Finance Committee on Oct. 20th, 2017

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

I find it outrageous that this would happen this way. We'll certainly be asking questions, but I would appreciate it if you would submit to the committee the minister's response so we can take a look at that.

I'd like to go to Indspire.

Ms. Jamieson, thank you for your presentation today. I'm very happy to see the 96% rate. It is amazing. It shows that your system is efficient, but also effective.

I understand from the submission that there is also $300,000 or thereabouts that you're requesting for data. Could you explain what the data is and your proposal to the government on how that data actually has a real public value?

[Chief Roberta Jamieson]

As I mentioned, I believe we are the only national source of data for indigenous post-secondary students in the country. We do not, however, have an ability to mine it or to put it in a form that will help policy-makers make decisions about the future, whether they're indigenous leaders, provincial leaders, federal leaders. There is a great wealth of information there that could be made available. What are our students interested in? What barriers do our youth face? How old are they when they go to school? Are they mostly going back to school, as they were a few years ago? The majority of our students were single moms with kids. That profile has changed. Why has that changed? In the country, really, we have no reliable labour force data with respect to indigenous people, and we certainly have very unreliable data on education, even on education outcomes. We know the gap is huge, but we have very little meat to put on the frame.

One of the central themes of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action was on education as the driver for the whole change in the relationship, and they called specifically for investments to close the gap. I think to inform the ongoing change, it would be wise to have reliable research available.

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

If this information were put in a format—I'm not sure if Indspire would do it or if you'd work with Statistics Canada or another public body—to make sure that information was not only in a searchable and readable format but also to spur more research and collaboration at universities and whatnot so we can truly work towards seeing more people, whether they're indigenous people from across the country, including Métis and Inuit to be able to be more productive.... I appreciate what you're doing. Thank you for the work, and I hope the government is listening.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you.

We'll go to Mr. Sorbara. We will have time for one quick question from each of the parties, following Mr. Sorbara's questions.

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Thanks, everyone.

First, on the Kids Help Phone, we do a big fundraising effort up in Vaughan, headed by Mary Mauti and her team. They've raised the second-highest amount of money in Canada, if I'm not mistaken. I get to participate in that, and it is wonderful.

As to your recommendations, how important is it to get to the national level rather than just the provincial level? Your recommendations call for putting in place a national registry of emergency services, a national commissioner for children. We often talk about federal leadership, but in this case, I would like to see a little more colour on that.

Perhaps you could talk about that for 30 seconds.

[Alisa Simon]

Thirty seconds, I'll do my best.

Kids Help Phone is a national charity, and we're there for any young person in Canada in any moment of crisis or need. However, many of our programs, like the Good2Talk helpline, are funded by the Ontario government, so it is only in Ontario. Kids Help Phone receives no federal government funding at all, and yet we need to be there for any young person, regardless of where they come from.

We want to create systems of equity in Canada. How can we say that students at universities in Ontario have a 24-7 helpline focused specifically on their needs, while students in the other provinces do not? It is the same thing with trying to get the national registry. We have counsellors physically located in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, but if young people are contacting us from outside those major metropolitan areas, we don't have the time to google the back number. We need to be able to quickly get any young person to safety, regardless of where they live.

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Thank you.

Moving on to the folks at JDRF, your point is well taken, Dave, on the folio. Thank you for pointing that out.

Going over to Lorrie at the GTAA, I'm on record about how important I think airports are. I've always been interested in airports, especially with respect to the potential of Amazon setting up a second head office in Canada. One of its criteria is to have accessibility to an international airport that has the potential for growth. When we talk about this western hub, to me it's a pan-Canadian project. How important is it to continue to push this thing forward?

[Lorrie McKee]

You're absolutely right, and the other thing Amazon said was that it was looking for a region with good mass transit. When we look around the world and see who's doing it best, we see airports that have co-branded or co-located their airports with ground transportation networks. When you're thinking about connecting people to jobs, from where they live to where they need to work, and you think about the role Pearson's location has played in the massive growth in the western GTA, it's not surprising that a number of businesses have located around Pearson.

Airports around the world are magnets for head offices of companies to locate and that's no different at Pearson. We're smack dab in the middle of a region that runs not just to the western edge of Toronto anymore but to Kitchener-Waterloo as part of the Toronto-Waterloo innovation corridor. There's a role to play in moving people in that corridor more effectively.

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Thank you.

Ms. Jamieson, we've had this chat on Indspire. I told the story about where I grew up, about how 50% of the population of Prince Rupert was indigenous, and the issues I saw growing up. I want to applaud your organization. It's a small ask. The input is minimal but the output is huge. Please continue the great work, and if you'd like to comment on that, I'd love to hear it.

[Chief Roberta Jamieson]

Well, of course I would accept more and put it to very good use.

I thank the member for his words.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

With that, we'll go to Mr. Albas, for one question.

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Again, going to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, have you reached out to CRA, to the commissioner? Have you heard anything back from them?

[Dave Prowten]

We've reached out to the CRA. We have not actually met with the CRA, but Diabetes Canada has. There's almost a coalition forming behind this initiative. It's gaining momentum, and I view this as a chance to right a wrong right now.

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

I certainly appreciate that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you both.

Mr. Fergus.

[Greg Fergus, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Thank you very much.

I'm caught between two questions. I would like to ask Mr. Johnson or Ms. Eaton a question.

Mr. Johnson, I like the proposals and recommendations you made to the committee, but since I've already communicated with her, my question will go to Ms. Eaton.

Ms. Eaton, your recommendation is only part of what you would like to propose to the committee. It's very helpful and very important to design a mentoring program, but there is also a problem with recognizing the skills of newcomers to Canada. I've seen examples in my riding, in Montreal and across Canada.

As you noted in your presentation, there are people who come to Canada with graduate degrees, they are trained and highly educated. Nevertheless, when they arrive here, they have to start from scratch because the professional bodies don't recognize their skills or create obstacles to prevent them from taking their rightful place in Canada.

If you share my point of view, could you add to my comments?

[Margaret Eaton]

I absolutely share your point of view. It is incredibly difficult to get your credentials recognized, and this is typically a provincial issue, but I know there has been some work at the federal labour market minister's level to try to bring some cohesion across the provinces on how we might work, not just within the province but so that we don't have separate credential recognition systems across 13 jurisdictions.

The chartered professional accountants, the CPAs, just came together. There used to be 36 different registration bodies across the country, and there are now 13, which is a great change, and it is consistent across the country.

I believe the federal government could play a strong role in coordinating the work of the provinces, encouraging a national standard, because imagine coming into the country and not even knowing where the registration body is located. Why is it different from one province to another? Then the larger issue is why is it different in Australia versus Canada?

This is a huge issue, and I do believe the federal government has a role to play in terms of bringing together the labour market ministers to actually encourage one system for each profession.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you both. Before I go to Mr. Boulerice, Mr. Johnson, you haven't had any questions, so if you want to make a point, please go ahead.

Going by your paper, what you're saying is, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, that if the government were to remove the capital gains tax on charitable gifts, it would forgo $55 million to $60 million annually in terms of tax revenue, and in return for that, there would be roughly a $200 million annual increase in charitable donations.

Is that figure right?

[Donald Johnson]

Well, the forgone capital gains tax is $55 million to $60 million a year. The charitable donation tax credit is the same as for cash donations, and that would be an additional $60 million a year.

The forgone capital gains tax is not going to be forgone immediately, because many of the potential donors, if the tax is not removed, will simply hold on to their private company shares or their real estate, and not make a donation. It's really the discounted present value of the forgone capital gains tax that is the cost.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you.

Mr. Boulerice.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mrs. Simon, first of all, I would like to thank your organization for all the work it does.

Mental Illness Awareness Week was two weeks ago. One of the five faces of mental health in Canada is someone from my riding; I met with him in Ottawa. He spoke about his experience and his mental health needs. Mental health has always been overlooked because of the taboos surrounding these illnesses.

You talked about your organization's work on mental health. This man told me about the importance of prevention, something I had not thought about. Mental health problems are thought to be inevitable and can affect us all, but there can and must also be prevention work.

How do you see this in relation to the young people you help?

[Alisa Simon]

I agree with you. Prevention is critical to all the work we do. I talk about mental health because it's such an important thing we talk about. On the spectrum of mental health is also mental well-being. Thirty per cent of the young people who reach out to Kids Help Phone are reaching out because of a mental health challenge such as anxiety or depression. The other 70% are reaching out because something is difficult in their life. They're experiencing bullying, are having problems with a new relationship, or family problems. We hope that by reaching out to us and figuring out solutions, they start to understand how they're resilient, how they can take steps to take care of themselves, and that they learn better mental health coping so that hopefully we avoid some of the mental illness.

One other quick point is we have a program that has been in Saskatchewan and is currently in Nova Scotia as well. It is a school-based program that is teaching about mental wellness and about the fact that everybody has challenges. It is helping young people recognize whom they can reach out to in their life and help them better understand and break down stigma around mental health and reaching out and seeking help. We would love to see that in other places.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

With that, I thank the members for their questions. I thank all the witnesses who have come forward and answered questions today, and for your submissions as well.

Thank you very much.

Committee members, we will reconvene at 1:15 for panel three.

The meeting is suspended.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

We will get started. I'll call the meeting to order. This is panel three here in Toronto for pre-budget consultations in advance of the 2018 budget.

Welcome to all the witnesses. You are, as I said, the third panel today in Toronto.

Before we start, I'll go around and ask our members to give you an introduction and tell you where they come from so you know the kind of tenor of the country we represent. I will say that this is a subcommittee of the finance committee. The full finance committee doesn't travel. We travel with seven people as a rule, so this is the committee that's on the road for this week.

We'll start with you, Mr. Sorbara, from the Toronto area.

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome, everyone. I look forward to hearing everyone's presentations today.

My name is Francesco Sorbara. I represent the riding of Vaughan—Woodbridge. If you go north just a little bit, you can walk over to the other side of Steeles Avenue and you will be in my riding. Welcome.