Official Languages Committee on May 27th, 2014

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC]

You are on the front line. Are you able to tell young people that there are high placement rates in the trades they want to learn? If 5,000 welders are needed in Canada in the short term, and if there are only 2,000 students taking welding, sooner or later, we will have to hire immigrants for those jobs. Is that a message you give the students?

[Laurier Thibault]

Our colleges are very proactive, and with good reason. Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island looked at those potential jobs and decided that their francophone students needed to be able to take advantage of them. Those provinces are recruiting students very proactively because they know that very good jobs are being created.

I must say that more and more value is being placed on the trades. Previously, the impression was that it was university or nothing. Today, the jobs on offer require more of a technical or professional training. That takes nothing away from a university education, but that is what we are seeing.

Let me give you an example. A few years ago, one of the leaders of the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec was asked why employers were not funding post-secondary education in the province. He said that they paid the government enough in taxes and it was the government’s role. He said that if they were ever forced to give money to the post-secondary education system, they would give it to the colleges because that is where their needs were met.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC]

A lot of Canadians go back to CEGEP, to post-secondary education, at 30, 40, even 50 years of age.

[Laurier Thibault]

Exactly, and that is why I would also like to tell you about everything we are doing to recognize previous experience and skills so that we can respond quickly to labour shortages and so that we do not discourage newcomers, or people needing a new career.

Take a two-year college program. If you tell people that they have to learn new skills and that it will take two years, they are not going to be motivated at all. If you tell recently arrived immigrants that they have to do two years’ training in order to work in such-and-such an area, they get discouraged and you do nothing for the labour shortage.

More and more, we are equipping our colleges to be able to recognize previous experience and skills. That means being able to evaluate them. Do people have skills related to the training required that they have acquired in the jobs they have previously held? When that evaluation is done, we can most often give credit for 8, 9 or 10 months of training.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you.

Mr. Daniel, you have the floor.

[Joe Daniel, Conservative, Don Valley East, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, witnesses, for being here.

I have a couple of relatively simple questions to start with.

Perhaps Madame Mulaire can help me out on this one. In Canada what are the obstacles for durable economic development in the minority linguistic communities?

[Mariette Mulaire]

There are a number of aspects I could mention.

Do you prefer me to answer in English or French?

[Joe Daniel, Conservative, Don Valley East, ON]

It doesn't matter.

[Mariette Mulaire]

So I will keep going in French.

We were talking about immigration. It is a really important topic: we have to give new immigrants the tools they need. Investing in immigration is a matter of economic sustainability for Canada. We see that with Destination Canada, for example. We have to make sure that, when they arrive, they have the tools they need, as Ms. Gionet mention they do in Fort McMurray. We talked about that earlier. If people come here and we do not give them the tools they need to become really integrated, there will be no economic sustainability.

So I feel that the economic aspect is very important. We talk to representatives of colleges and universities about equipping students so that they get what the market most requests. That is another contribution to economic sustainability. Look at everything that is being done in our official language minority communities. We have been mentioning young people; we have to be ready for the investments that we need in order to succeed. Sometimes, we only provide crumbs, and crumbs do not make for economic sustainability.

In my opinion, when companies decide to invest, they do so for the long term. Governments must think in the same way. They must think in terms of investments, not in terms of costs. You can talk about bilingualism and say that the FCFA has been given $25 million. But those are dollars invested in our country and in our economic sustainability, more than anything else. We have to change our way of thinking. We have to think in terms of investments, not in terms of costs. That is what successful businesses do.

[Joe Daniel, Conservative, Don Valley East, ON]

You focused on the immigration aspect of it. What about for the local people? There's lots of unemployment. What are the obstacles to local people achieving a sustainable business situation? I hear that illiteracy is a big issue. Are we addressing that in these minority communities? How are we addressing it? What are we doing to make sure that these sorts of hurdles are not there so that they can actually get the jobs that exist?

[Mariette Mulaire]

That is along the same lines as Mr. Thibault's comment about universities.

One of our groups, Pluri-elles, focuses on literacy for francophone newcomers and those who are already here. Many Franco-Manitobans who are from the province require help to obtain the tools they need. This might mean literacy. Whether we like it or not, many francophones in Canada—we are still talking about the minority—might be illiterate. However, they still need to invest in getting the tools. Pluri-elles is an example of an organization that works with the local people who are from here, but who need help to get this tool, which will contribute to economic sustainability.

[Laurier Thibault]

Mr. Daniel, a few weeks ago, my colleague and partner, Normand Lévesque, the director general of the Réseau pour le développement de l'alphabétisme et des compétences, appeared before this committee.

RESDAC works very hard to improve literacy. Unfortunately, we have had some very bad news. We thought that with the picture painted by the study on minorities in particular, we could obtain funding for carrying out this project. In some cases, before admitting students, colleges in a minority situation must raise those students' level of literacy. That is what we do. Poor literacy skills are therefore an obstacle.

Numbers are also an obstacle. As I said earlier, we try to convince immersion students to continue their studies in French because we need enough students to be registered in a given year to be able to offer the program. If immersion students register, we will be able to provide the training because there will be enough students. It is very important for us to have enough students to be able to offer the program.

There is another obstacle. As I was telling Mr. Gourde, it is important to invest in infrastructure. There are only three colleges—two in Ontario and one in New Brunswick—that offer professional training in French. We are trying to support Collège Mathieu, in Saskatchewan, with the help of La Cité, Collège Boréal and the Collège communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick. There is significant economic development in Saskatchewan, which is comparable to, and even greater than the development in Alberta. This province needs francophone professionals and tradespeople. We are looking at how we can help Collège Mathieu in Saskatchewan, with our partners and existing colleges in Ontario and New Brunswick.

Manitoba has the same problem. The École technique et professionnelle of Université de Saint-Boniface also says it has needs and wants to know how it can become part of the network and the development of those programs.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you, Mr. Thibault.

Thank you, Mr. Daniel.

I will now give the floor to Ms. LeBlanc.

[Hélène LeBlanc, NDP, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

My name is Hélène LeBlanc and I am the official opposition critic for co-operatives. Thank you very much for your very interesting testimony.

I also love to talk about investments, sustainable economy and the way the federal government can be a partner in developing a sustainable economy by making wise investments.

You also talked about the added value of bilingualism. This linguistic duality sets us apart and is an added value for all of Canada. It is beneficial for our economy.

Ms. Gionet, thank you for joining us.

Speaking of investments, you have applied for funding under the Canada-Alberta agreement. If my information is correct, you are asking for an investment of $55,000 from the federal government.

What will the impact be on your organization if you do not receive that funding? What will the impact be on the francophone community in your part of Alberta?

[Angélina Gionet]

If we do not receive that funding, our number of employees will have to be reduced from two to one. Over the past seven years, we have managed to set up a number of programs. We will definitely not be able to keep all those programs and services with only one employee.

There is another factor. We have been working at full capacity for seven years. I am not sure how much longer we can keep all those programs afloat with two employees. Our association is so fragile that the slightest decrease in funding puts us in a very precarious situation.

[Hélène LeBlanc, NDP, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

I think you have also done a good job of expressing the growing needs of francophones for services, given the population increase. Just think of those who are moving to Alberta for work in particular.

I would like to ask you another question about co-operatives, for which I am the critic. Are co-operatives part of the economic development of your region?

[Angélina Gionet]

The Conseil de développement économique de l'Alberta is headquartered in Edmonton, five hours' drive from where we are. In seven years, they have come to see us in Fort McMurray once. I see them when I go to Edmonton for meetings. They too are so swamped that they have neither the time nor the resources to support us here. For our part, we are very much in demand, so there is a divide between the two.

[Hélène LeBlanc, NDP, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

Thank you, Ms. Gionet.

Mr. Thibault, there is a lot of talk about small and medium-sized businesses. In Canada, sooner or later, we will be facing a deficit in entrepreneurial renewal. I was wondering whether some of your programs are primarily aimed at entrepreneurship. Since I am my party's critic for co-operatives, I will take this opportunity to promote them. Do you refer to the co-operative model as a solution for entrepreneurial renewal?

[Laurier Thibault]

Thank you for your question, Ms. LeBlanc.

Our ongoing objective is to develop a sense of entrepreneurship in our students. Of course, that starts in elementary school and continues into high school. We have some good examples of that. In partnership with the Association des clubs d'entrepreneurs étudiants du Québec, we have provided support to colleges. Club PhénoMènE is a good example. The club is at the Péninsule acadienne campus of the Collège communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick and it—

[Hélène LeBlanc, NDP, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

That is great, but is it a co-operative model?

[Laurier Thibault]

In those entrepreneurial clubs, it goes without saying that the co-operative model is a way to develop the business. I would not be able to tell you whether the concept is emphasized in the training they receive, but it is one of the models.

[Hélène LeBlanc, NDP, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

I encourage you to do so. We can exchange business cards and I can share some things with you. Thank you.

My next question is for Ms. Mulaire.

While I was in Winnipeg, I had the opportunity to go to Saint-Boniface, which is wonderful and very vibrant indeed. You have a provincial NDP government that supports social entrepreneurship and co-operatives and that wants to develop a legislative framework for that.

What is the contribution of co-operatives to the World Trade Centre Winnipeg? How can co-operatives contribute to the economic development of minority francophone communities, especially outside major centres, but also in Winnipeg itself?

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you, Ms. LeBlanc.

Ms. Mulaire.

[Mariette Mulaire]

Thank you.

We have been using the co-operative approach for a long time. It is quite natural. Some organizations, such as the Conseil de développement économique de l'Alberta, are working a great deal with co-operatives. There is also the credit union movement, which has been very strong in terms of co-operatives.

At the World Trade Centre Winnipeg, we work with anyone interested in other markets, be they co-operatives or businesses. Our role is to promote trade. Some co-operatives have participated in the Centrallia forum that we organized.

The idea is really to make co-operatives a norm in the economic movement. We automatically do so at the centre, with francophones and anglophones alike.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you.

I'll give the floor now to Mr. Williamson.