Finance Committee on Feb. 19th, 2020

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Minister—

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

This is your last question.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

I asked for the date when that loan will be repaid. Also, will it be repaid with interest?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

The assurances I've received are that any terms that we've had previously will be maintained.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Ms. O'Connell, go ahead.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for appearing.

My questions follow up on what you said in your opening statement about the questions posed to Canadians about growing the economy, staying competitive, especially with some of my Conservative colleagues and their questions. One of the things this government inherited was the worst growth since the Great Depression and unemployment rates that were far too high for a country like ours.

It's through innovative thinking and policies and investments in Canadians that we've been able to turn it around, as you spoke about.

Perhaps you can help my friends across the way understand why these investments are important. In particular, I'd like you to speak on one of the things that I think we don't talk about enough, the Canada training benefit. I can see why the Conservatives wouldn't want to, because they weren't quite innovative and this is why their growth rates reflected that.

Why is this investment in Canadians to ensure they can adapt to a changing economy so important for our future?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

I appreciate your opening commentary. I think we need to recognize that we've made investments. The economy has recovered from where it was in 2015, early 2016, but there are still significant challenges, both to our economy and to the global environment, which we always need to be paying attention to. Being fiscally responsible to be prepared for those challenges is important.

When you think about the Canada training benefit, really, it's about how individuals can be prepared for challenges that they are likely to face during the course of their careers. We are working to think about ways we can ensure that Canadians are prepared for a fast-moving economy. In recognizing that most training dollars in Canada have gone through the employment insurance system, we were looking at ways we could help people while they're at work to improve and upgrade their skills.

The Canada training benefit was put in place with that objective in mind. It's really three things together. It's allowing people to take up to four weeks off from work every four years. It's enabling them to have a tax credit—$250 a year, so $1,000 every four years—so that they could put that money towards a training course. Finally, it's an employment insurance payment so they could continue to pay the rent and groceries while they're off.

The idea is that people therefore can upgrade their skills in their current job or prepare themselves for their next job. We're going to need to keep thinking about this so that we can have the kind of fast-paced and exciting opportunities for Canadians that this economy produces, without the real risk people see that they won't be prepared for that. There will be things we'll need to continue to consider, but I think the Canada training benefit will be an important foundational measure that can enable people, over time, to keep their skills upgraded to what they need.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you, Minister, for coming. We're a bit over time. I appreciate that we were able to get all members on in terms of the questions and answers.

Just for your information, Minister, we will have our pre-budget consultations report to you or into the House on February 28.

For committee members, we'll get the recommendations from all parties back to all members today at three o'clock. I'd like to remind all parties that there are a lot of recommendations. If you can review your own from your own party concept and try to cull them down a little, it would be helpful. We meet tomorrow from 11:00 to 2:00, and from 3:30 to 6:30, and the number of recommendations we have to go through is immense.

Peter.

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Mr. Chair, I appreciate that. Through you to the analysts, if it's possible to group the recommendations that are similar in many cases but worded differently, that may allow us to cull through them a little more quickly. It's a big job, but it would make it easier if we had the grouping around recommendations.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

The analysts won't have time by 3:00 today, but maybe when we get them tomorrow we can have them grouped.

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Thank you to everyone on the committee. We look forward to getting your report. I've seen how many people you've met with and how many recommendations you have. You don't make the job easier, but we will do our best to take into account all of your recommendations and come to conclusions that make sense.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you very much, Minister.

With that, the meeting is adjourned.