Finance Committee on Sept. 21st, 2017

[Mark Wales]

CADAP has been a board member of CAHRC since its founding in 2006, as a non-voting member. We really need to get the word out that there are some really good jobs in agriculture. It's not what people traditionally think. There are some very high-tech jobs. I was going to make the comment about the 18- to 24-year-olds we're trying to encourage. Oftentimes, with the technology we have, they're the only ones who know how to make it work. You may have a great GPS unit, but your 18- to 24-year-old is the one who actually has to set it up for you.

With the huge expansion of the greenhouse industry, there are some very high-tech jobs there as well. Working in a greenhouse year-round is a great place to be. As the food industry grows in its complexity, there's a real need to have well-trained people. We just need to get the word out that there are all kinds of jobs.

Canada has a huge opportunity going forward. We're one of only six countries in the world, going forward, that are net exporters of food, and that's not going to change anytime soon. The world population's jumping up probably to over nine billion shortly. The opportunity is there.

Certainly, the budget this year and the Barton report clearly identified the opportunities, but we need to get the word out. I mean, a farm's a great place to work. It's a great place to raise a family.

We need to get past these small business tax changes because being able to transfer that family farm from one generation to the next to the next is part of our history. We need to keep that going, and we need to make sure it's not an advantage to sell to somebody not related to you rather than your own children. That's fundamentally wrong.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you.

Ms. Reynolds, you had a point you wanted to make, maybe from a question raised earlier.

[Joyce Reynolds]

Yes, Mr. Chair, thank you. I didn't want to miss that opportunity.

In a way, Dan stole my thunder, because what we are concerned about is the cumulative effect of a lot of new taxes on our industry. Of a restaurant's costs, more than 30% is for labour, and that's where the biggest pressures are. A lot of them are coming from the provincial level, as he mentioned. We really pride ourselves on being the number one first job provider in this country. We think those first jobs are really under threat, given the cost pressures.

The restaurant business cannot adjust to a 32% increase in labour costs in 18 months. If you look at the margins of 3.4% in Ontario, for instance, and you do the math, you realize that there are going to be an awful lot of casualties as a result of that, business casualties but also workers who will lose their jobs and won't be able to find jobs.

We're appealing to the federal government to assist us in ensuring that we can continue to provide youth jobs. The youth hires program that was part of the Liberal election platform would be a great place to start, but I would say that labour cost pressures.... One of the things that people often say is, “You just have to raise your prices; it's as simple as that.” If it were as simple as that, why would we have razor-thin profit margins? We would just raise our prices so that we would have higher margins, but it's not possible to do so.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide my feedback on our number one priority.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Ms. O'Reilly, go ahead.

[Dr. Roseann O'Reilly Runte]

I just wanted to tell the honourable Ms. O'Connell that helping the Canada Foundation for Innovation helps agriculture as well. Right now, we have more than 328 projects worth $130 million invested in improving agriculture across the country, young people in the labs, and faculty doing research trying to improve the industry.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

That's a very good point and a good high note to end on.

With that, I again thank the witnesses for their presentations and their directness. That's what we're here for.

The meeting is adjourned.