Evidence of meeting #63 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was employability.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Executive Director, Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada
Yes, we're working on that.
There is outrage all across the country, and particularly in your home province of British Columbia, where parents are feeling those cuts because government sort of pre-empted any budget announcement and started making cuts. Families are just outraged, and so we're seeing actions all over the province, like none of us who have been working in this field for many years have ever seen before.
I think that is why it is so critical to have a piece of legislation that actually protects and contributes to long-term development, and that child care doesn't continue to be a matter of luck--we might have a government that supports it, and we might have a government that doesn't support it. It has to be protected in legislation so we can continue to move forward.
In terms of what $250 million will buy, this government, I think, went into the whole child care arena with a very naive assumption about it. They talked initially about $250 million buying 25,000 spaces, and they were multiplying that by a commitment over five years. That was only the capital. They dropped that whole tax incentive deal because they heard loud and clear, immediately, that businesses were not interested in that. But that was only the capital.
In the first year, if that $250 million were used to create 25,000 spaces...and it is questionable whether it could do that, but even if it did, in the second year the additional $250 million, with the 3% escalator that's been built into the transfer, would only maintain the first spaces that were built. It wouldn't create any more new spaces.
So right now in the city of Ottawa, where they have a centralized waiting list, there are 10,000 children in this city alone waiting for child care. The $250 million this government has committed for this year would barely meet that need, never mind the rest of Canada.
NDP
Denise Savoie NDP Victoria, BC
Thank you very much.
I'll move to Mr. Garcia-Orgales.
I think it's fair to say that in your opinion there's no skills shortage. I'm just wondering, from your union, from the steelworkers, whether there are steelworkers who are unemployed. If there are, is it because, as you say, some of the jobs that are available are poorly paid? Do you want to comment on that?
Researcher, Canadian National Office, United Steelworkers
Sure. I want to distinguish the skills--
NDP
Researcher, Canadian National Office, United Steelworkers
I want to distinguish between a skilled trades shortage and a skills shortage. There is a need for skilled trades workers.
Conservative
Researcher, Canadian National Office, United Steelworkers
There is a need for skilled trades workers. And there is a need for supporting apprenticeships in different ways--and you will see that in our submission--to allow workers to acquire the trade skills needed to work in the workplace.
On the other side, a skills shortage is an educational matter. Canada is number one in the world in educational attainment. Most workers, because of the general knowledge they have, are working in underemployment conditions. We don't understand why employers are not taking better advantage of the knowledge people really have and that they carry into the workplace.
I want to distinguish between those. What we say is that in terms of a skills shortage in educational attainment, we are not in a crisis situation; for skilled trades, we are in a situation in which more and more people are retiring, and new people are not being hired.
I want to quickly attach this to the issue of foreign credentials, because first, many of those trades do not have the same mechanism for recognition that the dentistry college has. Plus, it's not only foreign credentials that they need to recognize; it's also the experience acquired in other countries. Many countries, especially in Latin America, which I'm very familiar with, do not have apprenticeship systems that are regulated like they are here. People learn through other means and get recognized in their jobs by other means. We should have some mechanism by which we look at the experience people have when they come here, and not only at their credentials, the formal credentials, they acquire in their own countries.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
We're going to have to try to get this in during the second round.
Conservative
Conservative
Lynne Yelich Conservative Blackstrap, SK
I'm actually just going to make a comment, and then I'm going to share my time with Mr. Lake. I just wanted to make a comment to the child care advocate, Ms. Lysack.
You talked about cuts to child care, so I would like to set the record straight. Our Conservative government is spending more money on child care than any other government in Canadian history. That is because we are representing 90% of the parents who would prefer to care for their children or have a family member care for their children.
In the 2007-08 budget, we've spent $5.6 billion in support of early learning and child care, through transfers, direct spending, and tax measures: $1.1 billion in cash transfers to territories and provinces; $2.4 billion annually through the universal child care benefit; and $695 million in recognition of child care expenses through child care expense deductions. Budget 2007 also provides $1.5 billion per year in tax support for families with children, through the new child tax credit.
I would like to tell the advocate that I think it is not about the money we're spending, but perhaps about your advocacy group. Most parents are very happy with our plan. Of the parents who were polled in Today's Parent, only 17% are really looking for the child care option that you're offering.
I will now share my time with Mr. Lake.
Conservative
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB
Thanks, Lynne.
Actually, I'll give you a chance to talk—
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
She's actually making a statement. Mr. Lake will probably ask some questions.
Conservative
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB
Yes, probably.
On October 17, you appeared before us, Ms. Lysack, and I just want to continue the conversation we had then.
One of the questions I asked you at the time was how much money you had received from the Liberal government over the past 13 years. You couldn't answer the question, so I precisely asked you to estimate for the last five years. You said you had received maybe $500,000. It turns out that over the last five years you have actually only had two projects, so as the executive director, you probably would have known how much funding you had for those. The amount was actually $985,000 for the two projects due to end in October 2007. The 13-year total for funding that your organization specifically received was $2.2 million since 1993.
I'm curious, actually, because this leads to a bunch of different questions. For the record, could you tell us what your salary is? That's just a starting point.
Executive Director, Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada
Do I have to answer that?
Conservative
Bloc
Yves Lessard Bloc Chambly—Borduas, QC
Point of order, Mr. Chairman.
We are here to talk about employability and it is the only matter that we have discussed with the witnesses. I am not taking any positions, I am not a member of the Liberal party and I was not behind the previous plan but, in consideration of our guest, I believe that such a question is absolutely out of order.
Liberal
