Human Resources Committee on Nov. 24th, 2011

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

--and that's not enough to cover everything our government is doing, because we're actually taking a whole of government approach to this. The Minister of State for Science and Technology has a part to play and the Minister of Industry has a part, as do my department and a few others, because there are so many aspects of our labour market that are affected.

It's true that a lot of the jobs going forward are going to require a level of technological expertise that many workers our age, shall we say, don't have. So we've created opportunities through the provinces and territories for those who are on unemployment, and for those who aren't even eligible, to go back to school, whether it's university or college, and get the skills upgrades that will help them get the jobs with those skills. Recently I hired one of those people myself for my office.

But we're also working on a wide range of programs with young people who face multiple barriers to employment--such as our skills link program--to help them get over the hurdle, to help them get the jobs. We're working with the colleges and the universities in a number of ways. One way is by providing funding for infrastructure so they have the space, the tools, and the facilities to teach these people, because post-secondary education is going to become ever more essential. We are also funding research chairs so they can develop new technologies that will be world leaders, and those are attracting the best brains from around the country so that we can develop their ideas right here at home.

There's such a wide range of programs. We have special programs for young people, whether it's through the summer jobs programs, where they can get jobs related to their university schooling that will help them get jobs afterwards...the list goes on and on. I know that we don't have enough time to talk about all of them, I'm afraid.

[Brad Butt, Conservative, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

I think it was Madam Morin who mentioned the issue around housing and homelessness. I think you know, Minister, that my background prior to being elected here was that I did a lot of work on those issues in the city of Toronto. I just want to tell you that the homelessness partnership initiative of this government is wildly successful in the city of Toronto.

Did you want to spend a little bit more time talking about the importance of that program and the work it's doing on the ground in alleviating homelessness? The number of people physically sleeping on the street in Toronto now is way down, way down from the time before you brought forward this program. Did you want to just take a moment and talk a little more about how that's such a great partnership between the federal government and, in this case, the City of Toronto, and how it's actually having real results on the ground?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

I'm delighted that this program has worked so well in Toronto. I understand that it's having success elsewhere.

It really goes back to some fundamental principles. One is that as a federal government we can't see what's happening right on the ground. Municipalities are closer to the ground. They can see what their needs are and they can see what causes the problems. That's why we formed the partnerships: because we have the funding, but they have the expertise and the knowledge, so let's work with them.

We're doing just that. As I mentioned a moment ago, we've also recognized that it's not only in, say, 14 cities across Canada that we see homelessness. Unfortunately, it's right across the country. It's in the cold of the far north, and it's even in my own riding, where you think everything looks beautiful, but unfortunately we do have homeless people there and their needs are just as great.

When we worked out the homelessness partnering strategy with the provinces, we said that we had to help everybody in all parts of the country, and that's what we did. We've also made funds available to rural areas for the first time. Secondly, we've put funding aside specifically to deal with the very pervasive mental health issues that are associated with homelessness.

When you start putting all of that together, you get a winning program.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

Thank you.

Your time is up.

We'll move to Mr. Cuzner.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Thanks very much, Ministers, for being here today.

I only have five minutes so I'm going to try to run through.... With sincere respect, could you keep your answers short? I'm cool with yes and no.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Just this past Monday, you wrote a letter to the editor of the P.E.I. Guardian newspaper. I'll quote from it:

When it comes to EI, our annual service standard is to process 80 per cent of applications within 28 days. We are currently averaging 23 days for speed of the first payment.

To clarify, you're speaking about the EI speed of payment indicator when you talked about 80% in 28 days, is that right?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

Yes.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Okay. Also, you're saying that on average it takes 23 days to get the first payment out?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

Right now.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Okay, because your department, when they appeared in September, said that the speed of payment standard is the percentage of all EI claimants who are either paid their first payment or sent a non-payment notification within 28 days.

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

That's correct.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

So that's correct. So I'll ask, do you want to maybe clarify why you said 23 days for speed of the first payment and implied that it was the first payment?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

I'm sorry. I don't understand the question.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

You said 23 days for the first payment, and the indicator is actually a payment or a notice that you're not going to be paid. You've lumped them both into the same...it makes it look pretty good but there is a portion of them.... What would the portion be who are receiving non-payment notices?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

I'm sorry. I don't have that. I would point out, though, that the 23% is on average and that--

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Yes, but it's on average, Madam Minister, if I can continue. It's on average. but factored into that are the non-payment notifications as well. So I would hope that you'll be able to clarify with The Guardian that it's not first payments: it's first payments plus non-payment notifications.

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

First payments where they're eligible.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Where they're eligible, but non-payment notifications as well. okay? So the statement that they're payments is misleading.

Second, I know that a big focus has been your reference to paper-based. On September 19, the comment was, “Up until now, it has been mostly done by paper.” The next day, you said, “Right now, most of the processing is manual paperwork.” On the 21st, you said that “the current EI system is essentially paper based”.

When your officials appeared, they said that 1% of EI applications are paper based.

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

I don't believe that would have been an accurate statement, simply because--

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Well, here's the presentation: “Received more than 2.9 million EI claims: 99%...[are] now submitted electronically”.

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

I'm sorry.

Karen, would you like to--

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

So there's a disjuncture between the questions and--

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

Mr. Cuzner, Ms. Jackson wanted a quick reply.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

A quick reply, yes.