Finance Committee on Oct. 4th, 2018

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

I wonder if we could get people to come to order. I know we're early for the witnesses. That'll start at 10:15. For the witnesses who are here for the formal presentations this is just to let you know what will happen over the next 10 minutes.

Before the formal presentations we have what we call open-mike sessions, which allows individuals and organizations to come to a floor mike and make a one-minute statement on issues they see of concern. That information goes into the evidence and is considered as part of the pre-budget hearings. For the one-minute sessions, there are no questions from members.

To start, then, we'll go with Duncan Kirby. The floor is yours, Duncan. Make yourself at home. I believe it's Engineers without Borders. You are persistent.

[Duncan Kirby, Engineers Without Borders Canada]

Good morning. My name is Duncan Kirby and I am a member of Engineers without Borders Canada.

In budget 2019, I'm asking that Canada commit to a 10-year timetable of predictable, annual increases of 15% to the international assistance envelope. This is in keeping with recommendations that the committee made last year in its report on the pre-budget consultation and an OECD report on Canada released in mid-September.

I was very encouraged to see the Government of Canada commit to increasing ODA in budget 2018, but despite this increase, Canada's ODA spending is still near a historical low and well below many of our global peers. Increases will simply keep the aid budget on track with inflation.

ODA is fundamental to our shared global prosperity. These investments support vital services such as health care and education in some of the least developed countries. Increasing ODA through a predictable timetable in budget 2019 would show that Canada is a committed global leader that is helping to create a better world for everyone.

Thank you so much for your time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you very much, Mr. Kirby, and I think we've seen Engineers without Borders at pretty near every stop. That's to your organization's credit.

Now we have Kristy Taylor.

[Kristy Taylor, Show Kids You Care]

Good morning, Honourable Wayne Easter and committee members.

I am Kristy Taylor. I'm here on behalf of Show Kids You Care. We're a national non-profit organization that provides meals for kids living in difficult situations in Canada. We are one of more than 40 members of the Coalition for Healthy School Food, which is coordinated by Food Secure Canada.

Approximately 20% of students in Canada receive a meal or a snack at school. There's a patchwork of organizations that help fund and run these community-based programs, but there is so much more that needs to be done. Evidence shows that school food programs would increase children's consumption of healthy foods, reduce the risk of chronic disease, improve their mental health, improve educational outcomes and graduation rates, create jobs and grow local economies.

A national school food program has been recommended by the Senate Social Affairs committee, a former House Finance committee, the Ontario Healthy Kids panel, the former chief public health officer, and in Senator Art Eggleton's June Senate Motion No. 358.

Today we are asking your government to invest $360 million in your next budget to partner with key stakeholders in funding a cost-shared program estimated at $1.8 billion. Your support will make an immediate and long-lasting impact on children.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you very much, Kristy.

We have Vidhya Magendran.

[Vidhya Magendran, ONE Campaign]

Hello, everybody. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak today.

My name is Vidhya Magendran. I'm a member of the ONE campaign in Canada.

I'm here today on behalf of over two-thirds of Canadians who believe that it is our responsibility to help others around the world. Sadly, Canada's contributions to international assistance have been in steep decline. Canada currently invests 0.26% of its gross national income to official development assistance. At this rate, Canada is lagging far behind our closest friends and allies in the G7 and the OECD, all this despite Canada's support for the Global Fund, additional investment to girls' education, and the increases in budget 2018. These were important first steps, but we are still not doing our fair share.

I'm here today to ask that in budget 2019, the Government of Canada commit to increasing Canada's spending on global development over 10 years through predictable 15% annual increases to the international assistance envelope, starting in fiscal 2019.

Thank you for your time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you very much.

Moon Yong Zong, go ahead. The floor is yours. Welcome.

[Moon Yung Zong, As an Individual]

Hello. My name is Moon Yong Zong. I am a youth advocate from World Vision.

At a young age I was fortunate enough to move to Canada, a country with access to health care, quality education and safe communities for children to grow up in. However, we all know this is not the reality for millions of girls and boys around the world, who lack these basic human rights and services. Having grown up in the suburbs of China, bordering the impoverished North Korea, I have personally seen and experienced such children, whose families struggle to get through each day.

Thanks to remarkable progress and development made by the global community, far fewer people are dying around the world and communities are thriving more than they ever have before. But there are still needs, and I believe that Canada has a role to play and that Canada can make a difference. International assistance has the reputation of being about charity, but it's more than that. It's about strengthening the global community and creating sustainable opportunities for everyone.

As a university student with extensive international experience, I can see the importance of Canada playing a bigger role, a more decisive role, in global development. Doing so will not only advance Canada's national interests, but it will further elevate Canada's reputation as a leader in promoting human rights and development.

Therefore, I urge you, honourable members, to recommend annual long-term increases to international assistance in your report to Parliament on budget 2019.

Thank you for your time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you very much, and thank you for relating that personal experience.

With that, then, we will start the official witnesses.

Before we do, just for the record, as everyone already knows, these are pre-budget consultations in advance of the 2019 budget. We have received submissions from everyone who put one in prior to August 15. We have received them and they are on people's iPads or units that they have, so people will be referring to those from time to time to ask questions.

Before we start, I would like to go around the room to give you, as witnesses, a view of where members come from and what parties and what regions they represent.

I'm Wayne Easter. I'm the chair of the committee, and I'm a government member from Prince Edward Island, the riding of Malpeque.

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

I'm Peter Julian, I'm the NDP vice-chair of the committee, and I hail from New Westminster—Burnaby, on the other side of the country. I'm pleased to be here in Oshawa.

[Leona Alleslev, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, CPC]

I'm Leona Alleslev, the member of Parliament for Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, which is just north of Toronto.

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB]

I'm Pat Kelly, member of Parliament for Calgary Rocky Ridge and a member of the opposition, Conservative caucus.

[Peter Fragiskatos, London North Centre, Lib.]

Good morning. I'm Peter Fragiskatos, a member of Parliament from London, Ontario. Although I don't think there's anybody from London in the room today, many of the organizations at the table share much in common with organizations advocating in my city, so I very much look forward to your presentations this morning.

Thank you.

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

Thank you, Chair.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome. It's great to be here in Oshawa. My riding is Vaughan—Woodbridge, which is about 80 kilometres away. I thank the 407 for getting me here in 45 minutes. It was good.

Welcome. I look forward to hearing your presentations.

[Celina Caesar-Chavannes, Whitby, Lib.]

I'm Celina Caesar-Chavannes, the member of Parliament for Whitby, just next door, so I had a nice seven-minute commute here today. As the former parliamentary secretary to the Minister of International Development, I appreciate some of the comments we received earlier this morning.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you, members.

Just to inform you, Francesco, a 12-car lineup in P.E.I. is a traffic jam.

We will start with the Canadian Association for Community Living, Krista Carr.

Welcome.

[Krista Carr, Executive Vice-President, Canadian Association for Community Living]

Good morning.

Persons with an intellectual disability or autism are two of the most disadvantaged and marginalized populations in Canada, with an employment rate of only about 20%. We have an opportunity to change that.

Our budget request is for a three-year, $30-million initiative called Ready, Willing and Able, or RWA.

Ready, Willing and Able is a partnership of the Canadian Association for Community Living, the Canadian Autism Spectrum Disorders Alliance, and our member organizations across the country. This national project engages employers and reinforces the business case of inclusive hiring, generating increased employer demand to hire job seekers with an intellectual disability or autism. Because it focuses on employer demand, it works in partnership and not in competition with provinces' and territories' employment programs and agencies. We say it's a bit like riding sidecar.

Our request is for a phase two RWA initiative. The initial pilot of RWA that commenced in 2014 has been extremely successful. To date, we have reached out to 8,700 employers, actively worked with 3,200 employers, and achieved the generation of 2,153 jobs.

We are grateful for the support received from the federal government to allow us to demonstrate that job seekers with an intellectual disability or autism can obtain and retain employment within the competitive labour market. We know we have an approach that works and that can begin to shift the dismal employment rate of 20%.

A phase two project will conduct outreach to 10,000 employers, actively engage with 4,000 employers, achieve over 2,000 new employment outcomes, and create a minimum of 10 new national employer partnerships. More importantly, RWA will be delivered in 30 primary communities in each province and territory, with secondary outreach to 300 communities. It will reflect urban, rural, francophone and anglophone communities. It will engage provincial and territorial officials in employment policy discussions. It will focus on identifying issues and barriers articulated by Canada's indigenous peoples. It will also cement discussions with provincial and territorial officials and the private sector related to the long-term sustainability of the RWA model.

[Cynthia Carroll, Chair, Canadian Autism Spectrum Disorders Alliance]

RWA is helping design Canada's competitive edge. We know that if we give persons living with a disability the opportunity to work at an equal rate within the workforce in Canada, we can grow our economy by up to $38.5 billion.

RWA helps boost national productivity, addresses current and anticipated labour shortages and ultimately increases Canada's competitiveness. It enhances the financial viability, productivity and competitiveness of businesses by providing coordinated, effective, and responsive access to an untapped labour pool.

In phase one, RWA employees demonstrated a 93% retention rate. All positions were real work for real pay. There was not one wage subsidy.

RWA represents a modest investment by the Government of Canada in an innovative and highly successful initiative. It is important to note that during the pilot phase, RWA participants earned $9.6 million in wages, and there was approximately $4.7 million in saved social assistance payments. Only 19% of participants reported any employment experience or earnings prior to phase one of RWA.

The initial investment of this program was nearly recovered in wages earned and social assistance savings, and we would expect that trend to continue in a phase two. The return on investment of this program, including the quality of life outcomes and transformations, are worth the modest investment we are asking for. It just makes sense.

A senior vice-president of Costco Canada stated:

Our partnership with Ready, Willing and Able has brought us some of our most committed employees....

I thought for sure we’d have a good result, but I never imagined it would be this good.... It’s a labour pool that is available, and I don’t know that everyone knows how strong it is or how to get it started. That needs to change.

Why invest in phase two of RWA? The magnitude of change needed cannot be achieved within a single four-year window. The need for a phase two of RWA will build on lessons learned, cement the long-term viability of this model over the next three years, and change that 20% statistic.

Creating an accessible Canada means creating inclusive workplaces that capitalize on the incredible diversity of our country. RWA is positioned to support the Government of Canada's accessibility agenda by moving this momentum to transformation and practice—transformation that ultimately sees individuals with an intellectual disability or autism apply their untapped potential to create a more competitive and productive Canadian workforce.

It's time for the government to find ways to expand workplace participation for persons with disabilities and to broaden the scope of investment beyond the opportunities fund. We are asking for a phase two RWA so that persons with an intellectual disability or autism can reclaim their right to equal and full citizenship.

Not only do they deserve it. They are ready, willing and able.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you both.

Cynthia Carroll, with the Canadian Autism Spectrum Disorders Alliance, was the second speaker. I failed to introduce you in the beginning. I didn't know it was a joint presentation.

From the Eastern Ontario Wardens' Caucus, Robin Jones, chair, and Jim Pine, chief administrative officer.

Welcome.

[Robin Jones, Chair, Eastern Ontario Wardens' Caucus]

Thank you very much. Good morning.

My name is Robin Jones, I am the mayor of the village of Westport. I'm the warden of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, and I am the chair of the Eastern Ontario Wardens' Caucus. I'm here with my colleague, Jim Pine, who is the CAO of Hastings County.

When we talk about wardens, we're not talking about the correctional system. In the province of Ontario we have many two-tier municipalities. The upper tier consists of the counties in our part of the world, and the warden is elected from the mayors of that county. The Eastern Ontario Wardens' Caucus is all the upper tier and two large municipalities in eastern Ontario. We represent 103 municipalities across eastern Ontario. There are only 444 in Ontario, so we represent a large number of constituents.

I'm here today to talk about a project that we are hoping for some support on. Over the past 18 years, the wardens' caucus has pursued policies and projects that improve the economic health of its member communities. In 2010, we formed a not-for-profit organization called the Eastern Ontario Regional Network, which we will likely refer to with the acronym EORN. The purpose of EORN was to support the region's quality of life and economic development through improved connectivity for rural eastern Ontario. From 2010 to 2014, EORN built a $175-million network that improved broadband access to about 90% of the people in eastern Ontario. This was an innovative public-private partnership, which included the federal government, provincial and municipal governments, and private service providers.

In 2018, we are now moving to the next milestone, which is to improve access to cellular and mobile broadband services in eastern Ontario. Should you think it's not that bad, my municipality is about 45 minutes north of Kingston, and I have probably five to 10 minutes in that route when I will have dependable cellular service. This isn't just north of Highway 7. This is throughout eastern Ontario. We know we hit a wall when we come out of Toronto when we lose the cellular mobile opportunities. This is the number one issue for the politicians in eastern Ontario. It is the number one linchpin in our economic stability.

To let you know that we don't come with complaints without solutions, Mr. Pine will give the solutions.

[Jim Pine, Chief Administrative Officer, Eastern Ontario Wardens' Caucus]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

We've made a proposal to both Canada and Ontario to do a project to close the cellular gaps in coverage and improve capacity. It has a value of $213 million. We've asked the federal government to join with the Province of Ontario and commit in budget 2019 to a contribution of $71 million over four years—$17.75 million a year for four years—as its share of the eastern Ontario regional mobile broadband project.

The Province of Ontario has committed $71 million to date. The Eastern Ontario Wardens' Caucus and the cities in eastern Ontario have committed $10 million as well. We'll raise another $61 million from the private sector, but we really need the federal government to join us in this key project.

It's about jobs and public safety. Our independent analysis has shown that if we do this project across eastern Ontario, we can create up to 3,000 jobs over the next number of years. Business revenues will be developed that will interest industry and telecommunications businesses to participate, and it's going to improve public safety as well. In many places, as the chair said, you can't get a cell connection at all. There are areas where you can go 100 kilometres and never be able to make contact with a cellphone. If you have an accident in that area, good luck. You'd better try to find a landline somewhere.

This project will set us up for the future too. We know that 5G is coming. Eastern Ontario needs to be ready to participate in that part of the economy. We can't do it without this key infrastructure in place. We need the support of Canada. We have Ontario's support. We'll raise a bunch of money from the private sector. This could be a really successful public-private partnership, as we had in the last project.

It has the support, I think it's fair to say, of all eastern Ontario MPs in the House of Commons. They have all written us support letters, urging the federal government to participate.

We're ready to get going. We just need the federal government to be onside with its contribution.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you both.

From the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation of Canada, Mr. Prowten and Mr. Tohill.

[Dave Prowten, President and Chief Executive Officer, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Canada]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

As mentioned, my name's Dave Prowten, and I'm the president and CEO of JDRF Canada. I'm joined by Patrick Tohill, who is our director of government relations.

JDRF is the world's leading charity focused on research to cure, prevent and treat type 1 diabetes. This is a chronic, potentially fatal, autoimmune disease in which a person's pancreas stops producing insulin, making them dependent on daily injections or infusions of insulin for the rest of their life.

I'd like to begin by thanking this committee for the attention you gave last year to the process changes by the Canada Revenue Agency, which saw nearly all adults with type 1 diabetes being denied the disability tax credit. The good news is that 1,326 Canadians with diabetes have had the disability tax credit restored. However, there remain 941 whose DTC claims remain disallowed. When we met recently with the CRA, they informed us that these applicants will not be notified of this outcome. We are concerned that those applicants may not be aware of the CRA's process and that it's concluded, and we believe these 941 individuals should be notified so they might avail themselves of the appeals process normally available to them. Frankly, we think that not doing so is really poor customer service by the CRA at this point.

With respect to the DTC, there remain some significant issues around eligibility that we would like to see addressed.

The first recommendation in our pre-budget submission calls on the government to amend the Income Tax Act to reduce the number of hours required to qualify for the DTC from 14 to 10, and to recognize carbohydrate calculation is integral to a proper dosage of insulin, and therefore should be an eligible activity. The CRA currently considers carbohydrate calculation as a dietary restriction, which is an ineligible activity, when it really is part and parcel of calculating the appropriate insulin dosage and should be an eligible activity. It creates confusion for doctors and inequity for patients. Those who report on their T2201 claim form the time spent calculating carbohydrates will often be denied, while those who report time spent calculating their insulin dosage will see that time included.

Our second recommendation is to amend the Canada disability savings regulation around RDSPs by removing the requirement that government contributions be repaid when their DTC eligibility is lost—except, of course, in cases of fraudulent activity. One of the most disturbing aspects of the CRA's recent denials was that some Canadians stood to lose tens of thousands of dollars in government contributions to their RDSPs. With eligibility for RDSPs entirely dependent on eligibility for the DTC, some may lose their eligibility within the 10-year investment period, forcing them to close their account and repay all government contributions. As this change in status may happen without a change in actual circumstances, these Canadians stand to lose their RDSP investments while continuing to face the same financial challenges and need for long-term financial security.

Families are of particular concern to us. Parents of children with type 1 diabetes may claim the hours they and their child spend managing insulin therapy towards the eligible hours for the DTC. After having invested in an RDSP in good faith, with the expectation that those funds will be there to assist their child in a time of need, is it right that families should face the prospect of a clawback simply because their child turns 18 years of age? We recognize it's a bit confusing, but it's an important issue that we would like to table.

Recommendation three calls for the government to implement a national diabetes strategy, more specifically the Diabetes 360° strategy recommended by our colleagues at Diabetes Canada. This strategy should include specific outcomes for type 1 diabetes and new funding for research aimed at curing, preventing and treating this disease. We're at a pivotal time for research, and each new discovery adds to our understanding of what's necessary to stop the immune attack that causes this disease and restore the capability to produce insulin, improve lives, and change the outcome and costs to the health care system.

Our fourth recommendation is to create a national diabetes registry for patients with type 1 diabetes along the lines of those developed by Australia, England and Wales, Scotland, Sweden and the United States. These registries have significant impacts on accelerating clinical trial recruitment, and they offer valuable understanding of the effectiveness of patient interventions in improving health outcomes and reducing health care system costs.

Our final recommendation is that the government ensure that all types of insulin are included under any national pharmacare program. Sir Frederick Banting and Charles Best discovered insulin nearly 100 years ago, in 1921, just down the street in Toronto. This was a remarkable achievement and a real source of pride for Canada. Today the cost of insulin remains high and newer, faster-acting insulins and glucose-responsive insulins are out of reach for some patients. It's a very expensive disease to manage on a day-to-day basis.

JDRF thinks it would be a fitting celebration, on the eve of the 100th anniversary of this remarkable discovery, for Canada to cover the cost of this life-sustaining medicine for all Canadians.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you.

Turning to Land Over Landings Inc., we have Susan Reesor, Vice-Chair; and Jim Miller, Head of Research. Welcome.

[Susan Reesor, Vice-Chair, Land Over Landings Inc.]

Good morning.

My name is Susan Reesor. I was born and raised on a farm in Markham, not far from the Pickering Lands. The extended Reesor family has been growing food on this land since 1804.

My colleague, Jim Miller, is co-owner of Thistle Ha' Farm, adjacent to the Pickering Lands. His great-grandfather settled the farm in 1839.

Jim and I are executive members of Land Over Landings, a citizens' organization whose mission is to convince the federal government that a large tract of Crown land in Pickering, almost all of it prime farmland, should no longer be held for a potential airport, but instead, be developed as a food source for the greater Toronto area and beyond.

The land, which is very near to us here, was expropriated in 1972, and 46 years later, half of it has been turned into a national park. The remaining 9,600 acres still sit in limbo. As far back as 1985, the Auditor General was calling the land-banked site a non-productive asset. The part left in limbo is still a non-productive asset.

Land Over Landings recently commissioned a first-ever agricultural economic study of these lands to ascertain the site's current economic output and to determine its potential if dedicated to food production and agricultural research. The study, which we have provided to the clerk, found that economic output had dropped by half under Transport Canada's ownership, while job numbers had plummeted by two-thirds.

On the other hand, the report described a possible future for the lands that shows a viable path to new prosperity. If the government agreed to put the lands back into diversified farming, if it made them a training ground for the next generation of farmers, if it provided affordable farmland to new farmers who could capitalize on its proximity to Canada's largest food market and take advantage of the tourism spillover from the new Rouge National Urban Park, if it opened the door to the establishment of research facilities on the lands for agricultural innovation and climate change adaptation, these combined farming and agri-tourism activities could create more than 2,100 new jobs and revitalize an area that has become an economic wasteland, dragging down surrounding communities with it.

The study's consultants calculated that these 9,600 acres, on their own, could generate $238 million in overall economic activity annually. From another perspective, the status quo constitutes a lost opportunity to our economy of $4.4 million per week.

Today, the 11 airports of the southern Ontario airport network are collaborating to meet the region's projected aviation needs for the next 30 years. Many of these airports, including Pearson, can expand should the need arise. In fact, Pearson's latest master plan for 2017 through 2037 makes clear that Pearson has a number of options for expanding its operations, meaning that the Pickering site will remain land-banked for another three decades at least, maybe forever, given that we need to drastically cut, or even eliminate, our carbon emissions in the course of this century.

The Pickering site is at risk of becoming a stranded asset, a fate that could be averted if the farmland were permanently committed to helping meet the future's biggest challenges: feeding the world's growing population and mitigating climate change.

These lands are capable of reliably producing safe, fresh food for Canadians and the world for generations to come. It's hard to imagine anything more crucial to our future well-being than protecting our most valuable food sources while we still can.

We can provide you with details during the question-and-answer part of this hearing. Today, we ask the committee to allocate funding to help transition this Crown land from languishing site to a prosperous farming and research community whose output could start paying dividends quickly under the overall management of a public custodian.

The essential elements are already in place to turn these lands into one of the new food hubs serving Canada and the world, as was recommended in the 2017 Barton report on agriculture.

Thank you for your consideration of this request.