Human Resources Committee on March 24th, 2022

[Lori MacDonald]

I'll ask Andrew Brown if he's able to comment on this question.

[Andrew Brown, Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development]

Thanks, Lori.

The care economy is really dominated by women. There is work under way. We've noted during the pandemic the importance of workers in the care economy—health care workers, people working in long-term care facilities and so forth.

Another thing that has been noted is a lack of sufficient workers in that sector across the country. One of the things that's necessary there is to invest to create training opportunities to be able to find more workers to provide support in long-term care and personal care. There is work under way right now, programs that have been launched and that are already now training workers to provide additional support in the sector. That work is continuing.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Ms. Zarrillo.

Thank you, Mr. Brown.

Now we'll go to Mr. Liepert for five minutes.

[Ron Liepert, Conservative, Calgary Signal Hill, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

First of all, I am a little disappointed that we didn't get an overview of some of the accomplishments that this particular department is embarking on. I'm looking at the mandate letters, and there are all kinds of strategies that have been asked for.

This is a government that's pretty well known in that it can't get anything done. Now, with this new coalition with the NDP, it will be even more difficult for departments to get anything accomplished.

What progress has been made to date on the employment strategy for Canadians with disabilities that was called for in the mandate letter? Has anything commenced? Where are we on that?

[Lori MacDonald]

Go ahead, Krista.

[Krista Wilcox]

Andrew, I don't know if you want to take that one. I'm happy to take it, if you want.

Maybe I can speak generally about the disability inclusion action plan, which is one of the minister's principal mandate commitments in her letter. The minister has put out in the last year a framework around the disability inclusion action plan. As you mentioned, one of the key pillars of that is an employment strategy for persons with disabilities. As part of the plan and the employment strategy, the department has undertaken significant consultation over the last several months, including an online survey that had 8,600 respondents and provided an overview of some of the more important issues that are facing persons with disabilities in Canada today.

We've also held round tables specifically focused on the employment strategy. Andrew could potentially speak to that as well as on the Canada disability benefit, which is one of the cornerstones of the plan.

Work is also under way with disability organizations. We've provided significant funding to them to also engage with persons with disabilities as well as through our national indigenous organizations to have a distinctions-based approach to engagement on the plan, including the employment strategy.

[Ron Liepert, Conservative, Calgary Signal Hill, AB]

Do you see with this new coalition formed with the NDP...? Obviously the NDP is going to be demanding a number of conditions. Do you see starting from scratch again because we're now under a different regime? I would presume that you will be asking some different sorts of questions as you try to develop that strategy to get the support of the left wing of the party, commonly called the New Democratic Party.

[Lori MacDonald]

We don't have a comment on that particular question. We continue to work on the minister's mandate letter as we've been requested to throughout this term.

[Ron Liepert, Conservative, Calgary Signal Hill, AB]

Many of the things that are included in this mandate letter are going to be impacted by the fact that you have this new agreement. Has the minister not had any discussions with department officials to say that we have to look at this in a different way than we might have before this coalition was formed?

[Lori MacDonald]

We continue to have conversations with the minister on her mandate letter that was indicated to us at the beginning of the term, and that's the work that we are doing.

[Ron Liepert, Conservative, Calgary Signal Hill, AB]

All right.

Well, how about we try Canada student loans and Canada apprentice loans: Where are we with any progress on that?

[Lori MacDonald]

Atiq Rahman would be happy to take that question.

[Atiq Rahman, Assistant Deputy Minister, Learning Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development]

Mr. Chair, as you may already be aware, the interest charged on Canada student loans and apprentice loans has been waived until March 2023. As you may also know, we work with our provincial student aid programs to implement any initiatives taken by the federal government.

With respect to the minister's mandate of eliminating interest on student loans and apprentice loans, that is already in place until March 2023. We have been consulting with our provincial partners as well as service providers to determine the next steps on that one.

Thank you.

[Ron Liepert, Conservative, Calgary Signal Hill, AB]

I also see in the mandate letter—

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Ask a short question, please.

[Ron Liepert, Conservative, Calgary Signal Hill, AB]

Well, it seems like there is a desire to work with the Minister of Natural Resources around what this government calls a “just transition”, whatever that means. Is the department doing anything differently in light of the Ukraine crisis and the obvious lack of fossil fuel, natural gas or oil around the world because of this, in lieu of the mandate letter?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Give a short answer, please.

[Lori MacDonald]

I'll ask one of my colleagues if they want to come in on the just transition. I will say to you that the department is looking at a number of initiatives right now with respect to Ukraine. They range from supporting women and children coming into the country to ensuring that people can get access to services, including things like social insurance numbers, access to support programs and access to employment-readiness types of initiatives as well.

These things are ongoing and on a day-to-day basis as we look at the unfolding situation in Ukraine.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Ms. MacDonald and Mr. Liepert.

We'll now go to Mr. Coteau for five minutes.

You have the floor.

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the department for being here and talking to us about many of these great initiatives that are captured in the mandate letter.

I want to talk a little bit about apprenticeship programs. I know that the mandate letter does mention just a strengthening in the apprenticeship program. Maybe you could take a minute to talk about the vision for the apprenticeship program captured in the mandate letter.

[Lori MacDonald]

I'll ask Andrew Brown if he could take this question.

[Andrew Brown]

Sure. I'm happy to take that question and speak to apprenticeships.

I think one thing that's really important is that there's recognition that skilled trades are vital to Canada's economy. Apprenticeships really help skilled workers, and especially young people starting their career, to connect with businesses and find well-paying jobs.

That's one of the reasons that the government is investing over $470 million over three years to establish a new apprenticeship service. It will help create an estimated 55,000 jobs by providing small and medium-sized employers with $5,000 for the hiring of a first-year apprentice and an additional $5,000 for the hiring of an apprentice from an under-represented group.

This program will also help small and medium-sized enterprises by providing them with supports that they need to increase their participation in apprenticeship.

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

I have just a bit of time, so I'm going to jump in. I do appreciate that, but I want to drill down a bit more into the apprenticeship program and the target audience—who it's going to serve.

I was looking on the website at Stats Canada, and it said that there were just under 400,000 people in general in the apprenticeship programs across the country. When I looked at the numbers, just about 12% were female. Do you have numbers or percentages that speak specifically to indigenous people and people of colour? Do we track that type of information?

[Andrew Brown]

Certainly, we are working hard to increase diversity among apprentices, and get a more broad range and representation among Canadians into the skilled trades. That's one of the reasons, as you may have heard in my description, that part of the program is focusing on under-represented groups.

With respect to data, specifically, I haven't got those numbers available. I know that's one of the areas that we are continuing to work on and develop, so we have a better sense of the proportion of under-represented groups in apprenticeships, but really in our skilled trades across the country.

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Mr. Brown, going into communities that are under-represented is a great strategy. The labour shortage that exists within many different sectors can really use an influx of new people into those sectors, and the apprenticeship programs will do that.

Can you talk about any of the specific strategies you may be using to attract more females, more indigenous people, and Black people, into those programs?

Traditionally, and I've spent some time around labour, it's usually based on the connections on the ground rather than government programs pulling people up into those opportunities.

Can you talk about some of the strategy there? I would really appreciate it.