Evidence of meeting #116 for Finance in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was atlantic.
Executive Director, Canadian Worker Co-operative Federation
In the context of worker co-operatives, that measure would not be very expensive. If that measure was open to all types of co-operatives, it would be more expensive. I don't have the exact figures, but that is how I would explain it
The risk is that it will make the capitalization of small co-operatives more difficult.
Executive Director, Canadian Worker Co-operative Federation
Yes, that focuses more on small co-operatives. That's one of the reasons why I say that it would not have a major impact.
NDP
Alexandre Boulerice NDP Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC
Thank you very much.
Mr. Edwards, at a different point in my life, I represented cable companies' workers. I think that industry is currently suffering from unfair competition.
How would you qualify the situation of the cable companies you represent? Are they growing, experiencing difficulties or are they stable?
Vice-President, Regulatory Affairs, Canadian Cable Systems Alliance
First of all, there has been tremendous consolidation in the business. When I think of our member companies as broadcasting distributors, which is television, they are very much up against huge media conglomerates now. There is tremendous upward pressure on the pricing for television programming, particularly sports.
It's to the point now where I think many of our members are close to treating broadcast television as a loss leader. The part of their business where the margins are is the Internet business now, and when you marry that with the idea that there are new disruptive technologies like Netflix, Apple, Amazon, and these companies coming, we don't know what that will look like. More and more of our members will be operating as Internet companies that are carrying content as opposed to broadcasting distributors in the regulated system.
It's a very challenging business on the broadcast side.
NDP
Alexandre Boulerice NDP Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC
You may not be surprised to hear my second question.
Do you think it is fair that American companies like Netflix don't have to impose the goods and services tax, or GST, on their Canadian clients, while the people you represent have no loophole or exit strategy? What kind of an environment does that create?
Vice-President, Regulatory Affairs, Canadian Cable Systems Alliance
My response to that is that the people I represent are not competing with the Netflixes of the world, so that's an issue that the broadcasters may find an unfairness with, not so much us.
Our future on the broadcast side of the business is to find ways to become aggregators who help their customers navigate the tremendous amount of content that is becoming available from all sources.
NDP
Alexandre Boulerice NDP Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC
Mr. Sullivan, thank you very much for your presentation.
I don't want to get into any one-upmanship to find out which city is more dynamic. I am very pleased if Halifax is doing well since I love the city.
The challenges you have raised about the training of the workforce are experienced everywhere, in all the provinces and all regions of Quebec. We don't have a real need for unskilled labour. However, all the companies are telling us exactly the same thing, that they don't have semi-skilled or highly skilled labour. There's a labour shortage across the country, mainly when it comes to vocational employees and tradespeople, such as plumbers, welders and electricians.
What would you like the federal government, jointly with the provinces, to do to increase the supply of on-the-job workforce training? As we know, this is both a federal and provincial issue. In your opinion, what could we do better as a federal government?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Halifax Chamber of Commerce
I think there are a few things. Number one, rationalize the number of programs that are available to make it easier for both students and employers to find those programs. That would go a long way. Make those programs more visible through co-operative efforts with organizations like us.
We're very enthusiastic about getting that word out to our members. We don't charge for communication if it benefits our members, so we would be very excited about getting that information out to our members, and better programs in perhaps targeted areas. You mentioned plumbers and electricians. I don't know if there are shortages in those particular areas. I'm sure there are in various areas of the country.
Nova Scotia has a very strong community college program, but if we looked at some of the specific areas that will be in shortage in the coming years, it would be very beneficial to perhaps ramp up the programs for those shortage areas.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Thank you, all.
Before I go to Jennifer, does anybody have any questions for the P.E.I. Fishermen's Association?
Ms. O'Connell.
Liberal
Jennifer O'Connell Liberal Pickering—Uxbridge, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for your presentation.
You didn't mention small craft harbours, but is this something that has come up? The chair has even recommended that I get some feedback, because this came up in yesterday's panel as well as from some of my colleagues. I'm wondering if you can comment at all on small craft harbours and the needs you might see that we should consider for the pre-budget consultations.
Craig Avery Director and Past President, Prince Edward Island Fishermen's Association
Mainly, it's the harbours on P.E.I., and I'll speak for the driving force behind the fishing industry on Prince Edward Island, which probably represents well over $1 billion with the processing sector and the infrastructure we need there.
I think we have 40 active small craft harbours on P.E.I. Some of them are in good shape, but others need a lot of dredging. You can talk to the chairman about that. He gets lots of calls every spring, when his boats are all aground trying to get out of his harbour.
It's definitely very important in Atlantic Canada. I spoke to a friend of mine from Cape Breton, Osborne Burke, who will be giving a presentation later. I'm not going to start going into his presentation, but he has a lot of information on that. It basically covers all of Atlantic Canada.
Liberal
Jennifer O'Connell Liberal Pickering—Uxbridge, ON
I don't know if it would be appropriate, but maybe that could be shared if there is any additional information in terms of this issue.
One of the things stated yesterday in Newfoundland was the suggestion—and I'm paraphrasing here—to do somewhat of an overall review. Maybe some harbours are not necessarily utilized. It's not that they are being maintained for no reason, but are there other areas where they could be better maintained if they are more vital in that particular area. Do you have any suggestions? Is it just a funding issue in terms of needing more, or is it an assessment of the funding and the allocation of where it's going?
Director and Past President, Prince Edward Island Fishermen's Association
I definitely think an assessment would be good. If you look at harbours on P.E.I., for instance, you see there are harbours with maybe 15 fishing vessels and there are others with 200. A review to see where the funds are going would definitely be good. As I said, of the 40 active harbours on P.E.I. that are small craft harbours that you would be looking after, I think most of them would be used for the fishing industry. Maybe 10% is recreational use.
A review would definitely be helpful to know that the dollars are going to the right place. As I said, if you have eight or 10 vessels in a harbour, it's important that it's maintained. If, at the same time, you have a harbour that is using 200, it needs a lot more infrastructure. If you have a harbour where all the fish are coming into that particular harbour, they're going to need more infrastructure to keep that harbour active.
Liberal
Jennifer O'Connell Liberal Pickering—Uxbridge, ON
My second question, again, is not directly to your comments here today but following up on yesterday in Newfoundland, where the conversation was around taking a value-added approach. With climate change and declining resources, or having one great year and then the next year not so much, the conversation really focused around changing the model to look at a more value-added approach, whether it's fish or whatever is caught, so that you are utilizing every aspect of that.
Are you having that same conversation in P.E.I, understanding that there might be differences in terms of how much you can utilize? Are you having that conversation in terms of the long-term sustainability?
Executive Director, Prince Edward Island Fishermen's Association
I think from our perspective there's a lot of opportunity out there. One thing we have said in the past is that in a typical Canadian household most people wouldn't consider having lobster on a Tuesday night, while they would consider a whole other range of similar proteins and other fish. I think there is lots of opportunity there.
Obviously, we want to reduce wastes and maximize return as much as possible. As well, part of what we talked about here today was the dialogue of rationalizing, or helping the fleets to be more efficient on the water. The new program, the Atlantic fisheries innovation fund, is going to look at some things to keep the quality and the vitality of the fish right from the boat to the consumer.
As I said, there are lots of opportunities, and I think, particularly in some of the sectors, there hasn't been a lot done. We have been, for example, processing lobster the same way for many years.
Liberal
Jennifer O'Connell Liberal Pickering—Uxbridge, ON
Just to clarify, you would see that investment and that kind of ask for the innovation fund as the bridge to get some of these answers or some of this dialogue happening.
Executive Director, Prince Edward Island Fishermen's Association
Absolutely. In our presentation we mentioned that it's an industry that has been governed by crisis management, and I think we need to get away from that. We need to get into longer-term planning. Some of the numbers I talked about here today, yes, seem like big numbers, but we have to start somewhere. I think if we can look at all aspects of the industry, then there's lots of opportunity.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
We'll come back to you in the regular round, Jennifer.
Does anybody else have any questions for the fisherman's association before they leave?
I just have one. On the retirement of licences on other species beyond lobsters, if there was a program instituted, it would have to cover Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and P.E.I., at least on the eastern end. Is there general favour for going that way, do you know?
Executive Director, Prince Edward Island Fishermen's Association
We haven't had a lot of dialogue on that, Mr. Chairman, for a particular species. I think where it get a little complicated is that certain areas have more allocations in certain species that makes a particular fishery more lucrative. We've targeted some species. We'd welcome the opportunity to be a pilot program on P.E.I.
If a program were set up, it should be such that it can be applied regionally to target the species that need to be looked at in a particular region, not just identify one or two and say that the program is just for that.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
For the Atlantic fisheries innovation fund, some have said there are difficulties with the process. What's the situation there?
Executive Director, Prince Edward Island Fishermen's Association
We have a submission in and so far so good. We've met with them. The province seems to be working hard to get this together. Our application is number four. Obviously applications are going in, so we're going to be very positive about it. We're going to be aggressive. There are different areas that we're looking at. We're looking at technology, infrastructure, and science submissions.
I think it has the ability to be a good program, and it's been significantly needed in the industry.
Liberal
Liberal
Jennifer O'Connell Liberal Pickering—Uxbridge, ON
Thank you.
Ms. Pasher, I remember reading your brief early on, and I appreciated how you answered the questions of our study.
Certainly we've even experienced it ourselves as we're travelling across Canada for these committee hearings in that sometimes when you get to the smaller airports, screening can take longer than what I'm used to at Pearson, which you would assume would take a long time. Do you need more screening so you can process, or is there a difference in the way the CATSA standards are set?
I know that when we heard from different airport associations, they said they are now moving towards CATSA-plus. Could you highlight for me the difference in terms of the processing? Is it just the screening ability or is it something different?