Government Operations Committee on May 8th, 2020

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Brière, and please do pass along our sincerest thanks to all of your members for their tremendous work.

I will yield the rest of my time to MP Fergus.

[Marc Brière]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Mr. Fergus, you have about two minutes.

[Greg Fergus, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I would like to thank all the witnesses with us today and I tip my hat to them and to their union members, who have done an outstanding job helping Canadians. In particular, I would like to acknowledge the work of members of Mr. Aylward's and Mr. Brière's unions.

Ms. Stewart, my question is for you because you are the only one who brought it up. Do you think we should break the numbers down or collect data to see if there is a race-based impact on long-term care facility employees?

[Sharleen Stewart]

Yes. Thank you very much for the question. It's an extremely important one.

The statistics already show that the majority of senior care workers in home care and long-term retirement homes are marginalized people. They are predominantly women and, of course, women of colour.

In the inquiry that we're requesting from the Ontario government, that is absolutely a question that we have on the line. All three of the members...actually, all six now in Ontario have been men and women of colour. That's in the workforce, but we're also asking in the communities to take an examination of that. I believe it's tied to a number of things, predominantly income and the fact that so many of these workers have to work in multiple jobs so they're in the community a lot and on public transportation. They come in contact with very many clients and residents, so that just adds to the potential of spreading the viruses.

Absolutely, I think that's an important examination we all have to look into.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Thank you very much.

We'll now go to Madam Vignola.

Mrs. Vignola, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Bourque, you mentioned ergonomic issues related to working at home because a number of people are working at the kitchen table.

Have you received a lot of calls regarding the onset of pain over these six weeks of telework? If so, do your members have access to occupational therapists or advice on workplace ergonomics?

[Eddy Bourque]

As you mentioned, it has already been six weeks since teleworking began. More and more of our members are contacting us to say that it is not working. Currently, the employer is letting them pick up and bring home their ergonomic chairs or keyboards. However, the problem is that the kitchen table is not at the same recommended height as their desk at work.

Certainly, as time goes on, there will be more and more cases.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

It is possible that more and more people may decide to work from home for security and other reasons. If this is the case, has the employer shown any openness to compensating employees or setting up part of their living environment so that they can work safely?

[Eddy Bourque]

We have not had these discussions yet, because we are only starting to see cases, but the discussions will definitely come.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

All right, thank you, Mr. Bourque.

Ms. Stewart, since the early 1990s, the federal government has been gradually backing out of health transfers to Quebec and the other provinces.

In your opinion, what impact has this withdrawal had on the current situation for your members and users of the healthcare system?

[Sharleen Stewart]

Thank you. That's a great question as well.

There's definitely something broken in the system. We all know that front-line health care is managed and delivered by the provinces, but I think there is a role for government to play, to oversee what the governments are doing on the front line. Senior care is an issue for federal, provincial and municipal governments—the accountability and regulations and what the provinces do with that money, especially for the for-profits.

All of the homes, for-profit and not-for-profit, get the same money through envelopes. As I said, the for-profits are accountable to shareholders, so where do those dollars come from? Then when the transfers are going through, there need to be regulations and accountability taken over that.

I think the federal government needs to take a look and find the answers. I'm not sure exactly what they might be, but I think there's a role here for the federal government to oversee some of what's going on in the provinces.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

The question was not whether the federal government has to enter into provincial jurisdiction. I want to know whether reducing transfers to the provinces by up to 22% since the 1990s has had a significant impact on the quality of working conditions and on the users' living conditions.

What do you think would happen if health transfers went back up to 50%, where they should be?

[Sharleen Stewart]

An increase in money to the front line would definitely help secure the full-time employment of workers who need to be there. We need to address staffing levels in those homes, so any resources that can be put back in by the federal government would absolutely make a huge impact on the outcome.

Again, similar to what the federal government has done through this pandemic in adding financial support, which has been great, there need to be regulations and oversight regarding those transfers, always. More money is always welcome, but it should go to the right places: directly to the front line and into the levels of care.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Thank you, Ms. Stewart.

Mr. Chair, I am giving the rest of my time to my colleague Xavier Barsalou-Duval. How much time do I have left?

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

You have approximately one minute.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Thank you.

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

My question is for those who work in the public service, particularly for the Canada Revenue Agency.

Mr. Brière, you told us earlier that it is quite a struggle to succeed in meeting the demand and answering all the questions the public is asking, with the many hours of overtime that it requires. I feel that clearly shows that you are understaffed. Have you considered adding more staff to meet the demand? Have you considered your options? What was the employer's response to these needs?

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Please give a very brief answer, if possible.

[Marc Brière]

With the exceptional workload we have right now, we definitely need more people. We also had to adjust quite rapidly. So the agency asked non-essential employees who are at home and not working to get involved and help the call centre agents to answer questions. Approximately 7,500 people came forward and were trained to assist the 2,500 permanent employees in our call centres, which helped us cope with the situation.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Thank you very much.

I want to thank, on behalf of our committee, all of the witnesses who appeared here today. Your comments and observations were both insightful and informative. We thank you for your participation.

Colleagues, I will excuse the witnesses now—

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Do I not get time? You said you needed five minutes, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

I'm sorry, Mr. Green. That's completely my error.

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

That's okay. You may have forgotten, but I certainly did not.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

You have not just five minutes, sir, but six minutes.