Evidence of meeting #37 for Finance in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was industry.
A recording is available from Parliament.
October 19th, 2006 / noon
Conservative
Diane Ablonczy Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
There were some very unique briefs this morning. We appreciate that. Some good points were brought forward.
Mr. Rabbior, you make a good point that economic education is going to be key to success for people. Some people seem to lack that.
My question is how this would be delivered. You've put a good program together, but how would it be delivered?
Noon
President, Canadian Foundation for Economic Education
There are a number of ways in which it's being delivered right now that could be exploited even further.
There are efforts going on in the schools--certainly not enough. There's a need to bring a greater priority to economic and financial education in the schools. There are community service agencies across this country that are struggling to deliver this kind of assistance to their clients. Unfortunately, they tend not to have the training or background. We're currently doing some programs to train and provide resources to community service agencies who face the unemployed, the economically disadvantaged, and the newcomers who are trying to get their economic life together.
There are also immigrant serving agencies and others. There are also government programs. There are a lot of agents of delivery. In some cases right now there's not the priority assigned to it, nor the investment in the effective resources to do so. Many of the resources developed in this area are written far beyond the capacity of the average Canadian to understand. Canadians want to learn. There's a pent-up demand that is incredible. The unfortunate thing is that they're very distrustful of the sources. Most of the time the sources are talking at levels they can't truly comprehend.
Noon
Conservative
Diane Ablonczy Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Thank you. That's helpful.
Mr. Loewen, how long has it been since the allowances were revisited?
Noon
President, Frontier Duty Free Association, Association of Canadian Airport Duty-Free Operators
The last time was 1993.
Noon
President, Frontier Duty Free Association, Association of Canadian Airport Duty-Free Operators
And then in 2000--I don't have the exact year--the weekly allowance was changed to $750 from...I believe it was $400 at the time.
12:05 p.m.
President, Frontier Duty Free Association, Association of Canadian Airport Duty-Free Operators
That was about four or five years ago, if I recall.
Sorry, it was 2001.
12:05 p.m.
Conservative
Diane Ablonczy Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
All right. I just wanted to know that. It just seems like time to get on with things.
Mr. Jeffery, I appreciate your concern about health. It strikes me that tobacco taxes and such really haven't changed people's behaviour significantly. They just make things more expensive. What makes you think taxes on junk food would actually lead to positive results?
12:05 p.m.
National Coordinator, Centre for Science in the Public Interest
According to the Canadian Cancer Society, taxes on tobacco have been fabulously successful in reducing tobacco consumption rates in Canada. There's a table in my presentation that shows how the increases in prices mirrored very closely decreases in consumption. With respect to food, we're just basing our conclusions on the econometric studies that have been done in a number of countries.
12:05 p.m.
Conservative
Diane Ablonczy Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
I'm not sure that taxes alone are the driver of change in tobacco use.
12:05 p.m.
National Coordinator, Centre for Science in the Public Interest
Certainly, Madam, we're not recommending exclusively that. We recommend other things: education, labelling, and so on.
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Conservative
Diane Ablonczy Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Yes, I understand that.
Ms. Gordon, I think we all know family members and friends afflicted with Parkinson's. It's a terrible thing.
How would this study be carried out? Will you knock on people's doors? It's pretty tough to understand how you would actually do a case-by-case compilation here.
12:05 p.m.
Executive Director, Parkinson Society Canada
We're working with Dr. Wolfson, at McGill, who is an expert epidemiologist. We've begun to look at an initial framework and how it could be devised and what kinds of population strategies could be taken. We expect that report in December, and we'd be glad to share it with you.
It will lay out some approaches that we should consider and the best strategies to get that kind of information and how to best go about managing the future for people with Parkinson's.
12:05 p.m.
Conservative
12:05 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Brian Pallister
Merci beaucoup, Madame.
We'll go now to three-minute rounds, with Mr. Savage.
12:05 p.m.
Liberal
Michael Savage Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
Thank you.
Let me stay with Ms. Gordon, and I'll follow up on Ms. Ablonczy's line of questioning.
We've heard from a lot of the health charities during this round of pre-budget consultation. I know from talking to health charities last year, being on the health committee, that a lot of the health charities are asking for money to do surveillance. There doesn't seem to be good surveillance done on any of the health surveillance front in Canada.
I know from my own experience in cardiovascular that they were looking for money some years ago to put together surveillance, and for cancer, the same way. We had the national diabetes strategy, which included some surveillance. But I think people would be surprised at the extent to which we haven't really coordinated health information in Canada.
To follow up on Ms. Ablonczy's questioning, I'd like to hear more about how this strategy would actually be unveiled. Is the Parkinson Society putting some money into it too, or would this be the $5 million that would be provided by the government?
12:05 p.m.
Executive Director, Parkinson Society Canada
We are currently funding Dr. Wolfson to get the framework. We would also look at additional funding that could be matched to carry this forward.
Parkinson's is a chronic disease, and chronic diseases are significantly not only underfunded but under-surveyed in terms of data, compared to some of the bigger disease conditions. We really don't have numbers that can be put on the table that have the kind of science they need, and that makes it very hard to plan public and social policy.
12:05 p.m.
Liberal
Michael Savage Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
I think people would be surprised at the extent to which even individual doctors' offices aren't connected in terms of gathering health data.
CIHI and other organizations are working on that, as is the CMA, I know, as well.
12:10 p.m.
Liberal
Michael Savage Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
Ms. Davis and Mr. Fournier, we talked a bit before the panel commenced. I haven't seen the show that you're involved in, but I've seen Drum!, which is a play put on in Atlantic Canada that talks about the four groups that really founded Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canada: African Canadians, the Celts, Acadians, and aboriginals. It's all done through music. It's fabulous. I would recommend it to anybody. The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, ACOA, has been involved as a big supporter of that. I see that as a major role of regional development. I completely support that.
But let me ask you a question. We used to have a member of the committee, Mr. Turner, who is no longer with us. We enjoyed Mr. Turner, particularly since he was on that side.
