Finance Committee on Nov. 15th, 2023

[Colin Hornby, Manager, Communications and Stakeholder Relations, Keystone Agricultural Producers]

We're just going to tag off here.

The third recommendation we have is ensuring that the Pest Management Regulatory Agency, the PMRA, is appropriately resourced and improves their internal processes in support of timely, transparent and science-based decisions that will help Canadian producers remain competitive in a global market. The PMRA must ensure that they maintain a science-based approach to all decision-making and not allow external motivations to impact any decisions.

One example we would raise would be the recent re-evaluation of lambda-cyhalothrin for the 2023-24 growing season, which has impacted many farmers and their ability to combat grasshoppers and other pests in the field.

The fourth recommendation we would like to highlight is building on budget 2023's extended interswitching pilot by further expanding the distance beyond 160 kilometres and extending the pilot past the current 18-month period. Expanding access to competitive rail services means that Canadian shippers will have the option to achieve efficiencies, reduce costs and enhance connectivity through market competition.

This improvement is vital for grain farmers and businesses of all sizes, enabling them to deliver their products and services more effectively to Canadian and international customers. The temporary nature of the extended interswitching pilot inhibits long-term planning and investment, which are crucial for the growth and stability of the industry.

Other areas from the CFA briefs you would have received that we would also endorse and highlight would be ensuring that the launch of a sustainable agriculture strategy is inclusive of all agriculture commodities; increasing AgriStability coverage to 85% of the reference margin; implementing measures to support farmers' right to repair their own farm machinery, as we have seen in Bill C-244; increasing the capital gains exemption threshold above $1 million to be more in line with current land values; and making changes to the Income Tax Act regarding the expanded definition of a child for passing on non-controlling shares of ownership to the next generation.

[Jill Verwey]

In closing, I would remind members of the committee of the importance of agriculture to Canada and the global community. Our industry and the work of the entire agricultural food chain not only drive the economy but also provide food to ensure nourishment across the globe.

We live in ever-changing times, and science-based decisions are becoming politically motivated. In order to maintain the economic, environmental and social sustainability of our industry and the Canadian economy, it's paramount that we remember the impact that misguided decisions can make. Farmers and others in our sector need the opportunity to provide input and to be involved in the decision-making process as we tackle the challenges we face collaboratively to move forward with shared priorities.

Thank you again for your time, and we are happy to answer your questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, Ms. Verwey and Mr. Hornby.

We'll now hear from the Manitoba Home Builders' Association.

[Lanny McInnes, President and Chief Executive Officer, Manitoba Home Builders' Association]

Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the finance committee, for inviting me to present to you this morning on behalf of the Manitoba Home Builders' Association.

Since 1937, the MHBA has been the voice of Manitoba's residential construction industry. Representing one of Manitoba's largest economic sectors, our membership includes home builders, renovators, land developers, trade contractors, building product and material manufacturers, building suppliers, warranty and insurance providers and related services. All members of the MHBA are also members of the Canadian Home Builders' Association, our industry's national voice on federal issues.

Residential construction directly accounts for over 51,000 jobs in Manitoba—jobs in every single community—and represents $3.4 billion in wages and $6.3 billion in economic activity. In budget 2022, the government stated that Canada will need an additional 3.5 million homes built over the next decade, over and above the 2.3 million the sector would normally build. The CHBA concurs with this assessment. To achieve this goal, there needs to be a doubling of housing starts to about 400,000 units per year nationally. However, housing starts are slowing at a time when they need to be increasing and increasing significantly.

Increased interest rates have impacted our industry and have reduced housing starts in Manitoba, negatively impacting housing supply. Housing starts have declined in Manitoba by 6% year to date to the end of September, according to the CMHC. This trend is the exact opposite of what the federal government is aiming for. It is vital that monetary policy, fiscal policy and mortgage rules and regulations all work together to create stable financial conditions that support more housing supply.

Instead, we currently have government processes and regulations, local government inefficiencies and a lack of capacity all working together to delay projects, slow down development and significantly increase costs. At the same time, labour and construction material costs continue to rise for our members and their customers. Significant government action is needed now to help reverse this trend and will continue to be needed once interest rates return to more normal levels if housing starts are to double.

There are many ways the federal government can help address these issues and help unlock the door to home ownership. Today we would like to focus on four keys areas.

One is to develop policies to assist the well-qualified first-time buyer. To help first-time buyers, we recommend a return to 30-year amortization periods for insured mortgages for new construction only, which would encourage new home construction while not impacting the prices of resale homes. We recommend that the federal government modify the stress test for both insured and uninsured mortgages to reduce the test rate on a declining basis for seven- and 10-year mortgage terms. We recommend that the federal government update and index the thresholds for the GST new housing rebate. The GST new housing rebate thresholds have remained unchanged since the GST was introduced in 1991. House prices have increased dramatically since then, and adjustments are long overdue.

The second area is to address the skilled trades shortage. The construction industry continues to face chronic labour and skills shortages. Manitoba is no exception. We recommend that the government continue all actions to promote careers in skilled trades, support training and provide financial supports to companies and individuals with respect to skilled workers.

Number three is avoiding adding costs through codes and regulations. The government should focus on innovation to bring down costs and scale up use first before regulating policy-driven code changes. We recommend that the government adopt affordability as a core objective of the national building code and all related standards to ensure that we are building better, more efficient homes for the same price or less.

Four is that net-zero ready renovations should qualify for the GST/HST new housing rebate. Renovating a home to a net-zero or net-zero ready level of certified performance should be considered a substantial renovation and qualify for the GST new housing rebate. As such, we recommend that net-zero and net-zero ready renovations qualify for the new housing rebate.

I want to add that I'm glad my counterparts at KAP raised the underused housing tax. This is a significant issue for our members as well. Builders and developers are required to file for each housing unit they own, even though no tax is payable. It costs our members in Manitoba thousands and our members across Canada millions in administrative costs to file for a tax they don't need to pay.

One of our key signature events in Manitoba is our Parade of Homes. It is a showcase unlike any other across Canada, with over 120 new homes on display for new homebuyers to see and visit so they can make their own purchasing decisions based on seeing an actual home. Needless to say, filing for each of those is an added cost.

Thank you for considering our recommendations. On behalf of Manitoba's residential construction industry, we thank you for this opportunity.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, Mr. McInnes. There will be opportunities for all of you to expand in question time.

We're now going to hear from the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, please.

[Darlene Jackson, President, Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions]

Good morning and thank you for allowing us the opportunity to speak today.

My name is Darlene Jackson and I serve as the president of the Manitoba Nurses Union, or MNU. I am speaking on behalf of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, or CFNU.

The CFNU is composed of nine provincial nurses unions from every province except Quebec, as well as the Canadian Nursing Students' Association. We do, however, work closely and often collaborate with the Fédération Interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec, or FIQ.

The CFNU is Canada's largest nursing organization, representing 250,000 frontline nurses and nursing students. We're proud to advocate for our members and promote the nursing profession on a national level. We work tirelessly to protect the quality of health care for our patients and our public health care system.

My fellow CFNU member, Maria Richard of the New Brunswick Nurses Union, had the privilege of speaking to this committee in Fredericton several weeks ago. As she noted, Canada's nurses face an extremely dire daily reality. In Manitoba, the vacancy rate for nurses in the public health care system remains high, at more than 2,800 unfilled positions as of this past summer, which has further exhausted the front line.

As you can imagine, the vacant positions cannot keep the patient load at bay. The work, therefore, is layered on an already exhausted staff. As a result, we have seen the health regions spend more and more public dollars on private nursing agencies.

I should note that private agencies have a purpose, but we find ourselves in a position where for-profit businesses have managed to find their way into the former Progressive Conservative government's austerity agenda under former premier Brian Pallister. In other words, well before the COVID-19 pandemic and Premier Pallister's replacement, Premier Heather Stefanson, the system was in need of a health human resources injection. The situation in our province became so dire that we at the union needed to create a public awareness campaign to educate Manitobans on the state of our health care system, which was and remains outrageous.

MNU's request for meetings and offers to collaborate with the previous government fell on deaf ears. This past October, Manitobans elected a new government, and with the announcement of Minister of Health and Deputy Premier Uzoma Asagwara, a nurse herself, we find ourselves in a hopeful position, one where we truly believe there exists a willingness to listen to our frontline nurses and an attitude to improve patient care standards. Unfortunately, despite historic investments committed to by the federal government, nurses, other health care workers and, more importantly, patients continue to experience the punishing consequences of insufficient staff to provide the level of care that workers were trained to deliver and that patients deserve to receive.

The CFNU submitted a brief to your committee with six recommendations for budget 2024. I will reiterate them here, as my colleague Maria did, but I'm happy to provide more details on any of them in the question and answer portion of the hearing.

Canada's nurses recommend that the federal government introduce a tax credit for nurses and other health care professionals that incentivizes the retention of health care professionals and their return to the workforce.

We recommend that the government provide funding in the amount of $8 million over four years through the Public Health Agency of Canada to tailor and pilot an Internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy program for nurses. CFNU submitted a proposal but were told the funding was not available despite the desire to fund this. We need urgent mental health supports for nurses.

We recommend that the government work with the provinces and territories to set legislated limits on the consecutive hours of work for nurses.

We recommend that the government include measures for the bilateral health agreements with provinces and territories that phase out private nursing agencies from provincial spending, ensuring federal investments aren't wasted on private agency profits.

We recommend that the government earmark $10 million in funding to establish a health workplace violence reduction plan that includes key recommendations from the parliamentary health committee study from 2019, including a national public awareness campaign, a pan-Canadian framework for the prevention of violence in health care settings enshrined in federal legislation, targeted funding to the provinces and territories to upgrade violence prevention infrastructure and training, and appropriate training for prosecutors and public safety personnel to enforce Bill C-3, which came into law at the national level nearly two years ago.

Finally, we recommend that the government lead a national nursing retention strategy, in partnership with provincial and territorial governments, that advances proven retention, return and recruitment initiatives. This includes adopting safe staffing measures such as improved nurse-to-patient ratios, expanding nursing programs, supporting students with mentorship and paid preceptorships, supporting nurses across their careers through initiatives such as bridging programs and flexible schedules, and expediting registration and workforce integration for internationally educated nurses through an ethical framework.

Thank you so much for hearing me. I look forward to receiving any questions or comments.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, Ms. Jackson.

Thank you to all of the witnesses.

Now we'll get into the members' opportunity to ask questions. In this first round, each party will have up to six minutes to ask questions.

We are starting with MP Morantz.

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you for your testimony, all of you. It's been very interesting.

Ms. Verwey, we have a situation now where Atlantic members of the Liberal caucus successfully lobbied the Prime Minister for a carve-out of the carbon tax on home heating oil. That set off a firestorm across the country. Canadians are saying they're not being treated equally.

I'll juxtapose your comments on Bill C-234 with the highly political decision reinforced by Minister Hutchings, who said that if western Canadians want a carve-out on their home heating, they should elect more Liberal MPs. They are giving a break to Atlantic Canadians but are basically saying to the hard-working farmers across this country, “When it comes to you, you can forget about it.” As evidence of this, Bill C-234, which has made its way through the House, is now being held up by Liberal-appointed senators in the Senate, who are trying to block an additional carve-out for the carbon tax for things like grain drying.

I'm wondering if you could talk a bit about what your members are saying about the hardship that this tax is imposing on them and their livelihoods.

[Jill Verwey]

Certainly. Thank you for the question.

I think it's important to realize the financial burden of this additional tax, combined with inflationary and input costs that have happened and snowballed over the last number of years.

When the exemption was first granted on the use of gasoline and diesel, the fuel for grain drying and heating of buildings was omitted. Bill C-234 would make it inclusive. This carbon we're using in the production of food is inclusive. It includes everything.

Depending on the type of operation you have, those costs can be significant, anywhere from $40,000 on a poultry farm to an additional $8,000 on a grain farm in Saskatchewan. It varies depending on the type of operation. The important thing to realize is that these additional costs make us not competitive in an international market. They also hinder the working capital of our operation.

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

I have limited time. Six minutes goes very fast in this business.

I take it that you would like to see Bill C-234 passed.

[Jill Verwey]

Yes, that's correct.

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

Mr. McInnes, I really appreciated your opening statement, and I appreciate the fact that you touched on fiscal and monetary policy not working together. That is the crux of our inflation problem.

This is also an issue with the carbon tax. As we know, we had the Governor of the Bank of Canada at committee recently. He said that if the carbon tax didn't exist, the inflation rate would be 3.2%, not 3.8%. That's one-third closer to their target.

I know the Liberals like to argue that it's one time only. The fact is that it's cumulative, which means that the 0.6% is gone forever. It's gone this year. It's gone next year. It's gone forever. That lower inflation rate would provide an opening for the Bank of Canada to consider additional interest rate reductions sooner, which would help with homebuilding. Would you agree?

[Lanny McInnes]

The current situation with interest rates, exacerbated by the stress test, has become a significant barrier, especially for first-time homebuyers and anyone looking to build a new home. What we're calling for are policies that would help lessen the impact that current interest rates are having.

The stress test was a policy implemented when interest rates were at an all-time low. They are now becoming a significant barrier for those who are looking at moving into a new home. That impacts the continuum of housing, moving from a rental to home ownership to a new home.

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

Thank you, Mr. McInnes.

Mr. Chair, how much time do I have?

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

You have one minute.

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

In that time, I would like both of you to comment a bit more on the need for an exemption of the underused housing tax. Could you touch on what the actual cost is for people having to comply with this additional piece of red tape at a time in our history when we need to be reducing red tape?

[Jill Verwey]

I'll try to answer that fast.

In our farming operation, with houses we might have on vacant property, even though we are going to be exempt, it's an additional cost just shy of $6,000 to file a report. That's for something we're exempt from.

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

It's $6,000 to file a report on a house that isn't being used on a farm.

[Jill Verwey]

Yes.

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

Wow, that's crazy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, MP Morantz.

We have MP Baker for six minutes, please.

[Yvan Baker, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Thanks very much, Chair.

Thank you all for being here today. It's wonderful to be here in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with all of you. I really appreciated your testimony. I'm looking forward to hearing the feedback you have to my questions and the questions of my colleagues. I won't be able to get to all of you—and I apologize in advance for that—just because of time, but I'll do my best.

I'm going to start with Ms. Jackson, if I may.

You spoke about a number of issues. We've taken note of your recommendations. The area of particular interest to me is long-term care. I don't know if you can comment on that. If you can't, that's fine.

I think the question I want to ask you is very specific. We had someone come up in our morning session.... The federal government worked with outside experts to develop national standards for long-term care. That's close to my heart. A number of MPs and I really advocated for this starting back in early 2020 as the pandemic began. Those standards have now been developed, but they haven't yet been taken up by provinces. They're not worth the paper they're printed on if they don't get implemented.

My question is, does the nurses union have a perspective on national standards for long-term care?

[Darlene Jackson]

Absolutely. In fact, CFNU was one of the leaders in asking for national standards. What the standards are depends on which province you're in.

In Manitoba, right now we look at 3.6 hours of care per resident per day. That's combined care; it's not just nursing care. That's dietary. That's everyone, though it is more of a suggestion than a command, I would say.

Right now, 3.6 is what we're supposed to be providing in Manitoba. I will tell you that the private for-profit facilities like Extendicare and Revera are providing much lower than that, about 2.9 hours of care per resident per day.

We did a study at MNU in 2017 to look at what was optimum, and evidence at that time showed that 4.1 hours of care was adequate. That was in 2017. Many facilities, just because of staffing, are well below the 3.6 at this point. We just don't have enough nurses to provide that care.

We do believe we need a national standard, and we do believe that all provinces must sign on to it. Our residents in long-term care are the leaders. We stand on their shoulders. At some points, the way they are cared for is embarrassing, so I believe we really need to look at national standards and we need to enforce them.

[Yvan Baker, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Thank you very much for that, Ms. Jackson. Thank you for your organization's support of that. I think it's really important as well.

I'm going to turn to Mr. McInnes, if I may, with the remainder of my time.

Mr. McInnes, I don't know if anybody's ever told you, but I think you have a great name. It captures two of my favourite hockey players of all time, Lanny McDonald and Al MacInnis. I don't know if anybody's told you that, but I wanted to share that with you.

There's lots I'd like to ask you about housing. We've been doing a housing study at the committee separately from these pre-budget consultations, but you touched on some of the points there. One of the things you recommended was extending amortization—if I understood you correctly—for insured mortgages for first-time buyers only. Is that correct? Did I get that right?

[Lanny McInnes]

It was for new construction.