Human Resources Committee on Nov. 24th, 2020

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

I will turn to my officials to get clarification with respect to the actual number and what is going to what program. Gary, I'll refer to you in a minute for that.

With respect to employment equity, it's my strong opinion that everybody deserves a fair chance to succeed.

With respect to women in the workforce and with COVID-19, I think we saw some advances prior, but there's no question there's more work to be done with respect to the promotion of women. The initiatives the federal government has taken, like the passing of Bill C-65 to prevent violence and harassment in the workplace, the proactive pay equity legislation that I just spoke about, pay transparency, the commitment with respect to child care, and the $5 billion that Minister Ng has talked about with the women entrepreneurship program, are all going to help encourage women to be in the workforce.

I agree with you 100% in saying that we all benefit when we increase women in the workforce.

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

Thank you.

Mr. Chair, is my time up, or do I have time for one last short question?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

You have one minute left.

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

Madam Minister, I was surprised by your answer—if I understood correctly—that the pay equity legislation would see the light of day by the end of 2021.

Why is it taking so long to implement legislation that has received royal assent?

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

That is a very good question. I'm not indicating the time in 2021, but that it will go through in 2021.

The important point here is that we absolutely have to get this right. This is transformational legislation, as I have said. You're not looking at work that's the same work. You're looking at a different job. As Ms. Jensen has explained to me, we compare different jobs and then come up with a formula that will make it so that those jobs of equal value will be paid.

We have to approach it in a manner so that we're going to bring employers with us, provide them with the tools and have the consultations prior to the implementation date to ensure we are hearing from all stakeholders in an effort to get this right. We have a real opportunity here. I want more than anything else to make sure we get this right.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Minister. Thank you, Ms. Chabot.

It is now Ms. Gazan's turn.

Ms. Gazan, you have six minutes.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you so much, Minister, for joining us today. It's really nice to have you here.

We know that, before COVID, people were left behind. I'm talking specifically about BIPOC individuals, persons with disabilities and women. We certainly know it has been occurring and that it has been exacerbated by COVID. I think we can assume that those who were left out before will be worse off after COVID.

In your opening comments you spoke about raising awareness of the wage gaps that affect women, indigenous people, people with disabilities and visible minorities in federally regulated workplaces to renew pay transparency measures.

We know we need immediate action to address gross inequalities but also systemic racism in the workplace. We need more than awareness. Other than raising awareness, what are some concrete actions you are taking to end discrimination against women, indigenous people, disabled persons and BIPOC persons? As part of these inequalities in wages, is your government considering a guaranteed livable basic income?

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Thanks for that, MP Gazan. There's a lot in that question.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

There is a lot. There are big problems.

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

If I miss some of it, when we come back maybe you can flag that.

Pay transparency is there, so that there are public listings of the wage gaps that exist among the different people who are identified, whom we have mentioned. I think that's important because it demonstrates to employers who have those wage gaps that more needs to be done to address those wage gaps. Those wage gaps should not be there. We know they exist, so now this is going to be made public. It's going to be open for everyone to see and the employers will have the responsibility to do things to correct that wage gap.

In terms of other areas where we can do more, I agree with you that we absolutely have to do more. In terms of employment equity, I would like to see the playing field levelled or the floor raised, depending on how you view the issue, so that everyone has a chance to succeed, because when we give everyone a chance to succeed, we as Canadians all benefit. We know that when we can allow people—

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Thank you so much, but what are you going to put in place to make sure we level the playing field and that everybody can succeed?

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

There are measures we're doing through pay equity that are going to have women compensated equally to men. There is pay transparency, so that the gaps that exist will be corrected. Bill C-65 was introduced to prevent violence and harassment in the workforce because we want to ensure that people are comfortable at work and they're not being targeted in any way and not feeling safe. Mental health is a part of occupational health and safety.

All these measures we are taking are going to make the workforce fairer, and we think and we hope more open and transparent. Those are some of the measures we are taking.

Is there more work to do? Absolutely, and I look forward to working with you as we take on those measures.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Thank you very much.

How many times, Minister, have you met with unions regarding occupational health and safety concerns related to COVID-19 to date?

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

To give an exact number is extremely difficult, but I would say that every day I'm talking to labour and reaching out to industry and my PT partners. These calls are happening on an ongoing basis. I've had many conversations with union leaders with respect to issues of concern to them.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

I was happy to hear you mention measures to address mental health because we know the mental health, certainly and particularly, of front-line workers and essential workers during COVID has been hard hit understandably, but we also have seen incidents of poor treatment of workers during COVID, particularly those in food production, including migrant workers and newcomers. They have been subjected to employers who have shown a complete disregard for their workers' safety, well-being and human rights during the pandemic.

For example, I can think of the outbreak at the Maple Leaf facility in Brandon, Manitoba, and many others, including places in Ontario.

Many of the outbreaks have been in meat processing plants, for example, and many who work there are low-income workers and BIPOC. I was wondering if you could speak to whether your department is addressing this and what you will be doing in relation to the high number of COVID outbreaks in food production to better protect workers going forward.

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

That's a great question.

As I've said before, occupational health and safety and the safety of workers has been my number one priority, and that has been the focus. It's fantastic that we have organizations like the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety that are helping us to say, “Okay, food processing, here are the standards. Here's the guidance that you should follow in order to keep workers safe.”

I also want to point out that we have to acknowledge the difference between federal and provincial jurisdiction. We are putting supports in place, such as that investment with CCOHS, to ensure that workers are safe and to do what we can to support that. Every worker has the right to a safe work site.

In the federal jurisdiction, if a worker feels that their work site isn't safe, then they can make that claim and they will not be forced to work there. The labour program will go in, do an assessment, determine if the work site is safe or not, and if it's not safe, the employer has to fix that site and get it up to standard so that it is safe.

Those are the measures we are taking in order to keep workers safe.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Minister. Thank you, Ms. Gazan.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Next we're going to go to Mrs. Falk, please, for five minutes.

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

Thank you, Minister, for being available to the committee today.

Long-term care homes in Canada, we know, have borne the brunt of this health crisis. In my capacity as shadow minister for seniors, I have had the opportunity to meet with many individuals and groups representing front-line health care workers in long-term care facilities.

The conditions that have been described in first-hand accounts are dire and are not unique to any individual home. While many of the challenges in the long-term care sector pre-existed COVID, they were exponentially heightened by this pandemic. Immediate actions are needed to safeguard the health, safety and well-being of long-term care residents and the staff who care for them.

One of these urgent and serious challenges is a sector-wide staffing crisis. In the supplementary estimates, there is an allocation of just under $12.5 million in funds for personal support workers—training and measures to address labour shortages in long-term care and home care.

Minister, I'm wondering how these funds are being used to address the urgent labour crisis in long-term care.

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Thank you, MP Falk, for that important question.

We're very aware and very grateful for the workers who are in long-term care facilities.

I have spoken with Sharleen Stewart, who's the lead of the SEIU, and she has explained to me—Linda Silas, as well—the concerns with respect to long-term care workers, with respect to both the safety piece and burnout and the need to ensure we have more long-term care workers.

This provision that you're talking about is under Minister Qualtrough's jurisdiction. I know there is funding money set aside that is going to be used to train PSWs and long-term care workers.

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

Do you know if that's been used at all? We're in the second wave, and this definitely needed to be addressed before yesterday. What is the government doing? There is just under $12.5 million allocated for this, so I'm wondering. It's something, as I said, that should have been done before yesterday.

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

I can ask my officials if they have information on that.

As I said, it's Minister Qualtrough's portfolio with respect to that funding.

Either Gary or Tony, do you have something you'd like to say?

[Gary Robertson, Acting Deputy Minister, Labour Program, Department of Employment and Social Development]

I'm wondering if Mark Perlman maybe has a comment, from the CFO perspective.

[Mark Perlman, Chief Financial Officer and Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Department of Employment and Social Development]

Thank you for that.

The funding is there. As of the end of September, I don't believe a lot of funding has been spent. However, the whole purpose was to recruit up to 4,000 new personal support worker interns for accelerated training.