Finance Committee on Nov. 19th, 2012

[Dave Van Kesteren, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Essex, ON]

I don't have much time. I want to shift to the aboriginal side.

How can we better work with provinces and territories to ensure that all students, including aboriginals, have the information access they need to begin a post-secondary education? Is there something you see within your program that maybe can improve that? We all recognize that as an issue. Is there some direction you could give?

[Dr. Rachel Gouin]

I would encourage you to work with aboriginal organizations. I know the government already is. That is definitely the way to go.

Some of our clubs serve a high number of aboriginal kids. The Saddle Lake club is on a first nations reserve. The Winnipeg club has high levels of aboriginal youth who participate. Those are just two examples.

With respect to the programs we offer in some of these clubs, we have a partnership with Rogers, for instance, that allows us to provide education support throughout high school to make sure that they don't drop out and that they have post-secondary funding grants to pursue post-secondary education. It's called Rogers Raising the Grade. This is a partnership the Boys and Girls Clubs have established. Twenty-five of our clubs are involved.

Those are initiatives the private sector is getting involved in, and it is making a difference.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Van Kesteren.

We'll go to Mr. Marston, please.

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Aiken, in 1974 I worked on the railway. I was a signal maintenance man. I had four people killed at one crossing in an 11-month period. To this day, 48 years later, I have a recurring dream, about once a month, that I'm explaining to my supervisor why I hadn't tested those crossings properly. So I think I have an understanding of PTSD. Back in those days, you didn't go to anybody for help. You never even thought in terms of that.

The government, as a whole, and all of us in this room, care about our troops. But I wonder if they really capture the sense of the seriousness of how many people in the military, both those still in and veterans, are suffering from this. We hear stories in Parliament all the time about cutbacks to services.

I'm going to ask how you would categorize the funding status today. Is it as we have known it for a number years? Is it less? Is it improving?

[Dr. Alice Aiken]

I think when we're looking specifically at mental health, funding for mental health treatment services within the military has improved. For veterans, it's the same as the rest of society, because 90% of them are in the rest of society. So I think that probably it hasn't improved for veterans.

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

How close to adequate would you call it?

[Dr. Alice Aiken]

Well, you know, it's interesting. From 1991 to 1998, we saw the first Gulf War, Rwanda, and Somalia. Very anecdotally, when I released from the forces in 1998, we were starting to see an upscale in operations that was unprecedented. In my last four years, just at the health care clinic I worked at, we saw a three-fold increase in mental health needs, and that has continued to increase and grow.

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

That was the point I was getting to. I had a very modest situation relative to what people saw and were involved with over there. The lasting effects are obvious in my case, and they went through a lot more for an extended period of stress.

Ms. Gouin, we've talked before. I'm a big supporter of the Kiwanis Boys and Girls Clubs in Hamilton East. In that part of Hamilton, we have a high level of high-risk young people, young adults. I'm a supporter of education. You talked about education as being the way out. I negotiated a labour studies program with our community college. I related to your presentation, but I would suggest that the intervention that I see as the essential ingredient in the Boys and Girls Clubs is between getting out of school and when parents get home.

In your organization's on-the-ground view, what's the impact of mandatory minimum sentencing? We've had a fair amount of legislation in the last while, and some people believe that's how you address the problem of those at risk. Has this made your organization's work more difficult? If so, from a budgetary perspective, what recommendations could your organization make to us so that we could help you?

[Dr. Rachel Gouin]

I am not front line, so I can't speak to that, and I haven't heard clubs talking about the effect of the mandatory minimum. I have heard clubs talk a lot about the importance of prevention and the difference they can see it makes. The youth they see who are involved in gangs or in difficult situations most often are youth who have been traumatized. They've experienced violence in the home. Either they're born into a family that's already involved in gangs or they're living on the streets. They are victims we need to work with.

They see issues like homelessness, drug use in the home. They're strong believers in prevention. They see the path that is possible for young people if they have the support they need. That support is based on relationships, so there is a need for long-term investment in young people, not just in and out of communities.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

You have twenty seconds.

That's it?

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

Twenty seconds is....

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you, Mr. Marston.

Mr. Hoback, please.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Thank you, Chair, and thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for being here this evening.

I'm going to direct my questions to both the restaurant and retail sectors. I'm looking for assistance to help me understand. You talked about supply management and what the impact is on both your sectors. You can't see a consumer just going across the border for a jug of milk. It doesn't make sense to do that. Why would you say that's an issue in your sector? Can you explain that to me?

[Diane Brisebois]

It is indeed an issue. Indirectly in response to Monsieur Caron's question, the issue here is not the protection of farmers; the issue is that this year alone consumers will spend between $15 billion and $20 billion in cross-border shopping. You only need to go to Bellingham, just across from the B.C. border, and go to a certain retail store—I will not name it. There is even a Facebook page of American consumers who are angry because they can't get chicken or milk or butter because of the number of Canadians emptying the shelves.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Yes, but the savings for those items are small. How would that impact a family? Can you give me an idea?

[Diane Brisebois]

In fact, chicken breast here is $6.92. In that store in the U.S., it's $3. I can tell you, sir, that impacts your budget if you have a family with young children. If you look at milk, it's the same: 92¢ to $2.40. Those are everyday items, which is why that's the product we've seen most purchased. That's what affects everyone's budget the most.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

So if you took those items and looked at an individual family or a low-income family, that's substantial enough for them to go through the hassle, wait at the border, and actually go across the line and buy it?

[Diane Brisebois]

Maybe because I'm obsessed with this, I've spent quite a bit of time at Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia borders. I've followed people in malls and asked them to show me what they've purchased and how often they do it. Sir, I was shocked.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

To the restaurant association, again, milk and eggs are small ingredients. They're not going to have a huge impact on the price of food you're offering a customer, are they?

[Joyce Reynolds]

Well, you're talking about milk and eggs, but we're talking about poultry and cheese. Cheese is a really big one. In fact, there is a class of cheese just for pizza manufacturers, and it was necessary to give them their own class of cheese because of the concern that they would move south with their manufacturing facilities because the prices were so much cheaper. Fresh pizzerias don't have that option. They can't move south to avoid the high cost of dairy products, so they are stuck with prices that are 30% higher.

Absolutely, the biggest inputs for restaurants are food and labour, and quite frankly, the supply managed products make up a big portion of their food costs.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

One of the other areas you talked about is fees, and credit card fees. I'm just kind of curious, and I'm looking for some input. We're using different types of purchasing mechanisms now. I went to a movie this weekend and bought the ticket online. I actually bought it on my Galaxy 3 phone. It was great. It was easy to do. I did it through PayPal.

Are you seeing new types of technologies such as that affecting your sector? What do you think we should be doing to embrace those technologies and create more competition with Visa in that area?

[Diane Brisebois]

I would say that generally restaurants and retailers embrace those new technologies. We're seeing PayPal play a huge role, especially with smaller retailers, because they bring all of the different transactions together and provide one cost. We're seeing that most people now, when they go to movies, will “tap and go” to pay or they'll pay online. That's happening in stores and with fast food. That's very common.

I think what is most important for our businesses, when we look at the code of conduct, is just to make sure that when you're given an application on your phone—a wallet or “app” that allows you to pay—you are the one making the choice and not the bank that sent you the app, because we know the choice they'll make will be the most expensive one for the retailer.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

I think I'll leave it there, Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you very much, Mr. Hoback.

Mr. Mai, the floor is yours.

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank our witnesses for being here today.

My question is for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada representative. I think a number of aspects of your brief are interesting. When representatives of Canada Without Poverty appeared before our committee, I asked them whether the government had kept its promise to eliminate child poverty in the year 2000. That was an old plan. We were told that the promise had definitely not been kept. Therefore, we can say that the government has not done its job.

Your brief also says that the government should set up a poverty reduction plan. Could you tell us a bit about that? What is happening and why has this problem not yet been resolved?