Human Resources Committee on Nov. 19th, 2024

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Would you say that we ought to do something about climate change? Is it important? Is that an important factor do you think?

[Mandy Symonds]

It is in the molten, in all the stages of the lobster and the different fish. Yes, it plays a big part in where they go.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

I thank you for that so much. Thank you so much for your testimony. Truly, it has been absolutely fantastic.

I do have a question for Ms. Tulk-Lane on housing, if it's okay, because I know it was raised by my Conservative colleagues.

The Greater Charlottetown Area Chamber put out a post that reads:

The Greater Charlottetown Area Chamber of Commerce...welcomes recent commitments to accelerate housing development, including the announcement that the Town of Cornwall has reached an agreement with the federal government to fast-track more than 140 homes over the next three years through the Housing Accelerator Fund It continues on to say:

Earlier this month, our Chamber also welcomed the announcement that the City of Charlottetown will receive $10 million through the Housing Accelerator Fund to fast-track 300 new housing units over the next three years.

This is interesting because the Conservatives right now are saying that the moment they get in, the first thing they will do is axe the housing accelerator fund. It's to the point where the Leader of the Opposition has banned his Conservative MPs not only from advocating for the housing accelerator fund but even from talking about the housing accelerator fund.

In light of what we've heard from the Charlottetown chamber of commerce, is the Conservative plan to cut housing funds a good idea in the context of what you said about this being an important issue of discussion?

[Rhonda Tulk-Lane]

Thanks for the question.

I want to give a bit of context. I have 90 members. It's hard sometimes to stay on top of what 90 of them are saying on social media, so I wasn't aware of their posts. Again, I'm just trying to support them.

What I'm going to say to this is that employers and employers' groups will avail themselves of pots of funding and money from all colours of government when it helps our members and employers.

That's as much as I am probably going to share on that one, right now.

Thank you.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

That's a great answer. Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

You have 10 seconds.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Again, I just want to say to both of you that it was fantastic testimony. I really appreciate your tremendous work on behalf of your members, and the excellent insights you shared with us here today. You are welcome back any time.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Mr. Kusmierczyk.

Ms. Chabot, you have two and a half minutes. Go ahead.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Symonds, thank you for your insight. Thank you as well for your dedication to this work, which is so vital to your beautiful part of the country.

You said that your sector made up 90% of the economy in your area. That is huge. I shudder to think what the impact would be on the economy if those jobs disappeared, so it's all the more important to take care of seasonal workers. Thank you for illustrating that so well.

There are challenges, yes, but there are also solutions. Some go back five years, such as the pilot project that was launched in some regions to provide workers with five additional weeks of employment insurance benefits. The purpose of reforming the EI system is to preserve good jobs, like the work you are doing.

You talked about 20 being the divisor for calculating benefits. This may be a bit technical for the committee members.

Regardless, do you have a recommendation to propose? How would you fix that aspect of the system?

[Mandy Symonds]

On the divisor, I email MPs and go to the MLAs in both zones—Yarmouth and the other one. I just keep fighting and fighting. The divisor has to come way down to 10—to something livable. When you divide that into 55% of your earnings, which are below $20,000, it's not a lot of money going to workers.

Thank you.

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

I imagine that the discussions you'll be having in a few weeks with the employment insurance working group will focus on necessary EI reforms like that.

Is that correct?

[Mandy Symonds]

Yes, the reform, the best weeks and the divisor are the main things.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Ms. Chabot.

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

Thank you, Ms. Symonds.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Madame Chabot.

Ms. Zarrillo, before we continue, Mrs. Tulk-Lane had to leave the meeting, so we just have Ms. Symonds with us.

You have two and a half minutes.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Thank you so much.

I really thank you, Witness Symonds, for all the expertise you've shared with us today. Also, you mentioned that you're talking to the next generation. I want to thank you for your mentorship and for caring about the work you do and the industry you support.

I have a couple of questions about the employers.

I'm interested to know how employers have changed over time, and how they're doing financially. Also, are they all Canadian companies, or is it going offshore?

[Mandy Symonds]

The lobster pans are owned by people from China, the United States and Germany. The employers I work for and some of the local ones are great to us. We used to have meals cooked for the first two weeks for free. They do different things to hold onto their workers, because a good worker is a valued worker. They're flexible in giving us extra work doing maintenance or some painting. They try to help us out as much as they can.

Financially, some owners of the lobster pans are better off than others. It depends on how much lobster you can hold and different things—how much you get for them on the market.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

That's interesting. Do you have any idea about those overseas companies and what their profits are like? Are they making good profits from the labour of panners like you and fishers?

[Mandy Symonds]

China is doing really well because it bought the local bank that closed and turned it into a restaurant.

I don't like to talk about foreign workers too much, but foreign workers come here and they're going to get so much work. They'll have a roof over their head, whereas we're not guaranteed anything. There are a lot more foreign workers here now.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

How has that changed over time, percentage-wise, in the pan?

[Mandy Symonds]

Three years ago, there were no foreign workers here and now there might be around 100 foreign workers here working in the lobster pans.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

All right.

I want you to know that if you're out having those conversations, you can say MP Bonita Zarrillo and the NDP absolutely support your ask for a divisor that is smaller. We certainly need to make sure that people can pay their rent, feed their families and have a good quality of life, so we really support you in the work you do.

You can say that to anyone if it's going to help move this along, because it seems unbelievable that you'd be waiting five years for any movement on what we know needs to be done.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Madam Zarrillo.

Thank you, Ms. Symonds, for your testimony today and, again, for sharing your time after the difficulties and technical issues we had last time. I thank you for your very good testimony. I understand this issue well and thank you for your advocacy.

With that, committee members, I have three budgets that were circulated that I need your approval for.

The first one is for $3,500. That was prepared to handle the supplementary estimates. This was circulated. It's $3,500 for the ministerial appearances on supplementary estimates.

(Motion agreed to)

I know this is a favourite of Mr. Aitchison.

Does the committee approve the budget of $14,500 to do this study, Madame Chabot, that we're currently doing? It is an estimate, depending on where the witnesses come from.

Does the committee approve the budget of $14,500?

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

That's what a budget is. It's an estimate.

(Motion agreed to)

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Does the committee approve the budget of $1,250 prepared for the briefing with the president and CEO of the CMHC, which is scheduled for December 10?

(Motion agreed to)