Human Resources Committee on Nov. 7th, 2024

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Thanks for that.

There is another issue we used to deal with in the industry, in my community of Huntsville. I used to always meet with Deerhurst, and one of the challenges they always faced was a housing situation for seasonal workers. They needed lots of space for several months of the year, and then they didn't need the space. It was a constant struggle.

I'm wondering if you could speak to your members' challenges in that regard. Is the housing situation getting better, or is it getting worse?

[Beth Potter]

The housing situation has become an area of focus for our industry over the last, I would say, decade. We have taken examples like those in the Banff and Lake Louise area, where employers and the town are subsidizing housing for their seasonal workers. We've seen that kind of example roll out in other areas across the country, where resort communities are working together to build not only appropriate housing for seasonal workers, but also transportation systems that help to move those workers from where they're living to where they're working.

We firmly believe that you should be able to live where you work and work where you live. This is a conversation that the industries continue to have with local municipal councillors as they are evolving and determining what their plans are for their local communities. We see tourism as a valuable part of those communities.

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Thank you for that.

We're rapidly running out of time, but I'd like to dig in a little more on that housing piece. You mentioned locations like Banff, for example, where you said that the municipality is partnering with industry.

We might not have time to do it here, so I'm wondering if you could send me some information. Are there examples of where local municipalities and industry are partnering and their partnerships include things like reducing the large fees that are often charged by municipalities for the construction of new homes, for example?

[Beth Potter]

I would have to get back to you on that to make sure I'm giving you the correct facts. Let me take that away, and I'll commit to getting that back to you.

I would like to highlight, though, that neighbours of yours, the towns of The Blue Mountains and Collingwood, came together to ensure there was a transportation system to help workers, employees, get from where they're living, whether it's within those two communities or in surrounding communities, to the resort of Blue Mountain, to ensure there was, collectively, the ability for workers to get to work.

There are some really innovative things happening. We're seeing in places like Whistler the same kinds of initiatives coming up.

Let me get back to you with the proper data that speaks to any kind of incentive for building.

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Thanks very much. I'm out of time now, but I appreciate that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Mr. Aitchison.

Go ahead, Mr. Cormier. You have six minutes.

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Potter, thank you for being here. By the way, your French is very good. Kudos to you. Nevertheless, you can answer in the language of your choice. It's up to you.

Before I ask you my question, I'm going to give you some context. My riding, Acadie—Bathurst, is home to two major tourist attractions and hundreds of other businesses that depend on the tourism industry. We also have 14 fish and seafood processing plants. In addition, we have sectors focused on peat production, agriculture, construction, and arts and culture. I think you're realizing that my region has a tremendous number of workers in seasonal industries.

Is the current iteration of the employment insurance, or EI, program an advantage or disadvantage to workers in tourism, the sector you represent, and other seasonal sectors?

You can answer with a yes or no, or feel free to elaborate, if you like.

[Beth Potter]

I would say that the employment insurance program is an advantage to seasonal workers. However, as I mentioned in my presentation, we certainly see recommendations from across the different sectors that make up the tourism industry that a reduction in the EI premium rate would help small businesses and their employees.

The recommendation on record is to reduce the EI premium rate from 1.66% to 1.58%. This would allow us to put money back in the pockets of both employees and employers.

When we speak to the restaurant industry in particular, we talk about it being the fourth-largest private employer, and, as I said, lower EI premiums would channel more funds into the hands of a significant number of young workers, particularly in the accommodation and food services sector.

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I understand what you're saying.

However, will increasing or reducing premiums really help tourism businesses keep skilled workers for the tourist season? As we know, it's quite short in some regions.

Shouldn't we change some of the eligibility criteria, like the number of hours worked, so that employers, our businesses, can hold on to those workers year after year?

[Beth Potter]

In 2023, the federal government promised to top up EI. It was about $12.5 million through pilot project number 22. This would have been made available to about 42,000 eligible seasonal workers in Quebec and Atlantic Canada. They would basically have received up to four additional weeks of EI regular benefits. This would really help to close the income gap for those claimants when they've exhausted their EI benefits before seasonal work resumes.

Programs like that would certainly help, especially in areas where the seasons can be quite short and where there's a wide variety of different businesses that are making up those seasonal workers.

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

You represent the tourism industry. Is that right? You're the president of the tourism industry.

[Beth Potter]

That's correct.

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I totally understand that the government put the five additional weeks plus the four additional weeks, but are you aware that some of the people in my region and across Canada cannot qualify? They cannot get enough hours to qualify and receive an EI benefit, because, in some regions, the unemployment rate is so low that it takes many more hours to qualify. Your sector in particular will be impacted by that.

Are you aware that some people cannot qualify? Because of that, what happened and what we see here in my region is that people are leaving the region to find work someplace else, in bigger centres, and we're emptying our rural region and losing some of the workforce. Are you aware of that?

[Beth Potter]

Yes, absolutely. For workers who can't get that number of hours, you're absolutely correct that they are looking for other industries and other locations that they can move to in order to get employment. This is really going to have a massive impact on our industry. When tourism workers were forced to leave their occupations in our industry during the pandemic, it resulted in massive destitution for our industry. We need the people, the local people, to work those jobs, because they know the land; they know the culture; they can tell the stories, and that adds to the experience.

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I don't want to cut you off, but I have limited time. Do you think we can lower the number of hours for those working in some of those sectors, such as fish plants, tourism and so on, and have them qualify, so that they can at least get their EI and get back to their regular work in the next year? Keeping in mind that some businesses need some workforce also, maybe there's something we can do to modify the system so that it will be an advantage for employees but also for employers.

[Beth Potter]

I'm in favour of anything that enables us to improve the working conditions and keep people working in our industry. I would be very happy to continue to explore changes to a program like EI and how they could benefit seasonal workers in our industry, which would then benefit Canada as a whole.

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Hopefully, we can continue the discussion later. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Mr. Cormier.

We now go to Ms. Chabot for six minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you for being here, Ms. Potter.

Ms. Symonds, since you represent workers in seasonal industries, I'm sure you have a lot to say on the subject.

I'm going to continue along the same lines as Mr. Cormier.

Ms. Potter, welcome. I want to draw a distinction between two things. There are temporary foreign workers, who come here for a season. Then there are workers in seasonal industries. The workers aren't seasonal; the industries are.

Canada's tourism industry is made up of year-round sectors and, in some places, seasonal sectors. Some regions of Quebec, Gaspé and Charlevoix, for instance, have many tourism sectors with good jobs. However, some sectors don't operate year-round. Inns close in the off-season, and you can't go whale watching in January. That shows how important the EI system is for holding on to skilled workers and giving them some stability. As a result, the quality of service they provide is elevated.

How can we improve the EI system? We know that these workers struggle to qualify for EI because of the number of hours worked requirement. There's a seasonal gap between when the work season ends and the next begins. How can EI support those workers?

Do we need to increase the number of weeks of benefits to ensure that there is no seasonal gap?

[Beth Potter]

I will just say that, like most things, when you design a program, it's very difficult to design one that is one-size-fits-all. The tourism industry, in and of itself, is very different from region to region and experience to experience. If you have somebody in northern Quebec operating a whale-watching operation, that season may be very short, whereas whale-watching operations on the coast of British Columbia may be much longer. The fact of the matter is that you still need somebody with the right skills to operate the boats. You need somebody with the right knowledge to provide the information to the visitor about what they're seeing. You need people with certain skills. You can't just put anybody in that job. It's important to the operator to keep people who have the right skills and the right experiences.

Looking at how we—

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

Ms. Potter, my apologies for interrupting, but I don't have a lot of time.

I appreciate that knowledge and skills are important. It's true that the tourism sector is different from region to region.

Nevertheless, I am trying to highlight the fact that some sectors in the tourism industry are really seasonal. There is a skilled workforce the industry relies on, and when the season ends, employers want to make sure they can hold on to those skilled workers for the beginning of the next season.

How can we support workers in seasonal industries between seasons?

[Beth Potter]

As I was saying, I think allowing for some flexibility within the EI system by looking at the seasonality of the business and understanding the nature of the business, allowing for workers to apply for EI when their season ends and giving them enough weeks by adding weeks to their program so that they can be supported between seasons would be great.

The industry is also always looking at other opportunities. In some places, it's reasonable to expect that if we help workers retrain, they could maybe do a different job in their off-season, but that's not always the case in every part of Canada.

Adding more flexibility to the EI program would certainly allow those seasonal workers to be supported in the off season that is particular to their employment.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

You have 15 seconds left.

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

All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Ms. Chabot.

We will now go to Madam Zarrillo.

Are you ready? You have six minutes, please.