Human Resources Committee on March 24th, 2022

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Minister Qualtrough.

Madam Zarrillo, go ahead for six minutes.

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

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Minister.

I am going to spend all of my time with you today on getting information for persons living with disabilities.

I'll start by just saying that with the rising cost of housing, the rising cost of living and the greater level of risk that will come to the disability community as changes in the mask mandates and other COVID protections are lifted, this becomes even more urgent. The ASAP that you spoke of a couple of times today really matters.

You mentioned that the legislative agenda was potentially a barrier to getting the Canada disability benefit onto the floor, and I'm wondering if you can tell the committee whether this bill has been pushed back since November 2021 and whether there are any remaining barriers to getting it to the floor.

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

Thank you.

I certainly don't mean to say that it will be a barrier. It's more that other events, such as the emergency benefits from the fall, the Emergencies Act and other things going on in no way reflect the work that has been done already to prepare the groundwork for the Canada disability benefit and the conversations that are ongoing with provincial and territorial governments around how we are going to engage in negotiations once this benefit becomes law. I just don't have a date, which is why I'm hesitant, but I don't want to leave anybody with the impression that this isn't going to happen. It's just a matter of when. I just can't tell you the date.

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

I'm sure you know, Minister, that many in the disability community are anxiously and eagerly awaiting it. Is there anything this committee can do or that members of this committee can do to try to advance that work or to assist in advancing that work?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

Thank you. As with the Accessible Canada Act, we're going to have an opportunity with this piece of legislation to go above partisanship and to deliver for Canadians with disabilities.

I have talked with members of all parties about their support for the Canada disability benefit. It would be lovely if we could all agree to move it through the parliamentary process as quickly as possible. Once tabled, the bill will look the same as it did in June, so for any questions you have or any issues you have, it would be great to work together so that once this is tabled, we can fast-track it and deliver for Canadians with disabilities.

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

Thank you, Minister. I think one thing that I'm hearing a lot is around who will be eligible, and the eligibility criteria. You said the criteria will be the same. Will there be eligibility criteria spelled out?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

Yes. I guess from a point of view of parliamentary decorum I would say the elements would be the same. I can't opine on letter for letter, word for word, because I wouldn't want in any way to be out of line on this.

This is really framework legislation in the spirit of “nothing without us”, working, co-developing the benefit with the disability community. This creates a framework wherein we get the regulatory authority to work with provinces to ensure there are no clawbacks of this benefit, to ensure that the amount ultimately lifts people out of poverty. That's why we are funding Independent Living Canada to work with the disability community to recommend eligibility criteria.

Of course, as we all know, it's not a business the federal government has been in historically, so we are hard-pressed to find easy lists of people who could be eligible. We have the disability tax credit. We have people who get disability benefits through Veterans Affairs and CPP disability. But unlike, say, seniors, where we can identify everybody in this country who is over 65, we can't do that yet with disability, because of the lack of data. We really need to understand the enormous challenge of defining the eligibility criteria, and that work is already ongoing, but the legislation will give us the legal framework to basically bring the ball over the finish line, I would say.

That's not an analogy. I think I just missed it. Anyway, you know what I mean.

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

Thank you very much, Minister, and that's good information. I think you know that the NDP would like everyone who qualifies provincially or is on a disability to automatically be eligible. I'll leave that with you, because I don't—

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

Yes, and that is an option for sure, and it's all in the mix.

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

Great. I have one more question for you.

I'm really concerned about discrimination in employment, so I'm very pleased to hear that we are going to do more to get employment opportunities for people living with a disability. This too needs to be modernized. I know that you agree with that. Many people living with a disability lost their employment disproportionately and have had a difficult time gaining it back.

I'm worried about discrimination in the workplace, as we move forward, for persons with disabilities. What does the government have planned to protect workers so that their human rights are protected? I ask that because human rights claims are very expensive, they're emotionally taxing, and right now—and in general, but even more so right now—human rights tribunals are overburdened and they're taking a very long time to adjudicate cases.

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

You've hit on the two things that matter so much to me. Historically, more than 50% of the complaints to the Canadian Human Rights Commission have been on the grounds of disability, and the vast majority of those in employment. We know this is happening. That's why employment is a key pillar of our disability inclusion action plan, making sure that we put a standard for employment in place through Accessibility Standards Canada so that becomes part of the proactive regime of barrier identification, unburdening the individual from having to fight case by case at the Human Rights Tribunal. They can lean on and expect their government to make that fight for them against their employer.

There's a lot going on this space, including education and awareness training for employers. Of course, this will be a key component of our employment strategy, because the number one barrier to full participation by persons with disabilities in society writ large is discrimination on the grounds of employment.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Madame Zarillo. Your time is up.

Now we go to Mr. Ruff for five minutes.

[Alex Ruff, Conservative, Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON]

Thanks, Chair.

Minister, part of your mandate letter includes a commitment to “Launch [the] Clean Jobs Training Centre to help [industrial skill and trade] workers across sectors to upgrade or gain new skills...to be on the leading edge of the zero carbon industry”.

As you may know, in my region nuclear power is of major importance, and nuclear is arguably a vital part of any sensible response to climate change. Unlike the green bond framework, will the clean jobs training centre include training and skills to help workers transition to the nuclear industry, or will it exclude this important and innovative industry? Is that yes or no, Minister?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

Actually, we're right now engaging stakeholders and other government departments on what that should include. That is definitely a topic of conversation, but, sorry, I can't weigh in either way on that yet.

[Alex Ruff, Conservative, Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON]

Thanks, Minister. Please weigh in that it should be included.

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

Understood. Message received.

[Alex Ruff, Conservative, Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON]

My next question is one that I've brought up before in the House. It's with respect to support for the visually impaired and those with print disabilities.

In last year's budget, the funding was cut, or there was no provision for long-term sustainable funding, for NNELS and CELA. The current funding envelope is very small, but the impact of this funding is significant. The loss of NNELS and CELA services to people with print disabilities in Canada will be devastating.

Can you provide a very quick update on what is happening with this file and your commitment in your mandate letter to permanently fund support services that ensure equitable access to reading and other published works for Canadians with print disabilities?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

Thank you. I've assured both CELA and NNELS that their funding levels will not go down for the next fiscal year as we work to permanently address this issue with them. I had a meeting with them recently where I told them this.

So they can breathe easy while we and while I continue to find the best path forward to permanently stabilize their funding, we're on it. They're good for the next year at least.

[Alex Ruff, Conservative, Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON]

Thanks, Minister. Please stay on top of that to ensure that there is no shortage while you're working on a long-term strategic plan.

My next area of questioning is around our agriculture sector, in particular our fruit and vegetable growers. Currently under the LMIA process, whether they're temporary foreign workers or seasonal, there are audits being done with respect to housing standards. At the provincial and municipal levels there are integrity audits, labour audits, municipal zoning regulations, fire codes and so on. Some of these farmers who are fundamental to our food security are undergoing eight audits in a given year.

What is your role and ESDC's role to streamline this and take away this bureaucratic burden to our fruit and vegetable growers?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

It's a really important question. Thank you. I recognize that this is one of the most complex and convoluted programs we have, partially as a function of the different levels of government and the different areas of responsibility. It's not an excuse but just the reality.

One of the most important things that I think we can do in addition to creating the sector-specific agricultural labour strategy that the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and I are working on with our producers and food processors is to establish a trusted employer system. This would significantly streamline application processes for Canadian companies hiring TFWs. You can imagine a NEXUS equivalent where, if you have a good compliance record, we wouldn't maybe require you to have an annual LMIA. We might extend the length of your LMIA. We might provide fewer inspections and take a more risk-based approach to inspection that lets us target the bad actors, if you will.

We know how burdensome this is. I think you'll be very pleased with how we move forward to modernizing and streamlining these processes. I know it should have been done already. We need to do this for our farmers.

[Alex Ruff, Conservative, Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON]

Yes. I would ask you to take that lead role at the federal level to help coordinate all these inspections or audits so that the farmers will be impacted only once and not multiple times.

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

Yes.

[Alex Ruff, Conservative, Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON]

My final question is tied to this. You initiated the consultation period in response to COVID for the bunkhouses for many of these temporary or seasonal ag workers. That was concluded last December. What are the new standards, if any, that our employers are to abide by, and when are they coming?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

It's a good question. We released a “what we heard” report on this in mid-December, I believe; I don't have the date in front of me, and I apologize. The next step is to hold a conversation, a round table, with all the implicated stakeholders to dig into what we heard and figure out what those standards should be.

We're working closely with PTs trying to, again, untangle jurisdiction, because of course this is primarily a PT area. The way during COVID that we were able to be a little more rigorous was to use immigration regulations, because of the extraordinary times of COVID, but we need a system that does this, not a one-off. We're working on it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Mr. Ruff.

I need direction from the committee now. The bells are ringing, but they're 30-minute bells. They've been ringing for a little less than five minutes.

Do you wish to continue on? What's the direction?