Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, vice-chairs, committee members and fellow panellists.

Thank you for the opportunity to be here and make an appearance this afternoon. I am speaking to you from Ottawa, the traditional, unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people. I go by the pronouns “she”, “her” and “elle”. Today, I'm wearing a white blouse, a blue blazer and a green scarf, and I'm working from my home office.

I am speaking on behalf of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, which is Canada's voice of business. We represent 200,000 businesses across the country, across sectors and across sizes, including a network of 450 local chambers and boards of trade from coast to coast to coast.

I am the Canadian Chamber policy lead on workforce strategies and inclusive growth. This includes our work with the council for women's advocacy and our BIPOC leadership and inclusion council.

We are all aware of the labour shortages in this country. There is currently an unprecedented one million job vacancies in Canada. Vacancies in health care, construction, manufacturing, accommodation and food services, along with retail trade, are currently leading the way, yet we have shortages across sectors, communities and regions, and affecting every size of business. I am able to say, thanks to reports like those from Monsieur Cléroux, that businesses, including small businesses, are citing labour shortages as one of their most—if not the most—significant barriers to economic growth.

I can also tell you, for example, that between now and 2030, construction employment is expected to rise by 65,000 workers. I can tell you that in the residential construction sector, between now and 2030, approximately 620,000 workers are needed and, calculating retirements versus new entrants, there is an expected gap or need of 40,000 workers. I can tell you the age distribution of the construction workforce. I can tell you how many women, indigenous peoples and new Canadians work in the trade. I can even break these numbers down by jurisdiction.

What I can't do, for example, is the same for the child care and early learning professions. How many are currently employed in Canada? Where are they employed? How many are needed in the coming years, especially in light of new federal investments? I can't turn to a sector association, a professional association or an employment table, and I can't even look to StatsCan data. Therefore, our first and overarching recommendation is for labour market information, analysis and demand-side workforce planning for key professions and sectors in the care economy. The federal government can and should play a leadership role in facilitating, convening and funding these efforts.

I referred earlier to the Canadian Chamber's council for women's advocacy. It was established in January 2020 as part of our inclusive growth campaign and currently consists of a 15-member executive table. We were initially headed down one pathway of focus before the pandemic, but as with so much else, all changed with the pandemic. Our focus has shifted, and we've pivoted as well.

Through the 24 months of the pandemic, we have tracked the disproportional effect that the pandemic has had on women in the workforce. This is as employers, business owners and female entrepreneurs, as well as employees. We have also differentiated between women in the care and exposed economies versus those in the remote or work-from-home economy. Although there are challenges, and significant ones, for women in each, we have acknowledged that women in the care and exposed economies have been particularly burdened and that they are among the most marginalized.

Further, we have underscored that child care and early learning are an economic issue, not a women's issue. It is one of the three pillars of recommendations that we have made to the federal government. One of our recommendations within this is, “Ensure there is an ample and diverse workforce of childcare providers across the country by enabling remote learning for potential child care provider certification in rural areas, providing more money to increase access to early childhood education programs and facilitating labour mobility and certification recognition across domestic and international borders.”

We have likened child care and early learning to social infrastructure and, just like traditional infrastructure, like a bridge or a road, it will not materialize without a labour force to build and maintain it. We need an ample, diverse, qualified and motivated workforce throughout the care economy and a dynamic ecosystem that supports it in order to ensure an inclusive recovery and the economic growth that's necessary for this country.

I have a lot more to say on the care economy, temporary foreign workers, FQR, and procurement and diversity policies, but I will leave it there.

I look forward to your questions. Thank you.

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