Finance Committee on Oct. 5th, 2006

[Thierry St-Cyr, Bloc, Jeanne-Le Ber, QC]

Fine. You take that amount and you divide it by the rent or by the operating costs.

Let us suppose that the federal government decreases or completely eliminates rent; there is no guarantee that that ratio will remain the same nor that it will generate any additional economic activity. In other words, reducing rent by $1 does not necessarily generate economic benefits worth $35. Have you undertaken any studies or analyses on the economic impact of such a reduction?

[Rob Slinger]

A new 47-page study was done. The government also undertook a study six months ago providing the same measurement.

[Thierry St-Cyr, Bloc, Jeanne-Le Ber, QC]

Ms. Jategaonkar, you mentioned investments in Genome Canada. I might have missed this, but do you have a number or a specific request to put to the Finance Committee?

[Lisa Jategaonkar]

We don't have a specific request at this time. Rather, we would ask this committee to recognize the importance of genomics to the agricultural and health sectors, as well as to new emerging economies here in this province and in Manitoba.

[Thierry St-Cyr, Bloc, Jeanne-Le Ber, QC]

Fine. In the research sector, have you encountered any problems in terms of labour, researchers, available skills or human resources? Are there any needs or is everything fine and there is no lack of funding?

[Lisa Jategaonkar]

I think we have developed quite a bit of momentum in research. As I mentioned during my presentation, we were in a position where we were quite behind in genomics research, but we have moved to an area of leadership in certain areas of medical and agricultural applications.

Genomics is a very rapidly evolving field. It requires being able to keep up to date with new technologies and expertise. It's very important that we maintain the momentum that we have already gained, so that we can take advantage of the benefits in health, agriculture, and emerging economies.

[Thierry St-Cyr, Bloc, Jeanne-Le Ber, QC]

Mr. Nylander, in your brief, you talked about incentives for students to undertake a first-year post-secondary studies. Do you have any concrete ideas with respect to the kind of measures that should be used?

[Bryan Nylander]

I would give an example. Early childhood education is a very lowly paid employment opportunity. Does it make sense to get a $15,000 student loan to go into a $20,000 career? Can we not have certain agendas whereby we're actually helping people gain the employment, like incentives such as full bursary programs for low-paying positions? Why can we not consider opportunities like that?

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

Thank you very much, sir.

Mr. Dykstra, you have the floor.

You have five minutes, sir.

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to continue with a couple of questions for Mr. Nylander.

I also wanted to highlight that for some reason my good friend Mr. McCallum did not ask the GST question when we were in Alberta yesterday, but he did ask it in Vancouver. I'm not sure why, but I thought you needed to know that.

There's one thing I'm trying to come to grips with. We've heard a lot about post-secondary education and commitments by the federal and provincial governments. Statistics Canada recently showed a phenomenal increase over the last ten years in young people attending post-secondary educational institutions despite the issues you've pointed out this morning, which aren't necessarily all positive, but which we face. I wouldn't mind having you comment on that. Obviously costs have increased, the ability to afford to do so may not be as easy, but at the same time there has been a tremendous increase in those going to school.

[Bryan Nylander]

I would agree. There has been an increase in people participating in post-secondary education. The question is whether that is satisfying what the economy really requires from an output perspective. It would be our opinion that we are not achieving, especially in the skills training agenda. We're not satisfying the number of folks we need to satisfy from an employment opportunity perspective. Yes, we're increasing volume, but is it a satisfactory increase? We would suggest that it's not at this point in time.

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

That's interesting. I wish we had more time to talk about that, because it's obviously a dichotomy when you have a massive increase in attendance, yet at the same time it doesn't seem to satisfy anyone at least on the receiving end of those students coming in.

I'd also like to ask Ms. Brown a couple of questions, but one of the other questions I had for you specifically deals with the aboriginal issue and attendance at post-secondary educational institutions. One of the things we did in this year's budget was commit an additional $450 million to ensure that aboriginal youths do have the opportunity for education. I wondered what you thought of that and the comments with respect to adult literacy, taking into account the $450 million and becoming more focused on what that money is going to be for, rather than just having an open-ended fund with which we don't necessarily know what the outcomes are going to be.

[Bryan Nylander]

We obviously support any resources that are being provided to improve participation rates of the aboriginal community in post-secondary education. There is a significant opportunity. If we look at the demographics of the aboriginal population, there is a baby boom that will be entering into the post-secondary world. I don't have a comment as to whether or not those are sufficient resources, but I would encourage the government to consider that there is going to be an ever-increasing population that is coming into the age group for post-secondary education, and I would hope you would redouble and triple your efforts.

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

Good. Thanks. I just wanted to get the comment that we are on that road, and we'll certainly try.

Ms. Brown you talked about five things: retention, recruitment, innovation, research, and genuine commitment. Based on the fact that Saskatchewan has a New Democratic Party leading it here in the province, I would have thought there would be a much stronger commitment to the organization of nurses and doctors than what you've told us is the case this morning. I wonder if you could comment on that and why your government in the province has not responded in kind to the concerns you've put forward.

[Marlene Brown]

I would have to say we are very disappointed in the government's response to our call for attention to the nursing shortage. We're very disappointed because this is not a new issue, it has been highlighted on the horizon for a number of years. Of course, now we're into it and feeling the effects. So yes, we're disappointed.

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

I will continue, but I'm sure my colleague will have some comments later.

Very quickly, one of the questions that we've asked of a number of folks when we talk about health care and education is on the federal transfer of funds to each of the provinces. Obviously, right now we just transfer funds and trust that the provinces are going to do a good job with the funds that we give them from a federal perspective. What do you think about the opportunity to make sure those transfers are directed where they should be so that we actually have a federal tie to where those funds go?

[Marlene Brown]

Yes, we would like to see that, which is why we're asking for the pan-Canadian strategy. If you're going to put the funds in, we need to measure what they're doing. They may have used those for programs, but obviously were not successful. There needs to be an evaluation of what's happening, certainly setting targets and measuring to see if you've met them.

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

Thank you, Ms. Brown.

Thank you, Mr. Dykstra.

Mr. McKay, five minutes to you.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

Thank you, Chair. My first question is to Mr. Marit.

There seems to be an enthusiasm on the part of this government to eliminate the Wheat Board. I was wondering whether you or your organization had a view on that matter.

[David Marit]

We don't have all day.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[David Marit]

Our organization does have a position on the Wheat Board, as a resolution had passed at our convention. The resolution states that we do support the Canadian Wheat Board and the single desk. That resolution passed at our March 2006 convention.

I was invited to Mr. Anderson's round table here in Saskatoon in July. I was an observer at that. He knows our position. I guess that's the comment I will make to you at this time.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

When the vote took place, was it an overwhelming vote or was it a narrow vote? What was it?

[David Marit]

It was an overwhelming vote.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

Thank you.

Mr. Slinger, I come from Toronto, and the airport issue has been vexatious for us, to say the least. When it was transferred to a not-for-profit entity in the GTAA, essentially the transfer that took place said the federal government wouldn't charge any kind of significant rent for the first few years, and that once the expenditures were made and the facility was built, the rent would ramp up. You know, you didn't hear too many complaints from the airport authority when the rents were very low. Now the rents are in effect backfilling for a public facility that was used by the authority for virtually little or nothing. I don't know, but is that the pattern here in Regina, that you had a sweet deal for a while and now the rents are going up?