Evidence of meeting #25 for Official Languages in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was immigrants.
A recording is available from Parliament.
10:05 a.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to thank the witnesses for being here this morning.
Ms. Schulz, you spoke about funds. I'd like to know how much you were allocated for 2013 to 2018. How much, approximately, did you receive?
10:05 a.m.
Director of Communications, Marketing and External Relations, Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité (RDÉE) Ontario
We received funds from Employment and Social Development Canada, or ESDC. We currently have an overall annual budget of $2 million, and we receive $448,000 a year from IRCC for our five employees.
10:05 a.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
So you received $2.5 million from the federal government. Do you have your own funds, meaning funds from other partners? I would imagine that you receive money from Ontario.
10:05 a.m.
Director of Communications, Marketing and External Relations, Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité (RDÉE) Ontario
It's limited. For example, we have specific projects with the Ontario Trillium Foundation that gives us grants. We recently applied for an Ontario 150 grant, but it's project specific and completely limited.
10:05 a.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Right.
What are your financial expectations for the next roadmap?
10:05 a.m.
Director of Communications, Marketing and External Relations, Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité (RDÉE) Ontario
We were thinking a third more from ESDC. Our expectations are much more concrete in terms of employability and immigration, since the current budget does not allow us to have enough human resources to cover the entire province and adequately meet immigration and employability needs.
Our team is currently drowning in work. There's an imbalance. Valérie could give you more details about this. In terms of economic development, things are going very well for our 14 officers who cover the province. Activities are multiplying and the team assigned to economic development is stable.
10:05 a.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
What about the people on the ground?
Do they arrange activities for francophone entrepreneurs?
10:05 a.m.
Director of Communications, Marketing and External Relations, Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité (RDÉE) Ontario
Yes, we work very closely with entrepreneurs. There is a continuum of services: how to start a business, financial literacy, support for young entrepreneurs, succession and mentoring. Moreover, as I have said very clearly, we have projects, including ecotourism, tourism, development of the Champlain route and green economy. I didn't mention the agri-food, but we are involved in that sector, as well. We created the Réseau agroalimentaire francophone de l'Ontario, which will soon begin operations. We are present in several growth sectors, which requires a lot of energy.
10:05 a.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
What will you use the additional money you're requesting for under the next roadmap? We're talking about a third more than what you're already receiving.
You spoke a great deal about youth.
10:10 a.m.
Director of Communications, Marketing and External Relations, Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité (RDÉE) Ontario
Yes.
10:10 a.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
We spoke earlier about early childhood, in the context of education.
The same is true for a company: the sooner we do it, the better the chance of succession.
10:10 a.m.
Director of Communications, Marketing and External Relations, Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité (RDÉE) Ontario
Yes.
10:10 a.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Would those amounts be earmarked specifically for that priority?
10:10 a.m.
Director of Communications, Marketing and External Relations, Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité (RDÉE) Ontario
Absolutely.
We are in the process of creating two major projects for youth. We are going to start consultations with school boards in Ontario. We have a project called Apprendre l'entreprise, which is for schools, and another by the same name that's for older kids, who have acess to a virtual resource centre. We want specialized courses to be offered in the schools to develop the sense of entrepreneurship and leadership in young people.
We have a somewhat more ambitious project that involves creating an entrepreneurship academy. We would like to create a program at the provincial level that is similar to Sport-études. We will take several steps for this. The potential program, Entreprenariat-études, would enable young people to recognize the opportunities related to being an entrepreneur and the opportunities in the market. There are talented young people in the schools. We need to support and motivate them from the get-go.
10:10 a.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
May I steal your idea for Entreprenariat-études?
10:10 a.m.
Director of Communications, Marketing and External Relations, Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité (RDÉE) Ontario
You'll have to talk to my executive director.
10:10 a.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
We need this in Quebec, too.
10:10 a.m.
Liberal
10:10 a.m.
Liberal
Paul Lefebvre Liberal Sudbury, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good morning.
I have a slight conflict of interest to declare: I have been on the RDÉE Ontario board of directors. It was several years ago. I just wanted to let you know.
10:10 a.m.
Conservative
Sylvie Boucher Conservative Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île dOrléans—Charlevoix, QC
You know the subject?
10:10 a.m.
Conservative
Sylvie Boucher Conservative Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île dOrléans—Charlevoix, QC
Well, you're excused.
10:10 a.m.
Liberal
Paul Lefebvre Liberal Sudbury, ON
Thank you.
Perhaps I don't have much time to talk about immigration and employability. Maybe Ms. Sniadoch will talk at greater length about it.
I would like to know what challenges you face when it comes to francophone immigration and employability. I'm going right to the heart of the matter, but it's important. I really want to focus on it, since in Ontario, the government wants to reach a target of 4.4%. Now they're saying that the result for recent years was 1.4%. These are the only immigration results that can be calculated.
I'd also like to know, in terms of attracting francophone individuals and immigrants, what employability issues or challenges do you face.
How does RDÉE support this?
October 4th, 2016 / 10:10 a.m.
Valérie Sniadoch Director, Employability and Immigration, Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité (RDÉE) Ontario
There are obviously challenges, but also opportunities.
Just before the meeting began, I did a very quick search on indeed.ca to find out how many available bilingual positions there are in Ontario. There are 2,500 new bilingual French-English positions today. We are seeing that there is enormous potential for attracting the francophone workforce to Ontario.
