Evidence of meeting #19 for Finance in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.
A video is available from Parliament.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
Julie Dzerowicz Liberal Davenport, ON
I appreciate you mentioning that. Part of the extension of your response is the fact that it will take some time for some of our businesses to get back on track, and it gives them a chance to remain viable. I appreciate the response and your work.
Do I have time for one more question, Mr. Chair?
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
Julie Dzerowicz Liberal Davenport, ON
My question is around the $100 million top-up safe return to class fund. About 18 schools in Davenport have benefited from the original fund. In more concrete terms, can officials indicate how a school would be able to access this fund through dollars sent out to the provinces?
11:45 a.m.
Director General, Federal-Provincial Relations and Social Policy Branch, Department of Finance
The funding is transferred to the provinces and territories, then each province and territory determines how the funding will flow to various school boards, and down to each individual school.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
My apologies, everybody.
Thank you, MP Dzerowicz.
MP Ste-Marie, you're up for two and a half minutes.
11:45 a.m.
Bloc
Gabriel Ste-Marie Bloc Joliette, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My question is for the representatives of Employment and Social Development Canada and concerns the pilot project to provide up to five additional weeks of employment insurance benefits to eligible seasonal workers. This project was introduced in 2018 and targeted 13 regions.
Employment and Social Development Canada has a mandate to analyze that pilot project. I'd like to know where the analysis stands. Can any conclusions be drawn even if it hasn't been completed?
Can you answer the question, Mr. Noël?
11:50 a.m.
Manager, Policy Analysis and Initiatives, Employment Insurance Policy, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development
Thank you for the question.
The pilot project was launched in August 2018 and ended in September 2021.
The results will be analyzed and evaluated by the department and released later in 2022.
11:50 a.m.
Bloc
Gabriel Ste-Marie Bloc Joliette, QC
Okay.
Am I to understand that you can't give us any preliminary conclusions or overall trends, even though we are commenting on this in connection with Bill C‑8?
Is that right?
11:50 a.m.
Manager, Policy Analysis and Initiatives, Employment Insurance Policy, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development
That's right.
We have no information to provide on this for the time being.
11:50 a.m.
Bloc
Gabriel Ste-Marie Bloc Joliette, QC
I am obviously disappointed.
How did you select the 13 regions included in the pilot project?
How many employment insurance benefit claims from seasonal workers outside these regions are received every year?
11:50 a.m.
Manager, Policy Analysis and Initiatives, Employment Insurance Policy, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development
The 13 regions were selected on the basis of two criteria. The first was unemployment rate. We looked at the rates of unemployment in each region and any regions whose rate was higher than the national average met the first criterion.
The second criterion was the percentage of seasonal workers in each region. I believe the rate we were aiming for was 4%. If the percentage of seasonal claimants was higher than 4% of the labour force, that meant the second criterion was met.
All regions meeting both criteria at the same time were included in the pilot project, giving us a total of 13 regions.
Could you repeat the second part of the question? I think I've lost track.
11:50 a.m.
Bloc
Gabriel Ste-Marie Bloc Joliette, QC
How many employment insurance claims from seasonal workers are received from regions other than these each year?
If you don't have the number, you could always send it later.
11:50 a.m.
Manager, Policy Analysis and Initiatives, Employment Insurance Policy, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development
According to the Employment Insurance Monitoring and Assessment Report, the number of seasonal claimants in Canada in 2019 and 2020 was approximately 410,000.
11:50 a.m.
Bloc
Gabriel Ste-Marie Bloc Joliette, QC
I see that I have run out of time. Could you send us the data on the how many of these people were outside the 13 regions selected?
Thank you very much.
11:50 a.m.
Manager, Policy Analysis and Initiatives, Employment Insurance Policy, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development
Will do.
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
Thank you, Mr. Ste-Marie.
We are moving to the NDP with MP Blaikie. Once MP Blaikie has finished his time we will be suspending at that time to be able to vote and we will be concluding this first panel.
MP Blaikie, you have the floor.
11:50 a.m.
NDP
Daniel Blaikie NDP Elmwood—Transcona, MB
Thank you very much.
My question is about part 5 of the act, which is a request for funds up to $300 million that are earmarked for supporting provinces in their proof-of-vaccination programs. I note that there are a number of provinces—Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario I believe, and there may well others—that have announced they're planning to wrap up their proof-of-vaccination program. Of course, that's a decision that happens at the provincial level. I'm curious what that means for the $300 million that's being requested here. Was it foreseen that would be distributed on a roughly per capita basis to provinces for the proof-of-vaccination programs? Or were there some other criteria that would be used for the disbursement of funds? The act only says that the amount of each payment would be determined by the Minister of Health. It doesn't give criteria.
11:50 a.m.
Acting Vice-President, COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Task Force, Public Health Agency of Canada
We're in the process now of continuing our analysis on allocation options for the minister to consider. The objective, as I mentioned earlier, is to cover both previous costs and ongoing costs. In the context of jurisdictions that have sunset their proof-of-vaccination requirements, the ability to be able to issue an electronic health record proof-of-vaccination credential will continue. As I mentioned earlier, through collaboration with the federal government, provinces and territories are able to issue a single or a joint credential that individuals can use both for domestic and international travel and other mandated requirements. As such, notwithstanding what happens in the space of mandates, the ability for a citizen to have access to the credential where it's required is still necessary.
11:55 a.m.
NDP
Daniel Blaikie NDP Elmwood—Transcona, MB
You don't anticipate that announcements ending proof-of-vaccination programs in the provinces would impact how much money they receive under part 5 of act?
11:55 a.m.
Acting Vice-President, COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Task Force, Public Health Agency of Canada
I would not think so no.
11:55 a.m.
NDP
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
