Evidence of meeting #62 for Finance in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was work.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Karen Swol  Director, Program Management, Rail Safety, Department of Transport
Dean Beyea  Director, International Trade Policy Division, Department of Finance
Olivier Nicoloff  Director, Democracy, Commonwealth and Francophonie Division, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
Colleen Barnes  Executive Director, Domestic Policy Directorate, Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Nancy Leigh  Manager, Governance Secretariat, Canada School of Public Service
Jane Pearse  Director, Financial Institutions Division, Financial Sector Policy Branch, Department of Finance
Suzanne Brisebois  Director General, Policy and Operations, Parole Board of Canada, Public Safety Canada
Louise Laflamme  Chief, Marine Policy and Regulatory Affairs, Department of Transport
Lenore Duff  Senior Director, Strategic Policy and Legislative Reform, Department of Human Resources and Skills Development
Lawrence Hanson  Director General, Strategic Policy Directorate, Department of the Environment
Pamela Miller  Director General, Telecommunications Policy Branch, Department of Industry
Allan MacGillivray  Special Advisor to the Director General, Telecommunications Policy, Department of Industry
Alwyn Child  Director General, Program Development and Guidance Directorate, Department of Human Resources and Skills Development
Mireille Laroche  Director General, Employment Insurance Policy, Department of Human Resources and Skills Development
Mark Hodgson  Senior Policy Analyst, Labour Markets, Employment and Learning, Department of Finance
Patrick Halley  Chief, Tariffs and Market Acess, International Trade and Finance, Department of Finance
Vivian Krause  As an Individual
Mark Blumberg  Lawyer and Partner, Blumberg Segal LLP
Dan Kelly  Senior Vice-President, Legislative Affairs, Canadian Federation of Independent Business
Dennis Howlett  Coordinator, Canadians for Tax Fairness
Jamie Ellerton  Executive Director, EthicalOil.org
Blair Rutter  Grain Growers of Canada
Marcel Lauzière  President and Chief Executive Officer, Imagine Canada
Tom King  Co-Chair, Finance and Taxation Committee, Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada
Sandra Harder  Director General, Strategic Policy and Planning, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Cam Carruthers  Director, Program Integrity Division, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
David Manicom  Immigration Program Manager (New Delhi), Area Director (South Asia), Department of Citizenship and Immigration

9:25 p.m.

Director General, Strategic Policy and Planning, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

9:25 p.m.

Conservative

Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON

How much?

9:25 p.m.

Director General, Strategic Policy and Planning, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

Sandra Harder

David knows that.

9:25 p.m.

Immigration Program Manager (New Delhi), Area Director (South Asia), Department of Citizenship and Immigration

David Manicom

It is $550 per adult and I believe $125 per child.

9:30 p.m.

Conservative

Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON

That's to answer your question, Wayne.

9:30 p.m.

Director General, Strategic Policy and Planning, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

Sandra Harder

Those fees, of course, will be refunded.

9:30 p.m.

Conservative

Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON

They'll be refunded, yes, but clearly it was a revenue source of some kind at the time it was conceived because there was no limit placed on how many FSWs would be accepted, right? It was unlimited.

9:30 p.m.

Director General, Strategic Policy and Planning, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

Sandra Harder

There is no limit on intake. There is always a limit on output.

9:30 p.m.

Conservative

Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON

Okay, so that could be considered a cash cow.

Okay, I don't expect you to answer that.

Wayne, there's your answer.

I read a book recently by James Clifton, who's the chair of Gallup. It's titled The Coming Jobs War. He essentially talks about how the battles in the future are going to be over jobs, not just in developed countries but in developing countries, because all the empirical evidence indicates there's going to be a higher demand for jobs around the world.

Creating a demand-driven economic immigration system, a legislative framework, really speaks to that empirical evidence, does it not? And I would suggest that it's a good public policy initiative. Would you agree?

9:30 p.m.

Director General, Strategic Policy and Planning, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

Sandra Harder

I would agree. Part of the ethos behind moving in the direction that the department is taking, that the government is taking on immigration, is to have a system that's somewhat more active in terms of recruiting and not passive in terms of accepting all applications.

So we do want to be in a position to be able to select the best, not necessarily the first. That will inform the broader directions to the immigration program over the future.

9:30 p.m.

Conservative

Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON

Thank you.

I'll give Mr. Hoback the rest of my time.

9:30 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative James Rajotte

You have one minute.

9:30 p.m.

Conservative

Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK

I'd like to clarify some things for our colleagues across the floor. This budget isn't just about cost-cutting mechanisms. It's about repositioning the government and repositioning Canada in such a way that we can generate jobs.

I use this example. We had a pre-budget meeting in Regina, where the chamber of commerce talked about trying to locate a business there, and the business was coming to Regina but couldn't find a thousand employees. They needed a thousand employees, so thus, they did not come to Regina. They could find 600 employees, but they couldn't find a thousand, and that's where the labour market opinions, and looking for these employees to fill these positions are so important to keep our economy going. We're losing economic opportunity in Saskatchewan, not because it's not there; it's because we don't have the people to do the work.

So I assume by the changes that you're making, by hitting the reset button, that those people can all reapply. I understand. They get their money back. They can reapply. They get recharacterized and moved into the queue according to the skill sets that we want. And then the processing time that they'll go under at that point in time will be what?

9:30 p.m.

Director General, Strategic Policy and Planning, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

Sandra Harder

It will typically be six to 12 months.

9:30 p.m.

Conservative

Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK

That is substantially better than seven years.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

9:30 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative James Rajotte

Thank you.

I want to thank our officials for being here, especially so late at night. I want to thank the other officials for coming forward and being here. Unfortunately, it is 9:30, and we have reached the end of our time tonight.

Colleagues, tomorrow we will be meeting at 10:30 a.m., not at 9:30 a.m. Please check the updated agenda.

Thank you.

The meeting is adjourned.