Human Resources Committee on Nov. 18th, 2025

[Caroline Desrochers, Liberal, Trois-Rivières, QC]

That's a lie.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

That is absolutely insane, but this is what's happening, because people can't afford formula.

Secretary, do you know what the most stolen food product is in Canada?

[Anna Gainey, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC]

I do not.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

It's baby formula. That is an indictment on the quality of your government's ability to allow people the dignity of buying food. That is absolutely unacceptable.

I guess we're probably not going to agree on whether government or families should be feeding their families. I know clearly. I think that families should be feeding their families and not having to rely on government.

Perhaps we can find some common ground here. Do you believe as legislators that we should be doing what we can to protect the most vulnerable in our society, our children?

[Anna Gainey, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC]

I do, and that's why I support the Canada child benefit and why I've supported this budget and previous budgets that support and protect that investment. It is a $28-billion investment into families across this country. It reaches over six million children.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Minister, are you committed to helping the most vulnerable in our society, our children?

[Anna Gainey, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC]

I think everyone in this room is committed to helping the most vulnerable in our society.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Thank you.

I'm glad we could find some common ground.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Ms. Goodridge.

We'll now go to Ms. Desrochers, or is it Ms. Church?

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

I have a point of order, Chair.

Chair, while my colleague was speaking about people watering down baby formula and about baby formula being opened—

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Get to your point of order.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

—the parliamentary secretary, Ms. Desrochers, said that she was lying. She's not lying, and it was an interruption. I wonder if you can call Ms. Desrochers to order and, if she has objections to what my colleague—

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Mr. Genuis. I call you to order.

Thank you.

Go ahead, Ms. Church.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Chair, for what? She said it was a lie, and it was a heckle.

[An hon. member]

That's ridiculous.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Can we have some decorum, Chair? It is a matter of order—

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

I will take—

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

—and I'm asking you to call on the member, the parliamentary secretary, to address this.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Mr. Genuis.

Ms. Church, you have six minutes.

[Leslie Church, Liberal, Toronto—St. Paul's, ON]

I think Ms. Desrochers is up.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you.

Ms. Desrochers, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Caroline Desrochers, Liberal, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I thank the secretary of state for being here with us today.

Actually, Ms. Gainey, I'd like to take this opportunity to also thank you for the excellent work you've been doing since the beginning of your mandate. We had difficult decisions to make regarding the budget that was tabled on November 4 and passed yesterday.

There was a lot of concern in the communities about maintaining or cancelling programs that help the most vulnerable. I know that you have worked very hard so that we can keep the programs. I want to thank you. The people in my riding also want to thank you.

Clearly, no one wants to be reduced to asking for charity. No one wants to find themselves in a situation where they need government programs to support their family and their children. However, there are times in life when that happens, unfortunately. When it does, I think people are happy knowing that they can count on programs like the ones our government has put in place and is maintaining.

Over the past few weeks, there has been a lot of talk about youth employment and the youth unemployment rate. You talked a bit about the new investments for summer jobs. You also provided us with data.

Could you talk a bit more about the work-integrated learning program?

In fact, we talk a lot in this committee about skilled trades workers and how we can support them. We're going to need them, given all the infrastructure we want to build.

Could you talk a bit more about the successes of that program?

[Anna Gainey, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC]

Thank you for the question.

I'm happy to talk about that.

We could talk a bit more about the student internship program framework, which connects students with employers in some sectors, especially high-demand ones.

I wasn't able to finish my opening remarks, and I'm sorry about that. I misunderstood the instructions on speaking time. I wanted to say that we are also making investments so that 55,000 more post-secondary students have the opportunity to take part in internships and co-op programs. These programs are very successful.

For the student work placement program, it was found that more than half of former students, or 56%, who followed a work-integrated learning program obtained permanent full-time employment immediately after graduation. We also know that an additional 14% of students were awarded full-time contracts.

That's an example of a program that Employment and Social Development Canada offers to help young people access employment. I also wanted to add that 34,000 employers and 420 post-secondary institutions are part of the program.

The program reaches a large number of schools and businesses in all regions, and it is appreciated by both young people and employers.

[Caroline Desrochers, Liberal, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Thank you.

I want to go back to something you mentioned in your opening remarks.

You talked about how the organizations we work with perceive the programs.

How do the organizations, the people who are on the ground on a daily basis, perceive them?

Do you consult these organizations when developing programs?

Could you give us more details on that?

[Anna Gainey, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC]

Thank you for the question.

To answer your question, I'm going to talk a little more about the Canada summer jobs program.

All members of Parliament have had the opportunity to hire staff through this program. It's about 200 jobs per riding, across the country. There are a number of businesses and summer camps in our respective ridings. These organizations appreciate the fact that they are given the opportunity to hire students during the summer.

The program is very popular, and that's why there's a demand. Our small and medium-sized businesses appreciate this program. We will increase the number of students eligible for the program by 30%, so there will be more placement opportunities for young people next summer, across the country.