Human Resources Committee on Jan. 28th, 2022

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Danielle Widmer]

I am still waiting for a copy of the amendment. I need confirmation from Mr. Long.

Right now what I have reads:

That the officials appear in front the committee for one hour on January 31, 2022, on the subject of the processing times

If Mr. Long could repeat the end of that, it would be great or if he can send a copy to me, that would be wonderful.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

I'm happy to read it again, Mr. Chair, if that is what the committee wants.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Go ahead and read it into the record, Mr. Long.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Thank you.

It is as follows:

That the officials appear in front of the committee for one hour on January 31, 2022, on the subject of the processing times that exceed the goal of a 30-day service standard for responding to Canadian Employment Insurance claimants at Service Canada.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Madam Zarrillo, do you have your hand up?

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

I do. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to ask about seconding these motions and amendments. I don't think they need a seconder but I would just like this to be clarified.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Madam Clerk, can you clarify that for Madam Zarrillo?

[The Clerk]

A seconder is not required in committees.

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

Do we need to wait until we see this amendment in two languages before it can move forward?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

No.

The clerk can speak to it. Because it's an amendment during debate, translation services does not cover that, Madam Zarrillo.

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

Okay. Thank you very much.

I have a few comments.

Mr. Chair, I'd like to share them with the committee through you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Certainly.

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

I want to talk about the fact that this is definitely a very serious situation. There is a critical need for EI recipients to receive the entitlements that they're expecting.

I appreciate this debate about the political and technical side of this.

My question is regarding the status of these issues. We did get some briefing notes, but there hasn't been an update for a while. I believe that if we have ESDC come to the committee, they can answer my question, which is when are people's payments going to be restored? That is the number one thing on my mind.

I can support the motion on an hour of technical staff coming up because there are competing priorities in this committee and I want to get to as many of those priorities as possible. Many people in this community need support because of what happened during COVID and some of the shortfalls that have been there for a long time.

I want to mention people living with disabilities, those who feel exploited in the workforce, those who have worked the front lines of this pandemic and those who are awaiting serious investments in housing due to this housing crisis. I know the people who elected me and people who elected this government across the country are counting on this committee to work effectively and quickly to inform the government on potential legislation that can lift people out of poverty, improve working conditions for many who have worked on the front lines in this pandemic, and fix the housing crisis.

I'm here to do that work.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Madam Zarrillo.

Madam Kusie, do you have your hand up?

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Yes. Thank you, Chair.

Happy new year, everyone. It's so nice to get back to work here in the new year. I really wish everyone the best.

I also want to take a moment to thank the administration for being here today and supporting the work we're doing. It's great. We recognize and appreciate your presence here today. Thank you so much for doing that.

I want to agree with Ms. Zarrillo. Yes, this work absolutely has to be done on this committee of getting to these other priorities that Canadians have brought us here for. I couldn't agree more. There's no better way to do that than to bring in those who are at the highest level and most responsible for this work being done, and that's the ministers. There is no greater opportunity for direct accountability to our citizens, whom we've come here to represent, than to have the ministers here.

I completely support what Ms. Zarrillo said: that we are here and we want to get to work. This is a very outstanding—and not in a good way—piece of an issue that Madame Chabot has brought forward. If we want to get to work for Canadians and we want to really get that accountability for them that we all came to Ottawa virtually or in person for, the best way to do that is to get the ministers here and get the answers directly from those who are ultimately held accountable for everything that's going on. As my colleague Mr. Jeneroux did point out, within the motion it does say other individuals or other supports as required to support those questions, but the best way to get accountability, to get answers and to get action is to have the ministers appear.

Also, with that, Mr. Chair, I'd like to see if we could get the motion in writing, please. I think a written copy would be helpful, just to very clearly outline perhaps which officials—as a former public official myself, I never like using the word “bureaucrat”—we can expect and the length of time for that.

I will leave my comments there, but again, thank you so much, Madame Chabot, for bringing this important issue to Canadians. Let's get the ministers here so that we can get answers at the highest levels for those whom we came here to represent, and then keep moving forward with this committee.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Mrs. Kusie.

Ms. Chabot, you have the floor.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I don't have the wording of Mr. Long's amendment in front of me. Although I understand the spirit of the amendment, I am against it.

I spelled out why I think it's necessary that the ministers responsible for this appear before the committee and answer our questions. It is not malicious; I think it is even healthy, democratically speaking. Given that so many people have challenged and continue to indirectly challenge the ministers responsible for this, I would be honoured to come and answer all the questions if I were in their shoes.

Having said that, if I had the wording of the amendment, I could suggest a subamendment in the spirit of cooperation. Since I do not, I would not know where to insert my subamendment, so I will give you the essence of it. In the first hour of the meeting on Monday, January 31, I would like us to hear from the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Ms. Gould, who is responsible for Service Canada. We would spend the second hour with officials from that department.

I hereby submit a subamendment to be tagged onto the amendment. Having the wording of the amendment on hand would make things easier.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Ms. Chabot.

Before we go to that, Mr. Ruff has his hand up.

Mr. Ruff, you have the floor.

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

Thanks, Chair.

My question very much aligns with Madame Chabot's. I'm just trying to understand the amendment and how it changes or makes any deletions to the original motion. As I understood it, Mr. Long is proposing that these officials show up first and then the ministers would still be forthcoming, but I just want to get clarity as to the exact amendment. Obviously if that's not the case, if he's proposing we delete the original motion and have a completely new motion, then obviously Madame Chabot's intervention, what she's proposing, is a subamendment.

Can we get some clarity on the full motion and on the amendment? I'd appreciate that.

Thanks.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Mr. Ruff.

I'm going to ask the clerk to read Mr. Long's amendment slowly into the record.

Madam Clerk, do you have Mr. Long's amendment?

[The Clerk]

I do indeed.

In the original motion—

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Just so everybody is clear, Madam Clerk is going to read Mr. Long's amendment to the main motion.

Madam Clerk.

[The Clerk]

Mr. Long's amendment reads as follows:

That the officials appear in front of the committee for one hour on January 31, 2022, on the subject of the processing times that exceed the goal of a 30-day service standard for responding to employment insurance claimants at Service Canada.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Okay. I'm going to call on Mr. Long, but you've heard Mr. Long's amendment.

Mr. Long, do you have a comment?

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Thank you, Chair.

Through you to the member, the intent of the amendment was to have the officials instead of the minister appear for one hour. The second hour we'd get to committee business and onto the other motions.

Thank you, Chair.