Human Resources Committee on April 13th, 2016

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

We are moving on to Monsieur Robillard.

[Yves Robillard, Liberal, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

Since the 2014 changes to the temporary foreign worker program, there has been an increased fee for applying for an LMIA, from $275 to $1,000 per TFW position. Why is Employment and Social Development, ESDC, requesting $39.3 million in funding for the temporary foreign worker program in the 2016-17 main estimates? Isn't the program self-sufficient?

[Alain P. Séguin]

You're right. The main estimates show an increase from the previous year.

As I said, they were not in the main estimates in 2015-16; they were in supplementary estimates. Therefore, they'll show up again as a main estimate increase in 2016-17 of $39 million. The way the program is designed, we receive in appropriation—vote 1 of our operating costs—the funding to hire the additional full-time equivalents we require to implement the program.

On the other side, on the revenue side, there's a charge for each position put forward as a request against the temporary foreign worker program, the details of which my colleague, Paul Thompson can provide.

The funding on the revenue side is put directly towards the consolidated revenue fund. It is deposited in the consolidated revenue fund, so it doesn't show up in our accounts. It is an offset.

Our accounts will show the increase in funding required. The revenues will go directly to the consolidated revenue fund. For the Government of Canada as a whole, it's an offset, not a direct offset but it's very close right now, at about 65% offset.

[Yves Robillard, Liberal, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

I'll share my time with Ms. Tassi.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Ms. Tassi.

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have to apologize, I did not thank each of you for your presence here today before I asked my first question. I want to thank you for all the work that you do. We recognize that you have volumes of work in front of you, and we appreciate your preparation for today and your presence here today to answer our questions.

My next question has to do with internationally trained professionals and employment. It focuses on the disparity with respect to the pay and employability of immigrants who have been educated versus people who are Canadian born.

Recent university educated immigrants have poorer job market outcomes than their Canadian counterparts. Their earnings are roughly two-thirds that of those born in Canada, while unemployment rates are significantly higher at all levels of educational achievement.

For example, in 2011, the unemployment rate of newcomers with master's degrees was 14%, compared to 3.4% for those born in Canada. That's from the 2011 national household survey by Statistics Canada. Many skilled immigrants to Canada, especially in my riding, are not finding the proper jobs that are suited to the training they have and their qualifications. They tell me that's often due to the lack of recognition of the training they've acquired abroad.

How are we helping internationally trained professionals to get their credentials recognized so that they can put their skills and experience to work faster and more fairly in Canada?

[Ian Shugart]

You've put your finger on a challenge that we have been focused on for some time now. Those disparities often arise because of barriers, many of which are regulatory or have been regulatory. Let's deal with, broadly speaking, the professional categories. This is in the domain of the provinces, and even within the provinces, the reality is that it is often within the domain of the professional associations that establish the credentials and that kind of thing.

We have had a program of work with provinces to address systematically, picking profession after profession progressively down the list, the requirements for people who have achieved their credentials offshore to practice and to use their credentials in Canada, and to reduce the lapsed time between when they arrive and when they can be put to work.

I think this is a broadly shared objective across political groupings and across jurisdictions. But from our point of view, we have to work through the existing authorities. I think we're getting, generally speaking, good co-operation from the professional organizations.

We collectively as governments are keeping the pressure on. Of course, one has to be tested. If one is going to practice one of the health professions in the Canadian context, there are standards that need to be met. Increasingly, the requirements that foreign-trained arrivals to Canada are going to have to meet are being conveyed to them offshore even before they arrive, further reducing the gap. We have also recently had a loan program in various situations to make it easier for people to access training to meet the Canadian requirements.

This has been a pretty aggressive body of work. I believe we are making progress, but I don't think any of us will be satisfied until this is a smooth, seamless, and relatively rapid transition.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Thank you, deputy minister. Now we move on to Ms. Gladu.

You have five minutes.

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you as well to the witnesses.

I want to ask a question to Mr. Siddall from CMHC. On page 3 of your document, I see that overall there is going to be $7.3 billion spent over the next two years on housing, which seems like a huge sum of money.

I chair the status of women committee. We are working alongside the minister on a federal program to try to eliminate violence against women. One of the things we see is that there is a huge need for shelters for women and victims of domestic violence.

When I look at this list, I see only $90 million to build or renovate shelter spaces for victims of domestic violence. How was it decided how much money each bucket would get?

[Evan Siddall]

Let me just elaborate that there's $90 million for victims of family violence, as you know, and in addition $10 million, which I realize won't quite satisfy your broader need, for victims of family violence on reserve. In addition to that, the larger pool of money is of course available to provinces and territories to dedicate to shelters as well. They're not restricted in that respect. It's just that this $100 million is specifically targeted.

The answer is that I'm sure that as part of the budgetary process there was a balance of need versus resources.

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Sure. Is the $90 million that's there already allocated to specific projects?

[Evan Siddall]

No, it's allocated by province based on prior allocations. The provinces and territories will then allocate it to projects.

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Very good. In order to achieve all of this work, do you need any extra staffing? Is there any difference in FTE projections to cover the work?

[Evan Siddall]

There is some, and it's covered in the numbers. In fact, those numbers would include our estimates of required staffing. It wouldn't be large numbers. It's 20, 30, or 40 people in a population of about 1,900 at CMHC. Those requirements are included in these estimates.

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Very good.

The other question I wanted to ask is going to build on those of my colleague Mr. Ruimy. I was on a board of a homeless shelter, so I have a great interest in trying to address the problem of homelessness. In the 18- to 24-year-old category there's a huge issue of people who are really couch-surfing. There's been work done saying that there's a need for a specific kind of housing in which you can house other services, so that people can get the life skills they need and the coaching they need to move on.

I didn't see any of that kind of housing in your list, but I did note that you said you were going to be working with the minister on the development of a national housing strategy. I wonder whether you could comment on whether such a thing might be a part of the national strategy.

[Evan Siddall]

The full range of housing would be comprised in the national housing strategy. We'll make note of that and include it as part of our consultations.

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Very good.

My other question was related to the...hang on. Here it is. I don't think this question is for you.

The literacy and essential skills program has a $4-million reduction. What are they cutting?

[Alain P. Séguin]

You're referring to the main estimates...?

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Yes, it's in the main estimates. I think there's a table for reference or something.

[Alain P. Séguin]

Some of this was transferred to programming. It's anticipated to be transferred to the pathways to education program. The money is not lost. It was transferred to the—

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

All right, so it's still going to be trying to promote literacy, but in a different program.

[Alain P. Séguin]

That's right.

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Overall we talked a bit about the difference in staffing that CMHC would have. There was a budgetary expenditure for market analysis information, and its housing policy research and information transfer activities are going to be $7.7 million higher. I was wondering if you could explain why that is. That was in the main estimates.

[Evan Siddall]

I'm looking for the page.

I may ask Brian Naish, our CFO, to comment on that.

I did mention earlier in my comments that we were going to be spending more time on data gaps in particular. For example, we don't know how many mortgages are issued in Canada every year, embarrassingly.

I talked in my remarks about foreign ownership. We're going to be devoting some resources to that, and that's in our market analysis area.

Brian, do you have anything to add?