Finance Committee on Oct. 29th, 2014

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

So it's a question of no uptake on the idea.

[Christopher Smillie]

Well, I think there's uptake, but my sense is that the Department of Finance doesn't like it. At the end of the day, we have to have the political will in the country to get workers where we need them. Look, we're operating at 110% in terms of employment. We're scrambling and we need to get the right people to the right place at the right time.

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Thank you.

Mr. Julien, I want to thank you for your excellent presentation and for reminding us all just how important the arts are, not just to the economy, but to so many other things in our communities.

I was struck by your figures of 700,000 workers and 137,000 professional artists. These are staggering numbers.

My first question is about the per capita spending that decreased from $5.57 in 1990 to $5.34 in 2010. Is that just the reflection of the downturn in our economy, or are there other factors that would explain that difference?

[Frédéric Julien]

There have been occasional investments into the parliamentary appropriations of the Canadian Council for the Arts over about the last six decades. It's been growing occasionally with increases, the last one being $30 million in 2007, but there hasn't been any further increase since. As a result of that, there's a gap between the diversity of arts practices out there and the means that are available to make this sector really flourish and create even more jobs.

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Right.

I wanted to zoom in on one of your specific recommendations, number two. You talk about Canada's birthday, 150 years. The idea was, specifically, $25 million over three years for pilot projects, one of which was cultural promotion in the embassies. I have a constituent who's the arts ambassador for the municipality of Oak Bay, Barbara Adams, and she's long been advocating taking Canadian art and putting it in various embassies around the world. Is that what you're suggesting in cultural promotion, that sort of display of our artists, or what did you specifically intend?

[Frédéric Julien]

That is part of it. We've heard for decades that artists are great ambassadors and tools for ambassadors to actually do their business abroad. Cultural promotion in the embassies could mean presentation of artists abroad by the embassies, but we also need some support from the embassies to the artistic companies that are touring abroad in order to know the market well and know where there are opportunities for more touring and more market development.

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Excellent. Thank you.

Ms. Deans, I really like the new name and I really liked your presentation.

You've suggested there's a reduced annual contribution sought, $37.5 million over five years. The program's success seems to speak for itself. My question is, what would you specifically do with those funds? You didn't have the time to take us through the balance of your submission, so perhaps you could just tell us what you'd do with the money.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

There's about one minute remaining.

[Julia Deans]

The support we offer is a combination of loan financing and then programs such as the mentoring for two years, the entrepreneurs in residence, mentors in residence, and business supports from our online business plan writer, individual counselling, and events and networking sessions that bring people together. It's the combination of loan financing and programs to support people through their first five years.

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you, Mr. Rankin.

We will go to Mr. Saxton, please.

[Andrew Saxton, Conservative, North Vancouver, BC]

Thank you, Chair.

Thanks to our witnesses for being here today.

My first question is for Scott Byrne from Monster Canada.

Scott, in your presentation you talked about the federal government. Your recommendation is to create a military skills translator. I think it's a very worthwhile idea, and I know that you also noted in your introductory comments that the Canadian Forces liaison council and Canada Company are working hard to bridge that gap for veterans to find work in the private sector in civilian life once they leave the military. My question is, what would Monster's role be in this translator?

[Scott Byrne]

Monster's role is basically to adapt an existing algorithm to meet the Canadian Forces' needs. Every armed force has different ranks and different military occupation codes, and therefore it's not just something you can just plug in the Canadian values to. What we would have to do is take the military operation codes, duties of rank, and training, and populate our algorithm and then use that. Our expertise is in the massaging of the information using our algorithms in order to match the jobs for the transitioning forces members.

[Andrew Saxton, Conservative, North Vancouver, BC]

So what you're suggesting then is you're pitching an idea basically to the government and you hope that you get this job. It's a contract basically that you're interested in.

[Scott Byrne]

Yes, it is a contract.

[Andrew Saxton, Conservative, North Vancouver, BC]

It's a for-profit contract that you're trying to promote.

[Scott Byrne]

It is a for-profit contract. As a publicly traded company we have a responsibility to our stakeholders and our shareholders to make money when we do business. However, we believe that this is a very noble cause and we owe it to our veterans to tie back to this. And not only that, but this is something that's recognized by another government committee so we support that and we will be happy to participate.

[Andrew Saxton, Conservative, North Vancouver, BC]

Do you have an idea of what it would cost?

[Scott Byrne]

The cost would be $1.7 million, which would be the upfront cost, which would be the configuration, due diligence, and getting it into place within, our estimation is, six to nine months subject to due diligence. And then on an ongoing basis after that it would be $400,000 per year.

[Andrew Saxton, Conservative, North Vancouver, BC]

Okay. Thank you very much.

My next question is for Canada's Building Trades Unions, Christopher Smillie.

Christopher, in your submission in the the pre-budget stage you suggested creating a labour mobility tax credit for mobile workers. I think this idea has merit given that there are skills shortages right now and that there are jobs going unfilled. How would such a credit work and have you costed it out?

[Christopher Smillie]

Yes, it's been costed and I have the auditor's statements. I can submit them to the committee if need be.

It could work a number of ways. It could work like the home renovation tax credit. Remember how that spurred spending, people would go to the retail store and they got a percentage of what they spent back on their income tax. So you spend $1000 travelling to where the work is, potentially you get 5% of that back, or 10% or 15% of that back, as a tax credit at the end of the year. It's not even as a dollar-for-dollar deduction on income.

We're looking for the committee's input as well to structure this on how we think it could work. You could also give someone the last two weeks of their EI first and they could use that to fly or to get on a train to travel to a job site at a certain distance. But a tax credit is probably, in our view, the easiest way to do it, against expenses that someone lays out to go to work.

[Andrew Saxton, Conservative, North Vancouver, BC]

The biggest issue that I've heard from people is that they don't have the upfront money to get to that job, so a tax credit is sort of retroactive, you get it back later. That may not be the most effective way of dealing with the problem—

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

One minute.

[Andrew Saxton, Conservative, North Vancouver, BC]

—which is really getting people there in the first place. Maybe your second idea is more helpful in that regard. Do you think that this proposal would help to alleviate the skilled trades shortages that are going on right now?

[Christopher Smillie]

If we could get 10 or 15 or 20 people to job sites we weren't otherwise going to have there and who we had to seek somewhere else in the world, that's assisting the shortage issue. Repositioning people in a more efficient way across our country is the goal.