:
Congratulations, Mr. Poilievre, as first vice-chair of the committee.
Seeing as this is the first meeting on pre-budget consultations in advance of the 2018 budget, I would like to explain to all committee members what has been decided to date. I think everyone knows that the finance committee, by legislation, is to do pre-budget consultations prior to the budget in the next fiscal year. In this case, we put out a letter in June inviting submissions. Those submissions came in by early August. Then, in June as well, we agreed to an established set of hearings in Ottawa and at a number of locations in the west and in the east. From that, we will have to prepare a report that has to be tabled in the House sometime in December. That's basically the process, for those who are not aware.
The committee on these pre-budget consultations decided to invite departmental officials, which is a little different than last year, to give an outline of the situation in Canada to help members guide their questions for witnesses in future meetings. Finance officials will start with a brief opening statement to set the stage and explain Canada's current situation. Officials from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, or ISED—I still call it Industry Canada, but I'm old-fashioned—will then provide an overview of programs and initiatives currently available related to the first theme, which is productivity and competitiveness of Canadian businesses. Officials from ISED will then answer members' questions with the support of the finance officials who are here.
In the second panel, officials from Employment and Social Development Canada will provide an overview of the current initiatives and programming related to the second theme, Canada's productivity.
Our strategy was really to set the stage on the main themes we're looking at for the budget. One, what is the fiscal situation? Two, what is happening to make the country more productive and competitive in terms of programming from the departments involved?
It's important to note that if committee members ask questions that are not related to the main themes for this year's pre-budget consultations, the officials present might not be able to answer those questions. I know there are a number of other hot topics. That's why I am raising that point now. It think there will be other opportunities to raise those topics, but I would like us to start with a good foundation to establish the basis on which we hold pre-budget consultations.
Starting with the Department of Finance, we have Mr. Leswick, assistant deputy minister at the economic and fiscal policy branch; Mr. King, director of economic analysis and forecasting; and Mr. Lavoie, director of the economic studies and policy analysis division at the economic and fiscal policy branch.
From ISED, we have Ms. Setlakwe, assistant deputy minister in the strategy and innovation policy sector, and Ms. Campbell, director general of the digital transformation service sector.
Do you have a point you want to raise, Mr. Fergus?
First of all, I'd like to thank all members of the committee, on all sides, for giving unanimous consent for us to have this debate.
It seems that this is in the air, of course. This is an important matter that has been brought up. It's an important proposal that has been brought forward by the to address the question of tax fairness. It is no surprise to any member around this table that there are folks who feel strongly in favour of this and there are also some folks who have strong opinions against this.
[Translation]
Mr. Chair, there is no doubt that these proposals have captured the general interest of Canadians, as shown by the high number of people submitting comments to the Minister of Finance. Furthermore, since we returned yesterday to the House of Commons, members on both sides have expressed interest in debating this issue.
In this case, it seems entirely normal to me that the Standing Committee on Finance would take the opportunity to study this matter appropriately and ask the Minister of Finance and his colleagues to appear here to answer questions so that all the MPs here could have the opportunity to fully represent their constituents and strengthen their understanding.
Canadians have a say in the 's consultations. The minister is listening to Canadians and business people across the country. As members of Parliament and members of the Standing Committee on Finance, it is important that we have the opportunity to ask questions and deepen our knowledge on this issue. I hope we can do that.
The study of these questions will end on October 2. Time is running out, and I hope that by Thursday we can prepare and submit our witness lists. We will have meetings next week, and this committee will have a busy week. We had already scheduled three meetings, and I am asking for three more.
It is a privilege to be a member of the Standing Committee on Finance, and I am confident that we are all going to do our part.
I don't want to prolong the discussion for too long because we have witnesses waiting, but I simply want to repeat one thing that was reported to me in my riding.
As was the case with all my colleagues, the lack of consultation was raised by my fellow citizens. A consultation will end on October 2, but this is clearly insufficient given the importance of the changes being considered.
Having said that, the fact that the government wants to hear witnesses on this draft bill is a step in the right direction. My colleague has not quite understood what will happen next. As was said earlier, we are a long way from having a bill before us, which of course will require a detailed study, as this committee is accustomed to doing.
It is still a good initiative. When a final bill is before us, and the has finished his discussions or consultations, it will be worth a much more thorough study than this one being presented today, which simply covers the Department of Finance consultation period.
I want to support this consultation, although it is insufficient. I repeat that the NDP wants the Minister of Finance to extend his consultation period beyond October 2. This may solve the problem of time and urgency facing this committee.
I would like to reiterate our request to extend the consultation period for the Minister of Finance currently in place so that this committee can make recommendations and give its opinion to the Minister of Finance on his draft bill.
I guess this is going to be a session filled with fact-checking, because the reason Mr. 's motion did not move forward actually was that it failed to get four signatures in order to do so, not at the decision of the government members.
In regard to Mr. 's motion, it didn't even specify how many hours. Thankfully, Mr. put forward a motion that dealt with the details to bring something forward. Mr. rightfully pointed out the fact that this is fitting in with the consultation period to hear about the white paper that was released by the . If legislation should come forward, this committee, at such time, would have the opportunity, like we would for any other piece of legislation that is finance-related, to properly study it, write a report, draft recommendations, and make amendments.
I prefer not to waste the committee's time in dealing with hypotheticals but rather to get to the business of this House. I'm wondering if the Conservative members are actually suggesting that hearing from Canadians on their priorities for the 2018 budget is not important and that we should not be hearing from them, because Conservative members only want to talk about one thing. I think Canadians want to have the consultation process move forward and then have the take that information and determine how he wants to move forward in the form of legislation. At that time, it is for this committee to study it.
I think that having two hearings, plus one for the minister to appear, will allow for formal consultation from this committee to be sent to the for him to consider, and at such time as legislation comes forward, we'll move along in the normal process. I think hearing from Canadians on their priorities for the budget is quite significant and important. I would be shocked if Conservative members were no longer interested in that.
:
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and welcome back, everyone.
I'm obviously respectful of our guests here, who work very hard for Canadians. I do apologize that we've taken this turn, and that instead of focusing on our pre-budget consultation process the Liberals have decided to go this way, but that's democracy, and I'm glad we can have this discussion.
First of all, when someone says “reasonable”, usually it's reasonable to them. It's the same when someone says “fair”. As Raj will know, being a lawyer, the first person to say “fair” in Canada usually gets what they want, because everyone wants to be fair and reasonable.
The problem we have with this is that, first of all, there is limited time and, in this proposal, the majority of the witnesses who would be coming forward would be the Liberal government's suggested witnesses—the majority of them. That's how the system works: we are going to hear from people who, conveniently, side with the government.
If members on this side are concerned that it's not going to be a complete picture, that I think is a legitimate concern. So far, despite using the language of “reasonable” and “fair”, members have not been able to convince this side nor, I would imagine, many people across the country. I would suggest that if members are really serious, and if it is a privilege to be on the finance committee, which I do agree with, then perhaps we should just say, let's have a few more meetings, or let's make sure those meetings are meaningful and that we have as many people come in...and perhaps they shouldn't all from the side of the government. Perhaps the government might say that they'll take 50% of the witnesses, or even 40%, and then allow those voices that are begging to be heard, and believe me—all of you get the same emails and phone calls that I do—people want to be heard on this.
The desire for members on this side to have a good discussion and to do our jobs should not be dismissed, and it should not be simply cast aside by saying that we're not taking things seriously. We are.
:
I should obviously give the same concerns of my colleagues on this side.
We'll basically be also providing the minister with his own comments from the committee transcript, his own viewpoints back to him. Obviously he agrees with his own proposals, I would assume; otherwise, he wouldn't have made them in the dead of summer to surprise everybody.
Mr. Chair, I see that you sort of agree to that point.
I have very serious concerns about just the process. Six hours is really insufficient for this type of review or study, a study with no recommendations, which we're supposed to go through in such a rushed way, and not to go over the witness issue again.
The committees I've been on don't do it quite this way. We don't rush a study, especially on an issue that is taking up a significant amount of the public interest. I have Okotoks dental.... One of the dentists there has told me that they have concerns. He wrote me a letter. I have it with me. I have clippings of just today's emails to me.
We know there's a lot of interest from people, and it shouldn't just be associations and groups who represent others. We should be talking to actual business owners, who can bring their spreadsheets and show the type of damage that this might do to their individual businesses.
It will not be possible to rush someone like that at the last minute, giving them a four-day opening next week when they could speak to the committee and present their own balance sheets, their own retirement plans...to demonstrate a physical example of a bakery, Canadian Dent in my riding, or whoever else that may be.
It is not just about associations speaking at a 30,000-foot level, but down to the actual person, the mother running her store, the siblings who come together to form a business. That type of example will not be possible, because small business owners can't just leave their business at the last minute.
:
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, honourable members.
My name is Nick Leswick, I am the assistant deputy minister of the economic and fiscal policy branch at the Department of Finance with overall responsibility for economic and fiscal forecasting and the production of the federal budget.
As requested by the committee, in my opening remarks this afternoon, I will briefly speak about recent economic developments in Canada as a background to your overall theme of productivity and competitiveness that you'll be exploring through the course of your pre-budget consultations.
From the beginning of 2015 until mid-2016, Canadian economic developments were dominated by the large, rapid, and sustained drop in global crude oil prices. Those prices, measured in West Texas Intermediate U.S. dollars per barrel, fell from over $100 in late 2014 to lows of under $30 in early 2016.
The impact of this drop on Canada's economy was significant. The dollar value of Canadian oil exports fell by nearly $70 billion. This was a significant hit to national income, equivalent to about 3.5% of national GDP.
As a result, investment in the oil sector plummeted, falling by an estimated 60% or more than $50 billion. Along with it, employment in oil-producing provinces, particularly Alberta, but also Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador, fell by a combined 150,000 jobs. While these three provinces bore the brunt of the shock, its impacts were felt across the country. Real GDP in Canada contracted during the first and second quarters of 2015, and for that year as a whole, expanded by less than 1%.
Since mid-2016 however, economic developments have turned around markedly. Real GDP has expanded by an average rate of 3.7% per quarter for the last four quarters. Alongside this much stronger output growth has come very strong employment growth. It is estimated that employment has risen by over 350,000 jobs since mid-2016, and the unemployment rate has fallen from about 7% to just above 6% over the same period.
What caused this turnaround? Several factors have been at play.
First and probably most importantly, has been the stabilization and rebound in economic activity in energy-producing provinces, particularly Alberta.
This has been facilitated by the bottoming out, rise, and evident stabilization of oil prices at somewhere between $45 and $53 U.S. per barrel since the beginning of February last year.
The pick-up also reflects the fact that cuts to investment have largely run their course; during the first quarter of this year, oil sector investment was up on a year-over-year basis for the first time since the end of 2014. It was up again compared to the same period last year in the second quarter of 2017.
A stabilization in investment has also meant a stabilization in the job cuts associated with that investment. The fall in employment in Alberta, for example, halted in mid-2016, and job levels in the province have shown slow but steady gains since then.
The Canadian dollar has also depreciated relative to its U.S. counterpart over this period. The dollar averaged about 90 cents in U.S. dollar terms in late 2014 before falling to just over 70 cents in early 2016. This depreciation has provided important support to our export sector.
Altogether, these developments are what has been described as the slow and complex adjustment to lower oil prices. This simply means the reallocation of labour and capital to other areas of the economy, facilitated by monetary policy, fiscal policy, and a flexible exchange rate. For the large part, and at the macro level, these adjustments appear to be over. However, on a more individual level, there are certainly families, communities, and firms that continue to feel the impacts of the oil price decline.
Beyond the stabilization in the energy sector, a number of other factors have helped to affect the sharp turnaround in Canada's economic performance.
We have seen very robust housing market activity over the last year in Vancouver, Toronto, and surrounding regions. This has helped to support regional and national GDP growth.
Also, there has been a stabilization and pick-up in the global economy. The U.S. economy is meeting expectations. Conditions in the Eurozone have also firmed, as has growth in China. This more positive global environment has undoubtedly helped to support our exports, but equally importantly, business confidence and prospects about future sales.
The expectation of future sales growth, both domestic and abroad, is encouraging firms to invest in productive capacity to meet this increased demand. This can be seen in survey data on business expectations, as well as actual data on investment spending. While not strong yet, investment in Canada has shown signs over the last two quarters of responding positively to these domestic and international developments.
Monetary policy in Canada has also been providing, to use the specific words of the Bank of Canada, considerable stimulus. As well, in conjunction with monetary policy, a number of fiscal measures have been introduced by the federal government over the last two years, which have helped to support income growth and general economic growth. These include middle-class tax cuts, incremental infrastructure spending, and the enhanced Canada child benefit.
Combined, all of these factors are resulting in stronger and more broad-based economic growth across the country. For example, the unemployment rate in the province of Quebec is at its lowest level since 1976. Ontario has posted its longest back-to-back stretch of 2% or above real GDP growth since the mid-1980s, and in British Columbia the economy has created almost 150,000 new jobs since the beginning of last year.
This is all very positive and good news. Stronger, broader-based growth means that more solid economic momentum will likely continue over the coming quarters. Higher growth has generated higher employment and income gains, which have led to higher demand and thus higher output growth and so on, in a so-called virtuous circle.
However, the very strong rates of growth that we have seen over the last four quarters are highly unlikely to continue. There are a number of structural reasons for this. The bounceback in the energy-producing regions is just that, a bounceback. Growth rates will eventually plateau and ease. As well, we have seen a notable cooling in the Toronto and Golden Horseshoe housing markets recently. This will also take some strength out of recent GDP growth rates. The Canadian economy still also faces uncertainty relating to policy developments and direction in the United States.
Over the medium term, we also face a number of well-known structural challenges. These include demographic pressures brought on by population aging and, more specific to today's session, a relatively weak productivity performance in Canada.
On that, I hope both my colleagues from Finance Canada and my colleagues from ISED and ESDC will be able to respond to your questions. Thank you for the opportunity to make the opening remarks.
:
Krista Campbell and I would like to thank you for having us here to discuss Canadian productivity and competitiveness, something that we live and breathe every day at ISED.
We know that Canada is operating in a slow-growth economic environment. While the economy has grown strongly in recent quarters, as indicated by my colleague at Finance, significant expansion remains uncertain. Even though Canada's economy is performing better than expected, the Bank of Canada still projects modest growth of 2% for 2018 and 1.6% in 2019. This speaks to the ongoing need to look beyond the more traditional policy prescriptions of the past. Monetary policy, sound macro fundamentals, and competitive tax rates are critical, but no longer sufficient.
The current structure of our support for business innovation requires modernization to generate greater impact and allow for the flexibility needed to succeed in these uncertain times. If we want to see transformative results, we need to move beyond funding. We need to rethink and modernize our policy tool kit with one that places an emphasis on both innovation and inclusiveness. I truly believe that is what we are doing: we are looking at new approaches to improve our efficiency and effectiveness and provide the tools that business needs to succeed.
Budget 2017 put a focus on innovation. What I want to focus on today is how we see building growth through innovation. It is key to Canadian competitiveness, better jobs, and greater prosperity for all Canadians.
We have a significant long-term growth problem caused by slowing productivity performance and an aging population. The main driver for building growth is innovation. It builds opportunities and increases Canada's growth potential. In a higher-cost, higher-wage economy, innovation is crucial for inclusive growth, so let me highlight several core areas in our approach to innovation as set out in budget 2017, beginning with attracting global talent.
To grow Canadian businesses, create more Canadian jobs, and compete among the best in the world, we must also attract the best minds. The government's global skills strategy does just that. It will make it easier for Canadian businesses to attract the talent they need to succeed. It provides an ambitious two-week standard for processing visas and work permits for low-risk, high-skilled talent for companies doing business in Canada. This will ensure that high-growth Canadian companies that need to access global talent can do so to facilitate and accelerate investments that create jobs and growth.
We also need to develop talent at home. We need to equip Canadians with the skills and tools they need to succeed in a changing economy. It is important that Canadians have the right mix of tools and experiences to not only participate in the economy but to lead it.
For example, ISED launched the CanCode initiative, which will ensure that Canadian youth have the digital and coding skills necessary to succeed in this digital economy.
We are also looking to enable an organization by the name of Mitacs to create 10,000 work-integrated learning placements for Canadian post-secondary students and graduates to ensure they have the skills needed to thrive when they enter the workforce. It will grow the number of Canadians equipped with STEM though initiatives such as PromoScience. It provides new funding to attract and retain top researchers through a pan-Canadian artificial intelligence strategy to promote deep learning in new and groundbreaking areas in Canada. Combined, this skills plan will encourage continuous learning, increase experiential learning opportunities, and encourage business investment in the upscaling of their employees.
All of you will have heard of the superclusters initiative. Evidence around the world points to the disproportionate impact—a positive impact—of innovation superclusters. We don't need to look further than Silicon Valley to see the huge effect they can have on growth. They create jobs, encourage knowledge sharing, drive business specialization, and help to attract anchor companies from around the world. Canada has no innovation supercluster in the top global innovation ecosystem, but budget 2017 laid out a plan to change this.
ISED is providing up to $950 million, launched in May, to support up to five business-led innovation superclusters that have the greatest potential to accelerate economic growth. We are focused on superclusters that will enhance Canada's global competitiveness, by looking at highly innovative industries. It is to help companies succeed in the global marketplace with new products, processes, and opportunities to grow, and to connect Canadian companies with globally integrated supply chains.
On government as a first buyer, what is also evident from other models, like that of the U.S., is that the government as a first customer is crucial for innovation start-ups and the development of innovative products. The plan is to launch a new procurement program, innovative solutions Canada, to encourage innovation and to support early-stage research and development and late-stage prototypes from Canadian innovators and entrepreneurs. Government-tested and validated Canadian technologies will help Canadian businesses to scale and find new customers around the world.
Next is capital. The future of the Canadian economy will be significantly impacted by the capacity of Canadian firms to grow domestically and compete internationally. High-growth firms account for a disproportionate number of new jobs and tend to invest more in technology development and generate knowledge spillovers that other firms can harvest. To support the growth of innovative companies, the budget announced a venture capital catalyst initiative to continue to increase the availability of VC in technology.
The innovation and skills plan also included nearly $1.4 billion in new financing through BDC and EDC to boost the growth of Canada's clean technology sector. This will not only foster the growth of Canadian technologies and companies, but also help us meet our climate change goals.
Scale requires global markets, access to global supply chains, and integration into global investment networks. Through our approach and associated measures, the government is enhancing global markets through trade agreements: rolling out CETA, which occurs this week, and looking at trade agreements with other partners, such as Asia.
Earlier this year, the government announced the Canadian Free Trade Agreement, which will increase opportunities for all Canadian businesses to innovate and expand at home.
A big part of the innovation and skills plan is innovation within government. We are too large a part of the economy not to have an innovation focus. We recognize this, and through this budget we are doing our part through the creation of innovation Canada. This new platform within ISED will coordinate and simplify the support available to Canada's innovators, making it easier and faster for them to find and access government programs and services.
As part of this, in collaboration with the Treasury Board Secretariat, we have also initiated a whole-of-government review of business innovation programs, reviewing dozens of innovation programs across government to see how they can be consolidated and simplified. This will reduce the amount of legwork required and give entrepreneurs more timely access to innovation services. A key first step was the creation of the strategic innovation fund, a new, streamlined approach to support existing sectors like auto and aerospace, but at the same time expanding support to dynamic and emerging sectors like clean technology and agrifood.
We are also in the process of developing economic strategy tables in six key areas for Canada. These tables will examine sector challenges and bottlenecks to innovation, and lay out strategies to overcome them. While it will take time to implement, our ultimate goal is to modernize what we offer and how we deliver business innovation programming to Canadians.
We also know that we need to enhance IP education, improve clarity in IP laws, and improve incentives for firms to protect their IP. We are working on a national strategy that will provide firms with the certainty and freedom they need to operate in international markets.
In conclusion, Canada has real innovation strengths, yet we continue to lag behind key competitors. Canada needs to continue to modernize its policy tool kit to better support and encourage innovation and inclusive growth.
We need to put in place a new framework for doing business, recognizing the importance of talented people's access to risk capital, innovation ecosystems, the need for government as a first customer, and increase access to global markets. We need to put in place the right measures today that will ensure Canada remains a player on the world stage, able to compete and keep pace with global leaders.
Budget 2018 presents an opportunity to continue to build off the gains made from the innovation and skills plan, and leverage partnerships through a whole-of-government approach to further implement the government's agenda of innovation-led economic growth.
My colleagues and I look forward to taking any questions you may have to further discussion on Canadian competitiveness and productivity.
Thank you.
:
I think it's clear that there is this policy tool kit in terms of the monetary and policy responses to weakness in the economy.
The Bank of Canada has responded, to quote them, with what they would characterize as considerable stimulus with respect to their policy rate and how that flows through to ultimate residential and commercial lending rates.
Likewise, from a fiscal policy perspective, if we rewind the clock, in early 2016 we were facing what seemed like pretty extreme economic weakness both domestically—growth was lagging—and internationally. We saw some signs, whether it be south of the border in the United States—where people were speculating about the United States teetering into recession—and beyond the borders of the United States, such as in China where they were going through this extreme financial market volatility. So fiscal measures in that context were helpful.
You talked about the fiscal policy tool kit. There was the Canada child benefit, which effectively contributed about $4 million or $5 million into the Canadian economy, so more of a kind of raw injection, like a raw income support. There was also a suite of infrastructure measures, some shovel-ready infrastructure measures, where there were some plans in hiring that were able to be deployed fairly quickly. Getting to the core of your question, there were some longer-term infrastructure measures that were designed to enhance the longer-term productive capacity of the Canadian economy.
However, infrastructure isn't going to do all the heavy lifting here. We're still facing these demographic challenges. We're facing these productivity challenges. There are a lot of indications that tell us we're already.... In comparative terms, our capital-labour ratio, like our capital stock, is pretty good. Maybe we're over-invested in kind of engineering structures in the energy sector, and less invested in Canada's productivity enhancing machinery and equipment, but yes, it's not just infrastructure. It's going to be a combo platter of a lot of other things—including skills development, which I think we'll hear about from ESDC in the later half of the testimony—doubling down on some of our sector strategies and innovation strategies, to really boost the long-term growth potential of the Canadian economy.
:
Thank you very much for your question.
Obviously, we follow the issue of inequality very closely. There are different ways to do this, such as by looking at the distribution of income among different income groups in Canada.
Over the past 40 years, there has been an increase in inequality in the income that people earn in the labour market. The rich get richer than the poor. Revenues increase much more at the top than at the bottom of the income distribution. We're talking about pre-tax income.
Taking into account taxes and transfers, income growth was more even and somewhat higher on the higher income side, especially when we're talking about the 0.1%. The federal system of taxes and transfers is effective in redistributing revenues. Will it continue to be? That is one of the concerns of the present government, and we are looking at it.
The Gini coefficient is one of the indicators of inequality often used. It can also be illustrated as the ratio of the richest 40% to the poorest 45%; it has pretty much the same function. This coefficient increased significantly during the recession of the mid-1990s and of the 1980s. This coefficient has been stable since the 2000s and has not increased significantly recently.
Compared to other countries, based on the same measures, Canada is in the middle of the pack with respect to inequality. We are not among the best, and there is room for improvement.
I hope I've answered your question.
:
Thank you for your question.
[English]
The approach that the government has taken recently in thinking about the overall supply of labour has indicated that we really need to focus on domestic talent and the transition to a new digital economy, an economy that expects people to be comfortable with technology and with significant amounts of information and data, and to work in very different ways. It's putting pressure on the education system and on employers to ensure that they have good intake systems and effective work-integrated training programs.
My colleague outlined some of the initiatives that ISED is responsible for. Colleagues from Employment and Social Development, who will follow, will be able to speak to some of those initiatives. The idea of being able to bring in highly specialized talent is a key pillar of the global skills strategy, which colleagues at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada could also speak to. However, you are exactly hitting on the core issue, which is, one, that the number of people is really important and getting as many people into the labour force as possible is critical for overall success; and two, to make sure that there is a marrying up of the skills and the training.
I would like to highlight a couple of very small programs, but very important ones, that are at the crux of the inclusiveness of the innovation agenda. We'll be rolling out some programs over the course of the fall with respect to accessible technology, development of technologies used by people who may have some kind of impediment in terms of accessing the Internet because of technological barriers.
A digital literacy program we're rolling out will be looking to help ensure that excluded groups, whether it's people who have language difficulties, newly arrived Canadians, or people who maybe aren't as comfortable in the digital world, get some of the training they need so that they are more confident, comfortable, safe, and secure doing things such as ongoing training, banking, or health care services online.
As well, we're looking to further some of the work that the government can do with respect to STEM training for younger students, as well as for post-secondary students.
:
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and distinguished members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to describe Employment and Social Development Canada skills and training programs.
As you know, Canada is experiencing the effects of an aging population, rapid technological change and globalization that have put a strain on productivity growth and competitiveness. Canadians are experiencing these changes through shifts in the labour market that are reshaping the nature of jobs and raising the level of skills and education required to be successful.
[English]
In this context, Canada's prosperity will increasingly depend on an inclusive labour market, where all Canadians are equipped with the skills that they need for the changing nature of work, and where employers are able to access the skilled labour they need to be innovative and competitive.
I am pleased to share with you some of the work that ESDC is doing to address these priorities. Let me start with youth. We know that Canada's prosperity will increasingly depend on creating a pathway to success in education and employment for our young Canadians. Helping young people gain the skills, abilities, and work experience they need to find and maintain good employment will be key to laying the foundation for their success in the labour market over their lifetime. To tackle this challenge, ESDC invests approximately $330 million per year in the youth employment strategy.
[Translation]
Budget 2016 made additional investments of over $278 million, bringing the total funding for 2016-17 to more than $606 million. With this investment, we doubled the number of Canada summer jobs available to young Canadians, which was over 60,000 jobs.
[English]
Budget 2017 proposed an additional $395.5 million over three years, starting in 2017-18, for additional work and skills development opportunities for youth. Combined with the 2016 measures, these investments will help more than 33,000 vulnerable youth develop the skills they need to find work or go back to school, create 15,000 new green jobs for young Canadians, and provide over 1,600 new employment opportunities for youth in the heritage sector.
While a large part of Canada's success rests on supporting youth in successfully transitioning into the labour market, they still face barriers.
To assess the barriers faced by vulnerable youth in finding and keeping jobs, an expert panel on youth employment was launched in October 2016 and delivered its final report last spring, which will help guide our work on the renewal of the youth employment strategy.
As well, the new youth service initiative, which will be launched later this fall, will help young Canadians gain valuable work and life experience as they contribute through service to communities across Canada. This initiative will provide $105 million over five years and $25 million per year ongoing.
An important way ESDC is supporting successful transitions from studies to the workplace is through the student work-integrated learning program, which was launched in August of this year. The program provides funding support in the form of wage subsidies to employers to create new work placements for students enrolled in post-secondary education during their studies.
Through this program, ESDC is developing stronger linkages and partnerships between industry and post-secondary institutions by creating these new work-integrated learning opportunities, particularly in science, technology, engineering, and math.
There are additional incentives available for placements created for students in under-represented groups, including women in STEM, indigenous students, persons with disabilities, and recent immigrants.
[Translation]
This program is expected to produce up to 10,000 new work placements over the next four years in several sectors, including biotechnology, information and communications technology, environment, aviation and aerospace.
[English]
As you know, there is a clear link between education and productivity. The department continues its efforts to facilitate access to post-secondary education by encouraging Canadians to save and by increasing access to, and the availability of, student financial assistance.
I am pleased to report that, further to budget 2016 commitments, enhancements to the Canada student loans program to increase the amount and availability of Canada student grants, as well as the measures to make student debt more manageable, have all been implemented.
[Translation]
In a changing economy, Canadians throughout their life need to embrace continuous learning and upgrade their skills so they can find and keep good jobs.
[English]
As part of Canada's innovation and skills plan, the government aims to encourage Canadians to upgrade their skills through several measures: by expanding eligibility for Canada student grants and loans; by making it easier for adult or mature learners to qualify for Canada student grants and loans; and, by making better use of the flexibilities in the EI program that allow EI claimants to pursue full-time, self-funded training while maintaining their EI status. Consultations with provinces and territories on these measures have begun with the view of an implementation date of the end of summer 2018, which will correspond with the start of the school year.
Turning to other areas of importance for improving Canada's overall productivity, the need to generate opportunities for those who are traditionally under-represented in the workplace remains of paramount importance. Maximizing the participation and better utilization of these under-represented groups will be key to addressing anticipated labour force and skills shortages and to supporting long-term growth.
ESDC provides a full continuum of services for indigenous people across the country, from pre-employment training, such as literacy, numeracy, and other essential skills, to more advanced technical training, and to employment for skilled jobs through the aboriginal skills and employment training strategy, or ASETS. Over the past years, ASETS has served over 300,000 clients, with over 100,000 finding employment and close to 50,000 returning to school.
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In response to growing demand from indigenous peoples for skills development and job training, budget 2017 announced an additional investment of $50 million for this strategy.
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Going forward, indigenous skills and training remains a top mandate priority for Minister . In the past year, we have engaged extensively with indigenous partners to see how we can improve and strengthen indigenous labour market programming through a longer-term strategy. Results of all of these consultations will be informing the renewal of the aboriginal skills and employment training strategy post 2018 and will ensure that we are meeting the training needs and improving the labour market outcomes of indigenous people.
To help newcomer immigrants overcome integration barriers and fully participate in the labour market, budget 2017 proposed the creation of a targeted employment strategy for newcomers. The strategy will include improved pre-arrival supports, a loan program to assist with the cost of foreign credential recognition, and targeted measures to help them gain Canadian work experience. It will also complement the work already being done in the department with provinces and territories on foreign credential recognition.
In addition to these federal programs, ESDC makes significant investments in skills and training through the labour market transfer agreements. Each year, the government invests nearly $3 billion through the agreements so that provinces and territories can offer a range of programs, from skills training to career counselling to job search assistance, to help the unemployed and under-employed improve their skills and get their next job.
Budget 2017 included significant additional funding and committed to reforming and consolidating the labour market transfer agreements to ensure that programs become simpler and more flexible to adapt to the changing jobs and skills needs. Key priorities under the new agreements will be to ensure that training and employment supports are more client focused, more responsive to employer needs, and informed by strong performance measurement and innovation. Negotiations with provinces and territories on the next generation of agreements have begun and are ongoing.
Speaking of skills training, the new organization for skills development and measurement announced in budget 2017 is still at the design stages, but it has the potential to greatly influence future investments in programming. The Advisory Council on Economic Growth and the Forum of Labour Market Ministers have recommended new approaches to tackle skills gaps and support lifelong learning. The new organization will work in partnership with willing provinces and territories, the private sector, educational institutions, and not-for-profits to address these issues by identifying the skills required by employers, exploring new innovative approaches to skills development, and sharing information on best practices and research to help inform future skills investments and programming.
With a better understanding of the in-demand skills, the new organization will support the development, testing, and evaluation of innovative approaches that will help employment training service providers to adapt to better meet employers' needs and evolving job demands.
Thank you to the presenters today. It was a very good presentation.
I certainly appreciate the work you're doing in the area of youth and the under-represented groups, especially the indigenous populations.
I heard many good things here today, and I think there's a real need to really focus on probably our fastest-growing population in the country, the indigenous people, who have high rates of unemployment. We have large pockets across Canada of unemployed indigenous people. It's estimated that we have well over 150,000 people sitting in aboriginal communities in the west, including the north, who are unemployed.
There are many challenges, of course, including education levels, addictions, and mobility—things you would think of as simple. Receiving a pardon for a criminal record is something that's been raised. We certainly have to rethink and modernize our tool kit, as was mentioned earlier today. We need to focus on healthy people and healthy communities, and that means jobs. That means education for aboriginal people, training, and opportunity. That's for all populations in all parts of Canada.
I'm really encouraged by what you're doing here in terms of developing a long-term strategy. My first question is to try to get a feel for how much involvement and collaboration you're getting from the aboriginal people across Canada, the indigenous people. Are they participating? Are you getting good feedback? How is that going?