Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Oct. 27th, 2009

[John Duncan, Conservative, Vancouver Island North, BC]

We do have parts of the lower 60 that at one time got what was called a northern allowance, and the federal employees still get top-ups, but the population at large gets no benefit. So this has become somewhat of an issue, but I won't pursue that questioning with you.

I notice the mandate related to economic development for HRSDC, Mr. Thompson, includes reducing barriers to interprovincial labour mobility. I'm just wondering how that translates when you're talking about the territories. Obviously, on its face it doesn't apply, but there must be some implications in terms of how things operate in the north.

[Paul Thompson]

Absolutely. The work we do on improving labour mobility is done through the Forum of Labour Market Ministers. It is done at the ministerial level and at the officials level. All three territories are active participants. Whether it's the negotiations and the implementation of the new Agreement on Internal Trade and its provisions for labour mobility, or whether it's the newer initiative that first ministers have launched on the recognition of foreign qualifications, they are all done collaboratively with provinces, territories, and federal officials. They are bringing forward proposals to reduce those barriers and see that we recognize credentials as readily, effectively, and efficiently as possible. We are committed to minimizing the unnecessary barriers that exist. There are always some acceptable public interest issues that are unique to a given jurisdiction, but there are definitions to restrict them. As for artificial barriers, our policy objective is to remove them.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Thank you, Mr. Duncan, Mr. Clarke, and Mr. Thompson.

The last question goes to Mr. Bevington.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

I want to caution you against picking out communities. If you pick out Yellowknife, you're going to pick out a community with a high percentage of highly paid people. But it also has a component of poorly paid people. So when you look at the statistics, you have to look at what that statistic actually means in relation to the types of jobs provided there. You may have a high wage scale in some communities. But that doesn't always apply to everyone in the territory.

[Chris Forbes]

That's an excellent point. I agree. You can't pick one number and say that it means everything is okay or not okay. You need to look at what's behind the numbers. Certainly that's true in this case.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

You have to be very careful about comparing costs of living. Many of the costs in the north are climate-related and distance-related. The prices and materials required to live there are sometimes very different from those in more southern areas.

[Chris Forbes]

Agreed. That's a good point.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

I just wanted to clarify that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Good. That's it?

Thank you, Mr. Bevington.

Members, my compliments on all of your questions here today.

Witnesses, we appreciate the time you've taken and the work you have undertaken to make your presentations. This is important and will inform the report that we'll eventually have in front of us.

We have some committee business to conduct, so we'll bid you adieu and carry on with it.

Members, in the interest of time, I don't think we'll recess; we'll continue on with committee business. As is customary, we'll go in camera for our committee business. I'll also let you know that we have just now circulated the draft list of witnesses for the territorial hearings.

Let's take a brief recess here, members. We need to go in camera, so we will need a time out. We'll suspend momentarily.

[Proceedings continue in camera]