Finance Committee on Oct. 1st, 2024

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB]

What does this do to investment in your industry?

[Geoffrey Wood]

I'm not sure what it does to investment in the industry, other than from a competitive or a supply chain standpoint. It's grossly inflating the cost of the supply chain.

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB]

Can your customers afford to just pay more for your services?

[Geoffrey Wood]

In our world, typically those costs are passed along to our customers, which in turn are passed along to Canadians and in turn make our economy less productive and less competitive.

In some instances, those costs can be passed along with the increasing use of a spot market—what we call the spot market—versus contract rates or contract costing. It's becoming more difficult for fleets to absorb this or to pass it along. They end up absorbing it.

It's certainly a challenge that we would like to see addressed in the short term.

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB]

You mentioned the razor-thin margins. There really isn't anything that can be done other than passing this on and making life more expensive for Canadians. Is that fair to say?

[Geoffrey Wood]

Margins are extremely thin. It's an extremely competitive business: high volume, low margins. It is a challenge.

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB]

All right. Do you recommend that this tax be scrapped?

[Geoffrey Wood]

At a minimum, pause it for four years until we can get a handle on whether or not we have alternative fuel sources or propulsion power sources in the long term, but, ideally, the tax goes away.

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB]

You've mentioned that no such propulsion systems exist for long-haul trucking. Is that correct?

[Geoffrey Wood]

Diesel is king right now. There is a host of propulsion systems being looked at, but by no means is this anywhere close to being ready for the road or ready to replace diesel. Again, we are doing everything we can from an industry perspective in supporting that research and trying everything.

There's no silver bullet in alternative propulsion right now, but again, we're supportive of that. As good corporate citizens, we want to do the right thing for the environment and lower our carbon footprint, our GHG emissions, but right now the technology just isn't there. We're going to need more time to figure this out, hence our concern with the rationale for the carbon tax.

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB]

Thanks for pointing that part out. I guess it's fair to say that you don't burn diesel in trucks just because you like the smell. It's the lack of an alternative.

You have a tremendous incentive in your industry to discover new, more efficient and less emitting sources of propulsion, but until then, they don't exist. In the meantime, you have a cost that's being piled onto a low-margin business and being passed on to consumers who are increasingly unable to pay the cost. Is that a fair summary?

[Geoffrey Wood]

That's correct.

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB]

Now, the federal government has two carbon taxes. They call the second one a “clean fuel standard”, but it really is another tax. How does that affect your your business and your industry?

[Geoffrey Wood]

I'm not the expert in that area, sir, but it certainly would have an impact. We've been having a number of discussions with Environment and Climate Change Canada on that. I can get you some more info as follow-up, sir.

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB]

I think that would be helpful, because this is another tax that paints you into a corner, where there are no alternatives for long-haul delivery, so you don't have a choice. You just have to pay it and pass it on to everybody in the supply chain to the point that it reaches consumers.

Tell us about the end-users in your industry. Food and groceries would be a huge one. Are there a number of them? Can you list some of the consumer impacts of the cost of trucking?

[Geoffrey Wood]

Trucking touches everything. With everything you have, eat, touch and buy, trucking is integral to the Canadian supply chain in bringing Canadians and their businesses everything they need. It's critical. It's integral.

Hopefully that answers the question. It's everything.

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, MP Kelly.

Now we'll go to MP Dzerowicz, please.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank all the presenters for all the excellent presentations. This is our first meeting on pre-budget consultations for 2025. You guys are inaugurating us into these discussions, so thank you for that.

My first question is for the Canadian Independent Screen Fund for Black and People of Colour Creators.

No one wants to talk about the pandemic anymore, but I think that for many years to come we're going to be evaluating the psychological impact of the pandemic on our lives. I will tell you, though, it is largely understood that if we hadn't had our arts and cultural activities, we would not have survived the pandemic.

In my riding of Davenport, I feel very blessed to have a very strong arts and cultural community, a lot of innovators and a lot of creators. I feel very blessed to be interacting with them.

I appreciated your pointing out the economic importance of the sector. I think we often don't hear enough of that.

I also want to reinforce the social aspects. We're in a big country. Arts and culture help us understand each other. They bring us together and share our stories. They help us understand the world around us. There's so much tremendous change that's happening, and I think it's hard to absorb or even understand. I think through our visual arts, our movies and our music, we better understand what is happening in the world, and we can better articulate it.

Having said all of that, we spent a lot of money coming through the pandemic. We've come through really hard times. Inflation is now finally coming down. Now we're trying to make decisions for budget 2025.

At a time of limited resources, why do you believe it's important for us to prioritize funding the Canadian Independent Screen Fund and other arts and culture initiatives at this time?

[Sally Lee]

In the case of the CISF, I would say the power of screen-based storytelling is truly profound. I feel the government, at this point, has a historic opportunity to be a driving force in transforming racial equity in the Canadian screen-based sector and to shape Canadian culture.

As you said, now, more urgently than ever, we really need stories that challenge stereotypes, foster understanding and bring people together. It's our hope to see the CISF being funded as a strategic investment to build an inclusive future for all Canadian creators, whose work will influence our national voice and positively impact communities across the country.

You mentioned the economic impact. I would say we really need to capitalize on what I consider to be a competitive advantage in terms of tapping into our diasporic communities to reach global audiences and global markets and bring what we believe to be truly Canadian stories out to the world.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Thank you so much.

I also have a question for Réseau FADOQ.

Thank you for your presentation.

I've been to many doors in my riding. People talk about the GIS and they talk about the OAS, and they ask the same thing you mentioned: “Why did you raise it over 75, but not 65 to 75?” Often, what I say to them is that the truth is that, when we looked at compartmentalizing, we saw the greater health needs and greater costs for those 75 and older. However, I will let you know I formally support increasing the OAS by 10% between 65 and 75.

The thing people raise with me is housing for seniors. Many seniors in my riding own their homes. They want to move out. They want to move to something more manageable, or they want different options for housing for seniors. I don't know whether you have a recommendation around that.

They feel trapped in the homes they've spent their lives paying off but now can't really afford to live in. I think they also feel trapped because if they get very sick, long-term care isn't of the quality they would like to see. I wonder if you could comment on that and make a recommendation for us.

[Gisèle Tassé-Goodman]

Thank you for your question.

Several organizations met today around the Centennial Flame to tell elected officials here in Ottawa about the pressing needs among seniors aged 65 to 74. They have been forgotten. Remember, those who receive the Old Age Security pension and the Guaranteed Income Supplement live on an income of $22,000 a year. That is below the poverty line, based on the market basket measure. That amount is based on a minimal basket of goods, which excludes medication and rent.

Furthermore, many seniors consult us about rent. They tell us that, at the end of the month, they cannot pay it all. They hold back part of the rent to buy groceries. That’s how important it is for seniors to access the 10% top-up to Old Age Security.

Seniors also want to live at home. We hear it daily: They do not want to leave their residence. Some rent rooms to students. Others transform their dwelling into an intergenerational home. People therefore do not necessarily want to move and change where they live.

As for the 10% increase to Old-Age Security granted to people aged 75 and up, seniors aged 65 to 74 have been waiting for it for quite some time. They hoped that MPs, who certainly hear complaints from people in their riding—

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Thank you, madam.

Unfortunately, my time is over, but thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, MP Dzerowicz.

Now we're going to MP Ste-Marie, please.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Tassé‑Goodman, I will come back to you in a moment.

I will start with a point of order. During testimony provided to the committee by Canada Revenue Agency representatives on June 3, 2024, questions were asked of them. On July 4, the committee received their written answer. I therefore request my colleagues’ concurrence so that the information sent to the committee may be used publicly.