Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, yes, the specialized unit is still in place, and it continues to review those cases. In addition, when we use the channels of communication with the tribunal to indicate what we are likely to decide, there is very good co-operation to remove those cases from the pipeli

Public Accounts committee  I do not share your observations at all. I will address a thing or two and then ask my colleague to elaborate on the process. The application documentation, which was inordinately long and complex and has now been considerably reduced, is of necessity—because of the subject matt

Public Accounts committee  Yes, and that is what we have been working to streamline and simplify. We're dealing—until the time of the audit, frankly—with many legacy issues, the continuance for too long of a particular application process and decision process. As I indicated, as part of our CPP service i

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the opportunity to be here with you along with my colleagues to address the findings and recommendations of the Auditor General's report, the audit on the Canada pension plan disability program. I want to convey to the committee this morning how serious

Human Resources committee  You've put your finger on a challenge that we have been focused on for some time now. Those disparities often arise because of barriers, many of which are regulatory or have been regulatory. Let's deal with, broadly speaking, the professional categories. This is in the domain of

Human Resources committee  I would clarify, for the committee, that the homelessness partnering strategy is a program that is run within the department of employment and social development. The affordable housing and so on is the...so I'll ask Kathryn to provide the detail on that.

Human Resources committee  I would say that a number of measures have already been taken in the area of student financial assistance, which I think are going to be significant. Some early steps were taken on EI, the new entrants and re-entrants, and those who faced a higher hurdle but who had been contribu

Human Resources committee  Mr. Chair, I'm going to ask Louise Levonian, the chief operating officer, to elaborate on this. We have been concerned about the call centre situation in particular, because this is how people increasingly find out what their status is or raise concerns. As you know, the budget

Human Resources committee  Yes, our analysis shows in the neighbourhood of 300,000 children will come out of poverty as a result of this measure. Of course, we'll be monitoring, measuring, and reporting on that.

Human Resources committee  Thank you for the question, Ms. Sansoucy. We are starting discussions with our provincial and territorial partners. Each level of government has its own poverty-reduction policy and programs. The government is determined to work with its partners and to act according to its ow

Human Resources committee  I will ask my colleague Paul Thompson to provide more details about those specific questions. First of all, I would like to point out that the program affects a very delicate aspect of the Canadian labour market. The objective is to offer work to Canadians in the first place, bu

Human Resources committee  The main features of the CCB I think are essentially its advantages. It is, in the first instance, more generous than the previous benefit. Probably the main differentiating feature is that it is more targeted, which is where you get the disproportionate benefit for low-income an

Human Resources committee  I'll invite Kathryn McDade to fill in on this.

Human Resources committee  Thank you, Chair, and members of the committee, for having us today. I'll start at my left and just move around the table. Tony Giles is the assistant deputy minister of policy, dispute resolution, and international affairs in the labour program in the department. Next to him is

Human Resources committee  As you know, Chair, the 2015-16 supplementary estimates (C) were tabled on February 19 and the 2016-17 main estimates were tabled before the budget on February 23. I'm going to speak just by way of highlights to the main estimates as they pertain to the department. The main esti