Finance Committee on Oct. 20th, 2017

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

We will call the meeting to order.

As everyone knows these are pre-budget consultations in advance of the 2018 budget. I know there are some panellists at the main table here. We will start that session at nine o'clock, but for everyone's information, what we have before that are open-mike sessions where individuals from the public have a minute in which to make a statement on their interests and where they think budget consultations should go. There are no questions to those presenters, but their information is on the record.

With the open mikes, we'll start with Ms. Inez Kelly. Welcome.

[Inez Kelly, As an Individual]

Thank you very much.

My name is Inez Kelly. I've been a volunteer for the last 40 years with organizations that are committed to ending extreme poverty on the planet. Within that context of that commitment, about 25 years ago arose the awareness and the realization that when women are empowered and girls are educated we can break the cycle of poverty. When young girls are educated their families become educated, they give birth to healthier children, communities become empowered, and then nations become empowered. Globally it makes a difference.

Recently the Canadian government took on this whole new idea of a feminist international assistance policy. Within the commitment to end extreme poverty, if we want to fulfill that commitment to women, the upcoming Global Partnership for Education replenishment conference, next February, would be an extraordinary opportunity for Canada to really step up and be bold with our commitment to women by contributing or investing $260 million over the course of three years to the Global Partnership for Education, empowering women.

Canada has declared itself a leader in this domain, and it would really make such a huge difference on the planet for Canada to step forth that boldly and commit itself to empowering women and educating girls in the world.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you very much, Inez. If you could send the information on that conference to the clerk, it would be great.

We will go to Ms. Eden Hildebrand. You're not going to talk about Cows ice cream are you? I know how well you like it.

Go ahead, Eden.

[Eden Hildebrand, As an Individual]

Good morning to all the members.

My name is Eden and I'm a millennium kid. Our goal is to fulfill all 17 sustainable development goals by 2030. I'm concerned that Canada is not on track to fulfill their promise to spend 0.7% of our money helping countries around the world. Over 260 million kids around the world don't go to school like I do. This needs to change.

When my French teacher asks me to read 60 minutes of French per week I make a plan: 10 minutes on Monday, 15 minutes on Tuesday and Wednesday, and 10 minutes on Thursday and Friday. I would like to know what Canada's plan is to fulfill our promise to make 0.7% to make sure that when I graduate from high school every kid my age around the world graduates with me.

I would like us to do more in the 2018 budget.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you very much, Eden.

Jason, go ahead.

[Jason Tetro, As an Individual]

Hello, Mr. Chair. I have a prepared statement.

I'm a representative of the Canadian Association for Neuroscience, and its over 1,000 researchers.

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Canada invests 1.7% of our gross domestic product on fundamental research. This puts us second last in the G7. The importance of increasing investment in fundamental research has been highlighted by the fundamental science review commissioned by Minister Kirsty Duncan and overseen by Dr. David Naylor.

The Naylor report's primary recommendation “is that the federal government should rapidly increase its investment in investigator-led research”. This means increasing funding to individual labs, so that as a nation we can collectively train the next generation of scientists who will fuel innovation and find cures and treatments for diseases that affect all Canadians. This is the important part. The Naylor report recommends an immediate investment of $155 million for investigator-initiated funding in 2018. It is the necessary first step in returning Canada to a position as a global research leader and for delivering on the government's election promise of long-term investments for the future.

We ask that the government implement all recommendations in the Naylor report, including that initial investment of $155 million in budget 2018. Just to let you know, this fits within the government's own planning framework.

I know that you know David Dodge, Mr. Chair. He said that “long-lived investment is actually a wonderful thing to be doing. It's exactly the right thing to be doing.”

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you very much, Jason.

I ask Alastair Love to come to the mike. Mr. Love, the floor is yours.

[Alastair Love, As an Individual]

Honourable members, where would any of us be without our education? Today over 130 million girls are not in school, not because they don't want to be but because they are denied their right to be.

Canada has an opportunity to make a big change in this, a big difference. Committing just 2¢ per Canadian per day, Canada can lead the way in changing the opportunity for girls' education around the world.

Every dollar invested in girls' education has a tenfold effect in producing health and income benefits in low-income countries. It's also estimated that about one-third of the decrease in adult mortality since 1970 can be attributed to gains in the education of women and girls.

In budget 2018, please let's make a difference and invest in quality education for all girls around the world.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you very much, Alastair.

Next we have Fiona Price.

[Fiona Price, As an Individual]

Good morning. My name is Fiona Price. I'm here as one member of 180,000 National Association of Federal Retirees. I'm the vice-president of Peel-Halton, number 34.

Today I speak to Bill C-27, the act to amend pension benefits.

The suggested change causes trepidation. Will it affect those of us who are already retired? When we became government employees, we signed on in good faith and agreed to deferred compensation in exchange for our employment. To imply now that you are going to change how our monies are to be returned to us, after we have retired on a fixed income, is not in good faith. It's improper.

In 2015 Prime Minister Trudeau clearly promised our association in a letter to the then-president that defined plans, which “have already been paid for by employees and pensioners, should not be retroactively changed”. This seems to have been forgotten.

Retirement income security is essential for those of us who are already retired. Going forward, if you want to change the program, there will be no surprise to the younger generations signing on to work for the government, and they will be allowed to plan accordingly, as we did.

This topic also lends itself to ask that a minister for seniors be created, as we do need a dedicated voice advocating on our behalf. Seniors are the largest-growing demographic in Canada, contributing more than ever to our communities and economies.

I thank you for your time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you, Fiona.

I call to the mikes Aaron Brown and Melanie Woodin.

Mr. Brown, you can go first.

[Aaron Brown, As an Individual]

Good morning, honourable members.

My name is Aaron Brown. I'm a Canadian citizen who believes in equality, peace, and prosperity for all. I am fortunate to have been raised in Canada, with access to health care when I needed it, a good education, and a community where I could play outside without fear. But hundreds of millions of people don't have these basic human rights and services.

I've seen the impact of Canada's investment in these countries. Far fewer mothers and children are dying; however, there's still a lot to be done. The needs are great.

International assistance has the reputation of being about charity, but it's more than that. It's about strengthening the global community. It's about economic growth abroad and at home, reducing the risk of deadly pandemics abroad and at home, and decreasing violent extremism abroad and at home.

We have heard a lot about new commitments and policies lately, and I know they have not been backed with any new or additional money to see them through. To deliver on these commitments and policies, I urge you to recommend an increase in international assistance in your report to Parliament on budget 2018.

Thank you for your time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you, Aaron.

Dr. Woodin, welcome.

[Dr. Melanie Woodin, As an Individual]

Thank you.

I'm a professor at the University of Toronto, an active neuroscience researcher, funded by CIHR and NSERC, and the director of the largest undergraduate program in the life sciences at the University of Toronto.

My main message today is to ask you to act on the recommendations of Canada's fundamental science review, chaired by David Naylor.

I'll give you a brief example from my own research lab. I have a Ph.D. student in my lab ready to graduate who grew up on the Iran-Iraq border, immigrated to Canada, became a proud Canadian citizen, and has produced a fabulous Ph.D. thesis. She just received a fellowship at Stanford at a Nobel Prize-winning lab and she's excited to go.

I'm excited about the prospect of her returning to Canada, but she's currently questioning that prospect due to the lack of recent investments in investigator-led research funds. We can prevent this loss of highly trained Canadian-invested HQP by supporting the Naylor report.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thanks very much, Dr. Woodin.

Mr. Humphrey.

[John Humphrey, As an Individual]

I'm a retired machinist. I am a member of United Steelworkers Canada. I'm also the grandfather of six children, and I want to talk about child care.

The Steelworkers' Toronto Area Council is calling on the federal government for full direct funding of child care. It's calling for affordable fees geared to income, and it's talking about a national care program to greatly expand available spaces.

This is particularly urgent in Toronto, where there's a chronic shortage of child care facilities. I would say it's a crisis. Three years ago, one of our daughters, Kate, was blessed with twins. I say “blessed”, but when it comes to child care, it was actually a big misfortune. She and her partner ended up having to pay $2,500 a month, which is more than Kate takes home from her work at the Beer Store. It would make more financial sense for her to quit her job. The trouble is that she loves her work, and she wants the kids to have the benefit of early childhood education in a well-regulated environment.

They live at Keele and Rogers in Toronto. The only day care that they've been able to find with space for two children together is over at Spadina and Lawrence, which is 45 minutes away by public transit. That's a big problem.

I think this should be addressed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you, John.

Mr. Duncan Alexander Kirby, go ahead.

[Duncan Alexander Kirby, As an Individual]

Thank you.

My name is Duncan Kirby and I'm a volunteer with Engineers Without Borders.

In budget 2018, we ask that Canada commit to a timetable of predictable annual increases to the international assistance envelope that would bring Canada's development assistance to 0.3% of GNI within this government's first mandate.

Canada's current level of development assistance is 0.26% GNI, which is the lowest in recent history. Although, according to the OECD, development assistance globally has increased by 9% in the past year, Canada's own contribution has declined by 4%. This is disappointing.

Increasing aid would help Canada to achieve the sustainable development goals and increase economic growth. Forthcoming research from the Canadian international development platform suggests that countries receiving development assistance tend to import more Canadian goods than they would without aid.

We hope that budget 2018 can correct this downward spending trend so that Canada fulfills its global commitments.

Thank you for your time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you, Duncan.

The last for the open-mike session is Cian Rutledge.

Go ahead.

[Cian Rutledge, As an Individual]

By a show of hands, how many of you ate breakfast today?

Did you know that one in 10 people around the world are undernourished and don't have proper access to food? That means that even though we've eaten today, 700 million people will go to bed hungry, and three million of those are our fellow Canadians.

In the year 2000, Canada signed onto the millennium development goals, with a vision of creating a better world for everyone. These goals were replaced by the UN sustainable development goals. We wanted to to see our nation spend 0.7% of its budget on development, including the decrease of global hunger. As of this year, we are falling short of that goal and are currently spending about 0.3%.

I'm here to ask you to consider increasing Canada's financial commitment to meeting those goals. This past Tuesday was World Food Day. We celebrated that we've cut world hunger rates in half in the past 25 years, but we still have a long way to go.

Let's not let another Canadian go bed to hungry.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you very much.

Thank you to all of the open-mike participants. We've had a wide variety of opinion, and it's great to see some young people come up to the mikes.

With that, we'll turn to the submissions. I would mention in the beginning that, on behalf of the committee, I thank all of those who provided submissions prior to August 15. Those are on members' iPads and they will be considered as part of the pre-budget consultation along with today's testimony.

Before I start, just to give you an idea of where people come from and what ridings they represent, I'd ask members to introduce themselves.

Go ahead, Francesco. Your riding or Jen's is the closest.

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

Good morning, everyone. I think my riding is a little closer. It took me about 30 minutes to drive down from Vaughan this morning. It wasn't that bad. It was actually kind of nice.

I'm Francesco Sorbara. I represent the riding of Vaughan—Woodbridge.

Welcome, everyone. I look forward to hearing all of the interesting comments and feedback this morning.

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Pickering—Uxbridge, ON]

I am Jennifer O'Connell, member of Parliament for Pickering—Uxbridge.

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

I am the member for Hull—Aylmer, Quebec, a riding very close to Ottawa.

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

I am Dan Albas, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, in the interior of British Columbia.

I'm very happy to be with you here today.

Thank you.