Human Resources Committee on March 16th, 2021

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

So—

[Graham Flack]

I can answer that, Minister—

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

Is this different from last year?

[Graham Flack]

I just want to clarify that this is the $447 million announced in the economic statement last fall. It is before you in Parliament in Bill C-14. Before any spending is committed, Parliament will obviously have to make a decision, but these amounts were announced in the fall 2020 economic statement.

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

If I understand correctly, there is additional money for Canada summer jobs, as compared to the previous year.

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

Yes.

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

For people with disabilities, this is concerning, Minister.

We know that they have been particularly hard hit. In fact, there is a Statistics Canada study on this. They have suffered losses of work hours, job losses, they have difficulty receiving promotions, they have a high unemployment rate. Are there any substantial measures, other than the one and only amount announced, to support the reality of people with disabilities?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

We are putting more money into the opportunities fund for persons with disabilities. We will create an employment strategy for people with disabilities. We plan to change the Government of Canada's internal process for eligibility of people with disabilities for Government of Canada services and programs. We are working hard on this. In these documents today, there is additional money, particularly for the opportunities fund for persons with disabilities. Once we complete the plan, there will be additional money.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Madam Minister.

Thank you, Ms. Chabot.

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

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you for being here today, Minister.

You know that many Canadians live in very deep poverty. Being able to access the CERB was a matter of life and death for many low-income Canadians, many of whom are also from BIPOC communities and from disabled communities.

I know that you spoke about the $600 one-time benefit. That is not adequate. We know that many disabled persons didn't even qualify, so I hesitate to celebrate the continued discrimination against disabled persons in this country.

Yet, in December, while we knew all of this, some 441,000 Canadians were told that their CERB eligibility was under review and that they might have to repay their benefit. Your office has even gone on record, Minister, to say that no one will face penalties or interest as a result of their CERB review and that repayment will be flexible and sensitive to individual circumstances, but that's not enough.

The fact of the matter is that low-income people cannot afford to make even small repayments and they need CERB repayment amnesty to avoid falling into deeper poverty. Ten dollars is a lot when you're living in poverty.

My question, Minister, is this: How many low-income Canadians are under review for their CERB eligibility?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

Thank you for the question.

I think it's important to start from the place CRA was at in December in terms of sending out these letters, which was to work with Canadians to get their 2019 taxes filed, to provide proof of income—

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Minister, my question—

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Ms. Gazan, you took a minute and a half to ask the question. She's entitled to a minute and a half to attempt to answer it.

Go ahead, Minister.

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

—with the hope that many of those would actually be eligible for CERB. You are correct that we are committed to working with those who may have financial obligation to repay, but not right now. Nobody is required to do that right now. There won't be any penalties or interest. We've announced that anybody who might owe taxes on CERB has a year to pay those taxes without any interest accruing as a result of that obligation.

You're right. It's really tough, and we know it's tough. We are working very hard with many Canadians to chart a course for them that works for them, however little those payments may be.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Minister, I think it's easy for us with very well-paid jobs to talk about how tough things are, but my question is, can you tell us why your government is set on sending tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of Canadians into poverty by refusing to grant CERB repayment amnesty? I ask that because this will make the difference between people staying housed or becoming unsheltered.

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

I appreciate that perspective, and I am indeed sensitive to the lived experience, particularly as I've heard from people with disabilities across the country about how tough it is and how tough it's been. I can't give you an exact figure, because we are still working with people to determine eligibility. The win is to get as many people as possible to be eligible for this and to work with them on their income sources and the combination of the best 12 months.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Thank you, Minister. My goal is to keep people off the streets.

I just want to switch gears a little bit with a question around the 15-week attachment leave for adopted kinship and [Technical difficulties—Editor]. The 2019 mandate letter includes the introduction of a 15-week leave for adoptive parents, including LGBTQ2S families.

When will we see the introduction of this 15-week leave, and can you commit to ensuring that it will include kinship and customary care families?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

Thank you for bringing this up.

I met recently with an organization representing adoptive parents across the country, who are indeed eager to see this as part of a modernized EI program. I committed to them, and can commit to you, that indeed it will be part of the way forward, as we said it would be and, quite frankly, as it might already have been had we not been mired in a pandemic over the past year.

I don't know enough about the relationships of the particular family types you're talking about, but the idea, to my mind, is that it would be as inclusive as possible and reflect the way families are.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Just with the limits on my time, Minister, it was in your mandate letter—

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

I know.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

—so if you could follow up with my office with a response....

On the student loan repayment moratorium, we know that industries that employ young people have been hard hit during the pandemic. The service industry is one example. Young people currently have fewer job options, and those that are available are often low-paying jobs and put them at higher risk for COVID-19.

On November 25, the House unanimously adopted a motion to extend the pause on federal student loan repayments. Why have we not seen action on this? When will you pause federal student loan repayments?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

Helping to provide relief for students' debt obligations was, as you know, one of the first things we did when the pandemic hit. In the fall economic statement, we have committed—I think it was around $329 million, but I'll confirm—to provide immediate relief to all student loan borrowers through a one-year interest waiver, which I guess is the best way to describe it.

Again, we're looking at the way forward through our budget preparations, and I will have more to say on additional supports for students in the coming months.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Ms. Gazan.

Thank you, Minister.

Next we have Ms. Dancho, please, for five minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

As I mentioned, Minister Qualtrough, I would like to ask you a bit about the recent $47-million announcement for training in Manitoba that you made I believe last week or the week prior.

As I'm sure you're aware, about a third of Manitoba's food and service hotel jobs were wiped out, which is about 13,200 jobs that we've lost, and a lot of these jobs, as was mentioned on this panel previously, are dominated by women, newcomers and young people.

Did you put that lens on that $47 million? Has this funding changed from previous pre-pandemic funding agreements? I'm wondering if we have adapted our funding model to suit the new world.

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

Absolutely. It's a great question. Thank you.

As part of the $1.5 billion we announced to go directly to provinces and territories to beef up access to training for workers, we made sure that the terms and conditions of those agreements focused on workers who are most in need. The reality is that many workers could benefit from training, and much more investment needs to be made in this country into training, whether it's upskilling, reskilling, transitioning from one job to another and, absolutely, we're really focused on the groups of individuals who are the most vulnerable and the furthest away from employment.