Human Resources Committee on May 13th, 2014

[Sadia Groguhé, NDP, Saint-Lambert, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses for their remarks.

I am very familiar with the carrefours jeunesse-emploi because I worked in France in the local mission sector. We supported young people aged 15 to 25 in the area of social and professional integration.

I really admire the work that can be done in terms of support, guidance and employability for these young people who, in some cases, have come a long way, and I enjoy seeing the results achieved through targeted support that takes into account all aspects of the young person in questions.

I will try to be brief, because I do not have much time.

Ms. Sauvé, I would like to ask you the following three questions: What are the characteristics of the Quebec labour market training model and the reasons for its success. What is the impact of participation by the federal government in this area. And do you think that this model is applicable in any other provinces?

[Monique Sauvé]

My colleague can expand on this but I would like to say that I absolutely agree with you.

The Quebec model does work well. Emploi-Québec sits down at the table with people from business, education, from ministries and from the community sector. We all sit down to work together in order to respond to the challenges of the labour market and craft an action plan.

This is a very inclusive process. It takes into account all concerns and it means that besides dealing with labour market issues, we are also able to initiate common activities and actions. As part of my community involvement, I am also the president of the Conseil régional des partenaires du marché du travail. The Quebec model works in each of the regions. This model really works.

[Sadia Groguhé, NDP, Saint-Lambert, QC]

Mr. Lalande, could you expand on this?

[Frédéric Lalande]

I will give the floor to my colleague, Richard Gravel.

[Richard Gravel, Vice President, Coalition des organismes communautaires pour le développement de la main-d'oeuvre]

The partnership model means, among other things, that community organizations can make connections with businesses and find out what their needs are. On the ground, we often hear businesses speak about general knowledge, especially for less specialized jobs. They're having trouble finding individuals who meet the needs of the labour market. This is true for young people, but it is also true for immigrants because the rules of the Quebec labour market are not necessarily the same as those in their country of origin.

These connections help to develop programs that are tailored to the needs of businesses but that are also focused on a goal. The strength of the community movement is that the purpose of these organizations is real personal development, and it takes into account not only the needs of one business, but rather the full spectrum of potential jobs. We have developed approaches in various sectors of activity that are focused much more on how to transmit these skills that individuals will develop. With that global vision and thanks to this partnership, we feel we have succeeded in getting those results.

[The Chair, Conservative, Phil McColeman]

Very quickly, 30 seconds.

[Sadia Groguhé, NDP, Saint-Lambert, QC]

I do not want to finish on a negative note, but unemployment amongst young people is still 14% or 15%.

How can your approach, which focuses on employability and guidance, be used to align training programs with the business sector for the benefit of our young people who are graduating from the school system, have good diplomas, and have followed the right course of study? I think those are the kinds of questions that need to be asked.

[The Chair, Conservative, Phil McColeman]

Sorry, you won't be able to respond to that. We're out of time and we have to squeeze in one more round of questioning.

Mrs. McLeod.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

I just have one question and then I'll be turning it over to my colleague, Mr. Butt.

Mr. Lalande, you said something that really piqued my interest, having come from a health care background and having spent a lot of time wandering around the CIHI data, and also recognizing of course that the delivery of health care is a provincial responsibility.

In that model we've managed to provide very robust information. Can you flesh out what you envision when you said that sentence, that we could maybe look at something like the CIHI model in terms of how we develop the labour market information we need?

[Frédéric Lalande]

Yes, and that is something that Mr. Atchison also mentioned.

For example, the Government of Quebec currently provides quite specific and relevant data on, among other things, results achieved, the evolution of the labour market, and so on. However, there is no organization that is responsible for comparing this data with that of other provinces.

We could use the model of the Canadian Institute for Health Information. We should look at who would be responsible at the provincial level without minimizing the importance of provincial jurisdiction. That must be taken into account. The model could take into account what is being done in Quebec, in Ontario, in fact, anywhere in Canada. Currently there is no way of knowing which measures are the most effective and which are given the best outcomes. That is lacking. Everyone would benefit from using a model like the one used by the Canadian Institute for Health Information, for the purpose of outcomes.

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

I have one quick question.

I coined the phrase and Minister Kenney stole it and uses it quite a bit. It's that some agencies that are supposed to be doing skills development and good training have really become resumé factories, as I call them. Really what they're doing is they're helping people write a resumé, but they're not doing very much to actually train people or retrain people for the jobs that are available in their communities.

It doesn't sound like your agencies are like that. It sounds like, from what you've told us, you have very robust programs in place that you are doing....

What safeguards can we put in the LMDAs when we're working with our friends in the provinces to make sure that the dollars we're investing are going to agencies that are delivering those outcomes that we want, which is real training for the real jobs that are available?

What would you recommend we have to measure those outcomes so that at the federal level, we have some assurances the money is being allocated properly into programs that are actually getting people jobs at the end of the day?

[Chris Atchison]

Yes, I think this goes back to the same discussion about setting those parameters. I think you are always going to have people who aren't satisfied with service. Clients can come into an organization, and we can spend hours and hours with those clients to try to invoke the best results for them, and ultimately it doesn't happen. They're not ready; they're not capable; they need other investments that we're not capable of providing; or there could be mental health issues there. Those people might be the ones who are saying, we did nothing for them.

We've heard the rhetoric about resumé factories, and it's hard to not take it as an insult. With all due respect, it would be akin to our paying much heed to a Canadian saying that all senators do is submit expense claims. It's so inconceivably absurd from where we sit, knowing how much we do for clients, that you can't pay attention to that level of rhetoric. The amount of time and compassion that goes into working with clients at whatever level of readiness they are for employment is profound.

Getting down to making sure that a client comes out ready, sometimes the employability of one client might mean they need an industrial first aid ticket and that's it and they're off and running because that will get their foot in the door. Other clients need certain elements of employability skills that are more on the soft level, that are harder to measure.

To me, it's not a simple answer, but I think to get the right people, a pan-Canadian group of community-based employment trainers—the best practices we see, the best minds who want to build these accountability frameworks—and put them in a room, have the breakout sessions, and identify what we're going to need to be successful across Canada is a starting point.

[The Chair, Conservative, Phil McColeman]

Thank you very much.

Thank you for the indulgence of committee members. We've gone a bit over time here.

Thank you to our witnesses on this second panel.

I have one last comment for committee members.

We will be setting aside 15 minutes at our next meeting to address the notice of motion Mr. Cuzner put on the table during our last meeting. That's just an FYI.

Thank you.

The meeting is adjourned.