Finance Committee on Oct. 18th, 2018

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

I call the meeting to order.

For the witnesses who are here for the formal presentation—just so you know what we're up to—we have a 15-minute session of what we call “open mikes” when we're on the road. That means that anybody in the audience who has registered has an opportunity to make a one-minute statement at the floor mike. There are no questions from members to those presenters, but their information and their request goes on the record and is considered part of the pre-budget consultations.

We are here for the pre-budget consultations for the 2019 budget. We welcome and thank everyone who is here.

We'll start with the open-mike sessions, with Orvie Dingwall.

Welcome, Orvie.

[Orvie Dingwall, As an Individual]

Thank you.

My name is Orvie Dingwall, from the University of Manitoba Faculty Association.

Across Canada there has been a 5% reduction in government funding of post-secondary education. These costs have been transferred down to students by increasing their tuition and their fees. That's not okay. The average student debt at graduation is about $22,000. That's the same amount as a down payment on a house—well, here in Winnipeg, but maybe not in Vancouver.

We need to reduce this strain on students and make post-secondary education accessible. We need the federal government to develop and fund a national strategy for post-secondary education.

Undergraduate students at the University of Manitoba aren't graduating on time, because they can't get into the mandatory courses they need to graduate. Meanwhile, professors are reporting that their classrooms are so full that students are sitting on the floors. There is a higher ratio of professors to students than ever before, and about a third of faculty members are estimated to be on short-term contracts.

We need the federal government to invest in new faculty and new researcher positions.

Finally, post-secondary education institutions, including the University of Manitoba, have been striving to invest in education for indigenous students. But to do this right takes specialized resources, new indigenous approaches to education, and indigenous professors and researchers.

We need the federal government to substantially increase federal support for first nations, Inuit and Métis students.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you, Orvie.

Next we have Maxine Meadows. Up after her will be Selwyn Burrows.

Go ahead, Maxine.

[Maxine Meadows, As an Individual]

Good morning.

My name is Maxine Meadows. I'm a registered dietician working with the Child Nutrition Council of Manitoba.

During the 2017-18 school year, the council funded more than 259 school nutrition programs all across the province. These programs provided more than 28,000 students with consistent meals and snacks. The council is a member of the Coalition for Healthy School Food, a network of more than 40 groups, and a project of Food Secure Canada.

Today, approximately 20% of students across Canada will participate in a school food and nutrition program. These programs are largely volunteer based. They have multiple funders, including parents, schools, community groups, businesses, municipalities, territories and provinces.

We are asking your government to invest $360 million as part of a cost-shared program, with an estimated total of $1.8 billion. This request complements Senate motion 358, introduced by former senator Art Eggleton in June, which recommends federal funding for a nutrition program.

This investment will establish new programs and strengthen existing ones. Evidence shows that food programs available to all students have many health and learning benefits, create jobs and improve the local economy. Everyone wins, especially our kids.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you very much, Maxine.

Selwyn Burrows is next.

[Selwyn Burrows, ONE Campaign]

Bonjour.

My name is Selwyn Burrows. I go by Sel. I am also able to put the honorific “O.M.” after my name, which I'll mention later.

I'm here today to plead with you to increase the amount of money Canada is giving to international development.

I am a person who puts my time and money where my mouth is. O.M. stands for Order of Manitoba, and I was given that honour for my anti-poverty work in Winnipeg. I have also spent time in Central America—in Nicaragua and in Guatemala—working on anti-poverty programs.

In my youth, in the sixties, we believed that Canada would be at the forefront of international development aid. The 0.7% of our GDP, as we called it then—sorry if my terminology is out of date—was something we believed we could reach. To see our percentage going down is very concerning.

This is something that goes across all party lines. Whether you're a Mennonite farmer with the food banks or an inner city person donating, this is something of concern. It is doubly concerning when our government is increasing its military spending at the demands of that conservative president to the south of us. I'm particularly concerned that we should be increasing the amount of money we are donating to international development when we have the privilege of being in a wealthy country. I have seen the poverty that exists in poorer countries, and I know that most of you have as well. Please, let's set that 0.7% target.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you, Selwyn.

Leanne Shumka is next.

[Leanne Shumka, As an Individual]

Good morning.

My name is Leanne Shumka. I am here representing the Canadian Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, also known as CASFAA.

CASFAA represents many personnel across Canadian post-secondary institutions who are dedicated advocates in helping Canadian students achieve financial wellness and success.

To build Canada's economic growth and ensure our competitiveness, we believe that the following three recommendations can help ensure student success.

First, allow students an adequate time to establish stability before beginning the regime of student loan repayment. This can be achieved by reinstating the Canada student loan interest subsidy for the six months following the completion of studies.

Second, empower post-secondary students who acquire loans through the Canada student loans program with mandatory entrance and exit loan counselling.

Third, reduce the educational gaps between indigenous and non-indigenous Canadians by providing a Canada student grant program for indigenous students.

CASFAA firmly believes that these measures will help to not only instill and develop financial literacy and awareness in our students but also position them to immediately engage in our economy when they have completed school.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you, Leanne.

Abdal Qeshta, welcome.

[Abdal Qeshta, As an Individual]

Thank you for this opportunity.

Mr. Wayne Easter, I understand you spoke with my colleague Pam in Edmonton.

Mr. Chair and members of the committee, I am Abdal Qeshta. I am the regional coordinator at the United Nations Association in Canada.

UNAC recommends support for a body of work supporting the directives to cabinet on defence, foreign affairs, international development, environment, heritage and labour with an investment of $10 million per year over four years. UNAC will provide the following: dialogue, engagement, and mobilization for policy research and innovation to provide input to defence, diplomacy, development, climate change, populism and exclusion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Is the sound going into the booth?

Slow down a little. Perhaps you could start over.

[Abdal Qeshta]

Okay, I can start over.

I will start by introducing myself. I am Abdal Qeshta, Winnipeg regional coordinator at the United Nations Association in Canada.

UNAC recommends support for a body of work supporting the directives to cabinet on defence, foreign affairs, international development, environment, heritage and labour with an investment of $10 million per year over four years. UNAC will provide the following: dialogue, engagement and mobilization for policy research and innovation to provide input to defence, diplomacy, development, climate change, populism and exclusion.

Second, support and develop educational materials meeting sustainable development goals.

Third, engage with the UN agencies supporting Canada's UN—

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Try it again.

We're having technical difficulties, and we're not even in the country. In the country, this happens all the time with cellphones.

[Abdal Qeshta]

Third, engage with the UN agencies supporting Canada's UN Security Council campaign. UNAC will mobilize support and engagement in sustainable development and human rights.

Last, UNA Canada shares the imperative to ensure full participation of women and youth toward building a fair, prosperous and sustainable world.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you very much, Abdal.

Amy Spearman, welcome.

[Amy Spearman, As an Individual]

Thank you. Good morning.

My name is Amy, and I am a high school student.

I am fortunate to have been raised in Canada, with access to health care, a good education and a safe community to grow up in. However, having recently attended a youth conference at the UN for children's human rights, I heard first-hand stories about how this is not the reality for millions of children around the world.

On the other hand, having visited developing regions with World Vision's youth program, I have seen the positive impact of Canada's investments abroad. Fewer communities are impoverished, and they are given the opportunity to improve their lives and the lives of their children. Canadians can and should be proud of this; however, there is still a lot to be done.

International assistance has a reputation of being about charity, but I believe it is more than that. It's about strengthening the global community, promoting basic rights and creating sustainable opportunities. Contributing to international assistance is not only good for the world, but it's equally beneficial for the Canadian economy and Canada's position as a leader in the world.

I am encouraged by the recent increases to international assistance; nevertheless, we need to be ambitious, because ambitious goals require ambitious financing. Therefore, I urge you 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, Amy.

Now we go to Richard Thiessen.

Welcome, Richard.

[Richard Thiessen, ONE Campaign]

First of all, I'd like to acknowledge that we are in Treaty No. 1 territory and on the traditional territory of the Anishinabe peoples and the homeland of the Métis nation.

Honourable members, my name is Richard Thiessen. I am a member of the ONE campaign in Canada. I'm here today on behalf of over two-thirds of Canadians who believe it is our responsibility to help others around the world.

As you know, Canada invests only 0.26% of its gross national income to official development assistance, which puts us far behind our closest friends and allies in the G7 and the OECD. Support for the Global Fund and the Global Partnership for Education and an increase in budget 2018 were important first steps, but we are still not doing our fair share.

You've recently heard from ONE, Engineers Without Borders, World Vision and others. I am here today to repeat the message. I 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 year 2019.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you very much, Richard.

Last in our open-mike session is William Loewen, or Bill.

Welcome. The floor is yours. Go ahead.

[William Loewen, President, TelPay Bill Payment Service]

Thank you very much for hearing me.

I am the president of Telpay Incorporated, a bill payment service company that I started in 1985. I was also the founder of Comcheq Services Limited, a payroll service company that started in 1968. In both cases, these operations involved the processing of data, but also, rather uniquely at the time, they involved the distribution of the funds generated from that data.

The requirement of our doing so is that we must maintain those funds in a trust account. That's an inefficiency that is really quite significant, maybe even surprising. At least $2 billion of corporate working capital is tied up in those trust funds in various companies such as ours and payroll companies—$2 billion of working capital, free working capital that could be released with suitable changes in the payment system.

The Department of Finance has made some excellent advances in that regard. In fact, the change made in the month of September has opened up the opportunity to diminish greatly those trust funds, because the payments that are made today can be obtained today, and so there isn't that float that is really quite costly to business.

In terms of what you're trying to achieve, efficiency and steps toward the future of the payment industry could be dealt with by implementing the changes, which are really fairly simple, I believe. We'd like you to recommend that the Department of Finance look at these changes.

Thanks.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you very much, Bill.

Thank you to all the open-mike presenters. As I indicated earlier, that information will go on the record and be considered.

We'll start our formal session with our witnesses here.

Before we do, I'll quickly go around the room and have members introduce themselves so that you know where each of us is from.

I'm Wayne Easter, member of Parliament for Malpeque, Prince Edward Island.

We'll start with Michael.

[Michael McLeod, Liberal, Northwest Territories, NT]

Good morning, everyone. Welcome.

My name is Michael McLeod. I represent the Northwest Territories.

[Kim Rudd, Northumberland—Peterborough South, Lib.]

Hi. I'm Kim Rudd, member of Parliament for Northumberland—Peterborough South. For context, that is a rural riding in southeastern Ontario.

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

My name is Greg Fergus and I am the member for Hull—Aylmer, in the Outaouais region of Quebec.

I am pleased to be back in Winnipeg. This is the third time this year.

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

I'm Pat Kelly, member of Parliament for Calgary Rocky Ridge.