Finance Committee on Oct. 18th, 2016

[Raj Grewal, Liberal, Brampton East, ON]

Thank you very much.

We recently heard about the airports in the smaller provinces. I think that feedback has resonated with the committee, and we will definitely address that with the Minister of Transport.

Moving on to Literacy Nova Scotia, thank you so much for coming today, and thank you so much for the work you do. My question is not about your data and the fact that four out of ten Canadians don't meet the standard. My question is about willingness.

I am the son of immigrants to this country. My dad was a taxi driver. My mom was a factory worker. My mom's English is pretty good and my dad's is good enough to get by, but they never ever wanted to spend time learning more English. For them, it was always a matter of “we'll scrape by”, because that's the immigrant success story. You do whatever it takes to keep going.

My question is about willingness. If your program is funded, is the demand to improve literacy? Or is literacy just something that we're going to have to accept at a certain level because people aren't willing to improve their skill set?

[Jayne Hunter]

Thank you for that. I'll let Amanda jump in as well.

That's one of the roles we play: raising awareness and letting people know about the benefits of improving their literacy. Some people don't recognize that they have an issue, and they don't until something changes in their life. Maybe they're getting along fine in their job today, but if a new technology comes in, or they get hurt, or something happens, then there's a crisis and they have to find a program. We make sure that there are programs available for them, that they know about them, and that when they get there the program meets their specific learning needs.

Raising awareness is one of the key things. There will always be literacy issues, just like there will always be health care issues, but we still have to fund those programs.

[Raj Grewal, Liberal, Brampton East, ON]

Is your funding currently provided by the government?

[Jayne Hunter]

The provincial literacy coalitions began through a federal initiative. It was the National Literacy Secretariat. It was a federally funded program up until 2014, when that funding ended. We have other partners, but the federal government is a crucial partner, and without that money we are in jeopardy. I believe that for such an important issue all levels of government need to be playing a role.

[Raj Grewal, Liberal, Brampton East, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Raj, I think Amanda wanted to add a little more.

[Amanda Beazley]

I have a comment that also goes back to your question, Dan.

If we have sustainable and stable funding for our organizations, it enables us to leverage other funding opportunities, both from the private sector and from the provinces.

[Raj Grewal, Liberal, Brampton East, ON]

Thank you.

In terms of fishing licences, I'm going to pick up on Dan's point here. On the retirement of licences, they're given by the crown, right? Correct me if I'm wrong in saying that the licences are property of the crown, so the retirement of a licence would mean ceding it back to the crown. Would the government make a payment to buy the licence back? Or is this just something to end the licence system across the board?

[Ian MacPherson]

What we're proposing is a model that was used a few years ago in the lobster industry. An amount was established, and then there was a bidding process or a seeking of expressions of interest from those who wanted to sell out their licence at that amount. Then there was a formal process with DFO to officially retire that licence and take it out of the system for good.

[Raj Grewal, Liberal, Brampton East, ON]

How much was the difference between the licence in the private market and what the government was willing to pay for it?

[Ian MacPherson]

The value of the licence was basically market value or close to it.

[Raj Grewal, Liberal, Brampton East, ON]

The government bought it back at market value?

[Ian MacPherson]

Yes.

[Raj Grewal, Liberal, Brampton East, ON]

That's incredible. Good for them. Good for you guys.

[Craig Avery]

[Technical difficulty—Editor] the government participated in the buyout.

[Raj Grewal, Liberal, Brampton East, ON]

Okay. Thank you.

My last comment is for the Federation of Agriculture. We've heard from a lot of farming organizations in pre-budget consultations, and this is about the recommendation piece, because we haven't heard this yet.

The fact is that all of you guys have advocated for changes to the tax policy. What would help your case is the impact on the government treasury of that tax change and to see how much it will cost the government to implement a change to the Income Tax Act, because at the end of the day, the government is just like any other organization. It's about dollars and cents. There's only so much revenue, and there are always so many expenditures, and any change to the tax policy will affect revenue. If you can get that information to us, I'm sure it will help your case or will help make your case going forward.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

We'll have to cut it there, Raj.

[Raj Grewal, Liberal, Brampton East, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

We are a little over time. I thank everyone for their presentations. You can see the mix of the issues that come up before the finance committee. There's certainly not only one theme.

We'll suspend for only five or six minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

We will reconvene. As all the witnesses know, these are the finance committee's pre-budget consultations ahead of the 2017 budget.

The theme we're trying to centre on is what we need to do to achieve better economic growth in the country. People have received those questions.

We would like witnesses to try to hold their presentations to about five minutes. That would leave us a little more time for questions. We are a little late in starting

As a first go-round, though, I'll ask members of the committee to introduce themselves so you know who they are, where they come from, and what party they represent.

I'm Wayne Easter, the member of Parliament for Malpeque. As I said earlier this morning, after you go through about six roundabouts, you'll get to my riding.

Mr. Grewal.

[Raj Grewal, Liberal, Brampton East, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My name is Raj Grewal. I'm the member of Parliament for Brampton East, the Liberal member of Parliament, although my turban does not reflect that today.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

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

I am Francesco Sorbara, member of Parliament from Vaughan—Woodbridge. Raj and I are neighbours in our ridings. Vaughan—Woodbridge is a part of York region, right on top of the city of Toronto.

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

I am Steven MacKinnon, member of Parliament for Gatineau, which is just across the river from Ottawa. I am also a proud graduate of Colonel Gray High School.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

My name is Ziad Aboultaif. I am the member of Parliament from Alberta for Edmonton Manning, which is on the northeast side of Edmonton.