Human Resources Committee on Nov. 26th, 2020

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

I'm almost out of time. How much money has been provided to Manitoba—Winnipeg, specifically—through the New Horizons program? Our province, and certainly the city of Winnipeg, and Revera facilities more specifically, and long-term care homes in northern Manitoba, have been really seriously hit. I want to know a dollar amount. Because of the crisis, are you planning to provide more to ensure that seniors are safe and can survive the pandemic?

[Deb Schulte, Liberal, King—Vaughan, ON]

There are a variety of different programs being provided. I will turn to my officials to see if they have that information in front of them right now. Otherwise, we'll make sure we get that information to you.

For an example, one thing that we have been doing through the program is providing some of the long-term care facilities with tablets and devices to help seniors connect with their family members and stay connected. There are a variety of different programs. That's not the home care that you were talking about, but it is a way for us to be able to improve the connections and—

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

I'm not talking about that—

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Ms. Gazan. You're well past time.

Thank you, Madam Minister.

Next we have Mr. Schmale for the Conservatives. You have five minutes.

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

I believe it's Brad Vis.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Go ahead, Mr. Vis. You have the floor.

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

Thank you.

Minister Schulte, it's nice to see you, as always. I thought about you last night when I wrote a speech on Bill C-57. It hasn't been put into force yet, but I remember our fun work together in 2016.

The first question is for clarification. You mentioned the national housing strategy. Are long-term care facilities able to apply for funding under the national housing strategy?

[Deb Schulte, Liberal, King—Vaughan, ON]

That is an excellent question. The answer is yes. However, it is a bit more complicated, because they have to have approval from their provinces for those beds. The delivery of health care is within provincial jurisdiction, but there's a portion of long-term care that we deem to be housing.

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

It would be dependent upon whether or not there was a provincial-federal agreement in each respective jurisdiction.

[Deb Schulte, Liberal, King—Vaughan, ON]

It would be dependent on whether the jurisdiction in the province is providing the support to those long-term care beds that are being intended to be built. That's the step that you need to make sure of, that you have the support from the province that they're going to fund the health care portion of that long-term care facility.

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

That's very helpful. Thank you.

I noticed in the 2020-21 departmental plan that there were going to be funds made available to help seniors understand the benefits that they're entitled to.

Just recently we had to help my mother-in-law do her new EI application under the new system. She's in her 70s, but still working. She's an immigrant from the Philippines. For a woman whose third language is English, even though she's been in Canada for over 30 years, that was a very complicated process. I would encourage the department to look at ways that we can improve the delivery of those services. They need to be comprehensive, but it is super-challenging. My wife and I had to get on.... For me as a member of Parliament, it was challenging. I would encourage the department to look at that very closely.

[Deb Schulte, Liberal, King—Vaughan, ON]

Can I ask that you share with us the observations or the interactions you've had? We're always looking at ways to try to improve access.

Not everybody is going to be able to access online, but when they do, we want to make it better. We did those changes with the New Horizons for seniors program, because we know that it had challenges. We're always looking to make it better, so please share with us what your experiences were so that we can do that.

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

On EI and as it relates to the Canada Pension Plan, figuring out those intricacies within the application is where it was very challenging for a senior whose first language wasn't English or French. I think the department could do some good faith work to improve that, but I can follow up with you on that.

We are here for the estimates, and I noticed in the Library of Parliament briefing that for 2020-21, there was a total voted spending of close to $4 billion, total statutory spending of close to $65 billion, and total budgetary spending of close to $69 billion. Those are huge sums of money.

I don't expect you to have an understanding of where all that money goes, but if you're looking at it from the perspective of a taxpayer, where is one area in ESDC that we could look at or that you've noticed might be able to do a better job with the federal funds they've been allocated?

[Deb Schulte, Liberal, King—Vaughan, ON]

I really appreciate your question, because if you look into the main estimates, and I'm sure you have, we're talking $68.6 billion in planned expenditures in the main estimates. You're going to wonder and say that's a heck of a lot of money. However, if you look at it, you would see how much of that is actually going to OAS and GIS. A significant majority of the funding is going to support our seniors—

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

I know—

[Deb Schulte, Liberal, King—Vaughan, ON]

People really need to look at that, because we talk about making sure that we give more and we are always looking for ways to continue to help seniors, but we need to also be aware of how much of our tax dollars is going to support our seniors with these really important programs.

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

Thank you. I'm going to cut you off there.

I do understand the difference between the expenditures directly on Canadians, but maybe I'll rephrase it.

ESDC is the largest government department. According to your judgment, which department within ESDC is not living up to its standards and doing a good enough job on behalf of taxpayers?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Madam Minister, we're out of time.

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

Oh, you gave the NDP a bit more time. Come on. That was a fair question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Madam Minister, I'd like you to respond to it briefly, please.

[Deb Schulte, Liberal, King—Vaughan, ON]

All right.

I want to assure you that all our colleagues and the departments have been working extremely hard this year, in addition to past years, to make sure that we're there to deliver for seniors. Of all years, we should all be very grateful for the hard-working officials and public servants who have been making sure that these services have been delivered.

We really had very minimal problems with our seniors programs and our seniors payments, and I think 6.7 million seniors got an extra bonus to help them through.

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

Then everything in the department is 100% A-okay and there's no need for the Auditor General to get those funds they really need, because nothing is wrong at ESDC.

Thank you so much, Minister.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Mr. Vis, and you're welcome.

Next is Mr. Lauzon.

Mr. Lauzon, you have the floor for five minutes.

Please be aware that Mr. Lauzon will be the last to ask the Minister questions.

[Stéphane Lauzon, Liberal, Argenteuil—La Petite-Nation, QC]

Thank you for being here, Madam Minister. It is always a pleasure to see you and to hear you talk about seniors with such passion.

The importance and urgency of taking measures with regard to the health and safety of our seniors came up in many discussions in the course of your Canadian tour, which, during the pandemic, was essentially virtual.

What were the concerns most raised by the seniors you consulted during your national tour?

Second, in the light of that, what are the government's objectives that we are seeking to achieve as our priorities?

[Deb Schulte, Liberal, King—Vaughan, ON]

Thank you very much for that question and also for your support in doing those virtual town halls and tours across the country. It has been a fantastic opportunity to connect with stakeholders and with seniors and to listen directly to them and have them share with me their concerns and their issues.

Financial security is one that we hear a lot of, but the one that I actually heard about the most was social isolation, mental health, and getting connected to their family members while they were being asked to isolate at home and stay safe.

This is why, for our New Horizons for seniors program, we asked for additional funding, and we got it. It was to make sure we could give even more support to those in their community through the groups that know who are vulnerable and need the help in those communities.

I've already mentioned some amazing programs that communities have done to connect with those seniors and to make sure that we don't leave anybody isolated at home without the connections that they need to stay safe and stay healthy.

I want to make a call-out, because it is important to mention what the government has done. We provided a new Wellness Together portal that people can connect with to get advice and to get the help they need if they're struggling with their mental health. This is transformative. It's a very powerful tool that Canadians now have to be able to connect.

That's just a little bit about what I've heard and where the government has been responding to specifically help seniors to follow the public health measures and stay safe and stay home.