Human Resources Committee on Nov. 8th, 2006

[Pat Byrne]

Absolutely.

[Denise Savoie, NDP, Victoria, BC]

So that was an important distinction.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

You have thirty seconds left.

[Denise Savoie, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Okay. In the next round, if we have the chance, Mr. Chan, I'd like you to talk about immigrant and settlement services and the gaps there.

[Tung Chan]

I think if you look at the gaps, there are plenty of them. Simply put, if you look at--because we're talking about human resources, the first thing is language. We have now in this province provided language support training for adults up to a level three. But in Ontario it's supported all the way up to a level seven. We really would like to see that new Canadians coming to B.C. would be supported in the same way as they would if they went to Ontario. So that's the first thing.

We've already talked very extensively about the prior work experience and foreign credentials. One thing I need to supplement too is that this is not just a government issue. It's not just a trade organization or a professional organization situation. It is also a commercial industry situation. People come here wanting a local job, let's say in a factory or for a service provider, be it in the insurance business or the financial business or what not. Generally, they're told they do not have Canadian experience. And if they don't get a job in Canada, how can they get that?

I think one of the things the government can also do is provide tax incentives for people to hire new Canadians for their first job, for their first six months, to give them a chance. Give them some incentives. Currently there is no incentive for anyone to hire a new Canadian.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

What would that incentive look like to you? You know, you're obviously writing off employment as an expense. So would it be a factor, like 1.5%?

[Tung Chan]

It's similar to what my colleagues on the panel here were talking about, which is apprentices. You can hire someone as an apprentice and give them some incentive. The actual mechanics of it I've not worked out, but the general idea is what I wanted to present to this group there.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

It's very dangerous to leave the details up to government, I can tell you that.

We're going to move over to Ms. Yelich for seven minutes, please.

[Lynne Yelich, Conservative, Blackstrap, SK]

I'd just like to first of all ask the steelworkers something. We're lucky we don't have the Bloc here today, because they would really jump on any suggestion to have incentives to move to western Canada. You might even get some trouble from Saskatchewan, because we have a hard enough time keeping our people there. I think your incentives to get people to come out here would not be acceptable to some of our provinces. We have a hard enough time keeping them. And let's not even mention your beautiful climate.

I want your comments on something. If you are offended by foreign workers coming in, what are your thoughts on the replacement worker legislation before the House right now? It is probably going to be law.

[Perley Holmes]

I'm not offended by foreign workers coming in. What we're seeing happen is that people are bringing them in and paying them far less than whatever the market rates are, going to the extreme of paying people $3.50 an hour. When you are issued a work permit, you can only work for that employer.

[Lynne Yelich, Conservative, Blackstrap, SK]

Yes. Actually, I would like to see some evidence of that, because I understand that the only way the companies are even allowed to bring in any foreign labour is to pay equivalent wages so that they're not undercutting our own people here in Canada.

But the replacement worker legislation is really what I want to hear you comment on. Without saying you're offended, what do you think of that replacement worker legislation at a time when you have a shortage?

[Perley Holmes]

I'm not aware of it. I sent a proposal in to Human Resources Canada a couple of months ago.

[Lynne Yelich, Conservative, Blackstrap, SK]

Also, I would like to ask Mr. Chan a question.

Perhaps you could elaborate on this. From what I understand--I'm going to talk about professions, and I believe this is in the health sector--one of the problems is that people who do get their training in Canada can't get a place because local governments don't do it. So how does that happen at the federal level? If people get their training here in Canada, they can't get the practice because perhaps the health district won't open up a space.

Is that a common problem, and if it is, again, what do we do as federal...?

[Tung Chan]

I think what you're referring to is the situation with the health professionals, particularly doctors. When foreign-trained doctors come here, they need to have spaces to get their accreditation and they need spaces in hospitals to allow them to be trained. That clearly is an issue in B.C. I understand the provincial government has taken the first step by increasing those spaces.

If you ask me if that increase is sufficient, I would say no. As well, if you look at the need for those trained physicians in the interior, currently, I believe, sufficient space has not yet opened up for people to be trained in hospitals in the interior. Clearly, that is something in the provincial jurisdiction.

Your question is on what the federal government can do about that, and I would refer to what I suggested in terms of the service standards. There might be a place in the federal government to set up certain standards. For example, I understand the Ontario government has put in a piece of legislation requesting that all provincially registered bodies, the licensing bodies, make sure their licensing processes are transparent and are not biased against new Canadians. If the federal government were to adopt that kind of standard and make it mandatory for any agencies or provincial government bodies--anybody who is receiving federal government funding--that is something....

[Lynne Yelich, Conservative, Blackstrap, SK]

I'd like to go to Mr. Kramer for a minute. I also have questions for Ms. Blank.

I think we do need a pan-Canadian vision for disabled people for wheelchairs and other resources by doing such things as having a national database for wheelchairs. You often wonder what happens to some of these wheelchairs when they are no longer in use. Do they sit in somebody's house until there's an auction sale or whatever? I think we do need to address issues like that.

This is maybe not a question you want to answer, but I wonder about visible minorities in the workplace. My question is, does having someone like Mayor Sullivan, who I've met here, help to bring attention to what's needed in your city, in your province, and some of the shortcomings or gaps? Does it help, having someone in a wheelchair as mayor?

[Ken Kramer]

I'm sorry, who are you referring to? I missed that.

[Lynne Yelich, Conservative, Blackstrap, SK]

Mayor Sullivan, your mayor here in Vancouver.

[Ken Kramer]

Mayor Sullivan, absolutely.

Our province, in terms of leadership, has set an example, obviously, by having a person with a disability in a position of leadership. And obviously, within your own government you also have a representative who is there as a representative for the disability community.

I think, though, we need to remember that those individuals, like me, represent a very small minority. And really, our purpose today is to talk about those who are not able to be out here to speak for themselves about this.

[Lynne Yelich, Conservative, Blackstrap, SK]

I was thinking of asking the other two or three people who are beside you, then, when this is brought to our attention.... And the mayor obviously shows.... He's a very smart man. His wheelchair doesn't inhibit him very much.

I wondered what each of these fields, including Ms. Blank's field, and the steelworkers.... That might be touchy. But what would you do to encourage us to have more disabled people in the workplace? Are you willing to start thinking of ways to encourage us to have more disabled people employed?

And Ms. Blank, you didn't mention that you're short of any skills and labour. You asked about incentives. What have you done in order to have more immigrants apply to your profession? What stops or problems or barriers are there?

[Bonnie Blank]

I would say the barriers are access to care on the part of Canadians in terms of their access. We in British Columbia are very fortunate that as dental hygienists we are able to have an independent practice. So we are able to take portable equipment chairside into long-term care facilities, looking at that extreme end of the disability range, and provide oral health services to these individuals.

We do treat severely immuno-compromised individuals and provide the oral health care they need. But we're not able to bill directly. So you have veterans in long-term care facilities who aren't able to access our services without paying out of their own pocket because we are not recognized by their dental plan as the primary oral health care provider.

In my 38 years as a dental hygienist I've seen a great change in terms of accessibility in private practice settings where we have much more.... Our operatories are larger. It's very wheelchair accessible. I think there has been quite a lot of movement towards making that an option.

But what we're calling for is the request to be able to have dental hygienists more in the community. I think with an aging population, that's really where we need to go, by the way.

[Lynne Yelich, Conservative, Blackstrap, SK]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you, Ms. Yelich.

I'm going to take a few minutes here to ask a couple of questions that piqued my interest. I know we talked about tax credits, Mr. Byrne, for completion of trades. What is the exact suggestion then? You're going to make a recommendation. I'm assuming you like the fact that as a government we started talking about that to get people in the trade. But what you're suggesting is, great, we're getting people started, but no one's finishing the job. Is your suggestion a tax credit upon completion of the trade, or in year four, or whatever, how many years?

[Pat Byrne]

Upon completion of the trade. We want to see them actually attain red seal certification.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

So some type of incentive for completion. You're not opposed to the incentives to get started, but it would be nice to see something to help us get it all the way through.

[Pat Byrne]

It's a great first step and we support that. We really do.