Finance Committee on Oct. 21st, 2016

[Hailey Froese, As an Individual]

Good afternoon. Thank you very much for the opportunity to be here today.

My name is Hailey Froese, and I am here today representing Engineers Without Borders Canada. EWB is an NGO that invests in people and ventures to create a thriving and sustainable world and address the root causes of poverty and inequality. We have a community of 40 university and professional chapters, and 2,500 active members.

I am speaking to you today because the Government of Canada has committed to restoring and renewing international assistance to refocus on the poorest and most vulnerable people, particularly women and girls. Canada has already taken steps to actively re-engage on the world stage. These announcements are welcome. However, Canada's recent levels of development lag in comparison with our G7 counterparts and impair our ability to implement the 2030 agenda for sustainable development, also known as the SDGs.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Hailey, perhaps you could slow down a little bit. We'll give you the time. They're having trouble in the interpretation booth.

[Hailey Froese]

Cool. Got it.

In budget 2017, I'd like to ask that Canada commit to predictable increases of the international assistance envelope of 10% annually to the end of the 42nd Parliament, with a publicly available timeline to double the envelope by 2023 to ensure that Canada can deliver on implementation of the 2030 sustainable development agenda. Furthermore, I urge that Canada aim to meet the United Nations funding target of 0.7% of GNI around 2030. Making a strong ODA commitment aligns with the ministerial mandate, and is a decisive stepping stone towards early progress on the SDGs.

This matters to me personally. I find it unacceptable that many of the young women I met while working in rural Uganda do not have the same access to opportunity that I do because I am Canadian. I believe Canada can play a leading role in reducing global inequality like this.

Thank you very much for your time. Merci beaucoup.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you very much.

Congratulations to Engineers Without Borders for their organization.

Ms. Girdler from Oxfam Canada, go ahead.

[Hannah Girdler, As an Individual]

Hello. My name is Hannah Girdler. I'm pleased to be here today to share my thoughts on what should be included in Canada's next federal budget. Thank you for this opportunity.

I am an active volunteer with Oxfam Canada, as well as a student at the University of Toronto. Oxfam is an international development, humanitarian, and anti-poverty organization that works around the world. As volunteers, we fundraise to support people living in poverty, and we do advocacy campaigns to address the root causes of poverty. I support Oxfam because it puts women's rights at the centre of its work.

On Monday, Oxfam launched a new campaign called Shortchanged. The campaign is focused on finding solutions to growing economic inequality, looking particularly at how to make work paid, equal, and valued for women. With a feminist prime minister and a government committed to inclusive growth, Canada has the potential to address both gender inequality and economic inequality. But to really accomplish this, our next budget must address the unequal economics of women's work.

Already, some governments are taking positive steps to do this. For example, after a lot of advocacy by Oxfam and our local partners, the Government of Malawi has raised the minimum wage, making a real difference in the lives of women there. Sweden's Equal Opportunities Act is another great example of how to address pay gap disparities between men and women. These examples show what governments can do to close the gaps between women and men in earnings and in opportunities.

Based on Oxfam's research, I believe that the government should make the following changes in budget 2017.

First, they should reinvest $862 million in Canada's international aid budget in 2017. An increase in the aid budget would strengthen Canada's leadership on the global stage. Twenty per cent of all new aid investments should be specifically allocated to programs that advance women's rights and gender inequality, particularly programs specifically focused on that.

Second, they should enact legislation for a federal minimum wage of $15 an hour, and work with the provinces to move towards living wages for all workers across Canada.

Third, they should follow through on the commitment to introduce proactive pay equity legislation, with particular attention to the greater pay equity gap for racialized aboriginal and immigrant women.

Fourth, they should sign and ratify the ILO Convention No. 189, Domestic Workers Convention, 2011, and expand the scope of legislation, policy, and programs that allow domestic workers to enjoy equal rights.

Finally, they should take greater steps to hold Canadian companies accountable for meeting labour standards when operating abroad, and provide support for developing countries to regulate similar labour practices.

As a global citizen speaking in a city as diverse as Toronto, I hope the committee recognizes how universal the struggle for women's economic activities is. We have the power to make changes for women here at home and for women around the world. With your help, I know that we can make the changes, starting with budget 2017.

Thank you, again.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you very much, Hannah.

Mr. Manuel, the floor is yours. You're the wrap-up speaker.

[Justin Manuel, As an Individual]

Excellent. I'm very flattered by that.

Good afternoon, honourable committee members and enthused public servants.

My name is Justin Manuel. I figured I'd try to crack one joke. As a former political staffer, I definitely relate to how exciting some of these meetings can be.

Today I'm here on behalf of Parkinson Canada. I'll just briefly go over what Parkinson's is and some of the budget priorities that we have for this year that we'd like to see in next year's budget.

As I'm sure some of you know, Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disease of the brain that impacts almost every aspect of daily living, including movement, mood, speech, ability to smell, eating, drinking, and sleeping, and it can cause other cognitive changes. There is currently no known cure for Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson Canada recommends that the Government of Canada immediately commit to developing a Canadian action plan for brain health, with the primary aim of improving the life experience, productivity, and prosperity of over 100,000 Canadians living with Parkinson's and over four million Canadians living with a brain condition, as well as their families.

For planning purposes, Parkinson Canada has estimated core costs of a Canadian action plan for brain health over three years, from April 2017 to March 2020, by areas of expenditure.

The first one is to establish both a Canadian brain council and brain summits. The brain council, once established, would develop the Canadian action plan for brain health, including, in year one, developing a national dementia strategy. The council would also convene a brain summit in 2017, and a second summit in late 2019 or early 2020, to obtain input from the widest range of stakeholders possible. We estimate that the cost associated with this would be about $3.5 million over three years.

The second one is to engage in more epidemiological research and data collection. The Canadian brain council would review the findings about research gaps and data needs from “Mapping Connections” and other sources, and recommend, if the evidence supports it, expanded data collection, the creation of a new Canadian data collection survey for brain conditions, and funding needs for targeted research on risk factors for brain conditions. The expenditure for this would likely occur in years two and three, and the estimated cost associated with this is $22 million over three years.

The last one is to engage in investigator-driven basic research through organizations such as CIHR. Far too little is known about the causes, prevention, and treatment of most brain conditions, such as Parkinson's. Thanks to research, innovative therapies are available for some brain conditions. Unfortunately, many others remain untreatable.

Canada needs to invest more in basic brain research. Parkinson Canada believes that this is best done by increased annual funding to investigator-driven brain research through CIHR at a rate of $150 million per year.

That's everything.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you very much, Justin.

With that, we shall adjourn until Monday.

I thank all the people who presented at the open mike. Your points will go on the record, and we will look at them. Thank you very much.

The meeting is adjourned.