Human Resources Committee on Nov. 26th, 2020

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

We have seen a number of projects come along, like New Horizons for Seniors. We also have seen that a lot of tablets have been requested, in order to combat isolation.

Can you tell us about the tools that have helped to combat isolation?

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

I wanted to connect with MP Turnbull because he's very much into social enterprises.

Many organizations have taken a little bit of funding from the government and turned it into very powerful mechanisms to help seniors. It's not just with connectivity. It ranges from programming and being able to connect with Internet providers so that they got special, very low payments for seniors to being able to take advantage of these programs and opportunities within the community.

Everybody is working together. It has really inspirational this year to see how many people and companies have stepped up and how many seniors have now been able to access services in different ways that they never did before. It's has opened up a world of opportunities for those very creative and innovative community leaders to be able to provide even better services as we move forward.

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

Madam Minister, do you have a message for all the organizations that are helping to support seniors?

What would be your best message to all those organizations that have managed to adapt to programs that are helping seniors socially, like New Horizons?

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

The message is, “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

I cannot thank them enough for stepping up. That is not just organizations but not-for-profits and individuals as well. So many people have come forward and volunteered their time and their resources, and companies have been donating food and stepping in to give seniors little care packages. So many people have been stepping up and coming forward and providing meals to those support workers in these long-term care homes. They're angels for what they've been doing and the environment they've been working through, both in our hospitals and in our long-term care homes. People often forget about all those who are serving seniors in the home care system.

The last thing is our caregivers. So many families are working so hard to support their loved ones. I think everybody just needs...a big communal hug and a big thank you to everyone for stepping up. We're going to get through this. We're going to get through it together.

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

Thank you very much, Minister.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Mr. Lauzon.

Minister, that's a very nice note to end on. Thank you so much for being with us. We do appreciate your coming in to discuss the estimates with us before they were deemed to be adopted. We're grateful for your time.

We're going to move now to hear from officials. Minister, you're welcome to stay, but you're free to leave.

We're going to suspend for two minutes while we let the minister disconnect. We'll welcome one more witness before we recommence.

We stand suspended.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

I call the meeting back to order.

We're now back in session. I'd like to welcome one additional witness, Elisha Ram, associate assistant deputy minister, skills and employment branch. Welcome back, Mr. Ram.

We're going to get right into questions, beginning with the Conservatives. We have Ms. Falk, please, for six minutes.

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

Thank you, Chair. Thank you to the department officials for being here. Long time, no see for almost all of you. It's nice to see you again.

I want to follow up on a question that I asked previously with regard to supplementary estimates and the allocation of just under $12.5 million. These were funds for personal support workers, training, and measures to address labour shortages in long-term care and home care. From what I understand from the previous meeting, no funds have been given out, or very few. Is that correct?

[Elisha Ram, Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I can certainly respond to that question. Thank you, honourable member, for the question.

We are working actively to get those funds out and running. We expect to make an announcement in the coming weeks. Certainly it's taken us longer than we would have wished, but we're confident that we'll be in a good position to get that money out and working and getting more people trained up.

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

What are the expected outcomes of this program?

[Elisha Ram]

We're looking to train up a significant number of new personal support workers, as well as to get some better-quality training materials for them.

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

Does the department have a specific estimation of how many workers?

[Elisha Ram]

We are still finalizing those numbers. As I say, we hope to be making an announcement in the very near future.

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

I assume that within that announcement there will be a determination of what the parameters are, I guess, for applicants. Can you divulge that information now?

[Elisha Ram]

That information will certainly be part of the announcement, because we want to be sure that people who are interested in the training are going to be able to have access to it.

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

The CRA's website has a disclaimer on the web page that there are processing delays for paper income tax returns. This isn't something new. We've definitely heard about this, especially in the House. We know that many direct financial supports are linked directly to seniors filing their income tax returns. I'm just wondering if the department has any indication on the scope of these delays. How is ESDC coordinating with CRA to ensure that no seniors lose their benefits because of processing delays at CRA?

[Benoît Robidoux, Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Employment and Social Development]

I can take that question, and Cliff can develop that more.

It would really affect seniors on the GIS. As the minister mentioned, usually we update the payments on the GIS in July, based on their income of the previous year. This year we have postponed this update because there's a pandemic and because later returns at CRA were allowed as well. We postponed this exceptionally to December for those who have not filed a tax form, paper or not.

We are right now in contact by phone and by letter with those who have still not sent us the information on the GIS side. If they couldn't fill out their tax form for any reason, they could still provide the information on their income last year to Service Canada through a simple form, and they would be put in pay. Right now they're still being paid at the same level that they were last year. We didn't change their GIS payment.

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

Will payments be cut?

[Benoît Robidoux]

If, by December, we still don't know the information, they will; but they will be put back in pay as soon as they get back to us about their income.

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

What if that's sitting on the desk of a CRA agent? It's no fault of the senior if they've sent it away and it just hasn't been processed yet. I don't think it would be fair to penalize seniors who are already vulnerable, especially in the state of this pandemic, by cutting their benefits if the form is sitting on the desk of a CRA agent.

[Benoît Robidoux]

As I said, Cliff could give you more details, but we are in communication by phone and letter to these people. If they have completed the tax form and it's sitting at CRA, they would be able to tell us that, and we would adjust their GIS according to that information. I don't think that kind of punishment is going to apply, given the effort we made this year to connect with all these seniors who have not yet—

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

Has the response rate been good? I'm assuming correspondence has gone out already, because it's practically December. Has there been response?

[Benoît Robidoux]

I have been impressed, and I will ask Cliff to give you the exact numbers.

[Cliff C. Groen, Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Benefits and Integrated Services Branch, Service Canada, Department of Employment and Social Development]

Thank you very much, Benoît.

The response rate has actually been very good. We're very pleased to confirm that this year there will be by far the lowest number of GIS recipients who might be suspended than in any other previous year. It has been because of significant outreach that we have done. There are approximately 40,000 clients for whom we have not received income information. We've actually sent additional letters and telephone calls out to all 40,000 of those individuals. We are very pleased with that outcome.

As Benoît indicated, they do not need to file their income tax as long as they give us their income tax information.

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

Thank you.

Mr. Ram, I have a quick follow-up from my previous question.

The minister had mentioned that the Red Cross will be training PSWs. Is that tied in with this estimate line expense? Is that part of that program?