Human Resources Committee on March 9th, 2021

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

No, you can't. You're almost a minute past time.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Oh, shoot. Okay. I'll follow up later.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

You will get another turn.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Thank you so much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Ms. Gazan and Mr. Pursey.

Next I believe it will Mr. Vis for the Conservatives.

You have five minutes, please.

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

I believe it will be Raquel or Bob Zimmer.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Okay.

Ms. Dancho, are you ready to go?

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

Yes, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Mr. Pursey, when I went to university in Montreal, I met a number of student peers from P.E.I. They were all just the most wonderful and friendly people. They shared with me a lot of cultural entertainment and that tourism is very important to P.E.I. and the P.E.I. economy.

I'm wondering if you could update the committee on how folks are doing in P.E.I. What is the employment situation there as we come into the second summer of COVID?

[Carl Pursey]

As far as tourism goes, it's way down. There was a little bit last summer, but nowhere near what it should be. There are a lot of places suffering that need help.

As far as workers go, most workers are still working. We haven't been hit as hard as other provinces, so most things are open. That's with the exception of our theatre workers and that type of thing. They're not working. A lot of everything else is going. I think we're better off here than in any other province, but the tourism industry is being hit hard.

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

What do you think is needed to support the tourism industry in P.E.I.? I know you covered this already, but perhaps you could just reiterate your thoughts.

[Carl Pursey]

The season is so short, so we need to get rid of COVID and we need to help out the workers who can't work. As long as COVID is here, tourists won't be able to come from the rest of the country. Last summer a few were sneaking in. I don't know how they were getting here. They were coming up from the States, renting a car in Halifax, and then under the Atlantic bubble they were able to travel to P.E.I. and stay in a place. Business was way down, though. It was not even a fraction of what it was other years.

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

I know that youth employment, particularly in the tourism sector in summer, is pretty big. How are the youth doing in P.E.I.?

[Carl Pursey]

Not too bad, with all these programs; it's great that the federal government has been there with the money and has handed it out to people as quickly as they have. I know that some of the other people in Ottawa figure there's too much money being handed out and we've got to cut everybody back. That is not the way to go. I think we have to help people out through these hard times. I think that's why these other programs and changes to EI would help people out in hard times.

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

I appreciate that.

If we could build the EI system from the ground up to best suit the needs of P.E.I., in regular times but also in pandemic times, what would that system look like?

[Carl Pursey]

We have to get rid of these zones. The zones down here are real killers for the area. A whole bunch of negative changes were brought in by a previous government. They were brought in overnight, all at once, with no thought. These changes could all be reversed now. We could put things back to the way they were before, when the fund was working good. We've been trying hard, but we just can't get any of these changes made. They don't want to revert back to the system we had before.

This zone issue is really killing workers here. Workers can work at the same place...and even the workers who are working at these places are saying the system is not fair: Why can I draw EI longer than my co-worker, who I work next to, and my co-worker has to drive further to come to work?

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

I appreciate that.

How do you feel the rest of the small business benefits are doing for small businesses there? Have the small business loans been utilized?

[Carl Pursey]

I don't know to what extent the business loans are being utilized. That information would have to come through the province. The province would know which businesses are getting what amounts of money. We run a tourism business as well, and we made it through all right last year without any government help, so....

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

That's good news. You're resilient people.

If you have any other comments, Mr. Pursey, I'd love to hear your further thoughts, just to conclude my session.

[Carl Pursey]

I think we need to do an in-depth study into the whole EI system to see that it's going to work right. We need input from a lot of people. I don't think it's a system that can be rushed through in a week or two and combined with a livable income and the whole works. I think they're two separate issues, and we need to do the proper study on both to make sure that they are done right.

I know as labour we've been calling for a study into the whole EI system, and the employers have been calling for the same study, but we still haven't been able to get it done. We need to do an in-depth study into the whole EI system to see that it's done right.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Ms. Dancho and Mr. Pursey.

Next we're going to Mr. Dong.

Go ahead, please, for five minutes.

[Han Dong, Liberal, Don Valley North, ON]

Thank you very much, Chair. I want to thank both witnesses for coming to the committee and sharing their perspectives on this very important study.

Before I begin, I want to recognize the chair for being a very effective member for the people of Charlottetown and a very solid advocate for the workers in P.E.I. I want to put that on record.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Sixty extra seconds for Mr. Dong.

[Han Dong, Liberal, Don Valley North, ON]

Thank you very much for doing that.

My question is for Mr. Pursey.

You're actually waiting for the change to create two economic zones. I know that was a decision back in October 2014 that the previous Conservative government brought in, surprising a lot of people. To date, I still hear there is a lot of controversy around it. Can you describe to the committee the consultation process that took place by the government when it was first brought in? Was organized labour consulted, for example? Can you shed some light on it?

[Carl Pursey]

No, the previous government did not talk to labour here on the island about anything. They were told not to talk to labour. We tried to meet with them at different times. They would not meet with us. They didn't want any input from labour, and that was just the way they worked. The only one who did was the chair there. We managed to meet with him and express the concerns we had. I'd like to again thank him for the great work he's been doing representing us in Ottawa on the EI issue along with many others.

[Han Dong, Liberal, Don Valley North, ON]

Thank you.

It's been in place for six years. In those six years, have you heard anybody or any group speak in favour of this division?