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.
Conservative
Andrew Saxton Conservative North Vancouver, BC
But you do agree, though, that employers who abuse the program should be penalized.
As an Individual
That's right. That's what the federal guidelines say, that they will be penalized, blacklisted, and fined, but we don't know what that means or what that looks like.
Conservative
Andrew Saxton Conservative North Vancouver, BC
But the new legislation is going to be significantly tougher on employers—
Conservative
Andrew Saxton Conservative North Vancouver, BC
—so that we can crack down on employers who are abusing the program. I would assume that you would be supportive of a move of that nature.
As an Individual
Oh, absolutely, because I truly believe that if there are consequences to these actions, then people will think twice about abusing this program, whether that abuse is towards Canadians or temporary foreign workers themselves.
Conservative
Andrew Saxton Conservative North Vancouver, BC
Right. It's our understanding that the opposition is actually going to be opposing our proposal to strengthen the penalties against employers. I'm sure you're surprised to hear that as well.
As an Individual
Well, I'm here because of the issue I'm here for. We are here to support tougher sanctions and more blacklisting. Let's see some of these fingers actually get slapped, so that they don't do it again. That's what I'm here to support.
Conservative
Conservative
Andrew Saxton Conservative North Vancouver, BC
My next question is for Sean Reid.
Mr. Reid, there's a strong relationship between educational programming and the skills demanded by industry. Skills matching is critical not only to the success of our students but also to our graduates' ability to be immediately productive upon entering the workforce. As a result, various stakeholders and businesses have called for the loosening of restrictions to entering the skilled trades. Budget 2014 provided, as you know, over $100 million for the new Canada apprentice loan program, providing tens of thousands of apprentices with access to interest-free loans.
Do you support the government's investments in the skilled trades as a part of the diverse strategy to create jobs and economic opportunities for young Canadians?
Vice-President, Federal and Ontario, Progressive Contractors Association of Canada
We absolutely support the government's focus on the skilled trades. If you'd like, I can elaborate a little bit.
Vice-President, Federal and Ontario, Progressive Contractors Association of Canada
Sure. We see three barriers in particular when we talk about people coming into the skilled trades,which, we should acknowledge, is probably the highest growth sector of employment in the country. First of all, there are barriers of perception. What I'm talking about there is that frankly, people think skilled trades are for dummies, that smart people go to universities, and dummies go to skilled trades as a last resort. Clearly, the tone that the government has been setting over the last several years is one that rejects that presupposition, and we support that.
Second is barriers to entry. In some cases, I should say, there are significant provincial barriers in terms of apprenticeship ratios and the expansion of compulsory trade certification. We support the minister's work on bringing the provinces together to discuss those barriers and hopefully bring them down.
The third is really the barrier to mobility. That's an issue we see a lot of. We have tradespeople in southern Ontario or in parts of the Maritimes, who for one reason or another find it prohibitively expensive to move to where the employment opportunities really are in the west, for example, or perhaps in northern Ontario. That's the one area in which we want to encourage the federal government to continue to focus its attention: facilitating greater mobility for people to move to where the employment opportunities are.
Conservative
Andrew Saxton Conservative North Vancouver, BC
I have just one more question.
On the temporary foreign worker program, as you know, and it has been discussed here today, our government has proposed significant changes to reform and improve the temporary foreign worker program. I'd just like to ask if you agree within those proposed changes.
Vice-President, Federal and Ontario, Progressive Contractors Association of Canada
We do. We think it's a balance. The approach the government is taking on the temporary foreign worker program is balanced, and we particularly want to continue to encourage the federal government to focus on a temporary foreign worker program that addresses the acute skill shortages in specific occupations and in specific regions.
Conservative
Conservative
Andrew Saxton Conservative North Vancouver, BC
Terrific. Thank you.
My next question is for Gregory Thomas.
Gregory, welcome.
Would it be your assessment that the amalgamation of government bodies such as ACOA and ECBC is an effective way of providing government services while respecting taxpayer dollars?
Federal Director, Canadian Taxpayers Federation
We certainly wholeheartedly support these reforms as well as the administrative tribunals and the administrative tribunal support services.
Conservative
Andrew Saxton Conservative North Vancouver, BC
Okay. As you know, since coming to government, we've reduced taxes in just about every single way that Canadians pay taxes, in fact, in over 180 different ways, including reducing red tape on businesses with the one-for-one rule, for example.
Do you support our reforms for cutting back red tape?
Federal Director, Canadian Taxpayers Federation
We do. We've consistently supported the tax reductions that have come forward, and we're particularly excited, as the government enters a surplus, by the prospects of additional tax relief in next year's budget.
Conservative
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
Thank you, Mr. Saxton.
Mr. Caron, you have the floor. You have five minutes.
NDP
Guy Caron NDP Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
Merci beaucoup.
As my colleague Ms. Sims said, thank you to Ms. Nelson and Ms. Jennison-Yung for their courage but also for making this testimony.
I'd like to go back quickly to something that Mr. Van Kesteren mentioned. I'll be paraphrasing, because I don't have the exact formulation, but basically, after contacting the owner of the business, the owner of the business basically said, “Well, we are in a tough business, especially right now, and we have difficult decisions to make.”
To me, that sounds a lot like saying, “You're paid too high; we'll fire you so that we can actually find a way to get people lower”—