Human Resources Committee on March 16th, 2021

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

I think the purpose behind the commitment to make the tax system more straightforward was to address some of the barriers you talked about. As you can appreciate, CRA is not my lead, but I have heard from many people with disabilities and advocacy organizations about the barriers to tax filing and the consequences for them in terms of their eligibility for benefits and support. We have been working very closely with disability organizations to assist in getting taxes filed.

As we have the system we have, we've been trying to make it more accessible and inclusive, including the efforts that were made to bolster the access for the DTC related to the one-time payment. I was quite pleased with the uptake for that, because that opens the door right now for a number of projects.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Yes, Minister, but Campaign 2000 has indicated that it still has a lot of barriers.

Moving on, how many Canadians were shut out of the federal government's benefit delivery system during the pandemic because they didn't file a personal income tax? How many?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

I'm not sure I understand, because the benefits I was responsible for were not predicated on having filed your taxes. You could, through attestation, access those benefits.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Well, how many people who—

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

That's your time.

If you want to finish your answer, go ahead, Minister. We don't have time for another question.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Thank you.

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

No, that's all I had to say. I'm sorry.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

It's all good.

Thank you, Ms. Gazan.

Next we will go to Mrs. Falk, please, for five minutes.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Thank you, Minister, for being here today.

I do want to mention and get on the record that if the Liberal government, your government, truly cared about the experiences of Canadians and the most vulnerable in this country, this government would have rejected the Senate amendment on Bill C-7 that expanded MAID to those who have or struggle with mental illness. I think history will teach us down the road that this government wasn't there for the most vulnerable.

Speaking in regard to the COVID-19 pandemic, we know that it has exacerbated the staffing crisis in our long-term care homes. It has also exposed to a greater degree the shortage of health care professionals specializing in care homes for seniors. With an aging population, the health care demand will only grow. Without immediate and short-term action, that gap will continue to grow.

Minister, your updated mandate letter prioritized direct investments in the social sector as well as training and incentives to grow sectors in the economy and to restore jobs. Can you clarify how your department's spending is addressing the health care staffing crisis in seniors supports, if at all?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

We absolutely have heard about the health care human resource challenge; I don't know a stronger word than “challenge”. One of the first things we did last fall was to invest in the training of personal support workers. I think 4,000 people across the country will be trained as personal support workers to help provide some of that bench support to the long-term care and health care sectors.

It's certainly not enough. Certainly, as we invest in training moving forward, that will be one of the priority sectors for our sectoral investments. The Minister of Health and her provincial colleagues are working on a path forward that of course I will be supporting through our training investments.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Do you have an update on that program in terms of what has happened thus far?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

Can you give us an update, Graham?

[Graham Flack]

In terms of exactly how many have been trained, I think we're getting reports back, so I think we'd have to get back to the committee with the details on the latest.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Perfect. Will you get back to us with that information?

[Graham Flack]

Yes.

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

We'll make sure of that, yes.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Thank you.

What metrics will be used to measure the success of this program in particular?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

Again, for accuracy, let me get back to you with those details.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Okay.

Are you guys also able to get back to us on the enrolment regionally across Canada and on whether there are differences regionally?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

For sure.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Perfect.

There's another thing I would like to mention, Minister. When you were in committee to speak to supplementary estimates (B), discussing your government's commitment to train the new workers, you mentioned at that time, in response to one of the committee members, that you were hoping to professionalize these personal support workers. I know from conversations with the Canadian Support Workers Association that this is a priority for them. There would be many, many benefits to the professionalization of these workers, including improving the standard of care that our seniors would receive.

Minister, is there any work under way to provide professional recognition to support workers in Canada?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

My understanding is that the Minister of Seniors and the Minister of Health are indeed working with the sector to create standardized credentials acknowledgement. There's a massive amount of work under way. It's not top of mind for me, but again, Graham could tell you about it in more detail if that would interest you.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Yes, please.

[Graham Flack]

Again, Minister, we're going to have to get back on the details because Health is [Technical difficulty—Editor].

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

For sure, and thank you, Mr. Flack.

Minister, are you having any conversations at all with provincial counterparts regarding the professionalization of personal support workers?