You have one minute remaining.
Evidence of meeting #73 for Finance in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was work.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #73 for Finance in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was work.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:50 p.m.
President, Acting Chief Executive Officer, Junior Achievement Canada
I think it is absolutely essential. I too have been a teacher through to a principal, and I have written for the ministry of education. I would say it's about adding value, not work. The content is actually the easy part. The pedagogy, as you would know, is the key. There are a lot of valuable resources out in the field, and that's why in our model we bring in the business community. We have resources that actually provide this mentorship, which provide enrichment from a holistic learning perspective.
It's not about saying, “Put this into your curriculum”. To Gary's point, it's not happening in many cases. That's why we have to step in with these organizations.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Scott Armstrong Conservative Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS
I will be very quick.
I hear what you're saying about that. However, there are teachers, in that case, who are going to be better at implementing this than others. You will have seen that, I'm sure, in the work you've done.
There are some teachers, quite frankly, who probably don't have great financial literacy themselves.
If it's a curriculum and you're adding activities to all of these different things that are already in the system, I think you're going to get a mismatch. Some students are going to get really good, sound financial literacy depending on the emphasis that school puts on it. I do think it's going to take some leadership at the departmental level of the provinces if this is going to become a priority.
Would you agree with that?
4:50 p.m.
President, Canadian Foundation for Economic Education
Right now we are integrating financial education into language arts, social studies, mathematics, and whatever. We're linking it to existing curriculum and it fits. You don't need a home.
We're not forcing anything more on the teachers. We're helping them do what they already do.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Shelly Glover Conservative Saint Boniface, MB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Welcome to all the witnesses.
I'm going to do two things. I'm going to read a couple of things to you, and then I'm going to ask you for your opinion on what I've read.
First of all, I'm going to read out the first recommendation of the task force report, in its entirety. I want you to pay close attention to the words, because then I'm going to read out something that Mr. Thibeault and Ms. Nash wrote recently in The Hill Times about their interpretation of this bill. I'm going to ask you, given that this bill focuses on recommendation number one, do you agree with the statement made by the NDP about the bill? So listen to both, and then you give me your opinion.
This is the first recommendation:
The Task Force recommends that the Government of Canada appoint an individual, directly accountable to the Minister of Finance, to serve as dedicated national leader. This Financial Literacy Leader should have the mandate to work collaboratively with stakeholders to oversee the National Strategy, implement the recommendations and champion financial literacy on behalf of all Canadians
Here's what was said by Ms. Nash and Mr. Thibeault, as written:
Bill C-28 excluded these very important recommendations
—following number one—
and only created the financial literacy leader position, making C-28 more of an expensive job posting, rather than a bill addressing the need for in-depth financial literacy. Without these key recommendations, the financial literacy leader could become nothing more than a cheerleader for new financial products that benefit the banks, not Canadians.
I don't see how that has anything to do with Bill C-28 or that first recommendation. Do you see it?
4:50 p.m.
An hon. member
Welcome to politics.
4:50 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
4:55 p.m.
President, Canadian Foundation for Economic Education
They're both written very well.
4:55 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Shelly Glover Conservative Saint Boniface, MB
How does this bill benefit the banks and not Canadians? Tell me that.
4:55 p.m.
President, Canadian Foundation for Economic Education
To be honest, I don't think the bill does that; I don't think the bill stops it from happening.
I'm going to come back to who you put in will be the ultimate key. If it is the right person, you don't have that fear. If it's the wrong person, it could be....
That's why I say that eventually it's going to be a human being doing that job in a certain way. The key thing will be the criteria you put on it and the selection process you put in place. If you put in the right person, all of this won't be relevant. They'll know what to do and how to go about the job.
With the wrong person, no legislation is going to stop them from not doing it the wrong way, I think.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Shelly Glover Conservative Saint Boniface, MB
Does anyone else want to comment on this?
I don't blame you for not wanting to go there. It's just that this is such an important bill to move forward, and when you talked about....
I think it was you, Mr. Rabbior, who talked about the fact that many, many partners came out of the woodwork when they heard that this was going to move forward. They wanted to get involved. They were excited. It's taken some time to get it going, and the last thing this bill needs is more delays.
You talked about the partners who came to the table who you otherwise probably wouldn't have seen. Can you mention some of those who we can look forward to working with the financial literacy leader, perhaps as stakeholders?
4:55 p.m.
President, Canadian Foundation for Economic Education
Speaking just for the foundation, I would say that there are probably five different funders right now that we're doing projects with, the likes of which we could never have dreamt of before. We're probably getting funding ten times what we did before, of a scale that we never hoped to get from them, to be able to do things that will really have an impact.
When you get $25,000 a year, you can't do a whole heck of a lot. If you get a $300,000 grant to do a project that you've worked through, you can make an impact. We've found that now there's support like that available, and not with strings attached. I have to impress on you, and I think others will speak to this, that we're finding that they know that we know what to do better than they do. In many cases, they're putting us right out front, because they know if they're out front, it won't work. People don't trust them, and they know it will be money poorly spent.
It's made a huge difference just in the priority given to the subject area.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Shelly Glover Conservative Saint Boniface, MB
In my last 30 seconds, does anyone else want to make a comment? You have an open floor.
4:55 p.m.
Program Manager, Community Literacy and Learners, ABC Life Literacy Canada
Yes. We found the same thing as Gary's team. Ever since the financial literacy task force, we have funders coming to us and saying, “What can you do to help us help Canadians?” We think that's really critical.
The impact of the task force and moving forward on the recommendations is also bringing the media along. It's starting the conversations in the home.
4:55 p.m.
President, Acting Chief Executive Officer, Junior Achievement Canada
I think the important thing.... I commend the challenge coming from the NDP, because I think it is important scrutiny to get this right, and I think the initiative is very important. I think that at the end of the day, what Gary said and what all of us are saying is that we're the trusted brokers, and it's not going to get beyond that. These funders are not in the business of coming to us and saying, “This is our message and deliver it, please”. We make that decision. We work with those educators.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
Thank you, Ms. Glover.
We're almost at five o'clock and we have to go to future business. As the chair, I just wanted to follow up on a couple of things, if I could.
First of all, Mr. Fair, I think it was you who really pointed out the fact that you have different groups and you have to approach them differently.
I think all of you have touched upon that, whether it's school children, aboriginal communities, new Canadians, or adults.
I'll tell you a little story. In a school in Windsor, I was visiting teachers and students who did a fantastic financial literacy program, especially in terms of money management. At the end of it, this little girl comes up to me and says: “I've really enjoyed it. I've learned so much about financial literacy. One thing I've learned is that my mom and dad don't manage their money well at all.”