Human Resources Committee on Oct. 25th, 2023

[Shawna Akerman]

They do.

In February, I put up all the job descriptions. I do Zooms, because I usually hire about 100 people hoping to see how many grants in how many municipalities. I have about 100 staff on hold. I feel terrible doing that, but I tell them they might have the job or they might not. The minute I have all my contracts and everything ready, with everyone's emails—all hundreds—in the system, I'm offering the job as soon as I get my grant.

Whenever you say yes to me.... They come in differently, by the way. For nine of them, I only got five responses. For the other two, I didn't even get a no. They just sat there in the government account saying “pending”. They could have come in at any time. I got one really late from Barrie, and that was for 20 people. If you don't use it, you don't get it again, so you know I used it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Ms. Chabot.

We'll now go to Ms. Zarrillo for two minutes to conclude.

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

Thank you.

These two minutes are really quick, so I'm going to focus on training. I'm going to ask Mr. Pederson and then Ms. Akerman.

I'm hopeful that we will get a recommendation out of this report to expand the eight weeks to at least accommodate the reality of the need for training.

Mr. Pederson, I would ask if you could recommend how much time you believe is needed for training to give the Canada summer jobs grant employees you hire the best chance of success in their summer jobs.

[Gord Pederson]

Thank you for your question.

I believe at least one full week dedicated to training is needed, if not a little bit more. We provide a lot of stuff in that, such as first aid and other kinds of programs that we partner up with other communities for. We need, certainly, at least a minimum of a week to make that happen.

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

Is that a cost to you to have the first aid?

[Gord Pederson]

Yes, it is.

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

Can you share how much per...?

[Gord Pederson]

It worked out to about $70 to $80 per person.

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

Thank you so much.

Ms. Akerman.

[Shawna Akerman]

I do the same training. My staff also does the vulnerable sector check at a cost to them, which is probably $20. There was another cost. I can't remember it now, but CPR....

I would like at least 12 weeks for most of my staff. Because we're talking about teens with disabilities who don't want to leave their houses, we do a lot of nurturing. Everyone I hire, almost in February, does volunteer work for me throughout the year, if they can, in some way or the other, to prove they want to be part of my community and to have that job. That's how I do my training.

I only a run a six-week program so that I could do a week of training and a week of follow-up at the end to see what everyone learned and what they liked. I do a lot of feedback and surveys in person, because no one does it online. Twelve weeks would be great.

I'd also like two positions—I know Mr. Pederson would too—of 20 weeks for a director who can run it, so I don't have to anymore. I'd like to pass it on, but it's hard to do that if you don't have the positions to pass on to.

Twenty weeks, 12 weeks and a couple of eights, and we're good.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Ms. Zarrillo.

Ms. Akerman, you had the last word from the witnesses.

With that, I will advise the witnesses that they can leave.

Committee members, we have a few minutes for committee business, but I'm not going in camera.

I need direction first. I'm going to get permission from the committee to put out the press release advising when we will be starting the AI study, if that's agreeable. As well, there is a press release that the financialization study will be tabled in the House and a press release covering Mr. Aitchison's motion that will be tabled in the House. We have three press releases going out.

Is that good?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

On Monday, we have Romy Bowers and Kelly Gillis appearing, so I believe you may want a little time to give drafting instructions to the analysts, unless you're comfortable with doing it now.

We can go over by no more than six minutes.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Are you talking about the Canada summer jobs...?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Yes. I would like to carve off some time on Monday's meeting for drafting instructions.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

No, not at that meeting.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Okay. Then we have to do it now.

We need to give drafting instructions to the analysts on the Canada summer jobs. We've concluded. This is the last meeting with witnesses.

Ms. Zarrillo.

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

Thank you. I guess it's fairly quick.

On drafting instructions, I certainly heard a lot about the social impact. I would sure like to see some of the importance of social impact in the report, because perhaps the mandate of Canada summer jobs can have a dual mandate, or it can have that addition.

Also, I'm always interested in the gender perspective and the gender aspect. I think we had some amazing testimony today on disability. Perhaps why it under-indexes for disability.... Certainly, Mr. Jones and Mr. Emmanuel also talked about equity-seeking groups and the Black community. I think we should definitely have a portion on those under-represented groups and how we could make that better.

Then, lastly, I have been pushing.... I hope there's some testimony that talks about the other aspects of Canada summer jobs—not just the money they gain or the work. Can there be other ways to lead them into the labour force, like around how to file taxes? If they have entitlements, they need to know about it.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Ms. Zarrillo.

I have Madame Chabot, Mr. Van Bynen and, I believe, Mrs Gray.

Go ahead, Madame Chabot.

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

Perhaps I see this report as too simple.

Our study was spread over four meetings, three of them with witnesses, and the mandate was clear. The witnesses were quite generous for the most part. They gave us recommendations or food for thought, both on the modalities of the program and its financing.

The various avenues they suggested could be very relevant and we could use them in our report. I haven't seen any briefs, or at least I haven't seen any in my P9 account. I don't know if we've received many. I'm getting the nod that there have been some.

As for the main recommendations, we asked specific questions, to which we got answers.

Our task can be a simple one. I don't think it will be a voluminous report, unlike others.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

And for—

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

How many briefs did we receive?

[Eleni Kachulis, Analyst]

We only received one, but the due date is today. We may receive more.

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

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you for your comments, Ms. Chabot.

I have Mr. Van Bynen and then Mrs Gray. Then Mr. Coteau wants the floor.