Evidence of meeting #51 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was quebec.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Director, Canadian Government Affairs, International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 793
Correct.
Conservative
Director, Canadian Government Affairs, International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 793
Correct.
Conservative
Maurice Vellacott Conservative Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK
Good. So in other words, they had periods of collecting EI over that 10 to 15....
You also had some suggestions that I found to be of interest. They seemed like constructive, well-meant proposals. Were they to be inserted in this bill, or were they meant more generally, in terms of a revamp of the EI system, period? Is that what your intent was?
October 22nd, 2009 / 4:25 p.m.
Director, Canadian Government Affairs, International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 793
Yes. Obviously this bill is focusing on the single issue of these benefits. If this could be included, fantastic. But I understand the focus and the necessity to get this bill passed.
I would like to see the government or this committee immediately look up more reforms, which would include what we've tabled here today. I think these are very small steps that could actually go a very long way.
Conservative
Maurice Vellacott Conservative Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK
Thank you.
I just have a couple of quick questions for Mr. Blakely, to be fair to all of our presenters at the table.
Mr. Blakely, I think you kind of inferred some things. But are you supportive of the extra five weeks and the training measures and so on that were put forward at a point earlier?
Director, Canadian Affairs, Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO, Canadian Office
The five weeks that came with the budget?
Director, Canadian Affairs, Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO, Canadian Office
Yes, we supported that.
You know, we're a lot of things, but we're not ingrates. If someone gives us something that does something good for our members, we generally say thank you and we don't try to kick anybody who's done us a favour. So we were happy.
Conservative
Maurice Vellacott Conservative Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK
And the training measures were of some benefit, as far as you were concerned, as well?
Director, Canadian Affairs, Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO, Canadian Office
Yes. The training provisions we found to be useful. I'd be a fibber if I didn't say, “Look, we want more in that respect. We'd like better support for our apprentices. We'd like better support for people on EI for retraining.” But what has come to us we're grateful for.
Conservative
Maurice Vellacott Conservative Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK
Yes, you bet, and I appreciate that. Insofar as that goes, it was good. There were good things done.
There was another thing I was going to ask, too, because I think it's sometimes good to get total context and a lead-up to where we're at now, and this is addressed to specific problems in the recession period with a specific bill. I think we all know and honestly accept that it's not meant to deal with everything all in one shot here.
The other thing I should ask Mr. Blakely very quickly, then, is in terms of getting context here and in terms of the training measures, those types of things. About the earlier dollars for those who are in apprentice programs for the first year, at completion, the tool credit, are you hearing from people within, from workers? I'm just curious, because I have conversations, but I'm obviously.... You have a whole span across the piece. Are people pleased with those attempts and efforts to help in those ways?
Director, Canadian Affairs, Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO, Canadian Office
The short answer is yes. In terms of EI in the elimination period, essentially, people getting it right away, yes, people are pleased with that. And in terms of the general support for apprentices, through both the apprenticeship incentive grant and the completion bonuses, yes.
Director, Canadian Affairs, Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO, Canadian Office
It treats apprentices more like the secondary school students they are. At one time, the only people who got any support from the Government of Canada or any other government were people who went to university. Our people don't go to university, but they contribute as much to society as does any PhD.
Conservative
Maurice Vellacott Conservative Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK
Absolutely, yes, certainly, and the red seal trades--I think a lot of that was obviously worked out with those people, those various individuals there, and it wasn't done in a vacuum; it was in consultation with you and other folks through those different trades there.
The work share thing has been commented on, too. Generally speaking, nothing's perfect. This bill is specifically addressed to a particular problem, but I think, Steven, you made a comment that work sharing has been a helpful thing--Robert, Yves as well, in the province of Quebec? The work share thing is being appreciated in Quebec, is it, so far?
Norma Kozhaya Director of Research and Chief Economist, Conseil du patronat du Québec
Travail partagé.
Director of Research and Chief Economist, Conseil du patronat du Québec
The job-sharing program is much appreciated. It actually helps some companies to keep their employees.
Conservative
Maurice Vellacott Conservative Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK
And it's helping retain people, and so on, there. Oui, merci.
I have a question, then, for either Ms. Kozhaya or Mr. Dorval.
Getting right to the heart of this other thing, because this has come up, the 360-hour, 45-day work year, I guess my question would be, as an employee-represented group, do you support an equalizing, or, as we term it, a 45-day work year? Is that something your employers in the province of Quebec comment on, with respect to a 45-day work year?
Director of Research and Chief Economist, Conseil du patronat du Québec
Once again, the basic issue is the potential cost to the system. Some studies show that the cost will be substantial.
Besides, as Mr. Dorval said, incentives to work must be taken into consideration. Before the recession, we heard a lot about a shortage of labour, about the need to find more workers and about the aging population. I am sure that the same problems will arise again after the recession. Let us hope that that will be very soon.
These considerations are very important to us. From our point of view, if we raise the issue of the 360 hours or of standard hours, it must be done in a debate that takes all the data and the entire demographic and economic situation of Canada into consideration.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Vellacott.
We're now going to move to our second round, which will be five minutes. We're going to start back over at the Liberals again.
Madame Folco.
Liberal
Raymonde Folco Liberal Laval—Les Îles, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Although it is a bit late to do this, I would also like to welcome you. You almost did not get invited. I want to thank you for agreeing to come here and testify today on such short notice. I also want to thank my colleague, Mr. Lessard, who took the initiative to ask that the work be delayed by one day, which is not very much.
I support what my colleague, Mr. Savage, said about the comments that we have heard from the witnesses since we began this study. Everyone says that this bill is better than nothing. Some tell us that they can accept it, but perhaps that is only because they have no alternatives in front of them. Like many others, I find it difficult to accept that the Canadian government is offering so little to the Canadian people, and specifically to people who are unemployed.
I have here a table from Statistics Canada that shows that, for Quebec, from January to July 2009, 70.8% of employment insurance applications were accepted. This means that 29% of Quebec applicants did not receive benefits. Even worse, in the Atlantic provinces, the highest rate was 69.4% and the lowest was 59%. Put another way, almost one half of all those who applied for employment insurance in Prince Edward Island could not get benefits. As I said, these figures come from Statistics Canada.
A few days ago, I asked a question about women and the fact that they are hit very hard by this situation. They confirmed that this was the case, because of the temporary or part-time jobs that they have, but they also told me that young people were hit much harder. Now Mr. Blakely says that, in the programs he manages, he can see that young people are indeed hit very hard.
I know that you went into this issue at length, but it is extremely important. Could you, or some of the other people who were invited to testify today, suggest concrete ways of amending this bill? Young people who are not truly unemployed have grabbed the lifebelt that they thought they were getting from the government, but the lifebelt is dragging them down into the water instead of bringing them back to the surface.
Director, Canadian Affairs, Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO, Canadian Office
It would be as simple as amending the deeming provision in section 25 to say that if you are taking training, it doesn't disentitle you from the extended benefits, or from the extended benefits section, which I understand to be subsection 12(3).