Finance Committee on March 14th, 2022

[Stéphane Bisson]

It's obviously a way to help heal an open wound.

The Gatineau Chamber of Commerce and the Quebec tourism department are working very hard to make downtown Gatineau a prime destination, a gateway to the province of Quebec. We're also working hard to make Ottawa and Gatineau international tourist destinations. Demonstrations of this nature significantly affect the region's brand.

As I explained, these sectors were the first industries truly affected by COVID‑19. In a way, these affected industries were our brave frontline soldiers. The businesses were excited to get back to work. Unfortunately, the occupation of downtown ended that excitement.

As I explained to your colleague, Mr. Ste‑Marie, these events mainly increased the debt of businesses that were already struggling. They have suffered several setbacks over the past two years.

I'm asking for help for the affected businesses in particular. It's also necessary to think about how organizations and governments at a higher level, at the regional level, can help all the struggling businesses in the two downtowns right now. The issues are similar on both sides of the river.

[Sophie Chatel, Liberal, Pontiac, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Bisson. I couldn't agree more with your comments.

Minister St‑Onge confirmed that Gatineau businesses will receive the same assistance as Ottawa businesses. There won't be any discrimination in this area. The minister also announced that this assistance would be provided by Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, a well‑known agency in Gatineau. In addition, the funding will be separate from the funding for Ottawa businesses. The mayor of Gatineau thanked Steven MacKinnon and Minister Pascale St‑Onge for their leadership on this matter. This is great news for our businesses. We're pleased about it.

[Stéphane Bisson]

Yes, thank you.

[Sophie Chatel, Liberal, Pontiac, QC]

I have one last question for you, Mr. Bisson.

Do you believe that all the federal assistance provided to businesses in Gatineau and the rest of the Outaouais during the COVID‑19 pandemic helped them to survive and get through it?

[Stéphane Bisson]

I would say that it's true in most cases. However, in some exceptional cases, the assistance measures didn't apply. For example, if a business launched in January 2020, before the pandemic hit in February or March 2020, it didn't have a financial model for establishing comparisons. In other words, this type of business couldn't quantify its losses compared to the previous year.

In particular, I want to acknowledge the resilience of the overlooked businesses that are still determined to succeed. I can tell you that there are many of these businesses in the market. I'm sure that there are many across Canada.

[Sophie Chatel, Liberal, Pontiac, QC]

You're right.

That said, I think that the number of bankruptcies would have been much higher without the help that we provided to businesses. I hope that they'll weather the storm.

I think that my time is up.

Thank you, Mr. Bisson.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Yes, Ms. Chatel. Thank you.

[Stéphane Bisson]

Thank you, Ms. Chatel.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

We're moving to the Bloc and MP Ste-Marie for two and a half minutes.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I was pleased to hear Ms. Chatel's news. Gatineau businesses can receive the same support as Ottawa businesses. This is really good news. I want to thank the government for this decision.

Mr. Bisson, you said that the application process should be simplified because businesses are already suffering from a labour shortage and the owners must do everything.

Should the government have public servants return to the office? Would this have a significant impact on your businesses? I'm obviously referring to the Quebec government. On February 8, it announced a plan for a gradual return to work in compliance with health measures.

What do your members think about this?

[Stéphane Bisson]

Thank you for that excellent question, Mr. Ste‑Marie. Unfortunately, I must leave after answering it, since I need to get back to work.

Our position on this issue is an open secret. We've already appeared in the media to ask the federal government to provide a clear action plan for the return of public servants. I'm not only making the case on behalf of the Gatineau Chamber of Commerce, but on behalf of the entire country. Federal public servants must return to their buildings across the country.

We all know that COVID‑19 isn't going away. We must learn to live with this virus. We need to get back to normal. I know that normal won't be what we had before the pandemic. However, we need a game plan to bring public servants back to the workplace so that we can give some breathing room to downtown businesses. This economic fabric was built on regional economies. These businesses are in dire need of the public servants' presence.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Your response is quite clear. The presence of public servants has a major economic impact throughout the country. If Ottawa could do what Quebec has done and provide a reopening plan, it would be a great help to businesses throughout the country.

Mr. Chair, I'm finished asking questions for this round.

Thank you for coming to speak with us, Mr. Bisson.

[Stéphane Bisson]

Thank you for the invitation.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, Mr. Bisson and Mr. Ste‑Marie.

Now we're moving to the NDP and MP Blaikie for two and a half minutes.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Thank you very much.

I'd like to use this time to come back to one of Mr. Chambers' questions.

I wanted to ask the folks in the cryptocurrency industry who are here at the table about this. In respect of not having any direct guidance from government as to what you can or can't do with the information you received from law enforcement during the Emergencies Act period, do you think it would be helpful for government to issue a directive—both retroactively for the period that has occurred already and if ever the act is used again—and for government to be a little more up front and explicit about what financial institutions of various kinds are expected to do with that information once the emergency period has ended?

[Blair Wiley]

In my view, I'm not sure that retroactive guidance would be particularly helpful at this time. I think we're learning a lot. We'll look forward to the reports of this committee and the other federal study of the Emergencies Act.

Going forward, though, if we were ever in the position where we needed to invoke an emergency act in the future, I think that having more preparation around how we communicate between industry and government and law enforcement—perhaps running tabletop exercises so that the RCMP actually has contact information for every financial firm subject to the AML laws in order to be able to communicate directly—would put us in a better place if we were ever in a similar position again. I would encourage a broader focus on how we get better engagement going forward.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Thank you.

Mr. Walper or Mr. Mosoff.

[Dustin Walper]

I would concur with that. I'm speaking on behalf of the industry, but I think it is broadly true that we would like to have more direct contact in general on this and other issues.

Something we see a lot, on which we would love to be able to coordinate more, is combatting fraud. This is something that happens across the financial sector. It's something that we're very active in trying to find, and we would love to have a more coordinated approach that involved the RCMP and other stakeholders.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Mosoff, I may be out of time, but if I'm not I would invite you to use what time I have remaining.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

You have about 10 seconds.

[Brian Mosoff]

Yes. Any kind of engagement would be great. I think it could allow the industry to go forward in a positive way to get access to proper banking and proper audits. That's something the industry is struggling with, so as we go forward as a country, any engagement to come up with frameworks for the industry to excel would be very much welcomed.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you.

Thank you, MP Blaikie.

We are moving to the Conservatives. From the committee room floor, we have MP Albas, for five minutes.

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Again, thank you to all the witnesses.

I will be sharing my time with MP Lawrence so he will make up some of it.

I will go back to National Chief Archibald.

Chief, I know the Minister of Justice has said many times in the House of Commons that he believes that the emergencies order that was made by the government complies with the Charter of Rights. You seem to attest otherwise.

Could you explain a little further?

[National Chief RoseAnne Archibald]

I was really speaking not so much about the charter as about the constitutionally protected treaty and aboriginal rights as recognized under section 35 of the Constitution. My concerns certainly are around issues of privacy for first nations and the implications of those.

I hope that answers your question.