Human Resources Committee on Nov. 18th, 2025

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

Child predators and sex offenders are some of the most reprehensible criminals in society. These criminals should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. All parties in Parliament had the opportunity to support a number of measures to protect children.

Unfortunately, the Conservative Party voted against Bill C‑63, the online harms bill, which would have protected children from online predators, for example. The Conservatives also voted and actively campaigned against legal tools that were included in Bill C‑2. It would have given law enforcement the tools they have been asking for to stop pedophiles.

Protecting our children shouldn't be a partisan issue. It's unfortunate that the Conservatives made it one.

[Andrew Lawton, Conservative, Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, ON]

Thank you. It's odd that your Liberal colleagues think this is outside of your mandate, but you had a prescripted answer there.

I will ask a very simple question. Do you believe it is cruel and unusual punishment to impose a mandatory minimum sentence of one year on someone who preys on and revictimizes children by consuming child sexual exploitation and abuse material, yes or no?

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

I support all the laws put forward by our government to protect children. I encourage members of all parties to support these laws that will protect children. We will have an opportunity to do that in the House in the coming weeks.

[Andrew Lawton, Conservative, Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, ON]

By the way, in the original cases that I described, a one-year sentence was not even given. One of the offenders was given 90 days of intermittent sentences by the court, and then later on that was beefed up to a one-year sentence. This is what the Supreme Court has said is cruel and unusual punishment.

Do you think these people should be getting house arrest and weekend sentences when they traumatize children?

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

That's not part of my mandate.

I'm in favour of the legislation that our government is introducing, particularly those designed to protect our children in all contexts, whether online or in the schoolyard.

It's up to Minister Sean Fraser to propose such legislation. All members should support it if we want to protect our children.

[Andrew Lawton, Conservative, Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, ON]

Secretary Gainey, is it your view that what happens to children and youth in this country has no bearing on your role so long as the government gives them a sandwich at school?

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

In the coming weeks, the government will introduce legislation in the House of Commons, and you will have the opportunity to vote on measures to protect children.

[Andrew Lawton, Conservative, Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, ON]

When is the legislation coming?

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

A number of pieces of legislation will be proposed. Minister Sean Fraser will be able to answer those questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Mr. Lawton.

Ms. Church, you have five minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Secretary of State, for being here today and for illuminating for this committee the work this government is doing to protect children and make it easier for families across the country to deal with some of the common expenses that families face.

It's significant that in the past few weeks, as is certainly reflected in the budget that the members opposite voted against only yesterday evening, the government announced its intention to make the national school food program permanent, making Canada the final country in the G7 to have a national school food program that aims to fill a gap in families' and children's lives by ensuring that kids have healthy meals at school.

Can you talk, in your role, about the impact this is having, the organizations that have supported this and the collaboration with provinces and territories that has brought this program to fruition? Can you also, perhaps, touch on both the impacts on kids and the affordability it will offer families when it's in full operation?

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

Thank you. I was going to call you Leslie, but I'm supposed to call you MP Church here, I think.

Thank you for the question.

This program really builds on one that was put in place in 2024. A number of our colleagues worked very hard to bring it forward in that budget with an investment of $1 billion over five years, which led very rapidly to agreements with all the provinces, territories and indigenous partners.

This program is very popular and is a great investment in families, as we have discussed. It represents a savings of around $800 a year on groceries for families with two children. It ensures that where the need is greatest, as much as possible, children have access to food at school.

This allows them, obviously, to learn on a full stomach, which means they're able to focus and pay attention. In visiting schools and speaking with teachers and stakeholders, it's clear that this has an impact on the children's capacity to learn and participate in school, which is obviously going to have long-term socio-economic outcomes for our families and for our society as a whole.

We are also investing in the research to continue to understand better what this means downstream in terms of the outcomes—the positive impact this has on families and on children's development and health. It's also about learning healthy habits around nutrition and these kinds of things.

I think there are multiple ways that school food has an impact. It is new, so the goal now in making the program permanent is to go back to negotiate with the provinces the next round of funding and to ensure we are getting the action reports back.

I could let the deputy speak to that in terms of being able to follow the investment and the impact it's having.

Is there time for him to add to the reporting and the outcomes on that?

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

Sure.

Go ahead, Deputy Thompson.

[Paul Thompson, Deputy Minister, Department of Employment and Social Development]

Thank you for the question.

Indeed, on both child care and school food we've put in place robust reporting requirements so that Canadians are well informed of the results of the investments. We have a goal to achieve up to 400,000 additional children fed through the program. There will be reporting made available to all Canadians in terms of the progress being made towards that goal, but we're quite optimistic, based on the experience to date, about meeting those targets.

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

As I understand it, it's part of a suite of measures that this government has introduced and continues to support that provide very important assistance to children and their families. I know that from my perspective, there are families in my riding of Toronto—St. Paul's who are saving over $10,000 a year on child care. As someone who meets with employers regularly, I hear from employers about the need for child care for families and, actually, additional spaces and expansion of that program.

Can you talk a little bit, in the remaining moments that we have, about the importance of continuing to support child care and its access and availability in Canada?

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

Certainly, it is a game-changer for families, as I said in my opening remarks. Fees have come down dramatically, by over 50% in many provinces. We are under $10 a day in eight jurisdictions. We're going to continue to invest, defend and protect that program. We do need more spaces. There's a commitment in the Build Canada Homes mission, for example, to include, as MP Desrochers would know, more child care as we build out.

It is not just at ESDC. It is understood across government as an important investment in our future and in supporting parents in their capacity to join the workforce.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Ms. Church.

Mr. Blanchette‑Joncas, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Madam Secretary of State, according to Environment Canada, seven out of 10 young people are very or extremely concerned about climate change. In Quebec, the Institut du Nouveau Monde tells us that climate is the top concern for young people, well before the economy.

Meanwhile, your budget creates a youth climate service, while maintaining subsidies of up to $100 billion to oil companies until 2040. In doing so, you're reducing your climate ambition and even abandoning your own promise to plant two billion trees.

Why are you asking young people to manage disasters that your government refuses to even prevent?

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

Thank you for the question.

Yesterday in the House, the Prime Minister was very clear in answering Ms. May's question about our government's concerns and the importance of continuing to work on climate change for the people in our ridings.

So it's at the heart of our work, and it's part of the budget. We have a plan to boost our climate competitiveness.

We've also invested in Climate Action Network Canada. The goal is to give young people the tools to contribute and work—

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

You want to give them confidence.

Is that what you mean?

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

Yes, we want to give them confidence, but we also want to give them tools and skills.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

Has Canada already managed to meet one of its objectives in the fight against climate change?

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

I'm here to talk about my mandate. If you have any questions about that, I invite you to ask some of my colleagues. They will really be in a better position to answer it.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

I love the questions I have the answers to. So the answer is no.

How can you think that young people believe your climate intentions if your government is abandoning its own promises? I'm thinking in particular, as I mentioned before, of the promise to plant two billion trees under the Trudeau government.

The government is even subsidizing oil companies to the tune of $100 billion until 2040.

Don't you see an inconsistency there? You're giving yourselves tools to conduct consultations, while you're pouring fuel on the fire and fuelling climate change.

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

We're focused on building the strongest economy in the G7. We will do this by launching projects that will provide jobs and career opportunities for young people across Canada.

The Prime Minister is very clear about the government's objectives. There are many of them, and one of them is on climate. It's very important.