Human Resources Committee on Feb. 26th, 2009

[Josée Beaudin, Bloc, Saint-Lambert, QC]

What does the program consist of exactly? For organizations working on the ground, will the program build new housing for the homeless? Will there be funding for training and hiring necessary resource people to help the homeless?

[Frank Fedyk]

The funding was renewed for five years, and the program as it currently exists was maintained for the next two-year period. Within that realm there are funds that support training as well as homelessness shelters and the staff associated with them. There are a variety of proposals that communities bring forward with their plans. The criteria and conditions of the program are fairly broad.

[Josée Beaudin, Bloc, Saint-Lambert, QC]

I would like to ask you a question, even if you don't have enough time to answer it. We are talking about social housing. I read that poverty was to be reduced by 50% during the 1990s. Were you able to check why we did not reach this percentage? Which measures were put in place, and which did not work? What measures could have worked if we had had more time to implement them?

Social housing is a crucial element of a national social policy. Social housing would allow people to not have to use all of their income on housing, which could then perhaps alleviate the burden of food banks. Otherwise, people who pay too much for housing cannot afford groceries, and then have to turn to food banks.

Therefore, housing is a crucial issue. Why is it that the construction of new social housing was not included in your action plan?

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

You can give just a quick response.

[Frank Fedyk]

Yes, very quickly, the government's action plan did include additional funding of $2.1 billion to both construct and renovate approximately 215,000 social units over the next two years.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you very much.

We are now going to moved to Ms. Cadman. You have five minutes.

[Dona Cadman, Conservative, Surrey North, BC]

I'm not going to ramble on or anything. I just want to ask a simple question. What does the MBM have to say about women in poverty over the last number of years?

[Shawn Tupper]

It actually says some pretty good things about women. I think that sometimes we focus on the five subpopulations, and we don't step back and look at some of the gender analysis, but we actually did for this. What we're seeing is actually a greater improvement in rates of low income for women over men. They're improving their situation faster than men are. We're now seeing a lessening of the gap between men and women, and the MBM clearly shows that.

So it's positive, even in the trend groups in which we might think they would still be disadvantaged. So for lone parents, which are 95% women, we are seeing dramatic increases. The numbers are still high. I think it is something like 32% for lone-parent families led by women, but that's a 10% drop in the rates over eight years ago.

We are seeing some fairly dramatic improvements for women overall. We are seeing a closing of the gap between men and women in terms of poverty measurement rates. So by and large, it's a fairly positive story.

[Dona Cadman, Conservative, Surrey North, BC]

Good.

Participation in the labour force does not necessarily shield Canadians from income insecurity. How many Canadians are working poor? Do you have a percentage?

[Shawn Tupper]

We have a number, if I can find it at my fingertips. Certainly the working poor are an increasing concern for us. The WITB focused not just on people who weren't working; indeed, it also has a significant benefit for people who are termed the working poor. We estimate that there are just under 690,000 Canadians, approximately, who would be considered the working poor.

[Dona Cadman, Conservative, Surrey North, BC]

Are most of these individuals unattached? Are they single?

[Shawn Tupper]

Forty-four percent of working-poor families have children. I don't have a breakdown in terms of single parent or dual parent. However, certainly we're seeing an increasing level of struggle even for dual-earner families.

[Dona Cadman, Conservative, Surrey North, BC]

Okay. Who is more at risk in this area, men or women?

[Shawn Tupper]

Statistically? I would guess, statistically... I'll have to confirm back. I think women are still more at risk, but again, I think we're seeing a greater equality between men and women now.

[Dona Cadman, Conservative, Surrey North, BC]

There's considerable concern regarding the deteriorating outcomes of recent immigrants in Canada. What proportion of recent immigrants live on low income?

[Garnett Picot]

I noticed earlier we have different numbers because we have different definitions. We think of recent immigrants as people in Canada for five years or less, and it's around 35%.

[Dona Cadman, Conservative, Surrey North, BC]

Thirty-five percent. How long do they live on low income after they have been here? Do they stay on it or do they get off it?

[Garnett Picot]

About 18% of recent immigrants are in what we refer to as chronic low income. That is, they're in low income for at least four of their first five years in Canada.

[Dona Cadman, Conservative, Surrey North, BC]

Are there programs helping them to get out of this low-income situation?

[Garnett Picot]

I'm going to turn it over to these guys on my left.

[Frank Fedyk]

Various training programs are available. The most recent is the government's $500 million per year for labour market agreements, which enable Canadians who are participating in the labour force or are not in the labour force to acquire training so they're better able to secure job opportunities.

[Dona Cadman, Conservative, Surrey North, BC]

Okay. Thank you. That's it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you. You're almost right on time, so we're going to move back to the Liberals now.

I've got Mr. Savage, for five minutes.

[Michael Savage, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

I know Madame Folco had some questions, but I guess we can't shift.... We'll go ahead.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

You want me to shift you? I can do that. If you want to wait, we can wait.