Evidence of meeting #37 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was u15.
A video is available from Parliament.
Bloc
Alexis Deschênes Bloc Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC
We are currently in a situation where the number of new temporary foreign workers has dropped significantly over the past two years. There are currently about 70% fewer new temporary foreign workers.
Would better integration services for asylum seekers not provide a kind of accessible workforce made up of people who want to work and who could meet the needs of some businesses that need temporary foreign workers, now that there are no such workers available?
General Director, L'Hirondelle, Welcoming and Integration Services for Immigrants
Yes, absolutely,
As I mentioned earlier, these asylum seekers have skills and degrees so they can fully contribute. That is all they're asking for, all they're waiting for.
They left their country because they were facing difficult circumstances. When they arrive here, they are looking for social and economic security, so yes, this is a workforce that is available here and that just needs some support.
Bloc
Alexis Deschênes Bloc Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC
Do you know whether there is any data on that? Do you have any?
Based on your experience, can you tell us about the unemployment rate among asylum seekers?
General Director, L'Hirondelle, Welcoming and Integration Services for Immigrants
I don't have any exact numbers, but I can send you that information.
The unemployment rate among asylum seekers is obviously higher than among people who have a work permit or who received their permanent residency.
Bloc
Alexis Deschênes Bloc Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC
Earlier, I was talking to you about the statistics we have been given that show that the number of temporary foreign workers has dropped. However, that is also the case for asylum seekers. According to the government, there has been a drop of about 60% in asylum seekers over the past two years.
Have you noticed a drop in demand at your organization?
General Director, L'Hirondelle, Welcoming and Integration Services for Immigrants
We have not seen a drop in demand. We are seeing a lot more people in extremely vulnerable situations asking for help.
It is important to know that, because these people have to wait, they end up experiencing situational homelessness, as I was saying earlier. That means that, instead of working proactively and providing support, we have to solve even more serious problems related to homelessness.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Julie Dzerowicz
Thank you, Mr. Deschênes.
Thank you, Ms. Rekik.
We have now finished our first round of questions. We now move to our second round of questions.
We begin with five minutes for Mr. Davies.
Conservative
Fred Davies Conservative Niagara South, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I'm fairly new around this table.
With all due respect, Mr. Hammond, what I heard from you today was something that you could have written for the Minister of Finance to be included in the budget speech. You completely blew me away on the narrative that you have been saying over and over again about wanting to attract innovation to Canada, and that you represent....
First of all, are you a registered lobbyist?
Conservative
Fred Davies Conservative Niagara South, ON
Okay.
You get paid by the universities to come here and advocate for a specific policy option that you want to see the government initiate.
Director, Public Affairs, U15 Canada
That's correct. U15 Canada represents the leading research universities. Yes.
Conservative
Fred Davies Conservative Niagara South, ON
In your opening remarks and during questions, you made reference to Canada needing to rebuild its reputation.
If you could go back to your remarks, you had made a comment about Canada being—
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
I have a point of order. I note that my colleague is not being....
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Julie Dzerowicz
Yes, Ms. Rempel Garner, the clerk is trying to address this issue. There you go.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Julie Dzerowicz
The camera is on you now. It'll get to Mr. Davies in a minute.
Please proceed, Mr. Davies.
Conservative
Fred Davies Conservative Niagara South, ON
Mr. Hammond, could you go back to your original notes and tell me what you said about Canada's ranking for innovation in the G7?
Director, Public Affairs, U15 Canada
Certainly, yes.
That was a ranking in terms of the share of the adult population with advanced degrees—master's and doctoral-level degrees. At present, we rank 25th in the OECD for the share of the adult population that has a graduate degree in that way. For instance, we would need around 500,000 more Canadians with advanced degrees to be at an equal share to the United States, so it is a major barrier to our innovative capacity as a country.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
I have a point of order. Can someone wake up in the tech booth and make the camera work?
Liberal
Peter Fragiskatos Liberal London Centre, ON
On the same point of order, Madam Chair, I'm on ParlVU now. It is following the conversation. Mr. Davies is on camera, and Mr. Hammond is replying. ParlVu is working.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Julie Dzerowicz
Thank you, Mr. Fragiskatos, for pointing that out.
We did stop your time during this intervention.
Conservative
Fred Davies Conservative Niagara South, ON
That's fine.
The biggest problem that we have had in Canada is the brain drain. You made reference to the brain drain.
Conservative
Fred Davies Conservative Niagara South, ON
A lot of our graduates can't stay in Canada because they can't get funding in a postgraduate research capacity, in starting a business or for innovation. Do you follow anything in the ecosystem when we're looking at internationally qualified people coming to Canada to actually start a business?
What's your comment about the start-up visa program being cancelled? There are 44,000 people now stuck in that innovation ecosystem that you made reference to. We can't even get the people who have been approved and have already invested money in Canada to come into Canada.
How do you expect Canada to be able to sustain...to attract other people in the innovation sector when we can't even get our current structure in line?
Director, Public Affairs, U15 Canada
Thank you for the question. This is really important.
The start-up visa program does offer opportunities, as you say, to attract entrepreneurial talent that can start companies, grow the economy and create opportunities—