Human Resources Committee on June 11th, 2009

[Paul Thompson]

I don't have information available on pensions, unfortunately. Just to remind you, 2007 had a very different set of circumstances.

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

Yes, there would probably be a lot more now.

[Paul Thompson]

It would be a different number, for sure.

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

How long would they have waited for it, do you know?

[Paul Thompson]

We'd need to do some more detailed analysis on the average allocation period for severance.

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

With respect to foreign credentials recognition, on page 11 of your report, can you tell us what some of the content would be--not that you would give away the entire program. I've been interested in this issue for a long time. Is it a framework that would provide a general standard for, say, engineers and doctors, so that they could receive recognition of their foreign credentials within a certain period of time? Can you expand on this?

[Paul Thompson]

Yes, the framework has four objectives.

The first is to come to an agreement with the provinces and territories, which have significant responsibilities in this area, on a common set of principles that will serve to guide collaborative work on recognition of credentials.

The second objective is to create standards that will ensure timeliness in the process of assessing credentials.

The third is to come to an agreement on the priority occupations for common recognition, taking into account labour market demand and volumes in each occupational group.

The last objective is to increase the part of the process that takes place overseas. The application for licensure could begin before the immigrant arrives in Canada, rather than having a process that begins only after their arrival.

The framework is expected by first ministers in September. Based on these priority occupations, the work would unfold in the following year.

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

Let me see if I understand how the process works. These are good principles. Let's assume the best and that at the meeting of the first ministers in September they agree, they say this is a good framework, and they sign on. What happens afterwards?

[Paul Thompson]

Well, one of the most significant issues would be the identification of these priority occupations. That would be the focal point for--

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

Doctors, let's say, and what have you.

[Paul Thompson]

Sure. There would be collaborative work amongst the federal, provincial, and territorial governments on those core occupations, again with a view to expediting the recognition process, doing it in a common fashion, and increasingly, having it start before the immigrant arrives. That would guide the work plan for all the qualification recognition processes going forward.

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

When would there be a work plan that could become public?

[Paul Thompson]

Well, the framework to ministers is intended to identify the priority occupations, so that's what would guide the work after the fall. In September, coming out of this first ministers report, those would be the marching orders, if you will, for our officials to--

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

To have a work plan.

[Paul Thompson]

Yes.

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

Is there a reporting-back mechanism and evaluation process?

[Paul Thompson]

There probably will be one developed at the time. There will be commitments made in terms of the timelines around the work plan. I think that would have to await the nature of the framework before hard commitments could be made with respect to the individual steps.

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

And the evaluation?

[Paul Thompson]

Like any initiative, foreign credentials recognition as a federal program is subject to regular evaluations. I don't have at my fingertips when the next evaluation is scheduled for this program.

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, Bloc, Yves Lessard]

Thank you, Ms. Chow.

Mr. Dhaliwal.

Okay, we'll have two small questions avec small responses.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Newton—North Delta, BC]

I have two small questions.

One, when do you expect all the LMDAs and LMAs to be in place across the country?

Second, Ms. Chow was talking about foreign-trained doctors. It is not only an issue for the immigrants; it's also an issue for the thousands of Canadian-born students who are studying medicine across the globe. When they come back, they are not given an opportunity to have residency spots, so they have to move to the States. What are you doing to create those additional residency spots in your work plan?

Thank you.

[Paul Thompson]

There is no plan at the federal level to create residencies; it would be up to individual provinces in terms of decisions like that. But I would indicate that this is a framework based on the recognition of foreign credentials. It's not limited to immigrants per se. Even though a large portion of the people with foreign credentials are indeed recent immigrants, I would agree with you that it's not limited to that, and the framework, we would hope, would serve both groups.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Newton—North Delta, BC]

How about the LMDAs and the LMAs?

[Paul Thompson]

Oh yes, I'm sorry.

On the LMDA question, as I indicated, we have confirmed agreements with nine provinces at this point. The only outstanding province--and we have an agreement in principle--is Newfoundland and Labrador; we expect that imminently. Then the three territories are expected to be signed during the month of June. That will complete all 13 jurisdictions with respect to both the labour market development agreements and the Strategic Training and Transition Fund, the LMA-based funding.