Evidence of meeting #12 for Finance in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was federal.
A recording is available from Parliament.
6:15 p.m.
Liberal
Annie Koutrakis Liberal Vimy, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair and to all of our witnesses for your very heartfelt and interesting presentations this afternoon.
My first question is for Mr. Arango. It's nice to see you again, and thank you for your presentation.
6:15 p.m.
Director, Policy and Advocacy, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
Thank you.
6:15 p.m.
Liberal
Annie Koutrakis Liberal Vimy, QC
One of your recommendations was on the youth vaping epidemic in our country. There was an increase of over 100% in the use of vaping among older teens in Canada between 2017 and 2019. Vaping products damage developing brains and youth vaping can increase the odds of tobacco smoking.
In your pre-budget submission, you call on the federal government to introduce a 20% tax on vaping products. There are some provinces that have already begun a levying taxes on these products, and others are studying the possibility.
Do we have any data on how these taxes have affected the sale of vaping products, specifically to young people?
6:15 p.m.
Director, Policy and Advocacy, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
What we do know certainly is that taxes and price impacts behaviour for all types of different behaviours. For example, taxation is actually one of the strongest most powerful tools that we have at our disposal to address tobacco smoking. Early results to date indicate that it's also useful with vaping.
The reality is that it doesn't matter what product it is. If you put a high enough tax on any product, you will curtail behaviour. It's just a basic part of economic theory. Price has an impact on behaviour, and if we put sufficient taxes on vaping products you will definitely, 100% see reductions in vaping consumption.
6:20 p.m.
Liberal
Annie Koutrakis Liberal Vimy, QC
Should we be considering other measures, like regulatory measures, to prevent the youth from smoking vape products?
6:20 p.m.
Director, Policy and Advocacy, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
Absolutely. Taxation on its own won't do the trick. It's a very important tool, but there are other things that have to be done. To date, the federal government has put health warning labels, or has introduced regulations to put health warning labels and restrict the marketing of vaping products. These are very important things. However, there are two other regulatory pieces that are really critical as well, the first of which is restrictions on flavours that are used in vape products. There are a number of provinces that have acted to implement bans on flavours. This is very important.
The other thing is to limit the amount of nicotine in vaped products. Once again, a number of provinces have acted in this area. The European Union has acted, and they've put a limit of 20 milligrams of nicotine in vape products. That's a standard that many jurisdictions across the world are following, and we're hoping that Health Canada will introduce regulations to limit the amount of nicotine in vape products as the European Union has done.
6:20 p.m.
Liberal
6:20 p.m.
Liberal
Annie Koutrakis Liberal Vimy, QC
My next question is to Ms. Tiessen. I'm an advocate for the universal basic income, with a guaranteed liveable income program in Canada. I'm always considering different perspectives and opinions on what an income support program would look like in practice. I would like to hear your comments on, and if you can outline, Unifor's vision for an income security system that adequately supports families and addresses poverty in Canada.
6:20 p.m.
National Representative, Research Department, Unifor
I can do some of it in two minutes.
6:20 p.m.
National Representative, Research Department, Unifor
People in Canada receive income in multiple ways, and income security supports are delivered in multiple ways. Each of those programs serves a different purpose. None of them should be abandoned. Many of them should be improved substantially. We saw with the implementation of CERB a recognition that $2,000 a month might be a kind of bear minimum to get people through a short-term crisis in their personal life, and many people were going through it at the same time. The $2,000 a month was a choice that was made that seems to address that fact.
Are there programs that need to be improved to meet that basic level? Yes, including looking at social assistance across the country, which is within provincial jurisdiction, but also employment insurance reform, and making sure that folks who are unemployed actually can access employment insurance, and then also making sure that the replacement rate is high enough and that the income is high enough to support them through a crisis.
In addition to that, we would look to a $15 or higher minimum wage so that people who are working full-time and people who are working part-time can meet their basic needs. Right now, we're seeing that our members across the country in low wage jobs are just unable to do that. Part of it is because the minimum wage is very low, and the other part is that they're working part-time in precarious jobs and maybe don't have access to health insurance and other things. Then we bring in all of the other supports that come into play like universal child care and universal pharmacare. That addresses the affordability issue, so that instead of it coming out of pocket, it's coming out of us, collectively through our taxes. Those are a few things that I would start with.
6:20 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Thank you very much, Kaylie
We'll now turn to Mr. Ste-Marie for five minutes, followed by Mr. Julian.
Gabriel.
6:20 p.m.
Bloc
Gabriel Ste-Marie Bloc Joliette, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
First, I'd like to say hello to all the witnesses and to thank them for their very interesting presentations.
I do not have much time. I will direct my first question, about the aerospace industry, to Ms. Tiessen.
Thousands of Unifor members work in the aerospace sector. Since the spring, 4,500 jobs have been lost. Countries where aerospace is a major industry all quickly introduced measures to support it.
This week, theMinister of Finance appeared before the committee and told us she was working on a specific plan for the aerospace industry. We gathered that it will be included in the recovery plan. So it will probably be part of the next budget.
What would be your asks in terms of support for the aerospace industry?
6:25 p.m.
National Representative, Research Department, Unifor
We have many asks, but two asks are for these two industries that are related to air transportation, the air transportation sector and the aerospace sector.
In the air transportation sector, we're looking for a targeted air transportation recovery plan and a long-term plan that looks at making sure that we're creating decent work for people who are working in the sector, as well as looking at implementing some rapid testing and other measures to potentially reduce quarantine when we know that folks who are travelling are not infected with the coronavirus.
We have a whole host of recommendations on that, which I would be very happy to send to all of you. It's a six-page plan.
Just this afternoon I met with our aerospace industry council to talk about our recommendations for how to move forward. We're seeing that the longer our airplanes are downed, the aerospace sector is beginning to see a lagged effect in their own recession. Mostly that's happening in the commercial industry, but it is affecting some military as well.
We'd like to see a focus on investment in fostering research and development in high-tech industries. We'd like to see a focus on buying Canadian—and this is the case for public transit as well—to make sure that when the Government of Canada purchases aircraft for multiple uses, including search and rescue, those aircraft are made in Canada. De Havilland would be a great example of some of those.
In addition to that, we're looking for an aerospace industrial strategy so that we can look at where we are now and then build towards a vision for the future that includes, again, decent work and the high-tech industry that Canada has been fostering for years.
6:25 p.m.
Bloc
Gabriel Ste-Marie Bloc Joliette, QC
Thank you very much for all your answers, Ms. Tiessen.
Yes, it is important to have an industrial strategy for aerospace, as other countries do.
I will now turn to the representatives of the National Association of Friendship Centres.
Under normal circumstances, you do extraordinary work. What you have done during the pandemic is even more remarkable. How are things going in your centres across Canada?
We have a friendship centre in the constituency I represent. It usually hosts large gatherings during the holiday season. This year, they seem more focused on Christmas baskets. How is the morale in your centres this holiday season?
6:25 p.m.
Executive Director, National Association of Friendship Centres
Maybe I'll just start quickly and then I'll hand it over to Chris if he wants to add anything.
I would just note that we've done some information collection from our centres and have hired more staff than we laid off. We've maintained our level of employment and have hired more people over the pandemic. Our staff retention rate has been quite high, so I think it's notable in these times that we've been hiring more people than laying people off.
I would say that overall, people are tired. The funding that we've received through the indigenous community support fund has been really helpful, but the funding is set to end March 31, 2021. We're now working with Indigenous Services to ensure that the fund can be extended so that when people show up on our doorsteps on April 1, we don't have to turn them away because the funding has run out or we have to give it back, or whatever we decide needs to be done.
In our proposals and in our submissions to this committee we've also identified a post-COVID recovery period. We think that by having predictable and sustainable enhancements to the UPIP, the program for indigenous peoples, we can be part of the build back better, but it really relies on those enhancements to the program as it is, including the community-owned infrastructure, which is part of our submission.
I think the centres are doing as well as we could expect them to. People are tired and right now just need to know that the help we've received is going to continue and that we don't have to turn people away come the new fiscal year.
I don't know, Chris, if you want to add anything on that.
6:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
We'll go to Mr. Julian, and after that, hopefully, if we can get the time—we're starting to jam another committee—we'll start with Mr. Kelly and Mr. Falk.
Mr. Julian, you have five minutes.
6:30 p.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Thanks very much, Mr. Chair.
Thanks to all of our witnesses. I'm going to endeavour to get through all four because you have all brought a lot of very important things to bear, so I'd ask you to be relatively brief, at 45 to 50 seconds each.
I'll start with Ms. Tiessen. Thank you very much for being so eloquent about the importance of social infrastructure, pharmacare, child care. We know that for every buck we spend on childcare we get $6 back in economic stimulus.
Isn't it important as well to take care of the revenue side? I'm thinking of a wealth tax and an excess profits tax like we had in the second world war, which you referenced, cracking down on overseas tax havens that cost us $25 billion a year, and making the big web giant companies actually pay corporate income tax so that we have the wherewithal to make these investments and to build back better, as you stated so eloquently.
6:30 p.m.
National Representative, Research Department, Unifor
Yes, absolutely. I'll read right from our brief. Under the heading “Rebuild Canada's Fiscal Capacity”, it reads:
Enhance Canada’s fiscal capacity through a number of tax changes including implementing a wealth tax, close tax loopholes, clamp down on tax havens and amend the Income Tax Act so that Canadian ad buys of American digital media are no longer tax deductible;
6:30 p.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Thank you very much, and thanks to Unifor and all of its activists for driving a really important recovery that will keep everybody together and won't leave anybody behind.
Mr. Nitah, you talked very eloquently as well about the indigenous leadership initiative. I've seen first hand in Haida Gwaii how indigenous guardians have been able to conserve important natural space that also has fundamental sacred value. You've talked about $1.5 billion for indigenous-led conservation and another $835 million, I believe you mentioned.
How many first nations communities would be able to benefit from this type of investment?