Finance Committee on Feb. 18th, 2016

[Sheri Benson, NDP, Saskatoon West, SK]

Yes, I agree with that. I'd like to be able to help people right away and also do a long-term thing. We're always having this conversation and we never get to the long-term thing. We've been talking forever about the shortage of skilled trades and we are still talking about it. I would like to see some way to look at both, a long-term piece as well.

[Christopher Smillie]

Thanks for the question.

[Sheri Benson, NDP, Saskatoon West, SK]

Martha, I'm wondering whether, just for a non-technical person, the new piece you're talking about is exactly the same as the one that's expiring, or is it different and is it providing you a chance to be able to have...?

[Martha Durdin]

It's different.

[Sheri Benson, NDP, Saskatoon West, SK]

Okay. The other one has expired, and now something new needs to happen, and this would be better.

[Martha Durdin]

Right. Yes, it's different.

[Sheri Benson, NDP, Saskatoon West, SK]

That's the untechnical way to say it.

[Martha Durdin]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Could you lay that answer out a little bit, Ms. Durdin? If it's not on the record, it doesn't exist.

[Sheri Benson, NDP, Saskatoon West, SK]

Thank you.

[Martha Durdin]

What expired was a tax credit. This is a credit on growing capital. It's on the growth of capital. It's a different model of credit.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you for that.

I'll turn to Mr. MacKinnon, for seven minutes.

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My thanks to all the witnesses for being here with us. We have heard many interesting presentations. The panel of witnesses is particularly diverse and very telling of the issues.

Mr. Chair, with your permission, I would first like to acknowledge the presence in this room of the third vice-president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and proud Gatinoise, Sylvie Goneau. My thanks to her for being here. We always appreciate her contribution to debates.

I would like to ask a number of questions. Let me start with Mr. Louie.

In terms of the debate on investment in infrastructures, we often hear that municipalities are not able to invest the money quickly enough to support our economy that is losing momentum.

Can you make some general comments on the ability of municipalities to use the funding quickly and to spend the money in order to stimulate the economy?

[Raymond Louie]

Thank you for the question, and thank you for recognizing my third vice-president: Sylvie Goneau is present as well.

The question is a very appropriate one, I think. We do have shovel-ready and shovel-worthy projects ready for implementation. We have a plethora of projects that have been waiting for funding for many years, in fact.

What we're prioritizing, though, is that, understanding that we are in a particular economic environment, repair and refurbishment of existing infrastructure is, although not sexy, important for Canadians in order to maintain the level of service they rely upon. A failure of any of these types of infrastructure would be catastrophic not only for the individual but for the economy of Canada. This infrastructure on which we had a report card submitted, which was published in coordination with three other entities, highlighted that fully a third of our infrastructure under municipal control—and that's 60% of the infrastructure in Canada—was in fair or worse condition. The repair and maintenance of these types of facilities is appropriate for the government to invest in.

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

I suppose that investment could be made quite quickly. For instance, in Gatineau, we often hear about a $1.3-billion infrastructure deficit, which does not include new structuring projects and strategic projects. We are talking about basic infrastructure, meaning water, sewers, street repair and so on.

Would that then be comparable to the experience of other cities across the country?

[Raymond Louie]

It would be. Many projects are ready to go. In my home region I'm the vice-chair of metro Vancouver. We have a $700-million secondary waste-water treatment plant that needs some assurance of funding, whether it be federal and hopefully provincial as well. But it goes to our having the tools and accessing the financing that's made available. That's why we're advocating for a better financing formula, one where we're guaranteed, or have the confidence, that the funding is available to us, rather than going through an application-based project.

Rural communities need to understand more money is available. We're advocating for a doubling of the small communities fund and reallocating of some of the previous new building Canada fund to make it more accessible to the local government. Given that we only received 8¢ to 10¢ of every tax dollar, and have 60% for the infrastructure, it's impossible for us to implement some of these programs and projects that are shovel-ready and shovel-worthy.

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

Thank you. I think you did a very good job of making your position clear.

I would now like to address Ms. Lanthier.

Let me congratulate FCFA. I have a long history with the official languages and francophone minority communities. I am a graduate of University of Moncton. I feel nostalgic thinking about the plan proposed by Mr. Dion, who is now the minister responsible for foreign affairs. You talked about the funding that had not been indexed. That has been going on for the past 10 or 11 years.

Over those years, what has the impact been of the cuts on francophone minority communities?

[Sylviane Lanthier]

I think that depends on the community. In some places, community organizations are now closing their doors because they do not have enough resources to pay their staff. In other places, the organizations have very little leeway in terms of expenditures and resources.

I think the most significant impact is that we are no longer able to advance. We can no longer accommodate new needs and move forward from what we were doing 10 years ago.

I am thinking of francophone immigration, early childhood needs or the needs facing our schools. In communities, more and more people are enrolling in francophone schools. There are new schools. We must take into account all those needs and welcome people, but the resources for that have not really increased enough. This is slowing down our development and sometimes moving us backwards.

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

You are certainly aware of the various mandate letters for the ministers, including the one for the Minister of Canadian Heritage. Could you comment on its relevance? Could you also share your hopes for the role of this minister and the government in promoting the official languages?

[Sylviane Lanthier]

Minister Joly's mandate letter mentions a project to develop a new official languages plan for francophone communities by working with them. We welcome that project because that would give us an opportunity to take stock of what we have accomplished and of where we are at. That would enable us to discuss current needs so that any future plan would meet the needs of the communities.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you both.

Mr. Aboultaif.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Thank you for all the wonderful presentations.

Dr. Ragan, you mentioned a few good things, important stuff, and I would like to get from you a brief on the Paris convention, the Canadian government commitment of funds to the United Nations Environment Programme, and you repeated twice, don't rush ourselves to any quick decisions. Has this government rushed in its commitment of the funds that we've committed to, yes or no, and how can that be done better?

[Prof. Christopher Ragan]

I'm not sure I understood the question. I thought I heard you ask about a commitment to a fund.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Yes, that's true. My understanding is that there's a fund that Canada contributes to as part of a $100-billion fund that the United Nations is collecting, to be basically spent for countries to become more responsible environmentally. Whether or not you have any idea about that program is the question.

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

It's $2.6 billion.