Evidence of meeting #33 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was work.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
I think Ms. Gazan makes a really good point.
Maybe the clerk can answer this. We get all these applications. We review them. We select somebody. How quickly would that funding get to them? If the deadline is in a month, would they be getting it in two months, six weeks or when?
Is it reasonable to think that if we make it only a month deadline for this, we could actually get a student the research funds in the summer or are we looking at months going by before the money will flow? I'm wondering about the logistics.
The Clerk
We get the money out as soon as possible. It's usually distributed in two installments. The first installment is at the beginning and the second installment is normally, roughly, when we see the report at the end. It is funded pretty quickly.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sean Casey
Five weeks from today would take us to June 15. Six weeks would take us to the 22nd. Can we say the 15th, in the hopes that we can get some funds rolling before we rise? It's more than the four weeks suggested, but a little less than the six that we had talked about. Can we agree on June 15?
Okay.
We will issue a press release to call for applications with an award set at $5,500 and a deadline for submitting an application at June 15.
Do we have consensus on that?
Liberal
The Clerk
I can confirm that this afternoon and send an email, if you please. I don't have it off the top of my head right now, but I can check that for you and get back.
Liberal
Wayne Long Liberal Saint John—Rothesay, NB
I think I'm correct in saying that we topped it up a couple of years back because there was an excess of money there.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sean Casey
I think the $5,500 is consistent with past years. Can you confirm that, Madam Clerk?
The Clerk
In 2016, 2017 and 2018 it was $5,500. There was a year where it was roughly $5,700. The last three times when we did submit it, it was $5,500.
Liberal
Wayne Long Liberal Saint John—Rothesay, NB
I think the reason we did top it up, if I remember correctly, was that there was extra money in there.
Conservative
Corey Tochor Conservative Saskatoon—University, SK
Chair, I would like to know what's in the fund first before we talk about topping it up any more. If I understand right, it's for money that's thrown into the collection. Over the last year and a half, it's been probably depleted because there's not the tourists that usually come through.
I'm not saying to reduce it, but I don't think it's the time to increase it, regardless.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sean Casey
I think this is a legitimate concern, and we do have a little bit of committee business in terms of finalizing the budget.
Is everyone comfortable to delay a decision on this until we get those answers? Perhaps we'll deal with it on Thursday. It seems to me that, once we have that information, we can probably proceed fairly quickly. Are we good to defer a decision on that?
Okay.
Liberal
Han Dong Liberal Don Valley North, ON
Procedurally, do you need a budget approved for us to invite the witnesses for tomorrow? I just want to understand that.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sean Casey
No, we'll be okay to approve it when we next meet.
The only other thing I want to do, colleagues, is give you a little look ahead.
We talked about the possibility of meeting during the break week if the BIA is reported to us. If that happens, we'll have a further discussion before anything happens.
You should know that Minister Schulte and officials have indicated their availability to come before the committee on May 25 on the seniors study. Romy Bowers is available to come before the committee on May 27 in connection with the order in council appointment.
Is there any further business to come before the meeting? Is it the will of the committee to adjourn?
Thank you, colleagues. We'll see you Thursday.