Human Resources Committee on May 28th, 2026

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

Which provinces have met their space targets?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Nova Scotia is very close to its space target. Quebec has increased and actually exceeded its space target.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Minister.

Thank you, Ms. Goodridge.

Mr. Saini, you have five minutes.

[Gurbux Saini, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Good morning, Minister and members of the team. It's great to have you here.

Minister, the spring economic update included measures to modernize the disability tax credit. How will these changes make it easier for Canadians with disabilities to access the benefits they are entitled to?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

One of the concerns we heard was about the cost of filling out the forms and getting medical support for doing so, so we've both broadened the eligibility of who can help fill out the forms and provided a credit to people who are applying for the disability tax credit so that the average fee of $150 will be reimbursed.

[Gurbux Saini, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Minister, we know that you have been working very hard to find solutions for workers who have been impacted by tariffs. What has your department done to make sure workers are supported in these challenging times?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

I think it's such an important question.

Although I know that across the aisle we hear a lot of mocking whenever we speak about EI, if you've ever lost your job, as I have, you'll know that EI is actually a very important component of recovery when a person experiences job loss, so we've done a couple of things.

We've increased something called the LMDAs, which are transfers to provinces and territories that are closest to the ground. We've worked in partnership with the provinces and territories to make sure that if a person's job is threatened, they are immediately supported with wraparound supports, with access to employment insurance and, broader than that, with the opportunity to retrain and the opportunity to get support for updating their résumé and updating their ability to do a job search.

We've also extended EI for long-tenured workers. The older you are and the longer you've been in a place, the harder it can be to find a job, so we've extended EI for long-tenured workers.

We've made it easier for people to get EI. We've waived the one-week waiting period, and we've allowed people to keep monies on separation, which means anything that's coming to you for vacation, sick time or other kinds of benefits is not held back from your EI. This is to make sure people aren't feeling the financial crisis immediately.

Finally, we've offered work sharing to workplaces that believe that even though they're facing a downturn, they see a light at the end of the tunnel, have new customers or are pivoting to a new approach. We've allowed companies to train workers and keep them on EI and a partial salary to retain them in that workforce.

What employers will say is that if they have to close their doors completely and then resume business, it can be very difficult to get those workers back. The real focus is trying to keep everybody attached to the workforce first, but if they're threatened, then it's about making sure they have the support financially and practically to find their next job.

[Gurbux Saini, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Minister, the government has taken action to strengthen workers' rights, including with anti-scab legislation and support for union training. How do these measures support a fair workplace and strong labour relations?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

We've actually done more than that over the last 10 years. In fact, we started by repealing some very harmful Conservative legislation that had just passed under the Harper Conservatives—reviled legislation that made it harder for unions to organize, made it harder for unions to bargain and made it harder for unions to collectively work with their members. We repealed that. In fact, the first act of the Trudeau government in 2015 was to restore the right of unions to bargain and organize.

The second thing we did was introduce pay equity legislation for federally regulated workers. That was, again, very early. It was about making sure workers had opportunities to receive equal pay for work of equal value.

We also introduced harassment and violence prevention legislation for federally regulated workers. This was a gap, believe it or not, that existed in the federally regulated space.

As you know, we've not stopped. We have taken many other actions, including anti-scab legislation, a federal minimum wage that is indexed to inflation and adding paid sick days to the Canada Labour Code. The list goes on.

That has all been done with the focus of creating a strong federal labour force, in some cases meeting the provincial codes, and in other cases inspiring a level playing field for workers across the country.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Ms. Larouche, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm going to go quickly, because time is running out.

Minister, the departmental plan calls for a spending reduction of $156.8 million in 2026‑27. What services will be affected, in concrete terms? There are 30 seconds left.

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

In 30 seconds, I'll turn to the officials for a very brief—

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

I have more questions for you, so be brief.

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

I'll turn to the officials briefly.

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

Thank you very much for the question.

We're going to protect service delivery. That's a very important principle when it comes to budget cuts. We're focusing on the administrative aspects and the sectors that support the rest of the department, and we're minimizing the impact on service delivery. Only people in administrative functions will be affected by these cuts, for efficiency reasons.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you.

Minister, earlier, you mentioned the Canada summer jobs program and the issue of youth employment. Despite everything, I am receiving resolutions from municipalities. Budgets are obviously still so tight that it's hard to meet the needs of organizations and municipalities. In a context where young people are struggling to find jobs, a number of community organizations still find the Canada summer jobs program too rigid. The same is true for municipalities.

What measures could be put in place to simplify access to funding? I ask because, clearly, there are still people who can't qualify, and young people who won't have a job this summer as a result.

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

I disagree. We have 100,000 jobs, which is an increase of about 40,000 youth summer jobs, and we don't think we're going to have a problem filling those spots. This is a program about youth employment. We usually get more applications than we can fund.

We work very closely with all of you, as you know. There is a department that's also screening. You have an opportunity, as an MP, to influence what jobs will be available in your riding, for a variety of reasons. For example, in my riding, I have to reorganize—

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

There are more applications than needs. You are going to receive resolutions from community organizations back home and municipalities that have been unable to get these jobs, given their limited budget.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Ms. Larouche.

Next we have Ms. Falk for five minutes.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster—Meadow Lake, SK]

Thank you very much, Chair.

Thanks, Minister, for being here.

I need to follow up on comments you made to my colleague.

You cannot sit here and say that collectively we need to restore honour to the skilled trades and promote them as great careers for our young people while continuing to vilify skilled trade workers. It is your government that suggested that bringing construction workers into rural communities had harmful social and gender impacts, and it is your government that has continued to vilify the Canadian energy sector and those who work in that sector.

I will not take you saying one thing out of one side of your mouth while your actions say another. That is the truth. Your government has never supported trade workers.

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

I would counter that your party has voted repeatedly against trade workers. Every time we make investments in the trades—

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster—Meadow Lake, SK]

Is that why former prime minister Justin Trudeau, in Argentina—

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

You don't like this answer, do you, Ms. Falk?

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster—Meadow Lake, SK]

It's my time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Order.

Please, if you're going to direct a question, give a reasonable time to the witness to respond.