Thank you.
My name is Leo Cheverie. I'm pleased to be here in Halifax. I'm here representing CUPE, Prince Edward Island.
Nationally, CUPE is Canada's largest union. It represents workers in a wide variety of sectors. On P.E.I., our membership includes people who work for school boards, health care workers, municipal and post-secondary workers--and I work in the post-secondary sector--nursing home workers, and ambulance workers. We felt it was very important, with your committee's work, that we actually come from Charlottetown to be here with you this morning. We also work a lot with community organizations on P.E.I.; therefore, some of the issues that we may be talking about are also issues that we work on with community partners.
Just recently, in early September, CUPE P.E.I. joined the Prince Edward Island Literacy Alliance. We have workers in the municipal sector who work with Workplace Education P.E.I. for education within their workplaces to meet their needs. We're a member of the P.E.I. Working Group for a Livable Income. We've cooperated with an advancing economic equality for women project. We did a lot of research in terms of women's work and its value, and we certainly are an advocate of working with our community partners.
Because I have limited time, I want to really echo the previous speakers in terms of access for workers with disabilities. We really want to endorse the fact that we want to have an inclusive workforce that includes workers with disabilities. But all workers should be included in terms of having a workplace strategy that includes all people within Canada--women, aboriginal workers, workers with disabilities, workers in all areas of the country.
I'm also really pleased that the social workers' presentation dealt with things like a higher minimum wage--which I'll speak to--and employment insurance, making sure of eligibility. We know that on P.E.I. there's been a real attack in terms of eligibility for seasonal workers. We have a high seasonal workforce on P.E.I. The changes from UI to EI were disastrous for our province, and we need to make changes. Even though there was a huge surplus in that program, we need to really make sure that workers are treated fairly.
We believe in a fair taxation system, such as CCPA and other people have. CUPE has been at the forefront of fighting for an accessible and affordable national child care program. We've waited for years for that. We still endorse it. We certainly think that disability supports are very important, and also education programs. All workers should have access to the education and training they need. We know, certainly, that basic essential skills are needed in our workforce--everything all the way up to university. We represent workers who work in post-secondary education, and it's becoming less affordable and less accessible. Our studies have shown that more and more students don't access post-secondary education because of the expense; they are left with huge student debt. So we certainly want to endorse those accessibilities.
One of the groups that CUPE works with is the P.E.I. Working Group for a Livable Income, and they've established four pillars for positive livable-income public policy that I think should be the very basis of any national strategy for dealing with employability in Canada. These four pillars are livable income for all, to allow all members of society to meet their needs and live in dignity; appropriate development that is sustainable for communities, the natural environment, and employers and employees over a long period of time; excellence in the workforce based on positive relationships between employers and employees, recognizing that all work contributes to the betterment of society; and fourthly, a healthy society and a healthy economy, ensuring that decisions take into consideration the interrelationship of people's health and the health of economic and political systems. We know that income is the number one determinant of health, so obviously this impacts on all of us. We also know that both paid and unpaid work contribute to making our society a lot better, so to have the best and healthiest society and environment possible for the citizens of P.E.I., all paid and unpaid work should be valued.
I just want to read out one of our definitions of a livable income: income that allows a family or an individual to pay rent or a mortgage and their monthly bills, buy medicine and healthy foods, use transportation and child care, and have money left for some extras such as sports activities or a child's birthday, as well as to cover emergencies, which may be a furnace or a car breaking down. That's the very basic fundamental thing that people in the workforce need.
We've been very concerned with the recent budget cuts the government announced. There's been very poor communication. These cuts have attacked the very poorest and the most vulnerable members of society, certainly those who are most marginalized, and we know that very little consultation has taken place in terms of those cutbacks. We know, for example, that CPRN, which has basically done a lot of very good research, has been cut. Women's groups, which we work with closely, are limited in terms of doing research and advocacy, plus they're getting cut back. So that's a real thing.
The Canadian Labour and Business Centre, which has business and labour people come together to work together, to come up with common solutions, and to hear each other's voices, has been cut. The court challenges program has been cut, which Acadian parents in P.E.I. have used to access their minority rights.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has said that in order to meet what this minority government has promised, they would need $17 billion more because of extra spending plus the tax cuts they promised. We know this may be the thin edge of a wedge and actually a way to silence voices. We're very concerned about that.
Literacy cuts have been made in terms of value for money. We disagree that this been the case. The Law Reform Commission has been cut. We have worked with them in P.E.I. on electoral reform and on some of the great research they've done. We know that early childhood development education in P.E.I. had access to the social development partnerships program, which has been cut. The youth employment strategy has been cut in half, even though it provides jobs for youth in our communities that are desperately needed across this country.
This is disastrous. There have been cuts in the Summerside tax centre, even though there had been promises made otherwise that it wouldn't be the case. The recent cuts that have taken place have been disastrous and concern us greatly.
I want to talk about literacy particularly. CUPE P.E.I. works with the P.E.I. Literacy Alliance. We have worked with the P.E.I. workplace education program. We know those programs have been cut because the federal provincial-stream has been cut in delivery.
These things are essential. We say there's going to be a skills shortage in this province. We want to reinvest in workers, and the very fundamental thing in terms of literacy and basic skills has been cut. The literacy alliance, although it doesn't deliver programming, does bring people together to talk about best practices, ensures resource development, outreaches to adult learners, coordinates the networks. It is absolutely essential; it is the glue that brings these organizations together.
I have attended the P.E.I. Literacy Alliance meetings when we have brought practitioners, adult learners, and other stakeholders together, including even at the Literacy Summit that took last year, which endorsed the fact that workplace education is also essential.
Workplace Education P.E.I. has also been cut back. These things are very negative. They attack the very weakest and most vulnerable workers we have in terms of being able to meet the needs in a constantly skills-changing environment. We ask that these cuts be reinstated.
A recent study showed that a 1% increase in adult literacy levels would generate a 1.5% permanent increase in GDP. New research from Stats Canada shows that investment in education is three times as important to economic growth over the long run as investment in physical capital, such as machinery and equipment.
Another Stats Canada study shows that educating the least educated has a greater impact on GDP than increasing the skills of those with higher literacy skills. We also know from the C.D. Howe Institute that the raising of literacy scores by 1% relative to the international average is associated with a 2.5% relative increase in productivity and a 1.5% increase in national income per person.
This is essential. Canada's employers are the lowest of all the 14 OECD countries in investing in workers. We need to make sure we are able to invest in literacy and basic skills and make sure that employers also invest in them.
Quebec has a very successful payroll tax; if employers do not invest in their workers, then they're taxed, and that money is being used to invest in workers. We call upon you to look at that as a way of strengthening our involvement in meeting the needs of those workers.
