Evidence of meeting #36 for Finance in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was employers.
A video is available from Parliament.
NDP
Jinny Sims NDP Newton—North Delta, BC
You were dismissed. You're not employed, but the temporary foreign workers who were working at the time are employed. That's through no fault of their own, by the way. It's not their fault.
NDP
Jinny Sims NDP Newton—North Delta, BC
Right. Thank you.
Do you have bills to pay, or did your bills just stop the day you lost your job?
NDP
Jinny Sims NDP Newton—North Delta, BC
You have bills to pay.
What we have here is a situation in which you have a Canadian person living in a community for a long time, not working through no fault of their own, and instead what we have is an employer who has brought in workers who he can treat in a very different way because they are vulnerable.
Thank you.
I'll hand it over to my colleagues.
NDP
Murray Rankin NDP Victoria, BC
Thank you.
I also just want to say, Ms. Jennison-Yung, that I appreciate very much your being here, and I want to say that we've heard today that the minister is very concerned about how the temporary foreign worker program is going.
Have you been told by any federal officials that any new laws would be made backwards in time to fix your situation?
NDP
Murray Rankin NDP Victoria, BC
Okay.
I'd like to ask a question of Mr. Thomas.
First of all, Mr. Thomas, welcome. It's nice to see you again. Thank you for raising the tone of the debate with a Latin phrase to begin. That was very good. I also appreciate your efforts with the giant balloon of Senator Duffy across Parliament Hill recently. That was very, very funny as well.
You've heard from Ms. Nelson and Ms. Jennison-Yung today. On behalf of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, do you think what you've heard is either fair or good public policy for Canadians?
NDP
Murray Rankin NDP Victoria, BC
Okay. Thank you.
I want to ask Mr. McAvity something.
Your organization is an important one. I know it well. We've met before.
I wasn't very clear about your proposed subsection 193(3) of the Museum of History's legislation, which may support other museums if they have a complementary purpose. You weren't consulted on some changes. Could you elaborate? I wasn't clear on what you were suggesting.
Executive Director, Canadian Museums Association
First of all, we were not consulted on or aware of the transfer of two very major programs to the Museum of History. We have all the faith in the world in the Museum of History. It's a very well run organization.
The question is what does “complementary to” mean? We're arguing that that should be a very broad definition. What is history? Whose history are we talking about? Is there a beginning and an end? How do you define that? It is an elastic word.
NDP
Murray Rankin NDP Victoria, BC
Your organization and, I think, a number of organizations for which you speak have hired students for internships over the years. Could you comment on any changes in federal funding that may have affected that?
Executive Director, Canadian Museums Association
Actually, we previously recommended to this committee that additional funds be put into internship programs. We operate on behalf of the Government of Canada what is called Young Canada Works. It is so oversubscribed and it is so important to developing skills by younger Canadians that we are turning down 90% of the employers' applications, not those of the young people—that would be a ginormous figure—but 90% of those of the museum employers across Canada.
NDP
Executive Director, Canadian Museums Association
There is insufficient funding to meet the demands of the program.
Executive Director, Canadian Museums Association
The Government of Canada has.
Executive Director, Canadian Museums Association
No, it still does. It has been consistently funded. We have started going out actively to the private sector and bringing in some corporate and private money to help with internships. That's a major challenge for us, but at least we're showing entrepreneurship in doing that. The Government of Canada has been investing more and more in youth employment. We've simply not seen any benefits from the recent $50 million and the previous $40 million that were added.
Executive Director, Canadian Museums Association
Ninety per cent of internships are. Yes.