Human Resources Committee on Nov. 28th, 2013

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Even if we set aside the non-allocated amount of $13 million, the amount has still gone from $134 million to $119 million.

[Jacques Paquette]

There will be no difference in the transfer of funds for the communities. The amounts will be the same. The decrease in the budget is mainly related to the fact that we have redirected how we operate within the department to do things better and lower costs. Furthermore, the fact that planning can be done on a five-year basis will lower costs for the communities and for us.

[Jonathan Tremblay, NDP, Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC]

How much time do I have left, Madam Chair?

[The Vice-Chair (Ms. Jinny Jogindera Sims), NDP, Jinny Sims]

You actually have just over a minute, but start.

[Jonathan Tremblay, NDP, Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC]

Okay. I'll try to ask my question quickly.

In 2002, the Auditor General said that the employment insurance fund was consolidated with the government's financial statements. It was then separated, but the decision has now been abolished.

I would like to know whether there is something planned to avoid the problem that arose at the time and that will resurface if we don't separate these budgets. In fact, the Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board was abolished. Is something planned to compensate for that?

[Frank Vermaeten]

Thank you.

If I understand your question correctly, there was a body put in place to set the rates for the employment insurance account, and the government has announced that this body will no longer be setting the rates. It will be done now by the commission.

[The Vice-Chair (Ms. Jinny Jogindera Sims), NDP, Jinny Sims]

Excuse me, sir. I hate to do this but the five minutes is up. In the next round I will be going back to Mr. Tremblay to share with Madame Groguhé. Just hold on to your answer, please.

I want to make sure everybody gets their time fairly.

The next speaker is Mr. Shory.

[Devinder Shory, Conservative, Calgary Northeast, AB]

Thank you, Madam Chair, and my thanks to the witnesses once again as well.

As our previous budgets and actions have shown, ensuring increased participation in our Canadian labour market by members of the first nations communities is very important to our government. Minister Kenney, when he was here, alluded to the importance of first nations participation. That could also be a solution to some skills we are lacking in Canada.

My question is, what is the Department of Employment and Social Development doing to increase aboriginal participation in the Canadian labour market? Also, could you update the committee on what the skills and partnership fund will do for Canadians?

[Ian Shugart]

Perhaps I could begin and then Mr. Vermaeten could add some detail on the skills and partnership fund.

There are three principal programs in the department targeted at improving the employability and skills of aboriginal Canadians. The first is the assets program, which is what I would call the base programming for aboriginal communities across the country. We have agreements with third-party providers who work with the communities, training institutions, employers. Frequently, the objective is to improve the skill levels. It's not always directly tied to employment prospects. There's tremendous diversity across the communities in receipt of these funds—some are very remote communities, some are semi-urban or closer to urban centres.

The second program I'd refer to is the first nations job fund, which is oriented specifically to younger aboriginal people on reserve who are in receipt of income assistance. The objective is to take people from communities on reserve that decide to participate, typically because economic opportunity will have been identified. We anticipate a very positive engagement between employers, the two departments engaged in this, and the training institutions to improve skills.

The third one is the skills and partnership fund, which is deliberately oriented towards private sector training institutions. The training is project-driven. There are clear economic opportunities, and we have engaged in some specific calls for proposals from industry.

Frank, you might want to add a word or two on those calls for proposals and the results we've had.

[Frank Vermaeten]

The skills and partnership fund is a true partnership program where we put out a call for proposals. We're looking for industry to invest in people. We put out a call for proposals and we get various companies. They tend to be the larger companies that are interested in taking a group of aboriginals and giving them a full suite of training so that they end up with a job at the end of it.

You'll have a project where the government, through the skills and partnership fund, might invest $10 million while the private sector might invest a similar amount. Other partners join in too, such as provinces and territories. Together they pool their funding, and they bring a group of individuals through training, on-the-job experiences. In many cases, they end up with jobs. We've had tremendous success with this program over the years. It's one that's very popular for the industry because they see it as a way to have the demand-driven training that helps train people to suit their needs.

[The Vice-Chair (Ms. Jinny Jogindera Sims), NDP, Jinny Sims]

Thank you very much. Your time is up. I know that time goes quickly when you're having fun.

Mr. Tremblay, I'll go back to you for two minutes, and then we're going to have a vote.

[Jonathan Tremblay, NDP, Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC]

The fact that the employment insurance fund and the government financial statements were consolidated, which will still be the case, had a significant impact on the government's overall financial outcomes. The government often ended up with a surplus that seemed to be much larger than it was in reality.

Is there anything planned to compensate for the loss of the Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board?

[Frank Vermaeten]

Perhaps I'll just finish what I was saying to make sure I'm answering the question properly and giving you a better understanding. As I was saying, we had the Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board when there was a different rate-setting mechanism.

The government came along and first limited the rate increase, because the premium rate was set to go up. The government said, “We're going to cap that rate at $1.88 for a number of years.” The concern was that if rates were to go up with the economy still not fully recovered.... They didn't want those rates to go up so they capped those rates.

The other important thing that they did in the last budget was to set in place a new rate-setting mechanism based on a seven-year outlook of the economy. The idea was to provide counter-cyclical support. You set a rate that's very stable. Even if the economy were to go down, the rate wouldn't automatically go up. Instead, it would remain stable and provide support to the economy.

In short, the Canada Employment Insurance Commission is being used to set the rate now because of the new rate-setting mechanism.

[The Vice-Chair (Ms. Jinny Jogindera Sims), NDP, Jinny Sims]

Thank you so much.

On behalf of the committee, I want to thank all of you for giving us your time and expertise and answering our questions. We look forward to the information you're going to provide on one of the questions. So once again, thank you.

We have a series of votes on the estimates right now.

HUMAN RESOURCES AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

Department

Vote 1b—Operating expenditures..........$2,896,559

Vote 5b—The grants listed in the Estimates and contributions..........$57,355,900

(Votes 1b and 5b agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, Phil McColeman]

Shall the chair report to the House votes 1b and 5b under Human Resources and Skills Development?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Phil McColeman]

Thank you very much.

[The Vice-Chair (Ms. Jinny Jogindera Sims), NDP, Jinny Sims]

Just so you all know, we're at 5:29 and managed to do all those things within the allocated time. So you get early dismissal.

The meeting is adjourned.