Evidence of meeting #168 for Finance in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was canada's.
A recording is available from Parliament.
National Director, Social and Economic Policy Department, Canadian Labour Congress
Specifically with respect to home care, for instance, there are no particular asks that we're bringing forward. We want to see a stronger and sustained federal commitment to spending more broadly on health care and the seniors strategy is an important part of that.
Northumberland—Peterborough South, Lib.
Thank you very much. Those were concise answers, fabulous.
I'll move to the Green Budget Coalition. Your presentation was very informative, and I was quite interested in two things.
One of them was on Canada's commitment to sustainable agriculture. I live in an agricultural riding. One of the things we do as MPs is talk to our local federations of agriculture. Certainly as a government we're talking to associations. Regarding some of the things you've listed, have you had conversations with those organizations about these requests? Has it been a holistic approach, or is this your organization coming up with these requests on its own?
Manager, Green Budget Coalition
I appreciate the question. The coalition includes 21 different environmental organizations and a number of our members have been reaching out to some of the agricultural industry associations.
Northumberland—Peterborough South, Lib.
They're not specifically in your organization, because I saw the list and I didn't see them. That's why I wondered.
Manager, Green Budget Coalition
There are no agriculture.... We are a coalition of environmental organizations, but we are in touch with them and consult with them.
Northumberland—Peterborough South, Lib.
Understood. Thank you.
I have another quick question. You mentioned freshwater protection in your brief. I happen to live on Lake Ontario, so it's a very important thing to me. This past July, Minister McKenna announced the Great Lakes protection initiative, and I wondered if you were familiar with it. It is $8.95 million for 36 projects. We're doing a number of those projects jointly with the U.S. Are you aware of that work?
Manager, Green Budget Coalition
Again, our member organizations are engaged in that process. We were certainly pleased to see it and our recommendations are designed to build upon those announcements.
Northumberland—Peterborough South, Lib.
Thank you.
I'd like to go to Ms. Bell on the tourism piece.
Tourism is so important to our country, as you articulated. Because of the diversity and the vastness of our country, one of the things I'm hearing from you has to do with the importance of tourism not just as an economic driver but also as...I'm going to give you an example. While travelling recently, I had a guide, and that guide happened to have a Ph.D. in ancient history. It makes the experience so much more robust. I think that's what you're saying, that there are many professionals and highly skilled people in this sector who aren't necessarily being recognized for the work they do.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Tourism Industry Association of Canada
That's absolutely true, but we're experiencing labour shortages in a number of markets across the country, and especially in those resort markets like Banff and Lake Louise where Mr. Richards' riding is. He's more than familiar with those issues. There are very serious labour shortages. There are managers who are making beds and cleaning bathrooms.
There are also shortages of pilots and people who are highly skilled. The reality is there really aren't any programs currently, and immigration streams are not really targeted to fill those jobs. I think it's important, if we're going to continue to grow this sector, that we ensure our policies are designed to target those people for jobs in this particular sector.
NDP
Banff—Airdrie, CPC
Thank you. I want to pick up on that same topic, so that was a good segue.
You mentioned this in your opening remarks as well, but you briefly touched on the idea of broad economic regions when it comes to the availability of the temporary foreign worker program as one of the pieces that can help to address some of the labour shortages.
For the benefit of some of the other members, I'll give some context first. The challenge here, with the broad economic regions, is that—and I'll use my area as an example, because it's a classic example of the problem. If you're in Banff or you're in Canmore in the Rocky Mountains, there's essentially zero unemployment. However, the barrier to being able to access the temporary foreign worker program is 6% unemployment, I think, and because the region is so broad, it can end up being over 6% because of communities far to the north of there that are primarily oil and gas communities where there's a lot of unemployment right now. That drags the entire region above 6%, even though in their niche area, they're far below. They're probably at zero. Many of our tourism areas are much the same. They're remote or resort types of communities.
Another example is Whistler. Another example is Cape Breton. Those are the kinds of places we're talking about, and there can be a real need for employment, yet in the broader region, maybe not. In Banff, for example, you're not going to get someone from Rocky Mountain House to come to Banff to work, because that's far too much to expect in terms of the commute, I think.
I want to get your comments on that. Also, because of the remoteness and the rural nature of tourism—much like some of the problems faced by agriculture, which does have its own stream—what would you think about the idea of a specific stream for tourism and hospitality-related jobs that could help fill some of those needs?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Tourism Industry Association of Canada
Thank you, Mr. Richards, because, in fact, you've explained very well what the problem is, and this is something that happens in a variety of markets, and it is an issue.
Part of the problem is that it's being treated as one size fits all and, of course, in those resort communities in particular, that becomes very problematic. We've addressed this time and time again, but the reality is that it continues to be a problem, and it's not only in your region; it is a problem in other regions.
In terms of a seasonal program like the agriculture one, we have advocated for this, again, in the past. I'm not sure why tourism is treated differently. It's a seasonal industry to some extent, and it would help in terms of finding enough people to fill those jobs during the high season. It wouldn't fix the whole problem, and I think that we still favour very much the immigration stream and training programs that match labour needs, but having said that, yes, a seasonal program would be helpful. There's no question about it.
Banff—Airdrie, CPC
To go back to the broad economic regions, just to be clear of what you're suggesting, I know there have been some exemptions given. I think Yukon received one for specific areas. Are you suggesting that—
President and Chief Executive Officer, Tourism Industry Association of Canada
Absolutely.
Banff—Airdrie, CPC
I'll again use my example. Are you suggesting that Banff be specifically broken out of a bigger region? Is that the kind of example you're suggesting?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Tourism Industry Association of Canada
Absolutely. I think that's exactly what needs to be done. You can't have a one-size-fits-all model. I think you have to take those regions and those particular circumstances into consideration, and they should be exempt, absolutely, yes.
NDP
Banff—Airdrie, CPC
I'll try to be as brief as I can.
You touched on marketing as well and used Australia as an example. Another comparison we can use is that of the United States. They have a very different model, Brand USA, and essentially no taxpayer dollars go into that. Can you give us a brief explanation of how that works and what your thoughts would be on that kind of a model for Canada?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Tourism Industry Association of Canada
In terms of the U.S. model?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Tourism Industry Association of Canada
We're not advocating for the U.S. model. We're asking the Government of Canada to fund Destination Canada more adequately, and then, of course, Destination Canada has matching programs with a number of other organizations. We've never advocated for the U.S. model in Canada.
