Finance committee  I've mentioned it, and I'll just reference it again. There has been a plethora of studies in the past 10 or 15 years by very prestigious and authoritative institutions. The World Bank, the IMF, and the OECD have published on this. First and foremost, the exit of such large numb

Finance committee  I thank the committee for inviting me to speak on the issues before us today. First, here are my disclosures. I don't consult to anyone or anything, anywhere, not governments, not unions, not corporations, which means I'm not a registered or unregistered lobbyist. I don't belong

Human Resources committee  Could I have just one second?

Human Resources committee  The solution is very clear. What Jack Mintz said is the combination of, one, giving survivor benefits of 100% to any spouse who doesn't have a CPP in their own right, instead of having it reduced when the spouse dies and, two, increasing the GIS. He said that for about $5 billion

Human Resources committee  I will, because I've written and spoken about this in papers. In fact, we talked about it in the paper I referenced. I'm, again, basing my comments on a paper done by Professor Jack Mintz that was published in January 2015 at the University of Calgary. He drilled down into the 7.

Human Resources committee  That's an excellent question, because I think there are different angles to it or different facets to it. I fully recognize that education is a provincial responsibility. I know that, especially in the university, which gets its money from the province, not from the federal gov

Human Resources committee  Let me be really blunt so I'm not talking in generalities. If you don't have post-secondary education today, as a young person, you're going to have a miserable life for the rest of your life.

Human Resources committee  I'll just preface my answer to that by saying that I think there is a disconnect between what the people appearing before your committee are saying writ large and what the finance minister, Minister Morneau, is going to tell you this afternoon. It's not me—he is going to tell you

Human Resources committee  It was.

Human Resources committee  First, let me just deal with that. I'm dealing with the macro statistics; I'm not dealing with anecdotal data. There are always exceptions. I can find any exception to any statistical norm. So the fact that one person, the famous Ph.D. in English literature, is driving a taxi in

Human Resources committee  Let me follow up and again bring back in my theme. If someone is on social assistance, they cannot go back to school. They will be cut off. Can you imagine? We should be telling every person on social assistance, please go back to school. We will pay your tuition fees, for goodn

Human Resources committee  I agree with you simply because the peer-reviewed research is very clear on this. Professor Milligan of UBC has published extensively about the disincentives to returning to work. So has Professor Mintz at the University of Calgary. So has my colleague just down the road, at the

Human Resources committee  Thank you. I thank the committee for inviting me to appear before you today, because I have a very personal interest in this subject. In 1971, exactly 45 years ago this year, I dropped out of grade 12, and by any measure, I was below the poverty line. I was frequently unemployed