Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I am pleased to be here before you today alongside my colleague, the Minister of Labour. We're here to answer questions on the 2009-10 main estimates for Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. We'll also talk about the report on plans and priorities for HRSDC.
This report presents the department's key priorities to support Canadians in these difficult economic times.
The global economic situation has deteriorated further and faster than anyone predicted. While Canada continues to fare better than many other countries, Canadians are feeling the effects of the global recession, and frankly, they're worried.
Canadians are worried about losing their jobs, their homes, even their businesses.
Our government understands that Canadians are worried about putting food on the table and finding work to keep their homes and provide for their families. That's why we've taken unprecedented steps to support the unemployed, preserve jobs, and retrain workers for the jobs of the future. Many of the programs we deliver were introduced or enhanced in direct response to the economic pressures now facing Canadians.
But before I address some of the measures that we introduced in our Economic Action Plan, I would like to address a few things about this year's main estimates.
I wish to remind the committee that the main estimates do not reflect announcements made in this January's budget. Those spending initiatives will show up in the supplementary estimates later in the year. You may have also noticed, if you compare the main estimates figures from last year to this year, there is a decrease in some areas.
I want to be clear that these decreases are not cuts to the existing program.
I want to be clear that these decreases are not cuts to existing programs. These figures simply reflect a better alignment between planned and actual spending.
For fiscal year 2009-10, the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development has planned expenditures of more than $94.7 billion. Of that amount, Canadians directly benefit from $89.5 billion through statutory transfer payment programs such as employment insurance, Canada Pension Plan, old age security, and the universal child care benefit. In addition, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation--you may know it better as CMHC--has planned expenditures in 2009-10 of $3.1 billion. Of this amount, $2 billion is dedicated to housing programs, as outlined in the main estimates.
With respect to our Economic Action Plan, let me begin by emphasizing that our government is always concerned when a Canadian loses his or her job.
We understand the pressures faced by Canadian families, and we're well aware of the challenges that many Canadians are facing in these uncertain economic times, particularly as unemployment rises. To address these challenges, our government is making record investments to stimulate the economy, support the unemployed, preserve jobs, and retrain workers for the jobs of the future.
With the cooperation of our provincial and territorial partners, the federal government's economic action plan will inject almost $52 billion into the Canadian economy over the next two years. We know that jobs are the key to economic recovery, and that's why our economic action plan is built on three pillars: creating jobs, preserving jobs, and preparing Canadians for the jobs of the future.
The economic action plan will provide $7.8 billion to build housing, encourage home ownership, and promote home energy efficiency. This is in addition to the $1.9 billion over five years that was announced last September for the renewal of housing and homelessness programs. This includes the homelessness partnering strategy, and programs such as the affordable housing initiative, and the residential rehabilitation assistance program.
Under our Economic Action Plan, we are making good progress.
We're now accepting applications from municipalities for up to $2 billion in direct low-cost loans for housing-related infrastructure projects. These loans are for ready-to-go projects. As well, we're investing $2 billion over two years to build new social housing and to renovate existing social housing stock. The provinces and territories will soon start to deliver funding on a 50-50 cost-shared basis for new affordable housing projects.
These investments help Canadian families in need of access to safe and affordable housing.They also help maintain and create jobs in communities across Canada.
We're also taking significant actions to preserve jobs. Through the federal work-sharing program, companies facing a temporary slowdown can avoid laying off staff by offering EI to employees willing to work a reduced work week while their companies recover. Through this program employees can continue to work and keep their skills up to date. And when the economy revives, the employers will not have to face rehiring and training costs.
To further improve upon this program, our economic action plan extended the duration of work-sharing agreements to a maximum of 52 weeks. We've also streamlined the process for employers.
These improvements have been very warmly received by stakeholders, and have led to more and more companies and their employees benefiting from the program.
Currently, there are more than 2,500 work-sharing agreements across Canada, and I'm very pleased to say that more than 93,000 jobs have been preserved.
Mr. Chair, we're also investing in skills and training to prepare Canadians for the jobs of tomorrow. Over the next two years the government's economic action plan will invest an unprecedented $8.3 billion in the Canada skills and transition strategy.
The goal of this strategy is to help Canadians weather today's economic storm while providing them with the necessary training to prosper in tomorrow's economy.
This two-pronged approach will strengthen benefits and give workers more time to find the right jobs. It will also help them to gain skills and emerge ready to respond once the economy recovers.
In the area of training and skills development, we work closely with the provinces and territories, as they have a better grasp of local conditions and are better placed to deliver training. Our government will transfer $1.5 billion over the next two years to provinces and territories to help workers retrain, so that they have the skills needed for the jobs of tomorrow.
This money is being directed to communities and sectors hardest hit by the downturn.
We expect that up to 150,000 Canadians will take advantage of these training opportunities.
And for people who lose their jobs through no fault of their own, we want to ensure that they can continue to make ends meet, while they search for another job.
We're doing so by nationally providing the advantages of an extra five weeks of regular benefits, currently offered as part of a pilot project that until now has only been provided in specific regions of high unemployment. In addition, the maximum duration of regular EI benefits available under the EI program has been increased by five weeks, from 45 to 50 weeks. It's estimated that this extension will benefit 400,000 Canadians in the first year alone.
I'm well aware that some members want us to waive the two-week waiting period.
We are doing better than that.
What we're doing is providing five extra weeks of EI regular benefits at the end of the eligibility period, which is when Canadians across the country told us they needed it most. We believe this measure is a better option than removing the two-week waiting period because it would help those most in need of additional benefits and do so when they most need it.
While removing the two-week waiting period would result in an additional payment of two weeks for claimants who do not use their full entitlement, it would not provide assistance to workers who exhaust their EI benefits. Eliminating the two-week waiting period means benefits would start two weeks earlier, but would also end two weeks earlier.
Our additional weeks of EI benefits provide regular EI clients with the assurance of financial support, should they require it, for a longer period of time, while they pursue their job searches.
Exhaustion of EI benefits is a tough prospect to face. Providing additional support to unemployed Canadians who would otherwise have exhausted their benefits helps those who need help the most.
Mr. Chair, given the economy, we're doing everything we can to process the increasing number of claims as efficiently and as quickly as possible. We're responding to the evolving economic circumstances. In fact, we've invested more than $60 million to increase and expand our operations.
Among other things, this investment has allowed us to hire additional staff, as well as extend the hours of service at our EI call centres.
As I said before, our government is well aware of the challenges that many Canadians are facing in these uncertain economic times, particularly as unemployment rises. That's why our government has already taken unprecedented steps to help Canadians by extending regular EI benefits for an extra five weeks, increasing the maximum regular benefit period to 50 weeks, and expanding the work-sharing program, for example.
We are also providing significant funds to help meet the different training and support needs of not only those who are eligible for EI, but those who are not eligible as well.
This will include those who have been out of work for a prolonged period of time. Our plan also takes into consideration the needs of long-tenured workers who have been laid off. To help these long-tenured workers change occupations or sectors, we're introducing a pilot project that will extend EI benefits to them so that they can pursue longer-term training. We're also proposing that workers with severance or other separation payments be eligible for earlier access to EI benefits if they use some or all of these payments to purchase skills upgrading or training.
In conclusion, Mr. Chair, in spite of our unprecedented investments, I wish to assure all honourable members and Canadians that we will continue to monitor the effectiveness of these measures and our existing programs.
We want to make sure that they are working and responding effectively to the ever-changing economic circumstances.
We want to make sure that they're working and responding effectively to the ever-changing economic circumstances.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll now turn it over to my colleague, the Minister of Labour.
