Evidence of meeting #81 for Finance in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was investments.
A video is available from Parliament.
6:30 p.m.
NDP
Hoang Mai NDP Brossard—La Prairie, QC
So we are talking about a very important program.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Awad, regarding youth, we know there are a lot of issues right now. We know about the fact that the unemployment rate has doubled. Canadians are having a lot of problems with household debt, and we can imagine what it would be like to start your career with a huge student loan or debt.
Can you tell us and give us a feel for how it's been going for the past six years? Has it been better or has it been worse for students?
6:35 p.m.
National Chairperson, Canadian Federation of Students
Do you mean in terms of student debt?
6:35 p.m.
National Chairperson, Canadian Federation of Students
We work with the numbers produced by the Canada student loans program, and year over year we see more applications. More loans are given out, and overall, students are relying more and more not just on provincial and federal loans that already exist but are turning to credit cards to pay for rent and groceries and are turning to student lines of credit. Students in a particular place where public loans aren't enough for whatever program they're in have to turn to a full-on student line of credit, up to $30,000 or $40,000 in some cases, just to make ends meet, and we're seeing that this trend is getting worse.
6:35 p.m.
NDP
Hoang Mai NDP Brossard—La Prairie, QC
Would you say students now fare worse than maybe six years ago?
6:35 p.m.
NDP
Hoang Mai NDP Brossard—La Prairie, QC
Just quickly, for the Chamber of Commerce, we were talking about the fact that our position is maybe to invest more in terms of green technology or in terms of having a green economy. What is your members' view on that, in terms of developing innovations on that front?
6:35 p.m.
Senior Vice-President, Policy, Canadian Chamber of Commerce
Certainly no one opposes environmental improvements. It is an area in Canada that we think is very promising. Obviously, new investment in infrastructure and plants and equipment almost automatically improves environmental performance.
6:35 p.m.
NDP
Hoang Mai NDP Brossard—La Prairie, QC
Do you think the government should do more in terms of investing in technology?
6:35 p.m.
Senior Vice-President, Policy, Canadian Chamber of Commerce
I think it's an area to be supported. I don't think how the government should do that is simple. Of course, it's a virtuous area and one that sells both domestically and for the export market.
6:35 p.m.
Conservative
Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, witnesses, for indulging when we went to vote and do more of our work.
I come from Saskatchewan. The extraction industries in Saskatchewan are huge. It's a very exciting place to be right now, compared to what it was in 2003-2004, when it was the place that provided Alberta with a whole pile of young employees. Now we're taking all those young kids back and trying to grab some Albertans. I notice that our chair is ignoring me on that.
We now have a lot of the same issues in Saskatchewan that you have in Alberta as far as education of youth in the extractive sectors is concerned. I'll talk to both the mining association and petroleum association.
I know that the University of Saskatchewan's College of Engineering is doing some work in the extractive industry sector. As far as corporate social responsibility and the development of engineers and expertise around the extractive industries are concerned, how much more do we need to develop here in Canada?
I'll leave it to both of you.
6:35 p.m.
Senior Vice-President, Petroleum Services Association of Canada
How much more, did you say?
6:35 p.m.
Senior Vice-President, Petroleum Services Association of Canada
Well, for quite a period of time, I think, because of the previous experiences of parents in the oil and gas industry and its boom-and-bust nature, I think a lot of parents discouraged their kids from taking geosciences in general, so a lot of the engineers are not always attracted to the oil and gas industry.
Then, too, the oil and gas industry itself has negative connotations on many fronts, and it's not always considered. Sometimes it's even considered a sunset industry. I think teachers are often on the side of environment and not necessarily on how we can do this better because we need oil and gas. I think there are some social issues and some perception issues there that need to be combatted in order to have more students go through those programs and come into the industry and take the jobs.
6:35 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Mining Association of Canada
Well, I don't know how to say what she just said any better; I would agree with what she has just said.
We face a lot of the same issues. It has been noticed that our two industries are doing very well right now, so it's certainly easier to recruit young people than it used to be in earlier times when growth industries weren't doing as well, but still, we do face a lot of challenges.
In mining, a lot of the jobs are often in very remote locations. Not everybody wants to do that. On the other hand, we are finding that we are now able to recruit people who actually think that it's kind of exotic to work not only in parts of Canada that you may not have known existed, but in parts of the world that you never thought you'd see.
We have to do a better job of marketing our business to young people and to show them just how incredible the opportunities are around the world.
6:40 p.m.
Conservative
Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK
We have the mineral exploration tax credit. Can you give us an overview of how that's working for you on major projects?
6:40 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Mining Association of Canada
Right now, the mineral exploration part of the business is hurting, because they rely so much on the capital markets to raise funds for exploration projects. They don't have cashflow; they raise it on the markets, so at the present time in particular, the tax credit is extremely important. Without it, right now I think they'd be even more hampered. It is a very attractive tool to help raise exploration spending in a time like this, when the markets are so risk-averse and so jittery. The case for continuing that credit now is, in our view, extremely strong.
6:40 p.m.
Conservative
Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK
So that has been a program that you've relied on and has been fairly successful in the past, and you'd like to see it stay?
6:40 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Mining Association of Canada
Oh, yes. It is definitely a very successful tool. It's also the envy of many other mineral jurisdictions. It certainly has contributed to the fact that Canada has attracted the largest percentage share of global exploration spending for the past six years now.
6:40 p.m.
Conservative
Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK
Okay.
In regard to transportation and getting the products from inland to port, have you had any issues or concerns among your members about the level of service of railways and those issues?
6:40 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Mining Association of Canada
I wasn't sure I heard you. Is it about railway service?
6:40 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Mining Association of Canada
Well, we were just talking about this. We are part of the shippers coalition, so as I said in my opening remarks, we are certainly looking forward to some legislation that will help balance the market power issue we're dealing with now.
I would acknowledge that in the last number of years we have seen improvements in rail service quality. CN has a really important line in northeast B.C. that is servicing the coal mines in northeast B.C. Actually, a lot of material goes through Saskatchewan through that same line, out to Ridley Terminals, and service improvements have been noted in that area.
