Human Resources Committee on Nov. 25th, 2025

Conservative

Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB

Very specifically, Minister, have you specifically talked to the Prime Minister about the inflation on baby formula and the crisis it's creating in families, yes or no?

Liberal

Patty Hajdu Liberal Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON

Budget 2025—

Conservative

Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB

No, I asked for “yes” or “no”.

Liberal

Patty Hajdu Liberal Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON

I have spoken with the Prime Minister extensively about affordability issues that families are facing—

Conservative

Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB

Specifically baby formula?

Liberal

Patty Hajdu Liberal Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON

—and that's why in budget 2025, all of the care programs are protected. All of the affordability measures are protected. In fact, there's a tax cut for 22 million Canadians that you voted against.

Conservative

Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB

Thank you, Minister, so it's—

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey

Ms. Goodridge, Madam Minister, your time has gone over, and I did pause for all the points of order. Then again, I remind you that one cannot dictate to the witness what the answer should be. You can phrase the question as you choose. It is the witness who chooses to provide the answer.

With that, we will move to Madame Desrochers for five minutes.

Liberal

Caroline Desrochers Liberal Trois-Rivières, QC

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for being with us this morning.

First of all, thank you very much for all the advocacy work you've done to keep all the affordability measures in budget 2025. These measures really help our families get through difficult times when they need it. I want to thank you, on behalf of all the families in my riding and, I'm sure, on behalf of the families in my colleagues' ridings as well, including those in the opposition.

I'd like to start by giving you some time to finish your thoughts.

You were going to talk a little bit about some of the reforms to the employment insurance that have already been made over the last few years, and I was wondering if you could start with some of that.

Liberal

Patty Hajdu Liberal Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON

Yes.

Thank you very much.

It's a great honour for me to work for Canadian families across the country. There's a lot of anxiety right now. The world is a very different place now, given the tariff war and the impact it is having on Canadian families.

I would say that we knew that this would happen in fact, as we saw tariffs increasingly being applied to Canadian families and to Canadian companies. That's why we took immediate action early on in the spring, to transform EI very rapidly to address any situations of layoffs or instability.

There are two things.

We wanted to make sure that companies that have skilled workers they wish to keep employed would be able to do that. We've been able to apply work sharing in greater numbers for companies, which allows for the retention of their employees with the support of employment insurance. Companies can not only keep their employees but keep those skills. If you've ever run a company, you know that there's nothing more dangerous than losing your entire workforce and then trying to call them back. Oftentimes those people are no longer available, and that company is set back even further. This was not just about families but also about the stability of the sectors.

We also eliminated the waiting period for workers. There was usually at least a one-week waiting period, and we eliminated that waiting period. You can get EI from the moment you're laid off, and you can keep your severance pay. Oftentimes before, your EI would be held back based on any vacation pay you had accrued or other kinds of payments. Now, you can keep that money, so people are able to put that away, hold on to it or pay off some bills, whatever the case may be. There are also longer periods of pay for long-tenured workers, up to an additional 20 weeks for long-tenured workers because we know that it might be harder for them to re-enter the workforce, and they've been paying into EI for quite some time.

These kinds of measures are helping employees who are impacted and protecting employers who often are doing the hard work of pivoting to a new product, a new service or a new approach, and don't want to lose their employees, who are really skilled and really adapted to their workplace.

Liberal

Caroline Desrochers Liberal Trois-Rivières, QC

Keeping on the job side, we were very happy when we saw the latest report from Statistics Canada in terms of the 67,000 new jobs that were created in October. The unemployment rate is down to 6.9%, which is much better than expected.

You mentioned Build Canada Homes earlier and all of the jobs that this is going to create. Can you talk a little bit about other initiatives in budget 2025 that will really drive jobs across communities all over Canada?

Liberal

Patty Hajdu Liberal Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON

You're right, we've seen some really good numbers for two months in a row. I would say that we're holding stable and they're much better than economists had predicted. I think it's due to the ambition of the country.

In fact, Canada is rated the second-best place for direct foreign investment, after the United States. These are great numbers and it's a result of the investments that we're making in ourselves, whether it's major projects, as the Prime Minister has announced, which are really starting to come to fruition with the support of the Major Projects Office, or investments in building homes, with the announcements in budget 2025 around infrastructure investment.

I come from a semi-rural community. It's important that small communities have things like community centres, recreation centres, libraries and seniors centres. In fact, even in my riding, in the past we've funded things like relining public pools, so that people have an opportunity for work and want to stay in these communities.

We're really making sure that every dollar we spend is actually going to generate jobs. I think budget 2025 has the ambition that the world is taking notice of.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey

Thank you, Ms. Desrochers.

Mrs. Gill, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

Bloc

Marilène Gill Bloc Côte-Nord—Kawawachikamach—Nitassinan, QC

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I also want to thank the minister for being with us.

Some of my questions remain unanswered. However, I want to move on to another topic: the forestry industry.

You said many times that job creation is on the rise. We know, however, that 40,000 public servants will be laid off. This isn't in fact job creation, as the Canadian Labour Congress, the CLC, so eloquently pointed out.

In Quebec, the forestry industry is the backbone of the economy. Your government, the Prime Minister and you yourself have said that forestry workers should get retrained.

I want you to talk directly to the people of Saguenay—Lac‑Saint‑Jean, Abitibi and the Côte‑Nord. These regions have all suffered job losses. In my riding of Port‑Cartier, I believe that we lost about 100 jobs just last week. You're telling workers to get retrained. In my opinion, that's not job creation.

I want to know what you would tell these people.

Does this call for workers to get retrained mean that the government is completely abandoning forestry workers?

Liberal

Patty Hajdu Liberal Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON

Absolutely not. In fact, in the lumber sector, we have 3,000 positions on work sharing, which means that companies are using the EI work-sharing measures. You were talking about EI earlier. Companies have found this to be a very useful tool to protect their workers while they reorient.

Bloc

Marilène Gill Bloc Côte-Nord—Kawawachikamach—Nitassinan, QC

Minister, when companies close their doors because of a lack of government support, what should we do? The government is not agreeing to provide subsidies, like wage subsidies, to maintain the employment relationship. This was done during the COVID‑19 pandemic and it's what businesses are asking for.

We're also not making any progress on countervailing and anti-dumping duties either. Workers are being told to get retrained. Retraining is not work sharing. Telling workers to get retrained means that you're telling them that their job is gone, that the industry no longer exists and that they have to find work somewhere else.

That is very difficult to do in some regions, where often only one type of industry exists. In fact, what they need is more development.

I'm asking you what your government means by “retraining”.

Is that the message you're sending our workers? Are you telling them that their industry and their jobs are gone forever?

Liberal

Patty Hajdu Liberal Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON

I, too, come from a lumber-producing area and I'm well aware of what happens when a lumber mill or a pulp and paper mill goes down. I fully understand how difficult this is. That's why we haven't waited to take action. That's why we are working to ensure that employers—