Human Resources Committee on Dec. 11th, 2023

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Ms. Chabot and Mr. Minister.

This concludes the first hour. We will—

[Tony Van Bynen, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Mr. Chair, before we start the next portion, I notice that today is the deadline for briefs to be submitted for the intergenerational volunteerism study, and since our final meeting is being postponed until January, I'd like to extend the option for people to submit briefs until that date.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Mr. Van Bynen has requested that we extend the deadline for written briefs on the intergenerational volunteerism study until—

[Tony Van Bynen, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

—until the week of January 24, which is when we're scheduled for the last meeting.

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

On a point of order, Mr. Chair, I'm a little bit confused. I think that Mr. Van Bynen said our next meeting won't be until January. Does that mean our meeting on Wednesday has been cancelled?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

On intergenerational—

[Tony Van Bynen, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

It's the next meeting for the witnesses on the intergenerational volunteerism study. I'm sorry. I should have been clearer.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Is it the wish of the committee to extend the deadline?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Okay, that's agreed.

Thank you, Ministers Boissonnault and Khera and your staff for coming.

With that, the meeting is suspended for five minutes while we transition to the second hour.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

I call the meeting back to order.

Welcome, Minister Sean Fraser, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities; and Minister Jenna Sudds, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development.

Welcome to the committee.

From the Department of Employment and Social Development, we have the deputy minister, Paul Thompson; Karen Robertson, chief financial officer; and Andrew Brown, associate deputy minister.

We'll begin with opening statements of up to five minutes, and we'll start with Minister Fraser.

Minister Fraser, you have the floor.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Minister of Housing]

Chair, before I begin, is that five minutes combined or five minutes each?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

It's five minutes each.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Okay. I expect I'll be shorter than that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

That's the max.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

That's fine.

Colleagues, it's a pleasure to be here. I wish everyone a Merry Christmas in advance.

It's good to be here again to discuss the supplementary estimates.

The last time I was here, I spent some time going over some measures we were rolling out with a view to building more homes across Canada and helping to address the supply gap that exists.

As a quick reminder, the pillars of the path forward will involve policies designed to make the math work for home builders. That's where measures like the GST being removed from apartment construction come in. It's where the rental construction financing initiative, which provides low-cost loans to builders, comes in. It's where the changes to the Canada mortgage bonds, which are going to reduce the rate of borrowing for builders, come in.

The second pillar is changing the way cities build homes. We've had significant success, including agreements with municipalities across Canada that are going to fundamentally change the way they permit and zone for more housing to be built near transit, near post-secondary institutions and near opportunities and services that people need.

The third pillar was really directly investing in community housing, housing for low-income families who would not otherwise have a place to live. There are a number of ways we do that, including measures that were recapitalized in the recent fall economic statement through the affordable housing fund. We have a history of doing this through different programs, such as the rapid housing initiative, the co-investment fund and others, over the course of the past number of years.

The next pillar is focusing on growing the productive capacity of the Canadian workforce. You will have seen in the fall economic statement certain measures targeting labour mobility, for example. Going forward, you should expect to see a continued desire to invest in the skilled trades to build more homes, as well as in targeted immigration programs to attract the workers we need and we do not have currently, and importantly, to help industry tool up to build more homes and factories.

We also need to continue to focus on some of society's most vulnerable by investing in local efforts that will be led typically by municipal governments or organizations on the ground to address homelessness across Canada.

Finally, there are new measures we put in place to help people stay in, or get into, the market when it comes to home ownership. I'm thinking, for example, of the first home savings account, which has now seen more than 300,000 people, disproportionately young people, sign up to take advantage of a tax-free opportunity to get into the market, or of the recent inclusion of the Canadian mortgage charter, outlining what consumers ought to be entitled to when they deal with their financial institutions.

One thing to tie this back to the reason we're here is that it takes investment to achieve each of those policy outcomes that I think we would all like to see. The measures we put in place go through a parliamentary process to determine whether we're actually going to back the policy commitments with funding. What transpired last week in the House of Commons was a series of votes on a number of different measures designed to properly fund some of the initiatives included in the housing plan.

For example, direct investments in affordable housing through the co-investment fund and the rapid housing initiative were deliberately separated and voted on. The same is true about our low-cost financing programs that get more homes built. It is also true for shelters and transition housing, which are providing support to some of the most vulnerable, women and children in particular, and it included funding directly for veteran homelessness.

You can imagine, Chair, my disappointment, though perhaps not my surprise, when I saw that the Conservative Party made a point to specifically vote down each of those measures. Thankfully, we garnered support from other parties in the House of Commons, and we're able to move forward with the funds that will allow us to deliver on some of those very specific policy ideas.

In the interest of time, Mr. Chair, I'll leave my comments there, but rest assured, I'll be prepared to take whatever questions committee members may have.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Minister Fraser.

Minister Sudds, you have five minutes or less.

[Jenna Sudds, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee members, for inviting me to join you here today.

It is a pleasure to be here today to update you on the progress that pertains to my portfolio as Minister of Families, Children and Social Development.

The Government of Canada is focused on delivering policies and programs that make life better and more affordable for families in Canada.

We started in 2016, when we introduced the Canada child benefit. The CCB is tax-free and income-based so that it provides more support to families who need help the most. It's also indexed annually to keep pace with the cost of living. The CCB increased by 6.3% this year, which means that low-income families are receiving up to $7,437 per child under six and up to $6,275 per child aged six to 17, to help pay for everyday living expenses.

And then there is the work being done to build a Canada-wide early learning and child care system.

As you know, in 2021, the Government of Canada made a transformative investment of nearly $30 billion to build a Canada-wide early learning and child care system with provincial, territorial, and indigenous partners.

We signed historic agreements with every province and territory to reduce parent fees for regulated child care to an average of $10 a day, create 250,000 new regulated child care spaces across the country by March 2026, and better support a well-qualified early childhood education workforce. The families of hundreds of thousands of children are already benefiting from more affordable child care. Six provinces and territories are offering child care for $10 a day or less and, in every other jurisdiction, fees for regulated child care have been cut on average by 50%, helping to put money back into people's pockets.

In Alberta, for example, families can save up to $10,300 annually per child, allowing families to move into a larger apartment or make the maximum annual contributions to their RESP. In Ontario, potential annual savings are up to $8,500 per child, which would cover the costs of annual undergrad tuition at McMaster or Queen's, for example, and allow an older child or parent to enrol in university.

But it was never just about reducing fees. It is also about growing the economy.

Studies have shown that for every dollar we've invested in early learning and child care, the broader economy would receive between $1.50 and $2.80 in return. Also, increasing access to more affordable and flexible child care helps parents, especially mothers, enter or re-enter the job market.

In many parts of Canada, the labour force participation for working-aged women with young children has reached record-high levels of nearly 80%.

However, getting affordable child care where it's needed most requires increasing the availability of regulated spaces. In response to requests from provinces and territories, the federal government is investing $625 million over four years in an early learning and child care infrastructure fund, with $75 million of this amount being requested through supplementary estimates (B). Through this fund, provinces and territories will be able to make key infrastructure investments that will support greater inclusion of underserved communities.

We're also working in collaboration with first nations, Inuit and Métis partners to ensure that affordable and culturally specific early learning and child care is available. To help grow these programs in underserved communities, the government is investing $441 million over four years to respond to indigenous early learning and child care infrastructure priorities.

In closing, let me say that our investments are about making meaningful improvements for Canadians and our economy.

I remain committed to working with my colleagues to support hard-working Canadians across the country and provide children with the best possible start in life.

With that, I welcome any questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Minister.

I understand that you're going to be in my home province later this week to make a child care announcement with the Government of Prince Edward Island. Thank you. I'm looking forward to it.

Mr. Aitchison, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to ask the Minister of Housing a couple of questions.

Minister, I see that in the supplementary estimates you've asked for more money. I want to focus on the housing accelerator fund. Would you say that the housing accelerator fund—this $4-billion program—is aimed at municipalities to increase homebuilding and to speed up the process? Is that generally what its focus is?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

More specifically, it's to secure systemic reforms when it comes to a zoning and permitting process, with a goal of building more homes over time.

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Right, so how many municipalities now have you done deals with?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

We have seven signed, but there are more where we have agreements wrapped up, more or less, plus the Province of Quebec.

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

This is a $4-billion fund that was promised in 2021—

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

It was campaigned on in 2021.