Finance Committee on Oct. 5th, 2016

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

This meeting in Regina, pursuant to Standing Order 83(1), is part of our pre-budget consultations in advance of the 2017 budget.

We're pleased to be here and thank all of the witnesses here today. We appreciate all of the briefs that were presented at an earlier time. We'll go through all of them and see where we can go in terms of recommendations.

As well, people know from the questions that we sent out that beyond the pre-budget consultations, the theme we are working on is how we can achieve better economic growth in Canada. If you have any ideas or any suggestions on that, we're open to them.

Before we start the official presentations, I will ask members of the committee to introduce themselves and just say where their riding is.

I'm Wayne Easter, chair of the committee, and member for the riding of Malpeque in Prince Edward Island.

[Erin Weir, NDP, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

I'm Erin Weir, for Regina—Lewvan, just a few blocks west of here.

I want to welcome the rest of the committee to Regina. We got the snow out early for you this year.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

I'm Ziad Aboultaif, for Edmonton Manning.

[Ron Liepert, Conservative, Calgary Signal Hill, AB]

I'm Ron Liepert. I'm the member of Parliament for Calgary Signal Hill. I'm a Conservative member of Parliament.

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

I'm Steve MacKinnon, member of Parliament for Gatineau, which is just across the river from Ottawa.

Thank you, Erin, for your hospitality.

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

I'm Jennifer O'Connell. I'm the member of Parliament for Pickering—Uxbridge, just east of Toronto in Ontario.

[Raj Grewal, Liberal, Brampton East, ON]

Good morning. My name is Raj Grewal. I'm the member of Parliament for Brampton East.

Thank you, Erin, for the warm welcome to Regina. The Jays won, so I'm in a very good mood today.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

He's as bad a Jays fan as the Roughriders fans are out here. He's pretty near as passionate....not quite.

At the front, we have the analyst and the clerk as well.

We will start. We hope that people will stick to about five minutes, or pretty close to that, so we will have ample time for questions.

Mr. Moran from the Gabriel Housing Corporation, the floor is yours.

[Doug Moran, Chief Executive Officer, Gabriel Housing Corporation]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

It's a great pleasure to be in front of the committee today. We really appreciate the opportunity to participate in this exercise.

Our presentation specifically addresses question number one, and it also leads into questions two and three, because housing will lead to aboriginal Canadians participating collectively in the Canadian economy.

You are well aware of the statistics, facts, and figures for vacancies, as well as the high rental rates across the country, so we won’t bore you too much with those. We will, though, highlight the reasons and the need for more social housing assistance, as well as the initiatives from the federal government for aboriginal Canadians and the shortcomings faced in bringing social housing to these same aboriginal Canadians.

Our perspective on how to increase aboriginal Canadian participation in the Canadian economy starts with access to safe, stable, and affordable housing. This will provide them with the stability and confidence to raise their families and participate in community affairs, while accessing local services and securing their families' safety and well-being. As well, stabilizing the home of aboriginal Canadians will give them the confidence to enter into further training and education, and give them the ability to gain employment, acquire jobs, start new businesses, gain home ownership, and ultimately participate in the Canadian economy and business sectors.

Over the course of the past few centuries, first nations, Inuit, and Métis people have been subjected to Indian residential schools, the sixties scoop, the reserve system, road allowance, and the big one: systemic racism. The sixties scoop is just beginning to make its way through the court system, and the latest atrocity added to this list is homelessness.

As a result of these atrocities, aboriginal Canadians still carry these societal, social, and economic disparities with them today. These individuals and families are now our tenants, and every day we deal with the people and the issues. They are hard to house, and that is why they apply and stay with aboriginal housing providers. They are not wanted by housing authorities and private landlords, as they come with a lot of issues. Often paying rent is not a priority for them due to economic and social hardships. We understand these issues and concerns, and we work with them while others don’t.

Homelessness, especially among the aboriginal population, has recently exploded. In Regina, almost 100% of homeless people are of aboriginal descent, yet programs and services are operated by non-aboriginal people and organizations that still believe that they know what’s better for aboriginal Canadians. This is contradictory to what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised in his victory night speech.

This population is hard to house. The aboriginal housing and service providers know this as fact, but each and every time we are again asked to define who is hard to house. When we submit funding proposals to the provincial government and the homelessness program, we are asked to redefine and re-explain the reasons we are eligible to receive funding through their programs. It’s tiresome, especially when the picture is so clear and is right in front of them. That is why we need the federal government to stabilize funding and priorities for aboriginal social housing.

Your questions numbered one, two, and three describe most, if not all, aboriginal people, because they just can’t compete at this level with the rest of the population, and it has been like this for years. The first step to continuing to improve on this is by providing quality, safe, and affordable housing, and stabilizing the family unit.

The current Canadian economy is limiting our ability to access funds to meet the demands of affordable housing, for example, with the role of the private sector. Profit-making companies' resources are low and that limits their participation with the non-profit charitable sectors. At one point, they were quite active in their communities, but this has drastically changed. Housing development is very expensive, even to build one new house. When we talk about constructing or purchasing multi-family units, such as duplexes and apartments, it’s a very expensive proposition. This limits the kind of profit-making companies and investors that can even consider these types of requests. This is where we require government intervention.

Private non-profit corporations such as ours have limited resources to make the kind of impact that is needed in our communities. We need to draw on collaborative partnerships to get the work done, but with the state of the Canadian economy now, it makes it very difficult. This is why we need the federal government to get back into the game. The province could do more when it comes to social housing, but its priority at this time is the private sector. The municipality does what it can, but housing is not its role, so we appreciate whatever it does manage to contribute. We need the federal government to come back to the table with some creative housing initiatives.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

I don't want to interrupt you, but I do note that you're about halfway through and already at your time limit, so could you just highlight the other points? People will have access to the brief, as well.

[Doug Moran]

Okay, I'll just go right into why Gabriel Housing Corporation needs some assistance in trying to provide housing to aboriginal Canadians.

Our operating agreements and ongoing subsidies are expiring. We need the federal government to look at them and to renew them.

A novel idea would be to provide housing corporations such as ours with capital grants to provide us the means to purchase new houses, and even to purchase older ones and renovate them. That would be an ongoing program that we could certainly utilize to meet the demand.

A training and education fund program would be nice, because then we could train our own people in the trades to build and renovate our own houses, which would create employment and a profit to subsidize our own operations.

We need a repair and retrofit program. We have such an aging housing stock that it costs money to repair and retrofit them, so we ask the federal government to come up with a program to assist us with that endeavour.

On devolution, we need the federal government to take back responsibility for social housing. We experience many shifts in federal and provincial government policy in support of our programs, shifts that are onerous and time-consuming for us, which take away from the efforts we could be making elsewhere.

We need the government to come back to the table. A national housing strategy, of course, would stabilize our funding and our priorities for social housing. That would definitely be helpful.

On aboriginal control, we need more direct control of housing and homelessness, especially homelessness. Almost 100% of the homeless people in Regina are aboriginal, but we have no say when it comes to assisting our aboriginal clients. There needs to be some give there in letting the experts do what they do. At Gabriel Housing, we look after aboriginal Canadians.

The end result, Mr. Chairman, is that aboriginal people will come to us before they go to other housing providers. We have the cultural awareness of what our clients are dealing with on a daily basis. We deal with their issues every day. That's why, when we look at our strategic planning, we build that into our planning, and I'm sure it works out, so we need to continue that process.

By providing the core housing needs of aboriginal Canadians, we will participate in the Canadian economy, but until the Government of Canada takes a stronger lead, we'll continue to see rising homelessness and a further reduction in the quality of life for aboriginal Canadians.

That's my presentation, Mr. Chairman.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you very much.

We now have Ms. Schwann, the president of the Saskatchewan Mining Association.

[Pamela Schwann, President, Saskatchewan Mining Association]

Thank you.

Good morning, Mr. Easter, members of the committee, and fellow witnesses. My name is Pam Schwann. I am the President of the Saskatchewan Mining Association, and our representatives include industry funded organizations. Our members are mining companies in Saskatchewan and exploration companies active in Saskatchewan.

Thank you for the invitation to present here today asking about what federal activities and measures could be undertaken to assist in the economic growth for Canadians, businesses, and communities throughout Canada. We have six specific measures that we would be looking for. I will name them, and then I will come back to three of them in a bit more detail, time permitting.

The Saskatchewan Mining Association would encourage the federal government to undertake measures that would support building on Saskatchewan's and Canada's natural mineral advantages, and we think more mines would address all three questions. This would also advance the government's priority commitments to improving the socio-economic conditions for indigenous communities and developing a lower carbon intensive economy, given the commodities that Saskatchewan mines.

The are six measures that we are looking at. The first one is establishing a regulatory framework that enables sustainable resource development. The second one is investing in the socio-economic capacity of indigenous communities. The third one is incentivizing investment through taxation tools, such as enhancing access to capital for junior companies through things like the mineral exploration tax credit, and also having tax tools that would incentivize investments in clean technology. The fourth one is ensuring a competitive, reliable, and responsive rail transport system to get products to market. You know that the CTA review report is in, and Minister Garneau is looking at that right now. The fifth one is the promotion of the role of uranium-sourced nuclear power, and carbon capture and sequestration in a low-carbon economy. The sixth one is continuing federal trade missions to emerging markets.

Before I speak on the six measures that I have identified, I would like to address the refrain that we regularly hear about the need to regain public confidence in resources development projects. I felt it was important to let the members of the committee know that public polling data from the 1,000 Saskatchewan residents we've already polled—we're just in a third tranche now, and we've done two already—indicates that nine out of 10 respondents are supportive of the mining industry, including 50% who are strongly supportive and 84% who think the mining industry is very important to Saskatchewan. I do believe we have the public support in Saskatchewan for mining development.

I would like to speak to the measures of the regulatory framework, the measure of investing in socio-economic capacity of indigenous communities, and the promotion of uranium-sourced nuclear power and CCS, if I could.

Establishing a regulatory framework that enables sustainable resource development is the first one. The constant review of federal environmental regulation and legislation, and the increasing involvement in federal regulators in resource development, is contributing to increased investor certainty.

The SMA supports a regulatory framework that is proportional to the environmental risk of a project, which is one that is fair, science-based, and offers clarity and predictability in its process. That's what we're looking for.

The second measure is investing in socio-economic capacity of indigenous communities. I would like to spend some time on this, because mining is one of the few sectors that delivers jobs and economic growth to indigenous people in Canada. Mining helps foster and build economic and social capacity within indigenous communities. This is particularly true in Saskatchewan where there is a decades long constructive relationship with indigenous communities built on pillars of workforce development, business development, community engagement, environmental stewardship, and community investment. Mining provides wealth creation, economic development opportunities, and improved educational outcomes in communities that have systemically high poverty rates, particularly in northern Saskatchewan.

In 2015, 45% of all the northern Saskatchewan mine workers were of first nation or Métis heritage. That's 1,526 individuals. This represents an annual payroll of $107 million. It also means that in that broad geographic, but sparsely populated, region of about 37,000 people, one in five jobs is directly related to mining. In 2015, $388 million, or 41% of all goods and services purchased from mines in northern Saskatchewan, were purchased from first nations and Metis-owned companies, joint ventures, or individuals. Mining operations in southern Saskatchewan have not come as far as the ones in the north, but they have more recently focused their efforts on engaging aboriginal communities as employees and suppliers, and also in building educational and community capacity more locally.

The one budget measure that I would like to speak to is the promotion of the role of uranium-sourced power and CCS in a low-carbon economy, along with the financial incentives to invest in clean technology. The Saskatchewan mining industry can be a primary contributor to the government's priority of addressing climate change by promoting the use of nuclear power sourced by uranium mines from Saskatchewan and the use of CCS. Nuclear power provides 11% of the world's electricity. Saskatchewan has the highest grade uranium mines in the world. Our two mines at McArthur River and Cigar Lake provide 20% of the world's uranium and clean energy for the world by reducing global GHG emissions. Value-added processing of Saskatchewan uranium also occurs in Port Hope and Blind River, Ontario, where it offers high-quality jobs and economic activity. Saskatchewan uranium is also helping Ontario meet it's clean energy plan, as one in two homes in Ontario is fuelled by nuclear energy.

Similarly, coal provides 41% of the world's electricity and will continue to be a primary source of the world's electricity for decades. China continues to invest in thermal coal plants, as well as additional nuclear power generation capacity. Coal fired electrical generation is not going away. Saskatchewan has made significant investments in CCS technology to reduce GHG emissions—not necessarily just in Saskatchewan, but in technology that could be exported. We have a population of just over a million people. Last year the Boundary Dam CCS project took the equivalent of 240,000 vehicles off the road in a population of a million people. That's significant.

Our recommendation is that to facilitate the transition to a lower-carbon economy throughout the world, we need measures to promote and invest in the use of nuclear power and carbon capture sequestration technology, which can be utilized in Canada and exported globally to help mitigate global climate change.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you, Pamela.

From SARM, we have Mr. Raymond Orb, the president.

Ray, the floor is yours.

[Raymond Orb, President, Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities]

Good morning. I'm pleased to be here to give the presentation this morning.

For those who aren't familiar with us, SARM represents all of the 296 rural municipalities in the province. The membership is voluntary.

I have a 10-minute presentation that I'm going to cut to five minutes. I will make sure that everybody on the committee has our deposition. I'll touch on the highlights.

I want to answer question number one and to talk briefly this morning about mutual aid agreements and emergency response funds. This is because of the fact that municipalities are reliant on service agreements with businesses, local land owners, parks, and first nations. First nations communities often do not have their own emergency service providers.

We're making a pitch to the federal government and to the Province of Saskatchewan that there be an emergency response set up. That would provide the first responders and the emergency firefighters, who are often volunteers, with a fund to make sure they are covered not only for a liability, but also covered for reimbursement of their costs.

We also think that with any surplus funds at the end of each year, a fund could be recreated to be used to build local infrastructure, including first nations infrastructure, and to give them the capacity to respond to emergencies as well.

I want to talk briefly to question number two and mention the farm support program AgriStability. I know that Chairman Easter is familiar with that program. We're now talking about Growing Forward 3, the next phase of farm support. We're asking the federal government to reinstate the margin levels back to 85%. They've been lowered to 70%. We're concerned about that. We're asking the government to reinstate the margin levels to where they were before. We're also asking the same with AgriInvest. We're asking the federal government to take away the cap and to reinstate it to its previous coverage.

Broadband obviously is really important to rural Saskatchewan. We're pleased that the federal government has put up $500 million for rural Canada to enhance the coverage in rural and remote communities around the country. We feel that it needs to be carried further. Without a reliable connection, it's often difficult to participate in the Canadian economy, as so much is found online now. The result is that many rural Saskatchewan people aren't able to meet their economic potential. So we're asking the federal government to update the current tier 4 service areas that are home to numerous economic drivers, and to cover larger areas. These areas have sparse populations, so we're asking for them to receive adequate service.

We also believe that there should be increased collaboration between the federal government and each province and territory, so it's necessary to come up with a plan for service that takes each province's population and geography into account. And, of course, the definition of “rural” is not the same across Canada.

Finally, the government should ensure that any spectrum allocated for rural areas that is unused by an Internet service provider for two years after acquisition be accessible to Internet service providers who are willing to bring service to rural areas. That's called the “use it or lose it” provision.

To answer the third question, I want to talk a bit a about phase two and the new building Canada fund, particularly the small communities fund. We realize that the federal government has already committed to at least 50% funding. So we're asking our province to kick in 25%, which leaves 25%. For any federal priority project that is also a municipal priority under a federal program, we're asking for a different split. We're asking for 35% for the province, which would leave 15% for rural municipalities. We also feel that the threshold for small communities should not be the same across Canada, because the number that is used now is 100,000 and we want the federal government to realize that we're asking here in Saskatchewan that the threshold be lowered to 4,999, which is below the threshold for a city. So it puts the villages and the towns, the rural municipalities and the small urban centres, all in the same pool.

Under the disaster financial assistance arrangements and natural disaster mitigation, we're asking that the federal government undertake a thorough review of the DFAA guidelines. More importantly, SARM is requesting funding to municipalities for disaster-related mitigation and recovery, which are very important.

These initiatives are realistic and, in summary, we think that they will help to grow our economy while ensuring that environmental sustainability occurs. Whether it is with regard to the need for stable farm income support to assist middle class families in Saskatchewan, disaster assistance to help the most vulnerable, or increased infrastructure investment to help employ first nations in our communities and to ensure the consistent and reliable movement of grain across the Prairies to get our exports to market, we look forward to a continued dialogue to help support families and communities in Saskatchewan.

In closing I have one further remark to make. I know this has been the hot topic in the news lately and I just want the committee to know that SARM is really concerned about the possibility of having a carbon tax of some sort imposed on our province. We believe—and we've been very vocal about this—this could affect the average-sized farmer in our province who has between 2,500 acres and 3,000 acres. It could impose a tax of $10,000. This is a concern of ours because we feel farmers are already sequestering carbon. They're doing a good job with zero till right now and they should be credited, not penalized.

That brings my remarks to an end. Thank you very much for your time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you, Mr. Orb. I do expect you'll likely get a question on that last point. It would surprise me if you didn't.

With VIDO-InterVac, we have Mr. Potter and Mr. Hodgson.

[Andrew Potter, Director and Chief Executive Officer, VIDO-InterVac]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I would like to thank you for the opportunity to present and also welcome you to winter on the Prairies. It's absolutely delightful.

I'm going to change gears a little bit and talk about the issue of infectious diseases, and specifically Canada's role in what is a global threat from both agricultural and human health perspectives.

The threat of infectious disease continues to be a major issue on this planet. Up to half of all deaths each year are caused by infectious diseases, depending on which statistics one uses. About two-thirds of deaths in children under the age of five are due to infectious disease. This is something that is important on a global basis. We often think this problem is only in less developed countries, and that is not true. Canada is at risk in the human health field. Infectious disease is always among the top 10 killers every year and, in fact, it can be as high as number three on the list.

In Saskatchewan, the prevalence of tuberculosis in first nations communities is about 50 times higher than it is elsewhere in the province. If you go to Nunavut, that goes up to over 200 times higher. Those figures rival what you see in sub-Saharan Africa, and yet we're very complacent about it.

Of course, in the animal world the threat of infectious disease continues to be a problem as well. We've seen influenza in British Columbia and depopulation of birds in the Fraser Valley. BSE cost the country over $6.3 million and, of course, the social upheaval in rural communities that went along with that is not taken into account.

We also see new pathogens arise every year. The most recent in the agricultural field was a pig virus, porcine epidemic diarrhea virus or PEDV, which entered Canada in 2014 and has caused between $900 million and $1.8 billion in losses. This is very significant. I might add that VIDO-InterVac has actually come up with a vaccine for that disease, which is currently being used to control outbreaks in Manitoba.

We have relied on things like antibiotics for disease control for decades. However, we're being challenged now by the emergence of drug-resistant pathogens and a variety of other factors. We believe vaccines represent a sustainable and cost-effective method of disease control, one in which Canada has historically taken a leadership position, going back to the smallpox and polio vaccines all the way up to those of the current day. However, we're starting to lose that competitive advantage, and this has gone on over the last 10 to 15 years. Part of it is due to key gaps in our infrastructure in this country, and one of these is found in the manufacturing of vaccines.

This affects all public sector as well as private sector researchers. Indeed we usually go south of the border when we want things done. We're doing that right now. The Ebola virus vaccine that came out of Canada was developed in 2005 and couldn't be made in this country. The vaccine that was tested in West Africa came out of the United States. We need to do something in this field.

[Dr. Paul Hodgson, Associate Director, Business Development, VIDO-InterVac]

I thought I'd give the committee a brief overview of our organization. We are an infectious disease research and vaccine development organization. We're part of the University of Saskatchewan. We were established just over 40 years ago, with a partnership between the western provinces and an original mandate to serve the agricultural sector. We have since expanded to the human health sector.

We have approximately $200 million worth of infectious disease research infrastructure, which makes us one of the most advanced containment level labs in the world. The Government of Canada has invested heavily in that infrastructure.

Our accomplishments include the development of a number of vaccines for animal health and technologies to protect humans from infectious diseases, most of which were the first of their kind in the world. To build on this we are planning pilot-scale, good manufacturing practice-compliant manufacturing units, which are required to make vaccines. We urge the government to assist in filling this critical gap to help all of Canada's technologies to reach the marketplace.

[Andrew Potter]

To finish off very quickly, we're recommending that the government support the installation of a GMP-compliant manufacturing unit, which will serve all Canadians, public sector Canadians as well as those in the private sector. This can happen, obviously, in our facility. We have some wonderful infrastructure, but our facility is also partnered with other manufacturers across the country.

In addition, if this is set up, we are recommending that the government provide operating funding to cover the first five years of the facility as well as critical systems compliance if we need level three work, or high-level containment.

We believe that if this happens, it will ensure the health of Canadians, and in particular underserved communities that are susceptible to emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, who can benefit from the rapid deployment of vaccines.

Furthermore, it is going to increase the competitiveness of Canadian business. We've seen the collapse of the Canadian biotech sector as it relates to vaccines since 2008, and we need to rebuild that. I would add in the vaccine space that return on investment is about 25:1, so it makes good business sense. Most of it goes south of the border right now.

Finally, in the agriculture sector, we need to proactively mitigate the threat of infectious diseases, and in particular the non-tariff trade barriers that we've seen with things like influenza, BSE, etc., but as well, to reduce the impact on rural communities.

I will stop there.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you, both.

We have, from the Saskatchewan Seniors Mechanism, Mr. Wuschenny and Ms. Schick.

[Robert Wuschenny, President, Saskatchewan Seniors Mechanism]

Thank you for the opportunity to present to the committee today. The Saskatchewan Seniors Mechanism, or SSM, is the umbrella organization representing 16 seniors organizations, including about 100,000 seniors. I'm pleased to be able to highlight for you the importance of age-friendly communities and how strategic investments in this initiative can reduce costs to our public systems while improving quality of life for Canadian seniors and communities as a whole.

The age-friendly communities initiative, as you probably know, is a global initiative started by the World Health Organization. It's a process that promotes healthy, accessible, inclusive communities by applying an age-friendly lens to key areas of community life, including such aspects as transportation, housing, social participation, community support, health services, outdoor spaces and buildings, communication, and education.

Helping communities become more age-friendly is key to creating communities where older adults are included, respected, valued, and less isolated. This approach demonstrates tremendous benefits for our community, business, and older adults, including increased access to and use of services. It helps governments meet the needs of citizens. It supports older adults to remain in the community and engage in volunteer or paid work and civic activities. It reduces mental and physical illness, social isolation, and dependence on the public health system, and mobilizes communities to work in partnership.

Since implementing this initiative, we see positive change. We have visited a number of communities, some 15 or so in total, including the Regina International Airport, where we see increased customer satisfaction and reduced accidents from older adults using the airport by improving signage.

The Saskatchewan Seniors Mechanism is working hard to share this initiative with communities across Saskatchewan. Increased federal government funding for the age-friendly community initiative would help to ensure that the communities are able to maximize the benefits. Government support would also assist in building community capacity and in raising the profile of age-friendly communities through promotion of the initiative and by sharing success stories of communities that have embraced age-friendly concepts. If they have embraced age-friendly concepts, that also applies to other age groups, so it indeed becomes intergenerational.

Thank you for the opportunity to profile the benefits of age-friendly communities and the importance of federal support.

[Holly Schick, Executive Director, Saskatchewan Seniors Mechanism]

Again, thank you for this opportunity to make a presentation. I'm going to briefly touch on three areas.

The first of those is home care. Home care helps people maintain health and independence in their homes and in their communities. It reduces the need for long-term care. It facilitates the appropriate use of community services, and recognizes and supplements the care provided by family, friends, and other volunteer caregivers. Home care helps to reduce the overall costs to the health system and to communities. We believe it should be included as part of the Canada Health Act to ensure consistent and comprehensive services being provided across the country, accessible to all who need them.

The second point I'd like to touch on is that we believe a national pharmacare program would provide universal access to needed medications, fair distribution of the costs of prescription drugs, and safe and appropriate prescribing, and would maximize the health benefits per dollar spent. Older adults are particularly vulnerable to the financial burden of prescription costs with many of them living on fixed incomes and faced with the need for increased prescription medications.

The third point is that we believe the government should expand and enhance CPP, OAS, and GIS. An adequate income for all is key to ensuring health, well-being, and quality of life for older adults, and it is the way to ensure that they are able to continue to be active contributing participants in the life of their communities. Increases to these basic pension sources of income for older adults are the most effective way to ensure that all Canadians have an adequate income in their retirement.

Thank you for your time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you both.

We will now turn to Dale Eisler from the University of Regina. I'll bet he misses being consul general with the excitement in the U.S. these days.

[Dale Eisler, Senior Advisor, Government Relations, University of Regina]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, members of the committee. Like the other presenters have said, it's a great opportunity to be here this morning.

I just want to say that in a previous life I used to be with the Department of Finance in Ottawa, and I know full well how important these national consultations are when shaping the federal budget. At the department, we would always await the report of the finance committee with a lot of anticipation because it gave a very good perspective of what Canadians were thinking and what their priorities were. Your work is obviously very important.

As senior adviser on government relations to the University of Regina president, Vianne Timmons, I'm going to focus my brief remarks on how the federal government and the university sector can together build a more innovative, stronger, and cohesive economy and society in the country, and why that partnership really matters.

Briefly, let me preface my remarks with a few facts about the University of Regina. The university's five-year strategic plan is built on three pillars: student success, research with impact, and commitment to our communities. There are two themes that knit the strategies altogether, and they are indigenization and sustainability.

During the past decade, the U of R has grown dramatically. Our student enrolment has reached almost 15,000. Last week it was at about 14,900. It's our eighth straight year of growing enrolment, with an increase of more than 20% since 2009, so it's a very dynamic, growing campus. We have more than 2,000 international students from over 80 countries, and our international student enrolment has grown by 11% since 2009.

U of R is a leader in indigenous post-secondary education in Canada. More than 12% of our students self-identify as indigenous, and with the First Nations University of Canada on our campus, the U of R has carved out a national reputation as an institution that is focused on indigenous education and enhancing educational opportunities for first nations and indigenous students.

With regard to research among Canadian comprehensive universities, the U of R has emerged as a leader in research impact and international collaborations. With a budget of almost $300 million, a staff of 3,000, and a growing student population, the university is obviously a key player in the Regina and provincial economies. The university is responsible for generating more than 4,500 jobs, and it accounts for roughly 3% of the total regional economy. The university, directly and indirectly, through personal, corporate, sales and excise taxes in 2014-15, contributed approximately $82 million to federal government revenues and $69 million to provincial government coffers.

In terms of public policy going forward, support for universities is absolutely critical in building the economy and society we want. Education is at the intersection of economic and social policy. If governments want to ensure growth and stability, an educated population is key. Individuals who have the education and skills they need will be productive citizens who generate economic growth and social cohesion. The importance of the university sector in building an innovative economy was clearly identified by the Government of Canada in its last budget. Specifically, the post-secondary strategic infrastructure fund and the commitment of $800 million over four years to support innovation networks and clusters are key steps forward. For its part, the University of Regina received $30 million from the infrastructure fund to support the renewal of our historic College Avenue campus and improvements to our laboratory building.

As the committee considers budget priorities going forward, I would like to identify two areas of research that are particularly relevant, I believe, to the government's agenda, and where the First Nations University of Canada is considered a national and international leader. The first is post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Professor Nick Carleton, in the U of R department of psychology, is recognized as a leading national and international expert in the study and treatment of PTSD. Recently the Canadian Institutes of Health Research selected Professor Carleton to receive funding so he can devote his time to overseeing research projects from teams around the world that focus on PTSD.

I know that the Government of Canada has made a national strategy for the support and treatment of PTSD sufferers one of its policy priorities. In fact, the development of a national treatment program was included in the mandate letter for public safety minister Ralph Goodale who, of course, is from Regina. In pursuit of that objective, earlier this year the University of Regina, in partnership with the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, staged a national round table that included first responders, academics, and other stakeholders from across the country. There was unanimous agreement that a national program for PTSD treatment was urgently required, and that with support from the Government of Canada, Professor Carleton and the University of Regina would be the logical hub to deliver the program.

Last year, Dr. Carleton told the House of Commons committee on health that work is being done at the U of R “to develop a dedicated Canadian first responder hub to support evidence-based policies, practices, and programming for mental health.” The hub would also act as support for a “multi-university team of interdisciplinary researchers” at RCMP Depot in Regina, which is a potential laboratory for research into PTSD. A team led by University of Regina researchers is working with the RCMP to make the project a reality.

The second and final area of research where the University of Regina has unique international expertise is climate change and energy policy, specifically carbon capture and storage. Several factors make the U of R a world leader in this area. One is the work being done by our petroleum engineering researchers in conjunction with the Petroleum Technology Research Centre, which is located on campus. The other is the proximity of SaskPower's Boundary Dam, home to the world's largest successfully operating carbon capture plant. With climate change as a global challenge, not surprisingly the Boundary Dam project has generated global interest with researchers from around the world regularly visiting this site, and the U of R.

As a result of the U of R's research expertise and the accessibility of the SaskPower project, we have become the hub for a clean energy academic network that includes the University of Texas, the University of Edinburgh, Imperial College London, Kyoto University, North China Electric Power University, and the University of Melbourne. We believe that the work being done by the University of Regina in clean energy supports the Government of Canada's agenda to support innovation and to address climate change.

The university is thankful for the support it has received in the past from the Government of Canada. With the support of the government in next year's federal budget, the University of Regina looks forward to continuing to play an important role in addressing national policy priorities.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you very much, Dale.

Turning to the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan, we have Mr. Hall, the president.

Go ahead, Norm.