I think we heard a lot of dialogue on the administration and—I'm only using my words—how it was micromanaged, as well as on more flexibility in the administration of the program in terms of how resources are utilized within the program by the employers.

I think there's a need to have good clarification on how the scoring is done, because it's important people make sure the elements of their program are the best fit. If there are minor adjustments in their programs that would make them more eligible.... Some of the witnesses had some room, in terms of who they focus on, who they hire and what their training programs are going to be. If they knew all those things well enough in advance, I think that would make a big difference in the effectiveness of the applications.

Those are the two concerns: Let the applicants understand what we're looking for, so they can work towards achieving that, and then give them some flexibility as to how they manage the resources they get.

7 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey

Thank you, Mr. Van Bynen.

Go ahead, Mrs Gray.

7 p.m.

Conservative

Tracy Gray Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I trust the analysts to go through the testimony.

A couple of things that stood out, which I think were consistent with a lot of the witnesses, were the timing of the notification, the overall process of the application, the accessibility—which we heard about from a number of witnesses—service standards, local priorities and data collection.

That's all testimony you heard.

7 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey

Ms. Ferreri wants the floor.

Mrs Gray, are you finished?

7 p.m.

Conservative

Tracy Gray Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC

Yes. Thanks.

7 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey

Go ahead, Ms. Ferreri.

7 p.m.

Conservative

Michelle Ferreri Conservative Peterborough—Kawartha, ON

I would echo what my colleague Mrs Gray said.

I'm not sure whether this was added to this, but one witness.... Do we have to say this, if you guys already heard the witness testimony? I have never done this process before in a committee, where you say what you....

Okay. The one witness from Douro-Dummer talked about how the application was not reflective of the demographic and the rural component. I think that's a key piece when we're looking at this. You can't punish a region of Canada for not being diverse enough, if they don't have the diversity there.

Then, to Mrs Gray's point, data, obviously, is a big piece of it, along with the timing of notification, accessibility, service standards like follow-up, and local priorities, obviously.

Thanks.

7 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey

Thank you. That's good.

Analysts, do you have anything?

Go ahead, Eleni.

7 p.m.

Analyst

Eleni Kachulis

I just had two additional follow-up questions.

One of those is a smaller one: Is the committee interested in continuing with the approach of having those pull-quotes, as with the financialization report?

The second question is around whether there is a specific deadline for this one. I know that the committee's calendar is scheduled until the end of December. Is there a particular time when the committee would like to consider this one?

7 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey

I have Madame Chabot.

7 p.m.

Bloc

Louise Chabot Bloc Thérèse-De Blainville, QC

I don't wish to see any highlighted report quotes.

I did ask a question, but perhaps it wasn't addressed to you. The sooner the better, certainly. That report will arrive. On the other hand, we've all received the program in our constituencies. I don't know if, along the way, there might be some improvements.

Speeding things up, in the case of this report, so that it can be sent to the government as soon as possible could prove useful in terms of present or future recommendations. I say that without prejudice. As far as improvements are concerned, this is linked to your work, Mr. Chairman. I think that, unlike with other reports, we could find the time to study this one fairly quickly.

7:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey

Mrs. Gray is next.

7:05 p.m.

Conservative

Tracy Gray Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I was just going to say, to be cutting into other time to be having committee business.... We already have a full calendar. As we just heard, we know that we've already gotten from the department...to do our priorities for next year, so it's already done. You wouldn't think that there are going to be any changes for this year, so I wouldn't want to bump something else to have a committee business day taken away from other legislation and other things we need to be doing.

7:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey

Thank you, Mrs. Gray.

We cannot alter the calendar without the committee choosing to do it.

I have two final points on the AI study. It has been recommended that the Minister of Employment and Workforce Development would be better able to address the issues than the Minister of Labour, whom we invited. Does the committee want to stick with the Minister of Labour on AI or invite the Minister of Employment and Workforce Development?

7:05 p.m.

Liberal

Michael Coteau Liberal Don Valley East, ON

I think it should be both.

7:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey

That's a great idea—decision made.

7:05 p.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh!

7:05 p.m.

Conservative

Tracy Gray Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC

One for a couple of hours and another one for a couple of hours...?

7:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey

We'll invite them. We don't tell who comes—

7:05 p.m.

An hon. member

One hour each.

7:05 p.m.

Liberal

Michael Coteau Liberal Don Valley East, ON

Maybe even suggest the Minister of Innovation...?

7:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey

On one final point, Mr. Coteau, you want to brief the committee on the option of submitting a travel attached to your study.

7:05 p.m.

Liberal

Michael Coteau Liberal Don Valley East, ON

Yes.

There are apparently a lot of witnesses we've invited, which is great. Thank you to everyone who has submitted names. I know that we submitted a bunch of names. In addition to that, I think going out there and seeing AI in action is something that we should be doing.

We filled out the form, and we asked for the consideration of the following destinations: Boston, Seattle, Toronto and Montreal. I'd also like to add San Francisco as an option, because of Silicon Valley. I know it's hard during the regular parliamentary cycle, but I'd like us to consider it for maybe some time in January, with one day in Toronto and one day in Montreal, either-or, and then maybe two days in Boston and two days in either Seattle or San Francisco. That would be my recommendation to the committee. If it's possible that we can fit that in, I think it would benefit our study overall.

7:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey

Committee members, I need direction. The way this works is that, if the committee gives the approval to at least consider it, then the staff will work on preparing a budget based on those cities. It will come back to the committee. The committee will then choose if they want to approve it. It then goes to the Liaison Committee for further approval.

At this stage, Mr. Coteau simply wants approval for the committee staff to prepare a draft budget for travel for this committee, which has to then meet all the guidelines. A committee will travel only when the House is not on sitting days. They will prepare a budget based on the locations Mr. Coteau identified.

Are we okay with having this prepared in the last few days before we meet the deadline?

7:05 p.m.

Conservative

Tracy Gray Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC

I'd like to have some time to consider that before making a decision today.