Diane Finley

[Employment Insurance, June 14th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, there was never any doubt that we were going to move forward with this program. We said we would do it and we delivered on it: promise made, promise kept.

[Employment Insurance, June 14th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, as happens too often, misrepresentation of the facts is going on in the House.

I am pleased to inform members that the government has made regulatory changes that will be an important improvement to the EI compassionate care benefit. No longer will other family members, friends or neighbours be disqualified from this benefit. I am pleased to inform members that this takes effect immediately.

[Rural Mail Delivery, June 9th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, as someone who until very recently relied on rural mailbox delivery for my mail, I have a very great interest in this issue as well as being representative of a very rural riding. I am concerned and have been fighting to preserve our rural mail delivery system. It goes right to the roots of our Canadian tradition. It also goes to the issue of service to rural Canadians, something that has been cut back far too often in other areas.

As the minister responsible for ensuring that people have safe work practices, I also am concerned about the workers of Canada Post. I noted, with some interest, the member's comments and suggestions on things that could be done. I hope, in the spirit of cooperation, he could elaborate on some of these. From my personal perspective, I am having a tough time understanding how some of these might work, but if they did, I would certainly like to have his input.

Specifically, the two issues I am interest in are these. How would right-hand drive vehicles help, especially with making the vehicles themselves more visible? The way I see it, is in certain locations it could actually make things worse. The second issue is the relocation of mailboxes to a more convenient location. Where does the member suggest they be located so it would help the situation?

[Employment, June 9th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, what I would like to know is when the hon. member will apologize to Canadians for misrepresenting the proceedings in that committee.

What he said is absolutely false and that is why not one of those members has had the nerve to quote from the record of yesterday's meeting. They know they do not have a leg to stand on.

[Employment, June 8th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, as my hon. colleague from Central Nova said, the presentation here is a gross distortion and a gross misrepresentation of what happened in committee this morning. I can assure the hon. member and the rest of the House that this government is looking at solutions for labour shortages in all parts of Canada. We are looking at a broad range of solutions for this.

[Homelessness, June 8th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, our government has demonstrated its support by confirming the extension of the national homelessness initiative from April 1, 2006 until March 31, 2007 and by allocating additional funds of $134 million, of which over $20 million is allocated to the province of Quebec.

[Business of Supply, June 8th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, my department works very closely with the Department of Citizenship and Immigration to make sure that whenever foreign workers are brought in, several things happen. First, the employers must demonstrate that they have looked on an extensive basis across Canada to fill those positions with Canadian residents. Second, they are obligated under law to treat foreign workers who are brought in in an equitable manner comparable to the way they would treat Canadians with the same pay and benefits.

[Business of Supply, June 8th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has raised a wide range of issues. I am sure he has realized by now that our support for continued education after secondary education is quite broad. He mentioned a few of them. He mentioned the exemption from tax for those who win scholarships and bursaries. He always fails to mention our support for the skilled trades. I am not quite sure why, but whenever he talks about post-secondary learning, he ignores that sector. We have such a shortage in this country of those in the skilled trades that we must encourage that sector. The previous government did not. That is why I am so proud of our apprenticeship tax credits and the grants to help students.

Not every child should, or needs, or wants to go to university. There are many who do and we are going to be helping them. We also need to recognize there are skilled trades and those jobs need to be filled. In Alberta there is a huge shortage of tradespeople. That is why we are supporting them wherever they come from, domestic or offshore.

[Business of Supply, June 8th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to share my time today with the hon. member for York--Simcoe.

I appreciate the opportunity to speak to the motion before us today. I thank the hon. member for Halifax West for focusing the attention of Parliament on a matter of great national interest.

As the hon. member notes in the preamble to his motion, the Canadian economy is being profoundly affected by powerful demographic, continental and even global influences. When the economy is affected so are the lives of the people of Canada. The individuals and families who are the focus of my Department of Human Resources and Social Development are directly impacted by the economy.

I am also pleased to note that many of the measures he calls for in his motion, such as targeted investments, higher education, skills training and other measures to address Canada's labour shortage are already being put in place by Canada's new government.

However, where I differ with the hon. member opposite is in outlook. While he suggests that the demographic change that we are witnessing at home and the evolution of the global economy abroad will threaten Canada's livelihood, I prefer to take an optimistic view.

From a global perspective, Canada is in an exceptionally strong position, both economically and socially. The measures that our government is putting in place, many of them outlined in the recent federal budget, will only cement our leadership. We may call that a bright outlook but it is a realistic one too. International agencies are consistently forecasting that over the next two years Canada will be at or near the top of all G-7 nations in terms of job creation. Job creation is the underpinning of healthy communities and dynamic and successful economies.

I now want to mention the most recent employment numbers. According to Statistics Canada, we are enjoying the lowest unemployment rate in 32 years this spring. Joblessness remains strikingly low and booming economies across much of Canada are luring more people into the workforce. The result is that the proportion of Canadians with jobs, about 63%, has never been higher. This should be music to the ears of all Canadians and yet a pessimist might choose to focus only on the next challenging consequence to flow from this unprecedented situation of job shortages in certain regions, sectors and occupations, and it is true. The booming oil and gas industries of Alberta and British Columbia, along with the overall health of Canada's economy, are generating more opportunities than there are skilled people there to take advantage of them.

My government has opted for a positive response to develop and implement meaningful and effective solutions well before the challenges get out of hand. I would like to outline a few of the initiatives already underway or soon to be launched.

Recognizing the importance of skilled tradespeople and the certainty of emerging shortages, we are consulting with the provinces, the territories, employers and unions on new measures to promote careers in the skilled trades. As a concrete and immediate contribution from the Government of Canada, budget 2006 announced a new apprenticeship incentive grant worth $1,000 per year. Up to 100,000 people apprenticing under the red seal trades will stand to benefit from this measure during the first two years of their apprenticeship.

The budget also encourages employers to hire new apprentices through a special job creation tax credit. This credit is worth 10% of an apprentice's wages to a maximum of $2,000 per year.

Also in the budget is our promised tools tax deduction worth up to $500 a year. This is to help apprentices and tradespeople offset the cost of essential equipment that exceeds $1,000.

Naturally, a thriving economy like ours also needs to plan and prepare for the future and that means investing in higher learning. To that end, budget 2006 showed our government's commitment to exempt all scholarships and bursaries from income tax. We believe that the kids earned the money and they should get to keep it.

It also introduces a textbook tax credit for full time and part time post-secondary students and improves access to student loans. Indeed, the expansion of eligibility for Canada student loans through a reduction in expected parental contribution will see the program receive $15 million for 2007-08 and $20 million per year thereafter just for this measure.

Moreover, we have undertaken to work with the provinces and territories to further strengthen post-secondary education infrastructure. Through the establishment of a post-secondary education infrastructure trust fund, $1 billion will be transferred to the provinces and territories to support urgent investments in colleges and universities. Funding could be used to support the development of better classrooms and libraries, laboratories and research facilities and the purchase of new technologies and training equipment.

What is more, as the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, I have been mandated to initiate discussions with the provinces and territories on the overall objectives for post-secondary education and training, appropriate roles, and on developing a framework for ensuring measurable results and accountability in respect of funding support.

Such measures are important and indeed overdue. Even so, we also acknowledge that the rapid growth of the economy means that we will be hard pressed to meet the full range of labour force demand unless we take steps to look beyond our own borders. Recent studies have shown that immigration will account for all net labour force growth in Canada within the next 10 to 15 years and all net population growth in Canada within the next 30 years.

Immigrants have always enriched our country with their dynamism, culture and entrepreneurial spirit. As our home-grown labour pool continues to shrink relative to our needs, it is becoming ever more urgent that we make the most of everybody's skills. Currently, however, the qualifications of some immigrants are not recognized in Canada. This prevents newcomers from contributing fully to our economic prosperity and to our social development.

Allowing this situation to persist would actually impede our ability to attract other skilled immigrants. That is why we have undertaken to consult with the provinces, territories and a wide range of other stakeholders on the creation of a new Canadian agency for the assessment and recognition of foreign credentials. The agency will facilitate the assessment of international credentials and experience in conjunction with professional associations, regulatory bodies and others and will help ensure that foreign trained professionals meet Canadian standards. I can assure members that we will move quickly to enable new Canadians to put their skills to work for their benefit and ours.

In summary, budget 2006 gives Canadians a detailed look at this government's plans. Those plans are expressed through targeted investments worth nearly $9.2 billion over two years. There are supports for children, families, seniors, persons with disabilities, and communities. There are measures to promote economic growth and competitiveness through investments in post-secondary education, apprenticeships and skills development, and a broadened labour pool.

I am confident that the measures announced and planned by my government will put Canada on a firm track to prosperity and continued success in a competitive global economy. My confidence is bolstered by the broad based support that has greeted our budget announcements. In fact I am pleased that the members of the official opposition, indeed all members of the House, saw fit to unanimously support our government's budget earlier this week.

And so, I agree with the intent of the motion before us, immediate and targeted investments that will reinforce Canada's strong economy and safeguard our much envied standard of living. However, I would ask you to note, Mr. Speaker, that this government is already making these investments for Canadians.

[Employment Insurance, June 6th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, as I explained once or twice in the House before, a pilot project is a test. It is done with a sampling of the total population to see if it is worth applying across the country. That is why we are going with the sample that we started with and that is why we are going to continue with it. We were pleased to extend this program to areas where there is high unemployment and where seasonal workers are having a tough time finding new jobs. I look forward to seeing the results.