Human Resources Committee on May 6th, 2024

[The Chair (Mr. Robert Morrissey (Egmont, Lib.)), Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

I call the meeting to order.

Good afternoon, committee members. It is 3:30, and the clerk has advised me that we do have quorum. Those appearing virtually have been sound-tested, as required. Welcome to meeting number 112 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

On a point of order [Inaudible—Editor].

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Yes. I'm hearing something.

While we track down the technical issues, we'll suspend for a couple of moments.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

We're back in session. I'm not getting feedback now.

As indicated, this is meeting number 112 of HUMA. Before we begin, and to avoid the audio feedback that we just went through, I would like to remind members of a couple of items.

When you are not using your earpiece, please keep it on the allotted spot. This is to protect the interpreters.

Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format. Some are appearing virtually and some are in the room.

You have the option to speak in the official language of your choice. If you are appearing virtually, use the globe icon at the bottom of your screen. Click on it, and you can choose the official language of your choice. In the room, interpretation is available from the microphone. Again, please keep the earpiece away from the mic while the meeting is progressing.

Please direct all comments to me as chair. If an issue comes up, or if there is an issue with translation, please get my attention. We'll suspend while it is being clarified.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on February 26, 2024, the committee is commencing its study of the subject matter of the supplementary estimates (C) for 2023-24 and the main estimates for 2024-25.

I would like to welcome our witnesses for the first hour. We have Minister Boissonnault, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages.

Welcome, Minister.

From the department officials, we have Paul Thompson, deputy minister, as well as the senior associate deputy minister.

Welcome, Ms. Namiesniowski.

We also have Brian Leonard, general policy chief, financial officer for corporate planning affairs.

Minister, you now have up to five minutes for opening comments, following which we will begin our first round of questioning.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Minister of Employment]

Thank you very much, Chair.

Colleagues, I want to thank you for inviting me to HUMA today. As always, I want to thank all of you as committee members for your hard work on behalf of Canadians.

I would first like to point out that we are gathered on the unceded traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.

Today's meeting is a welcome opportunity for me to highlight the progress being made on developing and growing Canada's future workforce and our plans for overcoming and capitalizing on the challenges we face, while at the same reinstating the long-held belief that for decades guided our country—the promise of Canada; that unwavering truth that young generations would be able to get a good-paying, middle-class job, afford a home, and do as well as, if not better than, their parents' generation if they just put in the work.

We all know the challenges we face, including the grey tsunami—the exodus of older workers who are leaving the workforce faster than we can replace them. On the other hand, we also need a generation of skilled green-collar workers in a world of automation and digitization.

Underpinning both these challenges is the trades boom—the Herculean effort of equipping businesses with workers needed today while ensuring an adequate and consistent supply of skilled tradeswomen and tradesmen to contribute to the economy and the opportunities of tomorrow.

Overall, we are facing the rapid loss of skilled workers, coupled with a shortage of workers with the skills that contribute to the increased productivity needed for a strong economy.

The challenges are great, but there is good news, including the fact that our fundamentals are in great shape. International investors, for one, are quite taken with us, and businesses are noticing. It's why we have the third-highest foreign direct investment in the world right now, and the highest in the world when you divide it by our population, ahead of all of our G7 allies. It's why Stellantis, Volkswagen, Air Products, Dow and Honda bet on us and our workforce to be partners in the economy of tomorrow.

That's why we've already begun equipping our workforce with the know-how needed to progress in an increasingly digital and changing global economy.

I have limited time, so I am going to highlight a few items of special interest that speak directly to those efforts. Of course, I'd like to shine a light on some budget 2024 measures and the role they will play in making the promise of Canada a reality again.

We're striving to integrate more workers into the job market. We already support students, through scholarships and interest-free loans. We intend to increase this support with $1.1 billion in new funding. Programs such as the student work placement program and Canada summer jobs help students and employers find the right path.

In the skilled trades, we invest nearly $1 billion a year in apprenticeship assistance, through grants, loans, tax credits, employment insurance benefits during in-school training, project funding and support for the red seal program.

We're also looking ahead, because it's not just about where the puck is so much as where it's going to be. The labour force of the future, in the context of achieving our net-zero goals, will depend on a workforce equipped with the right skills.

This is exactly why we introduced Bill C‑50, to ensure that Canada will meet its carbon neutrality goals without leaving workers behind.

That's also why we recently launched the sustainable jobs training fund, to support a series of training projects that will help more than 15,000 workers.

We're also launching a new union training and innovation program sustainable jobs stream under the Canadian apprenticeship strategy in the coming months that will benefit over 20,000 apprentices and journeypersons in the skilled trades.

In closing, colleagues, let me say this: Overcoming these challenges requires everyone.

As minister, I saw the incredible work done by unions, by companies, by polytechnics, by schools and by institutions to train the workforce of the 21st century.

Our support for these efforts will help to deliver on the middle-class jobs that our great workers deserve, the future they have dreamed of and the promise of Canada they have worked tirelessly to achieve.

We won't give in. We will not stop until that promise is made reality again.

Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee members.

I look forward to your questions about Canada's workforce.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Minister.

Before we begin, I want to welcome MP Cooper and MP Barrett, two new members joining us today on the HUMA committee.

As we begin, I would remind the committee members that the subject matter is the supplementary estimates 2024-25.

Mr. Cooper, you have six minutes.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, you were pocketing money from the lobbying firm Navis Group, owned by your—

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

That is false. That is not true, Mr. Cooper.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

It's in your public disclosure.

Who paid.... You have received not one cent from Navis Group. Is that correct?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

You said that I was pocketing money, which is not true—

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Did you receive money from Navis Group?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

I have not made any income and I have not worked for any client since being elected, so you have stated a falsehood.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

How much money have you received from the Navis Group since you were appointed to cabinet?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

I have received funds into my business that were clear to the Ethics Commissioner; that happened while I was a private citizen. All of that information and all of those activities were while I was a private citizen. When I transitioned from being a private citizen to being a public citizen, I spoke numerous times to the team at the ethics commission, and I received.... Those payments, those funds, are in the disclosure. If you want to know how much money I made as a private citizen, I direct you to the Ethics Commissioner.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

I ask you, then, to just answer the question. How much money were you paid by the Navis Group?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

That information is with the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, and—

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Since you were appointed to cabinet.... Just provide the number.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

—I have not made any funds.

Mr. Chair, Mr. Cooper is trying to indicate that somehow I had only one client or only one relationship while I was a private consultant.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Okay, Minister, since you're not—

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

I'll give you an example of some of my other clients.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Minister, since you won't answer the question—

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Mr. Cooper and Mr. Boissonnault, Standing Order 11(2) dictates that members keep their questions relevant to the matter that the committee is reviewing. We're reviewing the supplementary estimates (C) 2023-24.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

With respect, Mr. Chair, I have—

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

How you're making the relationship between the estimates and your line of questions.... I would just remind you to keep your line of questioning relevant to the matter.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, do you think it is ethical for you, as a sitting cabinet minister, to have received payments from a lobbying firm that was owned by your business partner, that was lobbying your own department and that secured—