Evidence of meeting #63 for Finance in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was changes.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Director, Government and Political Affairs, United Food and Commerical Workers Union
Okay.
In theory, yes, but in practicality, no. That does not necessarily happen. We have agricultural centres across the country that support agricultural workers. They come to us on a daily basis about problems in their workplaces.
Conservative
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I just have a couple of questions.
First, to Mr. “Poirier”, is it...?
I didn't realize the name was so popular until I did some Google searches. You're not—and I'm sure you are not, but I'm just curious—the president of the Liberal party in any riding, are you?
President, Professional Serving Canadians Coalition, Canadian Association of Professional Employees
No.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
Well, there are two of you who have been, and I was quite shocked—
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
—I'd never seen the name before, so I was like, wow, it's a....
President, Professional Serving Canadians Coalition, Canadian Association of Professional Employees
There's also a guy on TV in Quebec.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
Yes, actually, a crime reporter. I saw that as well.
At any rate, I was impressed; I didn't know there were so many of you around.
I come from the riding in the country that has, I would suggest, the most difficulty getting employees. In fact, I can assure you that the number one issue in my riding over the last six or seven years has been to find people, because we can't find people. We can't find people for many, many different jobs.
I see that there are approximately 2,600 jobs being let go in Red Deer. Is that correct?
President, Professional Serving Canadians Coalition, Canadian Association of Professional Employees
Red Deer, per se, I don't know; I don't have the exact figure in my—
Conservative
President, Professional Serving Canadians Coalition, Canadian Association of Professional Employees
Yes.
President, Professional Serving Canadians Coalition, Canadian Association of Professional Employees
That's the result of the Statistics Canada model. It's a linear model. There might be some flaws in it.
Conservative
President, Professional Serving Canadians Coalition, Canadian Association of Professional Employees
Yes, because you cannot really.... I mean, we have nurses losing their jobs—
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
I understand; it's plus or minus the standard deviation, etc. I understand totally.
I'm just curious, because I also have more union members, I think, than anybody else in the country. In Fort McMurray I have a lot of unions and I get 72% of the vote, which I think is one of the highest in the country as well.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
I am bragging, you're right. A lot of my constituents come from Scott Brison's riding—
Conservative
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
My curiosity is this. I don't have very many constituents who are Canadian government employees. In fact, I would say I probably have under ten employees who are, but I could be wrong. I have some Service Canada offices, but I really don't have a lot of government employees.
So my people, the people whom I represent, pay the bill for the government employees....
They don't pay the bill?
