Finance Committee on May 17th, 2021

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

It could have an influence, then.

[David Charter]

As I said, I can't speak to whether provinces and territories will choose to make a change, but this rate is amongst the higher ones in provinces and territories. However, many provinces and territories already have systems in place to regularly increase their minimum wage rates.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

I'll go to Ms. Jansen.

[Tamara Jansen, Conservative, Cloverdale—Langley City, BC]

I wonder if you looked at the impact this will have on small business—for instance, the local restaurant. Obviously if you're saying, okay, if you're federally regulated, you must get minimum wage, you must have looked at how much that will impact those that are not federally regulated.

[David Charter]

In my last response, I just spoke to how it might have an impact on the provinces and territories, which are those that are not federally regulated, but I think I heard you asking how it might impact small business.

[Tamara Jansen, Conservative, Cloverdale—Langley City, BC]

Yes.

[David Charter]

What I can tell you about that is that of the 26,200 employees who will benefit from this change, roughly 4,000 work in businesses employing 20 or fewer people and so in fairly small businesses, and another 4,400 work in businesses that employ 20 to 99 employees—still fairly small—and then 3,500 work in businesses that employ 100 to 500 employees. The majority, however, work in large businesses that employ 500 or more employees, to the tune of 14,200 of them. These make up 54% of the employees who will benefit.

There will be a cost. While there will be an impact in terms of impacted employees, the bulk work for the larger employers.

The same profile applies when it comes to cost. I can say, though, that the total cost we expect employers to pay in the additional wages to bring these 26,200 employees up to $15 is about $44.1 million for the first year, which is 0.1% of annual federally regulated private sector payroll.

[Tamara Jansen, Conservative, Cloverdale—Langley City, BC]

I was actually talking about those outside federally regulated employment, but extra cost after a pandemic is a huge issue. I'm just wondering whether you looked outside the federally regulated sector, because obviously, if federally regulated employers are changing their minimum wage, that will impact those who are not federally regulated—small business, mom-and-pop shops.

[David Charter]

In terms of extra cost and COVID, as I mentioned there will be costs for federally regulated private sector employers. One thing that was also considered was that across provinces and territories, as I mentioned, many provinces and territories already have processes in place to increase their minimum wages, and during the pandemic they have continued to index, update and increase their minimum wages as time passes.

As far as looking at—

[Tamara Jansen, Conservative, Cloverdale—Langley City, BC]

I'm wondering about the dollar figure. You mentioned that you had figured out the dollar figure for those who are federally regulated—how much they're going to be impacted, dollar-wise—but outside of that, obviously small business is going to be impacted by these changes. It's one thing to say it's only going to cost this much, but you have the spillover effect: it's going to cost much more.

[David Charter]

Right. I do have a cost figure for federally regulated small, medium and large businesses, as I just described. As I mentioned, it is possible that there will be spillover in the federally regulated private sector for employees making $15 or up to potentially $17 per hour. I don't have a costing figure for employers in provincially regulated sectors.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Mr. Julian.

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

First, as a quick clarification, Mr. Chair, Ms. Dzerowicz said that the NDP was following the Liberals. Of course, you'll recall, Mr. Chair, that in 2015 the Liberals mocked the NDP for raising the $15 per hour minimum wage. Very clearly the evidence and the receipts are on the table.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Is this a question on division 23?

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

Yes, absolutely.

There are two aspects. There's the aspect of the increase in the minimum wage, but also the economic stimulus that comes from it. You have people who are actually earning a more adequate salary and are spending more in the community.

I'm wondering to what extent the department has analyzed both the benefits, in terms of community positive economic ramifications of raising the minimum wage, and as well the increase in tax revenues that come with people earning a higher wage.

[David Charter]

They're both good questions. I'm afraid I don't have data or figures on hand for the impact upon GDP or the economy, or on the additional tax revenues. As I mentioned, what we're looking at is about 26,2000 employees in the federally regulated private sector, and so the economic benefit would be commensurate with the number of employees impacted.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

That will end the discussion on division 23. Thank you very much for your presentation and for answering our questions. We'll go to division 24, which deals with the Canada Labour Code and leave related to the death or disappearance of a child.

Ms. Moran, please go ahead.

[Barbara Moran]

Thanks very much.

I am joined by Sébastien St-Arnaud, who was with you in the last session as well.

I am going to briefly discuss the changes that are being proposed to the leave related to death or disappearance of a child, under part III of the Canada Labour Code.

In September 2018, the Government of Canada replaced the federal income support for parents of murdered or missing children grant program with the Canadian benefit for parents of young victims of crime. This was done in response to a 2017 report by the federal ombudsman for victims of crime, which recommended broadening eligibility for the program in order to mitigate barriers to uptake.

The new benefit includes a number of changes to make the income support more inclusive and flexible, including extending the age limit of the victim from under 18 to under 25; expanding eligibility to parents whose children under the age of 14 are a probable party to the crime; increasing the income support amount by $100 to $450 per week; doubling the period in which recipients can receive the benefit to 104 weeks in situations where the child disappeared; and allowing recipients to work up to 20 hours a week while receiving the benefit.

While the new benefit was introduced in 2018, the government did not have the opportunity to make corresponding changes to the leave related to death or disappearance under part III of the Canada Labour Code.

What is proposed here are amendments to part III of the Canada Labour Code that would align the leave related to death or disappearance of a child with the improved Canadian benefit for parents of young victims of crime, in order to provide employees in the federally regulated private sector with job protection while they receive the benefit.

These changes include extending eligibility for the leave to parents of children from under 18 to under 25 years of age, which recognizes the changing characteristics of Canadian families that see adult children staying with their parents beyond the age of 18.

They include increasing the maximum length of the leave from 52 to 104 weeks in instances where the employee is a parent to a child who has disappeared. With this change, eligible parents whose child has disappeared would be entitled to the same amount of leave as parents whose child has died.

They would increase the total amount of leave that may be taken by employees in respect to the disappearance of a child from 52 to 104 weeks, and this allows two or more parents of the same child who has disappeared to share up to 104 weeks of leave. This amendment reflects the change that extends the maximum duration of leave for parents of children who have disappeared from 52 to 104 weeks.

Finally, for parents of children under the age of 14, they would eliminate the exception that disentitles employees to the leave if the child was a party to the crime that led to their death.

I am happy to take your questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Barbara and Sébastien, thank you very much for making your points.

We'll turn now to division 25, which is on payment to Quebec.

[Benoit Cadieux, Director, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My name is Benoit Cadieux. I am the director for employment insurance special benefits at ESDC. I am joined today by Catherine Demers, who is the director general of EI policy at ESDC.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of Canada has introduced temporary measures that increase the generosity of the EI program and make it easier to access EI benefits, including maternity and parental benefits. These measures include a minimum weekly benefit rate of $500 and a reduced eligibility requirement of 120 hours of work to qualify for benefits.

Expectant parents in Quebec are covered by the Quebec parental insurance plan, QPIP. This replaces EI maternity and parental benefits in that province.

Without corresponding changes to align QPIP with EI, some parents in Quebec could have been in a situation where they could have qualified for maternity or parental benefits under EI but not under QPIP, or they could have received a higher benefit rate under EI than they would have under QPIP.

Provisions under division 25 authorize the Minister of Employment and Social Development to make a one-time payment to Quebec for the purpose of offsetting some of the costs of aligning the Quebec parental insurance plan with the temporary measures set out in part VIII.5 of the Employment Insurance Act, ensuring that parents in Quebec receive the same level of support as parents in the rest of Canada.

The minister is also authorized to enter into an agreement with Quebec to set out the time and manner of the payment.

Thank you. With that, I am happy to take any questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Are there any questions? I see none.

Thank you very much, Mr. Cadieux.

[Benoit Cadieux]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Just to give members a heads-up, we are going to have to adjourn at 5:30 p.m. Ottawa time, or right around there. Three members have notified me that they have other commitments, so we will have to stop at the appointed hour.

We'll go to division 29, which is the Department of Employment and Social Development Act.

Ms. McCormick.

[Frances McCormick, Executive Director, Integrated Labour System, Workplace Directorate, Labour Program, Department of Employment and Social Development]

Thank you.

Good afternoon. I'm an executive director with the labour program at Employment and Social Development. I'm joined today by Charles Philippe Rochon, a senior adviser in the labour program.

Today we're here to talk to you about division 29, an amendment to the Department of Employment and Social Development Act, DESDA, to authorize the Minister of Labour to collect and use a person's social insurance number to verify their identity in the administration and enforcement of the act for any program activity for which the minister is responsible.

The purpose of the amendment is to support the modernization of services to Canadians delivered by the labour program, with a particular focus on improving the digital capacity. This now includes implementing new systems that we're currently working on that allow federally regulated employers and employees to file reports and complaints of a protected and electronic nature. The submission of these files has to occur behind a protected environment; for example, a My Service Canada account, which uses the social insurance number as a mandatory identifier to register and use the platform.

The SIN would also be used, for example, to identify correctly employees who are entitled to unpaid wages or particular benefits.

Finally, this measure would shift us from current paper-based processes, which can be time-consuming, to a more robust system based on modern technology.

Although the amendment will come into force upon royal assent, the labour program will develop protocols and update and create privacy impact assessments to ensure that the privacy of these individuals is safe and secure and that the collection and use of SIN under any new authority.... The conditions and safeguards on the use of the personal information are found in the Employment and Social Development Act as well as the Privacy Act.

Thank you. I'm happy to take any questions.