government recognizes that many single-industry towns across Canada have been hit by lay-offs.
[English]
Our targeted initiative for older workers program means we can give older workers in these communities the training they need so they can find new jobs and support their families and our economic growth.
In September this year we also created a new sector council for the forestry industry. This investment highlights our commitment to work closely with the forestry industry to address skills shortages and to help the industry recruit and retain skilled workers.
[Translation]
Mr. Chairman, our government recognizes that not all regions experience the same growth and that individuals employed in seasonal work face special challenges.
[English]
To help these seasonal workers, we will continue the extended EI benefits pilot project to June 6, 2009. This demonstrates that our government has taken action to support workers and will continue to do so while traditional and seasonal industries adjust to global conditions. Our priority is to help Canadians participate in the labour market.
I have also announced an extension in the labour market agreement for persons with disabilities, with the provinces and territories, until March 2009. This investment will help Canadians with disabilities develop skills so they can find and keep good, long-term jobs, by breaking down barriers that some persons with disabilities face when trying to get a meaningful job.
Let me now turn to our other priority, providing support to families and their diverse needs. Through our significant investments in benefits for families, particularly those with children and those in low- and middle-income families, we are trying to help Canadians reach their potential. We believe in strong Canadian families that are able to contribute to their well-being, to the labour market, to their communities, and to their country. We are making significant investments in low- and middle-income families through the Canada child tax benefit, and the national child benefit supplement for low-Income families. We are also helping families with the costs of raising their children, through the universal child care benefit and the new child tax credit announced in budget 2007. And we are helping Canadians get over the welfare wall through the working income tax benefit, which strengthens incentives for low-income individuals who are either already in the workforce or who want to work.
The Government of Canada recognizes and values the contributions that seniors have made to their communities. With the passage of , there will now be automatic renewals of the guaranteed income supplement for recipients who file tax returns. We've also been conducting an outreach program to ensure that seniors are getting the information they need about their benefits.
Finally, we are expanding the New Horizons for Seniors program. This program helps seniors benefit from and contribute to the quality of life in their communities through active living. One aspect of that program focuses on education about elder abuse.
With these supplementary estimates, HRSDC is requesting Parliament's approval for additional funding totalling $146.6 million, which is offset by funding available within the department of $82.6 million. The total net voted requirements for the 2007-08 supplementary estimates is $64 million.
For CMHC, we are requesting a total of $222,871,000 to cover planned expenses for the 2007-08 period.
[Translation]
I would be pleased to answer the committee's questions.
[English]
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
:
Thanks for that question.
First of all, I have to point out that we did announce the renewal of the extended EI pilot for people in regions of chronically high unemployment and not many year-round full-time jobs.
Secondly, a number of different things are in place to help people in these positions. Of course people have employment insurance initially, and on top of that they have employment insurance part II benefits. A total of $2 billion a year goes to the provinces to help retrain the people who are eligible for EI.
Then, of course, there's the targeted initiative for older workers, which we brought in. That is helping a lot of people. We've announced 40 projects around the country, 20 of them in Quebec.
As I said before, the good news is that people are stepping from those programs right into jobs. That includes older workers, and in fact at a much higher rate. Last month older workers made up the majority of the successful job seekers in this country. That is pretty remarkable. It's tremendous news. Obviously older workers have a lot that they can still contribute.
We've also announced that under the new labour market agreements, $500 million a year will go to help people find jobs when they're not eligible for employment insurance. This would include, for instance, a recent immigrant looking for their first job experience, someone with a disability, someone with low literacy skills, or someone on social assistance.
We've also doubled the size of the aboriginal skills employment program. That is a tremendous program that's helping a lot of people.
So although I'm very sympathetic to people in all parts of the country who are struggling with these closures, this is not the same country it was fifteen years ago, for instance. There are lots of opportunities out there, and we have to make sure we give people every possible chance to be successful.
:
Thank you very much, Mr. Minister and officials, for being here today.
I have a brick and a bouquet.
I'll start with the bouquet, and that's the extension of the EI provisions for seasonal workers today. That was a good announcement. I think you'll find the components of that program are essential to persons who are working in seasonal industries, and I hope that eventually that will roll into a permanent aspect of the EI system. So I want to congratulate you on that.
I have another little bouquet. It is for returning my calls this September, when we were in the midst of a bit of a crisis down in Cape Breton. Whether that was based on years of friendship or because of your great sense of duty to doing the Queen's business, whatever the motivation was, I appreciated the call.
The brick is that the issue that I phoned on remains unsolved. That's to do with the allocation of training dollars, really, across Nova Scotia. I'll tell you, if you believe nothing else that I say here today, Minister, between the summer jobs situation and the training dollars in September, this would have been the worst year that a lot of your front-line employees would have had in their public service careers. It has been a tough six months on those employees, because of the change. I know change is always difficult--but because of the change.
Where we sit now is that we have a fund that's supposed to be there for training, and your officials will not tell you that the fund is broken. They'll say there's money in the fund, but we know that the money in the fund can only go to four focus groups: persons with disabilities, first nations, visible minorities, and displaced workers. Those are the groups that can receive funding.
There's no more money for training. For anybody who has registration in January, January intakes, continual intakes, there's no money there. JPCs--no money available for JPCs. We had a great program in Glace Bay, citizens' services, where we trained a number of carpenters and tradespeople over the years, and then they would go into full-time employment. So those dollars are gone.
My question is, are there additional dollars within the system, or additional dollars from the centre, are there moneys that can be reprofiled, so that we don't lose five or six months of training opportunities, or JPCs, community investments, going forward to the fiscal end?
:
A lot of issues are wrapped up in that excellent question. With respect to private member's bills, I appreciate the help my colleagues from the opposition are giving us in trying to suggest new uses for the employment insurance fund, but I would make a couple of points.
First of all, private member's bills have rules to follow, and very often they're completely outside the rules. Secondly, if we implemented a fraction of them, the employment insurance fund would be running a huge deficit.
We're trying to make sure we reduce premiums whenever possible. We've done that. We announced there will be a premium reduction on January 1, the second year we've done that.
Secondly, we do enhance benefits when we believe it's a way of helping encourage workplace attachment. And if you look at the compassionate benefits we extended, we made it possible for other family members to be included in that group, and that allows people to stay attached to the workforce. So that's a good thing.
But this raises the larger issue. For a long time, my department was all about providing people with income support. That's obviously extraordinarily important, and we will continue to do that and enhance it where it's necessary. But the challenges of the future are much different. They are about filling these yawning labour market needs.
Training is obviously key to doing that. We've invested heavily in that. The new labour market development agreements are not a panacea, but they provide the provinces, working with employers, a lot of flexibility so they can take potential employees, no matter what their background, and try to develop training that fits their needs. In some cases it might be literacy, in other cases it'll just be making sure they're accustomed to the Canadian workplace. Other people have other challenges.
This is a pretty exciting new development. One of the best programs--I already touched on it--is the aboriginal skills and employment partnership. We've more than doubled its size. It's extraordinarily popular with employers. I can tell you it's a sea change in attitudes. A few years ago, I don't think anyone would debate that large employers were not very interested in hiring aboriginals. Today they can hardly wait to get into this program and work with aboriginals to get them into the workforce. That's tremendous news for aboriginal workers, who want the same thing as everybody else has: the chance to be successful. It's tremendous news for large employers who need good workers. And you see it, whether it's at Voisey's Bay or at Manitoba Hydro or VanASEP or Syncrude or Suncor, they're all engaged in this, and it's a win-win.
It's very exciting, and I'm excited about the future of the country, in terms of that, and for the department as well.
One of the things we haven't really talked about today, and I'm kind of surprised about it, is child care. In the last election it was a pretty important issue. I think in the next election it will be very clear that there are two very different ideologies when it comes to families and child care in this country. There's the Liberal-NDP-Bloc view that the only option worth federal consideration is a universal, institutional, top-down, unionized, nine-to-five option. Of course, it has been mentioned that there would be a choice for families who want to opt out, but that option wouldn't be worthy of any federal support, for sure. Then there's the Conservative view that we favour equality of choice for families to make the best decision for their own circumstances.
I noticed some interesting quotes. Back in September, the Times and Transcript in Moncton wrote: “The former federal Liberal government was attempting to initiate a massive, universal daycare program that would have cost Canadian taxpayers billions, all on the basis of oft-heard claims by lobby groups that it was essential and would solve the problem of massive shortages, but that were based on dubious research and questionable facts.”
Even, actually, the former Liberal Deputy Prime Minister, Sheila Copps, said the last agreement--that would be the Liberal agreement “saw some provinces rake in millions without creating a single new daycare space. The Liberal plan is a cash cow for governments while families are cash poor.”
Then actually, the current finance critic for the Liberal Party back in 2000 made, I thought, a very good statement here. He said: “I am strongly opposed to any new national day care program with the cost running into the tens of billions of dollars. Given economic realities and competing demands on government resources, these are programs we cannot afford.” That was back in 2000, and of course, I would note that this is completely inconsistent with Liberal support of .
I have three questions.
Generally, I'd like to know if you can tell me what action the Conservative government has taken to give Canadian parents real choice in child care?
Secondly, and a little bit more specifically, how much money has been transferred to the provinces to support creation of child care spaces? How many have been announced thus far?
The third question I had was regarding Bill C-303. Can you maybe explain to the committee why our government will not support this bill?
:
Obviously we ran on a very particular platform, as you've pointed out. The changes we've made, I think, are very popular. The universal child care benefit now goes to 1.5 million families on behalf of two million children, and it gives people options. It's a big country where people have very different situations and, frankly, different values. The idea, I think, of some flexibility is pretty welcomed by most people.
There is 250 million new dollars toward the provinces in support of early childhood development and space creation, bringing the total transfers that we make to the provinces every year to $1.1 billion.
I've talked to provincial ministers about this. They liked the idea of flexibility. We're working cooperatively with them, and so far, since we announced this in the spring, they've announced that they intend to create over 32,000 new spaces. So that's obviously very good news.
We've also put in place a business tax credit, which was part of the budget implementation act that just passed, so this will give businesses the opportunity to create spaces, working with the province to licence those, so that if people want to have child care at their business, that will be possible for them. A number of businesses have expressed some interest in this, so we're optimistic that it will work well.
With respect to , what can I say except that not a single province signed on to ? I have to say I'm a little surprised at the Bloc for accepting the principle that the federal government has a role to play indirectly providing child care in the provinces, even if they did get an opt-out for Quebec. It's the principle that they accepted.
Again, I point out that not a single province got behind this, including the NDP provinces, I have to point out to my friend Tony. I think it's pretty clear that Quebec, for instance, has made this a priority. They have a universal system. That's their priority. Other provinces have different priorities. We should respect that and respect the Constitution.