Human Resources Committee on Dec. 8th, 2020

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Thanks.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Mr. Turnbull, and thank you, Minister.

Ms. Chabot, you have six minutes.

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good evening.

Mr. Minister, thank you once again for being here and being available, we're grateful to you.

My first question will be about this announcement of which you seem so proud, the one about daycare services, childcare services.

I am a member from Quebec and I myself took part in setting up a vast early learning network in Quebec over 25 years ago. We also have reduced-contribution daycare services. You point out the great advantage this will carry for women, the economy and work-life balance. These are precisely the objectives we are pursuing. I remind you that we are unique.

You're also announcing a federal secretariat that will oversee this and would therefore receive a budget. In the past, you have always had bilateral agreements with the provinces, but now you will have a secretariat. As you know, the secretariat will not serve our needs at all in Quebec. Do you have any agreements or have you discussed this with the provinces so that Quebec can get its share of the money allocated to the secretariat?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Thank you.

Quebecers have every reason to be proud of their daycare system. It's an innovative model.

We want to export the Quebec model, but we don't want to tell Quebec how to manage it.

What we are doing with the federal secretariat is making sure that we have coordination of ELCC policy across the Government of Canada, engagement with stakeholders in this space and engagement to produce high-quality research and data analysis and to share best practices. As I said, Quebec offers a very innovative model, and Quebeckers have every reason to be very proud of the system of early learning and child care. In many ways, this national system that we intend to set up will have many elements from the Quebec system.

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

You don't need to answer right away, but my question was, since the secretariat will not serve Quebec, would Quebec would get its fair share of the funds that will go to the secretariat. You can answer it later if you wish, but I will need an answer.

Mr. Minister, I'm addressing my second question to you because you are the minister responsible for Service Canada.

You say you're concerned about families, and I'm sure you are. However, for several weeks now I have been raising the major issue that some people are facing. They are applying for employment insurance benefits, and somewhere along the way, they have received maternity or Quebec parental insurance plan benefits. But their files are now completely blocked, and your Service Canada agents—I applaud them—are telling them to call their members of Parliament, and that their files are blocked because the agents have no clear instructions on how to process them.

Are you aware of this problem? Are you discussing this with your colleague responsible for these programs, Minister Qualtrough, to resolve the issue for these individuals?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Thank you for your question.

The specific issue that you raise is obviously something that is more in the portfolio of Minister Qualtrough. I can speak with regard to Service Canada. We have reactivated 100% of the Service Canada centres in Quebec, and we're very much engaged to make sure that Canadians are able to access the services they need and to continue to make sure that Service Canada is there to help them.

In terms of your earlier question with respect to fair share for Quebec, of course we will have bilateral agreements, including with the $420 million that was stated in the fall economic statement for workforce development. Quebec will obviously be.... We will be having discussions with the Province of Quebec with the intention of making sure that we work with Quebec to address its priorities when it comes to the training, retention and expansion of early childhood educators in Quebec. With regard to that federal investment of $420 million, we will obviously work with Quebec to make sure that we address any priorities that Quebec has with respect to early childhood educators.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Minister.

Thank you, Ms. Chabot.

Next is Ms. Gazan, please, for six minutes.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Thank you, Chair.

It's nice to see you again, Minister, and thank you to the rest of the witnesses for being here.

My first question is a very simple yes or no question.

Minister, do you recognize the right to housing as a human right, yes or no?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Of course.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

I say that because you often refer to people as vulnerable people when we're referring to people that are unsheltered. I would argue that these are people who are having their human rights violated.

The government recently announced funding for rapid housing and Reaching Home primarily targeted toward indigenous housing projects and women. You're well aware that 70% of the unsheltered community in Winnipeg is indigenous. Although the $12.5 million was greatly appreciated and very welcome, it was grossly inadequate to meet the needs of people who are literally losing their lives in my backyard.

As you know, Manitoba is in a real crisis. We're currently having outbreaks in our shelters. We're running out of space in isolation facilities set up to house unsheltered individuals who've contracted COVID. This wouldn't be a crisis in the first place if there hadn't been years of underinvestment in affordable accessible housing in our city, which is resulting in people losing their lives.

We're in a dire situation. It's now winter and we need greater investment in housing. When is this going to happen?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

I, of course, understand the urgency of the situation. I understand the great need, especially exacerbated by COVID. The fact of the matter is that we have—from the very beginning, prior to COVID and during COVID—invested heavily in affordable housing in Reaching Home, and now with the new rapid housing initiative. Throughout all of those elements, the Province of Manitoba and the City of Winnipeg have been recipients of those federal dollars. In fact, Mayor Bowman was very much appreciative of Winnipeg's share of the rapid housing initiative.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Yes, and again, Minister—

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Ms. Gazan, you took a minute and a half to ask the question. He should be allowed a minute and a half to answer it.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Mayor Bowman expressed publicly that federal dollars were critical to enabling Winnipeg to rapidly deliver affordable housing for those in most need in Winnipeg. Is the challenge completely solved? Absolutely not, and I'll be the first to acknowledge that.

At the same time, we have dramatically increased federal investments in Reaching Home. This new rapid housing initiative is making a difference in Manitoba and Winnipeg, and national strategy housing dollars continue to flow.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Minister, I appreciate the funding allocation, but it is grossly inadequate to meet the needs of our community at the present time, which is resulting in the loss of life.

I'm really asking you—and you didn't answer my question, Minister, with all due respect, and I do respect your work—when are we going to get more money so that we stop losing lives in my community?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

There has been $670 million, through the national housing strategy, invested in Manitoba since we came into office. We've helped over 46,500 people in Manitoba

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

I'm going to move on to the next question.

The answer is that we're not getting any more money.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

I didn't say that. You're putting words in my mouth.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

I asked you when, and you're giving me a reiteration of funding that's already been spent, which I've indicated is totally inadequate. When will we be getting more money, so that people don't continue to die in my community?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

We've demonstrated that we have sought additional dollars to respond to the acute needs. If you look at Reaching Home, the dollars that are flowing are additional dollars, beyond the base amounts, and rapid housing is completely new. That is a billion dollars that was not part of the national housing strategy before. Those are additional dollars on top of the regular housing streams.

I'm not suggesting that the problem is completely solved, but we'll continue to work together with provincial and municipal leaders in Manitoba to make sure we continue to address the problem.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Minister, knowing that the situation is dire, I have to say, and again, I do respect you very much, that I'm still not getting a clear answer about getting funding in our communities, something that's not just based in Winnipeg Centre but other communities around the country, including East Vancouver, where there has been an outcry in the need for support for women. In fact, this week a woman had a baby in a toilet stall. We know the situation is dire.

I wonder whether there are any plans and when more money will be released to deal with these life-and-death matters at this time.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

I completely agree with the honourable member. The need is acute, the need is here and the need is now. However, it is also fair to say that we have responded, and we have responded in a very robust manner.

We've listened to municipal leaders. We've listened to advocates in the homelessness sector, people such as Tim Richter from the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness. All of them have indicated clearly, across the political spectrum, that a rapid housing initiative is a very timely response to COVID-19 and its impact of displacing people into the streets. We have provided additional dollars three times to the Reaching Home program, and we've announced additional increases to that program for next year, giving certainty—

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Minister, again, it's not enough.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Ms. Gazan.

Next is Mr. Schmale, please, for five minutes.

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

Minister, thank you for attending. It's great to see you again.

When will you take action on the seven recommendations in the HUMA report entitled “Supporting Families After the Loss of a Child”? As you know, these recommendations are a path forward for ensuring grieving parents do not have to endure further hardship or suffer any undue financial or emotional distress as a result of government programming.

To date, there have been no concrete steps taken to implement those recommendations, and it has been nearly two years since the report was tabled. Can you explain why the report has not been moved forward?