Human Resources Committee on March 28th, 2022

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Madam Zarrillo.

If the answer could be provided in writing to the committee, it would be appreciated. The time has gone well over.

[Josée Bégin]

We can do that. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you.

Mr. Ruff, you have five minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the witnesses for coming.

As a bit of a preamble, I represent a very rural riding, likely with the second-oldest demographic in Ontario, so try to keep that in mind when responding, please.

My first question is for Polytechnics Canada. It's around the dashboard you suggested. Who are you suggesting is responsible for that at the federal level?

[Matthew Henderson]

I think there is a variety of organizations that would be well positioned, Statistics Canada being one of them. I think the point is that there's a lot of awesome work being done in data collection on both the supply and demand sides, whether by the Labour Market Information Council, Statistics Canada, Future Skills Centre, industry associations, sector councils, etc.

I think maybe there just needs to be some alignment to take otherwise fragmented systems and put them together and align the methodology so that we're able to make these comparisons over a longer-time horizon. Certainly one of the national bodies that is overseeing some of this work would be well positioned to lead the effort.

Thank you.

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

To expand on that a bit, one of the challenges much of rural Canada has is the lack of access to the Internet. As we go more digital, and considering as well the challenges for people to access and go through this, can you expand a bit on the importance of having Internet access right across this country?

[Matthew Henderson]

That's an excellent point. That's why, as we make gains in the navigation to lifelong learning, those need to be complemented by an equal commitment to broadband across the country. This is to ensure that as we're developing digital services, we're not exacerbating existing inequalities and that, as we're increasing the navigation to lifelong learning, those living coast-to-coast-to-coast in Canada are able to access it as well.

The point is that it needs to be complemented by gains in making the Internet more widely available across the country, so that folks will be able to access such a platform as we're suggesting.

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

My next question is a bit of a change in direction. In Ontario this past year—I know we're delving into a bit of provincial jurisdiction—they've reintroduced a nursing education program, which I think will be essential to helping fill some of the labour shortages in long-term care homes with PSWs, and getting more people trained more easily. More importantly, it will help retain them where those college locations are in our home areas.

Could you expand on whether this is the type of program where more provinces and the federal government could take a role in providing some guidance and support?

[Matthew Henderson]

Certainly. Without getting into the challenges of federalism and the federalist nature of the country, 100% of them are looking for best practices, and some of the provincial programs that have been set up throughout the pandemic to expedite the transition from to employment would help to mitigate some of the labour gaps.

To the second point that you raise, as our CEO Sara Watts-Rynard indicated in her remarks, post-secondary infrastructure is a big piece to ensure that we're providing education and that training that is very much industry-aligned and that students are learning on the equipment that is used in the workplace. Part of that is increasing the simulation capacity of education training, which would then, in turn, increase access to ensure....

For example, Conestoga College in Kitchener, Ontario, has a centralized location where they are able to lead the training for folks who are working in rural communities through video conferencing and other software. As we are able to make broadband more accessible across the country, the ability to use simulated learning to expand the access to education and training is an important additional step.

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

I totally agree. It goes back to my earlier point about rural Canada and the importance for the federal government to focus on rural Canada even more. You can't move forward on some of this without it.

My final, quick question will be to Stats Canada. Can you expand a bit on part-time versus full-time unemployment rates? Is there a difference between rural and urban areas?

Thanks.

[Vincent Dale]

I can respond to that question.

We'd be happy to provide you with that information. I don't have the details at hand, but we can easily provide that information.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Mr. Ruff.

We'll go now to Mr. Collins for five minutes, to finish up the first panel.

[Chad Collins, Liberal, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

My questions, to start, will be for Statistics Canada.

As noted in the opening, we continue to see strong economic growth across the country in all provinces and territories. The recent labour force survey noted that we gained approximately 337,000 jobs, dropping our unemployment rate to 5.5%. As I think Ms. Bégin noted in her opening, it's much lower than the prepandemic numbers from 2020, where the rate was 5.7%.

Can you verify the numbers as they relate to the unemployment rate? Can you provide us a snapshot of where we've made gains, and in what sectors? How do our numbers compare to our neighbours south of the border?

[Josée Bégin]

Statistics Canada could provide additional information in writing on industries terms of provinces. We also do some analysis from time to time to compare with the United States. We would be happy to provide that information.

[Chad Collins, Liberal, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

Okay.

Do you have that information this morning as it relates to sectors and where we have made the strongest gains, and as it relates to employment growth?

[Josée Bégin]

I don't have that information with me. I can turn to my colleague, Vincent, to see if he has additional information.

[Vincent Dale]

To partially address your point, there are some sectors, for example, professional, scientific and technical services, the industry category that includes the tech sector, that have shown a significant employment increase compared with prepandemic levels. There are a few others, but I would want to verify them. Health care employment is up, compared with the levels before COVID-19. That is not a surprise. In industries like accommodation, food and recreation, which are very affected by public health shutdowns, employment is not yet back to prepandemic levels.

We can go through the data and give you a comprehensive response, but in general it's true to say that some industries have experienced substantial growth compared with prepandemic levels, and others have not yet recovered.

[Chad Collins, Liberal, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

Thank you for that, Mr. Dale.

I was pleasantly surprised to see strong gains in the construction area. As you know, Mr. Chair, our government is very anxious to see an increased housing supply and more units constructed to assist with the affordability issue.

I noticed in the report that the construction sector experienced some good gains. Do we traditionally see seasonal bumps in this sector? If so, are these gains comparable to what we would have experienced prior to the pandemic?

[Vincent Dale]

I can respond to that.

The data we report in the labour force survey released every month is what we call “seasonally adjusted”. In other words, we've taken steps to remove the impact of seasonality. When we say that employment in that sector is higher than pre-COVID levels, you can take that as being in addition to any seasonal effects.

I will note that construction is interesting in the sense that, while employment has exceeded pre-COVID levels, it's also one of the sectors with quite a large increase in job vacancies. In other words, the total labour demand, both met and unmet, is substantially higher than pre-COVID levels. You can think of investments in infrastructure and other factors driving construction activity as being responsible for that increase in overall labour demand.

[Chad Collins, Liberal, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

Okay. Thanks, Mr. Dale.

If I use the 37,000 jobs that were created, you highlighted that you monitor that through building permit activity. I know, coming from the municipal sector, that the value of the permits is an important indicator to look at. In terms of the sheer number of permits, is that tracked as well, and then do you break that down by commercial, residential, industrial and institutional, much like municipalities would?

[Vincent Dale]

I don't have those details at hand. There are other colleagues in Stats Canada who are responsible for the building permit data, but we'd be very happy to dig up that information and report back to you.

[Chad Collins, Liberal, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

Okay.

Thanks, Mr. Chairman.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Mr. Collins.

That concludes the first group of witnesses.

I want to thank you for appearing. I would ask all the witnesses, as the questions were quite technical this morning, that if you could follow up with the information the committee requested, that would be great. I know it's tough to cover it in six minutes when you're dealing with that type of detail.

Thank you for appearing, and, please, if you could submit any additional information you feel is relevant to the committee in writing, it would be most appreciated.

With that, we'll suspend for two minutes while we transition to the next group of witnesses.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

We'll resume with the second grouping of witnesses.

We have, from the Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence, James Janeiro; from the Canadian Medical Association, Katharine Smart; and from the Canadian Nurses Association, Michael Villeneuve, chief executive officer.

We will start with the Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence for five minutes.

I would ask the witnesses to please keep your comments within five minutes because committee members have an extensive list of questions.

Mr. Villeneuve, you may begin.

[James Janeiro, Policy Consultant, Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence]

Wonderful. Thank you for the opportunity to present.

My name is James Janeiro. I'm here on behalf of the Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence.

We are a new organization powered by the Azrieli Foundation, and we'll launch in May.

We believe that caregiving is the next frontier of public policy in Canada, and our mission is to support and empower caregivers and care providers, advance the knowledge and capacity of the caregiving field, and advocate for effective and visionary social policy, all with a disability-informed lens.

Like many sectors of the economy, the profession of paid caregiving is plagued by systemic issues that have been laid bare by the pandemic. Low wages, unstable work arrangements, unpredictable hours and insufficient training have all be exposed in many areas of the caregiving economy. The sector is comprised of many racialized and newcomer workers, most of whom are women. We have all heard of the working conditions and staff shortages in long-term care and the impact that has had on seniors across the country.

In the developmental services sector, many staff supporting children and adults with intellectual disabilities work for more than one employer to make ends meet, or rely on gig work to supplement their wages, while both full and part-time employment opportunities go unfulfilled for months.

The same is true for home care staff who provide life saving care to vulnerable people living in their homes.

We must do better to support paid caregivers in their work. In doing so, we can make the profession of caregiving more attractive and help address long-term labour shortages across all areas of the economy. After all, paid caregiving is a job, and workers deserve to be paid an adequate wage. Unfortunately, wages in the caregiving sector are simply insufficient to draw staff into the profession and keep them in the field.

The home and community care sector in Ontario is one example where insufficient investment in wages has created a labour shortage. Frontline staff in this sector are the lowest paid of the entire health care system in Ontario.

Over the past decade, provincial budgets have created new capacity while freezing base budgets. Consequently, many providers are providing services at funding rates that are vastly out of date and do not reflect increases and the real cost of operations. It is becoming increasingly difficult to attract and retain staff, which impacts the quality of life of clients living at home and ultimately puts more even more stress on our health care system.

As the federal government contemplates the twin challenges of labour shortages in caregiving and pressures on our health care system, we submit that federal health care funding tied to increasing both capacity and base wages in the home and community care sector across the country would result in higher wages, improve recruitment and retention, improve quality of care and ultimately put less pressure on emergency rooms.

As we begin to repair our economy, we recommend that your study also consider the bigger picture of caregiving. All caregiving sectors are experiencing labour shortages. Which in turn creates other labour shortages across the entirety of the economy.

In 2018, one quarter of Canadians provided care to someone who needed it. A study published in 2013 projected that over half of all Canadians will provide unpaid care at some point in their lives to a friend or family member in need. This care is disproportionately delivered by women. Out of necessity, many caregivers need to partially or fully withdraw from the labour market to care for their loved ones, which further contributes to labour shortages across the country as these potential workers, turned caregivers, cannot work full-time for want of available paid caregiver support. In effect, this further shrinks the number of working age adults who can fill jobs. This dynamic was estimated to cost upwards of $1.3 billion in lost productivity per year. It drives down incomes and contributes to the gender wage gap.

As you prepare the study on labour shortages in caregiving, we urge you to consider the many negative effects of underfunding and low wages in paid caregiving. Addressing this issue would improve the quality of life for millions of vulnerable people who need care, including seniors able to live at home longer thanks to high quality home and community care services provided by personal support workers.

It would create new automation-proof jobs in the predominantly female, racialized and newcomer caregiving economy, and reactivate many unpaid caregivers who could rejoin the workforce when their loved ones' care needs are met. Caregiving can be a rewarding career and sustain a good quality of life if properly supported and compensated.

Thank you for the opportunity. I look forward to your questions.