Finance Committee on Nov. 17th, 2023

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

In terms of your recommendations to the committee for its pre-budget consultation report, what types of things would you like to see the federal government do to ramp up the production of SAF in Canada? What can they do?

[Trevor Boudreau]

There are really two things. Right now the biggest issue—and this is an issue that will impact affordability if sustainable aviation fuel is not treated with the proper financial and public policy support—is that the price differential between traditional jet fuel and sustainable aviation fuel is quite high. In some cases, it is five times the price.

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

Is that for SAF?

[Trevor Boudreau]

Yes, and since the cost of jet fuel has the highest impact on the cost of your flight, it is a critical issue. Where we are looking for government support is on that demand side, providing the incentives in the early days that will bring the cost differential down and allow us to scale up production capacity in Canada. Once that production capacity comes online, you will see the market start to decide to deliver right and to do what it needs to do so those financial incentives can drop off.

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

Thank you for that.

I want to talk to you about pilots for a second. I'm speaking maybe somewhat in my own interests, but we had direct flights from Winnipeg to Ottawa that got cancelled. I think that happened in a number of cities across the country, and Air Canada is telling us it's due to a shortage of pilots.

I'm wondering if you could provide some insight on that issue. Do you have any sense of that, from your perspective at the airport authority?

[Trevor Boudreau]

I would defer that to the airlines. As the airport, we don't get involved in that. However, it is very clear that access to skilled workers is a problem across many industries, and aviation is not insulated from that. We see that with air traffic controllers. We see that with pilot shortages. We see that with other skilled labour, so it's critical that we invest in that now.

Ms. Anderson from the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade talked about a microcredentialling programming. That can certainly help in areas of aviation as well, and we encourage the government to look at that.

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

That's all I have, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, MP Morantz.

Now we go to MP Baker.

[Yvan Baker, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Thanks very much, Chair.

Thanks to all of you for being here today. I won't have time to ask all of you questions, but I appreciate all the testimony. I've taken note of all of your input, so thank you for that.

We've been travelling to hear and listen to input from folks as to how we can solve the problems that people are facing in their various communities. Unfortunately, I've found myself spending a fair bit of my five-minute questioning time dispelling myths that have been put out there by the Conservative members on some things. We're entitled to our differences of opinion. I have differences of opinions with Gabriel and with Peter, but we are not entitled to our own set of facts. Unfortunately, there were some facts put out that aren't true, and I'd hate for the folks here and the good folks in B.C. to get the wrong idea, so here are just a few facts.

Economic growth in Canada is among the strongest in the G7, and it has been for the past several years. Post-COVID, Canada's economy recovered more quickly than any of our G7 counterparts. Inflation in Canada is too high. My constituents struggle with it every day, but it is the lowest, or second-lowest, in the G7, and has been for the past several years. Canada's debt-to-GDP is the lowest in the G7. Canada's deficit-to-GDP is the lowest in the G7.

The pause that was put on the carbon tax was Canada-wide, counter to those who would say it was just for Atlantic Canada. It was Canada-wide for home heating oil. The reason it was done specifically for home heating oil was that it is the most expensive form of heating and it is the most polluting form of heating. We were finding that people weren't transitioning away from home heating oil because it was so expensive to make that transition, and a lot of the folks who were using home heating oil already didn't have the finances to make that transition.

The three-year pause—it's not an elimination; it's a pause—is for people across Canada, and we increased the rural rebate across Canada.

I wanted to put those facts out there to counter some of the things that have been said. I'd rather be spending this time listening to you than talking, but when I hear misinformation put on the committee record, if it goes unchallenged, it can become a common belief. That is dangerous, because people's decision-making and how people advocate with the government depends on the facts they have before them. When the facts are inaccurate, it's dangerous, so I had to say that.

I want to spend some time with Madame Enayeh and Madame Boutiyeb.

Ladies, thank you for being here. You've talked a bit about the services offered in Ontario, here, in British Columbia and elsewhere in the country.

What is the role of the federal and provincial governments in providing financial support to the organizations you represent?

[Nour Enayeh]

I'll start by talking about the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence, which was put in place in 2022. It was a national plan, yet francophone women were not mentioned once. We therefore ask that the federal government take the lead and ensure that francophone women are mentioned in national or federal plans.

[Soukaina Boutiyeb]

The last thing I'd add is that it's everyone's responsibility to care about francophone and Acadian women. Women represent over 50% of the population, and francophone women represent 11% of the country's population. Unfortunately, when funding is granted, people don't have the reflex to ask who has a population that includes francophone and Acadian women, and to grant funding directly to them.

So one of our recommendations is to have the reflex to apply the francophone women's lens every time funding is granted to public sector and civil society organizations, so that a share of the funding is automatically given to francophone women's organizations in the country.

[Yvan Baker, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

When I was a provincial MLA for Ontario, a lot of money was invested in similar causes, without mentioning these organizations in particular.

What's the role of a province in providing funding?

Many people turn to the federal government for funding. It's normal and understandable, because you're working on important issues. By the way, I'm not just talking about you, but about all the other witnesses who have come before us. I'm not saying that's the case here, but having been a provincial MLA, I know that there are many cases and files that must be resolved in part, if not in full, by provincial governments.

In your opinion, what is the role of the provinces, in general, with regard to the causes you defend?

[Soukaina Boutiyeb]

That's an excellent question.

As far as francophone women are concerned, the responsibility lies not only with the federal government, but also with provincial and municipal governments.

That said, I think the federal government could show some leadership. As the chair mentioned, the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence makes no mention of francophone women. Under bilateral agreements between the federal government and the provinces and territories, the latter were to provide funding equivalent to that of the federal government. However, since there was no mention of francophone women, no funding was specifically allocated to them. So leadership is required, but it's certainly a responsibility that falls on everyone.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, Mr. Baker.

Now we'll go to MP Ste-Marie, please.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My questions are for Ms. Enayeh and Ms. Boutiyeb.

Ladies, I'm going to ask a series of questions, and you can use the two and a half minutes allotted to answer them or talk about your priorities.

Why are you proposing that the next budget allocate $280 million over five years to francophone and Acadian women's organizations?

Why do we need to help francophone caregivers? What does this mean?

Finally, could you come back to the importance of having a more comprehensive gender-based analysis and standardizing its use by government departments?

[Soukaina Boutiyeb]

To answer the first question about the $280 million, our colleagues at the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne have done a study, which we could provide to the committee, that shows where this amount comes from and is based on concrete data. We agree with them, and we want to make sure, with regard to the $280 million, that there is specific mention of women's organizations.

As far as caregivers are concerned, the reality, as we saw during the pandemic, is that women are often the ones who go to help their parents, children, husbands or friends who are experiencing health problems, whether long-term or short-term. These caregivers have no respite or mental health services in French, whether they live in rural Saskatchewan, New Brunswick or Ontario. We need to make a special investment in the people who do this work. There are also many immigrants doing this work.

As for your last question on Gender-Based Analysis Plus, as you know, in 1995, Canada made a commitment to the United Nations to use it in all its public policies and budgets. That said, in the field, we've come to realize that this analysis is not done in the same way from one department to another. We therefore suggest that this lens be applied right from the start of the process, from the development of any public policy right through to the end, and that there be a slightly more exhaustive analysis. We'd also like to see the results published. Basically, it's a matter of further encouraging the government to continue doing this work.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

You have about 20 seconds.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

I'd like to ask Ms. Mitchell about the postponement of the repayment date for loans from the Canada emergency business account. The minister doesn't want to postpone it by a year, because she says it's too expensive. We disagree. We say that avoiding a large number of bankruptcies will bring in more money for the government.

What argument would you have to convince the minister of the importance of postponing the repayment of loans from the Canada emergency business account by one year?

[Alex Mitchell]

We believe that it's critical to provide an extension for those businesses that really do need it. This was meant to keep the businesses alive and functioning through a very difficult time, so to call in those loans early or to not continue with the nonrepayable component of those will hurt those small businesses that are still on the brink and still facing economic headwinds and the risks of recovery.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, Mr. Ste‑Marie.

Now we'll go to MP Julian.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to address Ms. Enayeh and Ms. Boutiyeb

I'd like to acknowledge the work of Réseau-Femmes Colombie-Britannique and Inform'Elles. As I understand it, this is an emergency support line for women in British Columbia. There's a growing population of francophones here, and they're often new Canadians who don't have access to other forms of support.

How many women will be affected if the Inform'Elles emergency support line is closed by March 2024? What will be the consequences for the community and these women?

[Nour Enayeh]

We're talking about a French-speaking community of 300,000 people. Since 50% of them are women, that's 150,000 people in British Columbia. In rural areas, women can be completely isolated. This is their only way of expressing themselves in their own language against the violence they suffer. This will disappear in March 2024, almost five months from now.

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

How many hundreds of women use the Inform'Elles support line?

[Nour Enayeh]

During the pandemic, Inform'Elles received dozens of calls every day from women who had never called before.