Evidence of meeting #43 for Finance in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was brunswick.
12:15 p.m.
President, Canadian Beverage Association
We want to protect those jobs. We want to protect those investments. Once those production facilities go south of the border, they don't come back.
12:20 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
I would say sometimes this side of the table sees things as a cost, and that side sees them as an investment.
Go ahead, Mr. Pollett.
12:20 p.m.
Executive Director, Choices for Youth
A Way Home Canada with the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness did up a federal policy briefing some time ago. I think the number on that was around $26 million; I don't have it in front of me right now. But largely to my point earlier, this is looking, first and foremost, at money the federal government and then the provinces in turn are spending anyway to very poor effect. I can't stress that enough, because often this is seen as a conversation on the need to spend more money on vulnerable young people. I'm not going to argue that we don't need to, but we're spending an awful lot of money in this country for years and years and years for poor outcomes.
12:20 p.m.
Assistant Director, Growth and Community Services, Manager of Tourism, City of Fredericton
I apologize, but I'm going to hit the airport issue again. I think it is critical, both to our tourism economy and to our economy broadly in Fredericton. But also I will speak more broadly to the other five NAS airports that don't yet have 500,000 passengers a year and are trapped in this gap. It's really something the federal government has to deal with. It's inhibiting our economy at a variety of levels. If we were to go further, then I'd talk about liberalizing the air industry altogether and having pre-clearance in more airports, which would allow greater access into the American markets. These are all issues, but number one for us is getting that airport expanded and at least matching its current passenger load.
12:20 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Just on that point, Mr. Seabrook, we did, as a committee, make a recommendation in that regard in the pre-budget consultations, but were right up against budget time. I would be surprised if this committee doesn't make that recommendation again.
Go ahead, Mr. Shaw.
12:20 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Knowledge Park Inc., Ignite Fredericton
The single ask I would have of the budgeting process and this committee would be to expand the local immigration partnership program to include yet a wider context of a beta model. I think $1 million to $1.5 million in a beta program, built around Fredericton's local immigration partnership program, obviously, really touches on a number of things that the committee has heard today. It touches all the way from the educational—from an international student perspective—all the way through to retention capabilities and succession planning for legacy businesses and farming operations to find succession plans. That would be the thing we would want to see focused on.
12:20 p.m.
President, Region 1 New Brunswick, National Farmers Union
Listening to what everybody's said today, research and innovation seem to be key issues. I think this applies doubly to agriculture. What we'd like to see is that our research capacity go back to what it was in 2012, before the cuts. We would like to see a budget that would take into account inflation, which would bring our research capability at least back to 2012 levels.
12:20 p.m.
Executive Director, Region 1 New Brunswick, National Farmers Union
Similar to Ted's...bringing back research and emphasizing that Agri-Food Canada used to be such a global leader in agricultural research and at this point has taken such a step back that we are no longer competitive. Our research is being cost-shared fifty-fifty with institutions. As soon as that happens, all of the research ends up being very economically driven, and we are focusing only on research topics that will immediately bring back profits for corporations. That's not always for the public good. Definitely, it is very frequently not for the good of farmers. That's a point of concern.
12:20 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Universities Canada
We will be providing a detailed costing to the committee and to the Minister of Finance in the coming weeks, but let me take a rhetorical approach to this. Over the last decade, we have gone from third to seventh in terms of research funding. What's the cost of that? It's lost reputation internationally and lost ideas that can be translated into the new economy. Research is the seed corn for all of Canada's economic growth.
What is the cost of not moving forward on investing in youth? It's harder school-to-work transitions and lack of familiarity with the new and emerging global markets. I'll just say, personally, that I have been at this committee now seven years in a row about the need to move forward on investing in indigenous students. That's a whole cohort of young people who have not gone to post-secondary education.
12:25 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Information Technology Association of Canada
We at ITAC fully embrace the government's—and particularly the Prime Minister's—knowledge-based economy focus. That is the future. There is no question about it. Having a digital advisory council, with experts from around the world to help develop this, is there waiting. The capital cost allowance doesn't cost anybody anything. It's just accelerating the rate of investment. 5G wireless is something we are expert at on the wireless side. Canadians are all about health, and there is no reason why everybody in Canada can't have the same level of telehealth.
12:25 p.m.
Conservative
12:25 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Information Technology Association of Canada
The priority is innovation. We are talking about the youth. Our dollars are there. Raw dollars on the table are about $42 million to help the youth and health.
12:25 p.m.
Conservative
Dan Albas Conservative Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC
I find that when we do these things, it is helpful because, if you know what your priority is, it allows us to say, okay, that's the priority. Then we can really emphasize it and look it over. I appreciate that there are many different views here.
12:25 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
We gave you double time, Dan, because you were up all night.
Mr. Grewal, go ahead.
12:25 p.m.
Liberal
Raj Grewal Liberal Brampton East, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to our witnesses for testifying today.
I want to start with the Canadian Beverage Association. As you mentioned, one of your member organizations' plants is in Brampton. I had the pleasure of touring that plant in the summer. I was pretty upset that they didn't give me samples. You can pass that on to them. On a serious note, on the sugar tax, I completely agree with you that there is not enough evidence yet on the resulting implications on reducing obesity in children to support sugar tax in Canada, or in jurisdictions that have implemented a sugar tax. I understand that aspect.
I would recommend that you have a study done on the incremental tax that is imposed—if there is one imposed—and the result and the job losses in the Canadian sector. I know full well that the Brampton Coca-Cola plant, which is one of the biggest in Canada, can be moved to Mexico at significant savings to that company. A study on the economic implications of a sugar tax would be of very much value to this committee.
We are obviously in New Brunswick. I agree with my colleagues and everybody's comments that the airport should be funded and that it should not fall in that category of not meeting federal requirements. We'll definitely take that back to the Minister of Transport and see what we can get done there.
In terms of immigration and economic development—I asked this question of the panel before you as well—what are your opinions on how to keep people who are born in this province in this province, especially farmers? Is the inheritance tax, or the way the tax structure is set up, the deterrent for Canadian kids not going into farming to continue with the family farm, or is it the fact that they just don't want to farm?
12:25 p.m.
Executive Director, Region 1 New Brunswick, National Farmers Union
Going back to what I said earlier, for many kids who have grown up on the farm, this comes back to how we're raised, how we go to school, how we do all of those things. We heard, “Don't go into farming, don't go into farming, don't go into farming.”
I think the rhetoric they've heard for many years from family—grandparents, uncles, and parents perhaps themselves—has really resonated and I think that's one of the reasons we're seeing that 70% of new entrant farmers are from non-farming backgrounds. They're opportunistic and they're committed to local food and healthy food options. They have a different vision of agriculture. The commodification and export-only driven form of agriculture is really squeezing the pocketbook.
So it's not necessarily the family transfer. The taxation on family farms is only there if the farm has been incorporated. If they're not incorporated, family farms have a whole different taxation structure than any other business. They're largely exempt. However, it would be in terms of the start-up capital needed by new farmers to get access to land and equipment to get started.
12:30 p.m.
Liberal
Raj Grewal Liberal Brampton East, ON
You had a number of recommendations. Is there a dollar figure on what the recommendations would cost the Government of Canada?
12:30 p.m.
Executive Director, Region 1 New Brunswick, National Farmers Union
We can definitely provide you with that.
12:30 p.m.
Liberal
Raj Grewal Liberal Brampton East, ON
That would be great. Thank you.
My next question is for Universities Canada. I am a huge proponent of ensuring that Canadians across the country have an opportunity to attend post-secondary education. One of the things I'm always taken aback by is the fact that the cost of education across the country differs, whether you're in Quebec, Ontario, or out east. I'd like to hear your comments on what we can do to level that off; and more importantly, in your opinion, is the cost of education a deterrent for kids to go to school?
12:30 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Universities Canada
Those are great questions. Coming from Brampton, the godfather of Ontario's post-secondary system, Bill Davis, of course, is one to be celebrated. His mantra for 50 years has been accessibility and excellence and that no qualified student should be deprived of the opportunity of post-secondary education.
I think as a country we have made great strides in both accessibility and excellence. The last federal budget included important financial assistance measures. At the provincial level there are a number of important shifts going on, some right here in New Brunswick. I'm more familiar with the policy commitments in Ontario to make sure that students with family incomes below a certain threshold pay net zero tuition. That's groundbreaking in Canada and it's important to make sure that post-secondary education is attainable for all families.
I want to take the opportunity to underscore that half of all university students in this country graduate debt-free, owing zero. Of those with debt, two-thirds have debt of less than $12,000. So we need to be careful about how we analyze the barriers to education, and we need to increase the opportunities to explain both the affordability of post-secondary education and the outcomes. Over the last decade we've had business leaders and other community leaders suggesting that it's not worth the investment. We have data that shows it's absolutely worth the investment.