Evidence of meeting #42 for Finance in the 40th Parliament, 3rd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was industry.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
We need only think of TOU.TV. The sharing of content—
Deputy General Director, Association des producteurs de films et de télévision du Québec
Yes.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
—has become extremely diversified and increasingly common.
Deputy General Director, Association des producteurs de films et de télévision du Québec
Yes, that is exactly it.
I simply wanted to point out there has been no research and development in this area.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
If I may, I quickly calculated the total of what you are asking for. It comes to about $80 million or $90 million, over a variable period. If you had to set one absolute priority, what would it be? As I am sure you are aware, we are going through—
President and Chief Executive Officer, Association des producteurs de films et de télévision du Québec
If I had to choose one absolute priority, I would say that the issue of co-production is one that certainly deserves some attention in the short term. The Feature Film Fund budget also needs to be reviewed. That amount has not been indexed for years.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Okay, thank you. I would now like to speak to—
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Okay.
Mr. Knight and Mr. Dayler, you both represent students. You both—probably without consulting one another—talked about first nations. Regarding first nations education, a march was held on Parliament Hill to demand more funding for post-secondary education, particularly, for first nations groups.
Mr. Knight, in the report you tabled, it also talks about immigration as a possible solution. The combination of immigration and first nations post-secondary education is probably not the only way to solve the problem of employability.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Association of Canadian Community Colleges
What I drew attention to were the demographic challenges that Canada has and the reality that employers will not find the skills they need to carry on their businesses. There are a number of solutions to that problem. One is immigration—that can do something for us, not a lot, but something—and certainly ensuring that our fastest-growing demographic, our aboriginal population, is more successful in education. Currently, the number of aboriginal post-secondary graduates is falling, not increasing, and that is shameful, simply shameful.
National Director, Canadian Alliance of Student Associations
In terms of our comments, obviously we're facing a major shortage in our labour force and in making sure that the fastest-growing demographic, that being our aboriginal populations, is educated and trained to the level that they need to be to compete and help us move forward in facing that challenge.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
Thank you.
Mr. Cullen, please. You may have a seven-minute round.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you to all our witnesses. You've done a commendable job of trying to pack so much of what you're hoping for into such a reduced time.
I sometimes reflect on the process we use here in the federal government to get information about how to solve some of the country's challenges this way. We do a pre-budget consultation in my riding just through my office, and we try to get at things with more of a problem-solving initiative: take the problem and then have everyone get around the table. I sometimes lament that we don't have something similar for us federally. It's a big country and all the rest, but if you have any comments on process, feel free to throw them in with your answers to this question.
Mr. Knight, picking up on my colleague's question about first nations graduation rates, there's a college in northern B.C. called Northwest Community College. You may well know Stephanie Forsyth. She has since moved to Manitoba, but she had a lot of success in increasing participation of first nations.
What's the single greatest impediment right now? You talked about graduation rates falling for first nations students, yet as identified by CASA, this is a growing demographic and one that needs to be addressed. What's the single greatest barrier in the college experience that keeps first nations students from completing their studies?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Association of Canadian Community Colleges
Well, there are many. One is poor K to 12 education. Another is financial, and that's what we spoke to. Another is cultural--ensuring that the cultural facilities in the institution are welcoming and reflect the aboriginal need.
I want to say that a number of colleges have done very well with aboriginal post-secondary education. You've mentioned Northwest Community College. I would add several others, but I'll tell you that Red River College in Manitoba has a higher aboriginal participation rate than the population would justify, and it's not alone.
We've worked very hard at this file, and there are success stories, absolutely, but there is still a very long distance to go.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
It would be something worthwhile, at least to folks like me, if some of those trends and models could be picked up and then implemented, particularly when speaking to government—and I know the colleges talk—speaking to the financial services that government offers, the mechanisms that the government actually controls.
Turning to my friends at CASA here, I'm looking at a number of your requests. How would you characterize the trend for students and their loan payments? Take the last 10 years, if you want to look at a specific timeframe. Are we trending up or are we trending down? Are students leaving school with more money owed to the banks or less?
Spencer Keys Government Relations Officer, Canadian Alliance of Student Associations
It's essentially two things. One is that there's definitely more debt out there, and that has been steadily rising for a number of years. We have seen some very good investments, such as the Canada student grants program, to continue the grants that are out there for students. But debt is rising.
We're also seeing that a number of students are in fact taking loans from the government, and the number of those who are defaulting on those loans is going down. It's still around 16%, which is a large number, but there has been some decrease over the last few years.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
That last point you make is interesting. I would suggest that there's a general dialogue out there that students are not good at repaying their debt, that they tend to default more than average Canadians, that they're not good borrowers.
Getting back to your requests, you talked about increasing the loan limit. I'm surprised that there wasn't something in your brief that talked more about the grant portion. If we're trending towards higher debts and students are leaving it, we know that's an encumbrance upon the general economy. They tend to buy fewer things and tend to make career choices that are not optimal, in order to service the debt.
Why would you ask for more debt rather than seek more grants?
Government Relations Officer, Canadian Alliance of Student Associations
That's certainly a good question.
There are two issues. One is how much debt you have at the end of your education. But first, do you have enough money to simply start your education? We mention in our brief some of the effects of the recession on student employment. Student unemployment is up 24% over the pre-recession period, so you have a number of students who simply do not have enough money to even start their program.
That's one problem, one barrier: how do we get people to actually begin the program? There's the new repayment assistance program. That, we think, is going to help with people who have larger amounts of debt on the back end, but we certainly would associate ourselves with anyone who wants to put more grant money out there. We think there is an acute issue.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
It's an interesting and I think important story.
Ms. Worsfold, you mentioned a national pharmacare program. I can see how it would have some tangential benefits to the experience of your average nurse going to work, but it's not a request to pay more nurses more money. You're not doing something that's directly affecting and benefiting your members. Why make that one of your few requests?
It's expensive as well. How have you folks come to rationalize that request as being a top priority for nurses in the health care system? Secondly, how can you rationalize the cost and say that overall this is a worthwhile cost for government to incur?
Secretary-Treasurer, Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions
The paper I referred to actually says we could save $10.7 billion--save it. It's not going to cost us that much money.
You're right, we're not asking for more money for nurses, even though we need more nurses. I think with the cost savings with a pharmacare program we could look at areas that have been neglected over the years, including long-term care, home care, mental health, and those types of things.
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Thank you.
What would the barrier be then, if you had to guess, to government accepting this recommendation? I'm sure the current government is into saving money, outside of G-8 things--
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
--and is into helping people in those categories that you mentioned--home care, mental health, and what not. Is it philosophical? Is it ideological? Is it the appearance that this is just going to cost more rather than save money? What's preventing government from getting better service to Canadians and better health care, while saving the taxpayer money in the process?