Bill C-14 (Historical)

Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2020

An Act to implement certain provisions of the economic statement tabled in Parliament on November 30, 2020 and other measures

Part 1 amends the Income Tax Act to provide additional support to families with young children as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic progresses. It also amends the Children’s Special Allowances Act to provide a similar benefit in respect of young children under that Act. As part of the Government’s response to COVID-19, it amends the Income Tax Act to provide that an expense can qualify as a qualifying rent expense for the purposes of the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS) when it becomes due rather than when it is paid, provided certain conditions are met.
Part 2 amends the Canada Student Loans Act to provide that, during the period that begins on April 1, 2021 and ends on March 31, 2022, no interest is payable by a borrower on a guaranteed student loan and no amount on account of interest is required to be paid by the borrower.
Part 3 amends the Canada Student Financial Assistance Act to provide that, during the period that begins on April 1, 2021 and ends on March 31, 2022, no interest is payable by a borrower on a student loan and no amount on account of interest is required to be paid by the borrower.
Part 4 amends the Apprentice Loans Act to provide that, during the period that begins on April 1, 2021 and ends on March 31, 2022, no interest is payable by a borrower on an apprentice loan and no amount on account of interest is required to be paid by a borrower.
Part 5 amends the Food and Drugs Act to authorize the Governor in Council to make regulations
(a) requiring persons to provide information to the Minister of Health; and
(b) preventing shortages of therapeutic products in Canada or alleviating those shortages or their effects, in order to protect human health.
It also amends that Act to provide that any prescribed provisions of regulations made under that Act apply to food, drugs, cosmetics and devices intended for export that would otherwise be exempt from the application of that Act.
Part 6 authorizes payments to be made out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund
(a) to the Government of Canada’s regional development agencies for the Regional Relief and Recovery Fund;
(b) in respect of specified initiatives related to health; and
(c) for the purpose of making income support payments under section 4 of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit Act.
Part 7 amends the Borrowing Authority Act to, among other things, increase the maximum amount of certain borrowings and include certain borrowings that were previously excluded in the calculation of that amount. It also makes a related amendment to the Financial Administration Act.

Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2020

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Madam Speaker, I wish you a happy 2021.

I am pleased to be able to speak today about Bill C-14, an act to implement certain provisions of the economic statement tabled in Parliament on November 30, 2020 and other measures.

Bill C-14 is an essential step to implement measures from the fall economic statement that would provide assistance to families with young children, support students and invest in resources to protect the health and safety of Canadians as we continue our fight against COVID-19.

Canadians have been hit hard by the pandemic in the past 10 months. Whether financially, physically or psychologically, everyone has been affected by COVID-19 one way or another. Nearly 20,000 Canadians have died from the virus. Hundreds of thousands of Canadians have lost their jobs and much of their family income because of the closure of countless businesses. People are also suffering mental health problems like never before in our lifetime as a result of isolation.

Our government has done its best to be there for Canadians through it all. Among the measures that are included in this bill is an increase to the Canada child benefit, referred to by its acronym, the CCB, for low- and middle-income families, totalling up to $1,200 in 2021 for each child under the age of six. We know that it is expensive to raise a child, and doing so during such uncertain times can be extremely stressful. The price of groceries and other necessities has gone up.

It is important for us to support families by giving Canadians who are raising small children, and who need it most, a boost. I know that many of the families in my riding will be benefiting from this measure. The total increase in the CCB payments will amount to about 20% of the maximum annual payment, and this measure will benefit 1.6 million families and 2.1 million children in Canada.

Data show us that young people are the ones hardest hit by the COVID-19 job losses in Canada. It is more difficult now for young Canadians to get a good job in their field after they graduate than it was before. That is why our government has tried to find new and innovative ways to support young Canadians by creating opportunities for them to gain relevant work and volunteer experience.

Additionally, thanks to Bill C-14, we will be able to ease the financial burden of student debt during the recovery for up to 1.4 million Canadians by eliminating the interest on repayment of the federal portion of the Canada student loans and Canada apprentice loans for the year 2021-22. This measure will bring $329.4 million in relief to Canadians who are looking for work or who are otherwise in the early stages of their careers.

As I mentioned before, our economy was hit hard by the lockdowns in various provinces. Small businesses such as restaurants and local shops have been severely affected by the public health measures, yet many are doing their best to stay open and keep their workers on the payroll.

Fortunately, thanks to the co-operation of all of the members in the House and our government's initiative, we have succeeded in helping numerous Canadian businesses since the start of the crisis. The wage subsidy and the original rent relief program known as Canada emergency commercial rent assistance for small businesses helped companies survive until the summer, when they were finally allowed to reopen. However, the program had its problems. Not all businesses were able to benefit, since they had to rely on their landlord to apply to the federal government.

At the time, many businesses in my riding had reached out to me to let me know that this was not working for them because their landlords were not willing to help them. The government came back with a better program that allowed businesses to apply directly for rental assistance. Bill C-14 will allow even more flexibility to help businesses during their most difficult moments, as it formally provides that an expense, such as rent, can qualify as an eligible expense under the new Canada emergency rent subsidy when it becomes due, so businesses can access the subsidy before the expense is actually paid.

More importantly, Bill C-14 will give the government additional funds to help Canadians get through the pandemic and return to normal as quickly and effectively as possible.

Since many Canadians have been living in isolation for the past 10 months, some of them have developed mental health issues. For many of them, it has become a major problem. Furthermore, many family doctors are not seeing patients in person right now, instead offering services by telephone or video conference because that is safer for everyone.

In an effort to provide them with the best support possible, in this bill, our government will invest $133 million to improve access to virtual care, mental health tools and substance use programs in order to help those who, in addition to trying to survive COVID-19, are struggling with addiction and fighting for their mental health as well as their overall health.

Additionally, Canadians can expect, and they do expect, their government to invest in a way out of the current reality we are living in. They want the vaccines to come quickly so we can return to normalcy and our businesses can begin to reopen. Thanks to measures already put in place, our government has been able to invest millions in testing, medical research, vaccines and more.

Bill C-14 would provide the government with up to an additional $262.6 million for a suite of COVID-19 initiatives, including testing, medical research, countermeasures, vaccine funding and development, border and travel measures, and isolation sites for those returning Canadians.

Bill C-14 would allow our government to continue making the necessary investments to weather the pandemic and support the economic recovery. Now is not the time for austerity. It is time to invest the amount we need to in order to get Canadians out of the situation they are in, a situation that everyone is tired of and that is taking a major toll on all Canadians.

It is time to invest in vaccines. It is time to invest in ensuring Canadians have what they need to get through this difficult time.

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Madam Speaker, the hon. member for Saint-Laurent spoke at length about ways of getting out of this health crisis and, of course, addressed the issue of vaccines. Let us talk about that.

People seem to be surprised that the United States and the European Commission are putting their own citizens first. Quebec actually used to have vaccine laboratories. The government did not realize how little vaccine manufacturing capacity there is. In its economic statement, instead of figuring out how to make up for our dependence on foreign manufacturers, the government is proposing standards for long-term care facilities.

Does my colleague not think that her government should focus on our dependence on foreign vaccine manufacturing, because there will be more pandemics?

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from the Bloc Québécois for her question.

I am entirely in agreement that Canada should address this question and find ways of producing vaccines here. Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic is the first major pandemic our generation has faced. It is obvious that we need to invest in businesses that develop vaccines. However, it was very important to invest in the seven businesses that were already producing vaccines.

It was also very important to invest in our long-term care facilities, because the pandemic brought serious problems to light. I still agree that we need to invest in research and find ways of strengthening our domestic pharmaceutical companies.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for talking about mental health and addiction. I was with my new friend Mark, who has had his own recovery journey of living with addictions. He lived at a therapeutic treatment centre, long-term care that gave him the complex supports he needed.

I joined Mark on Sunday morning because there were 38 people sleeping in doorways in Port Alberni. They have nowhere to live. We had coffee, hot chocolate and some food with them on Sunday morning, and everyone said they cannot get anywhere without help.

The member talked about a way out. They need a way out, and the rapid housing initiative the Liberals announced, the 3,000 units, is not even a drop in the bucket. There are 360,000 Canadians who are homeless on any given day.

We have not seen any units in Port Alberni. We have an application in, but rural communities are being forgotten. People are dying. The federal government needs to step up instead of downloading onto the provinces.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Madam Speaker, I agree that homelessness is a major problem, and it has only been highlighted because of the pandemic. More people are on the streets now than there were before. Our government was the first in decades to propose the national housing strategy, where $40 billion was to be invested in housing. Some of that money has gone out the door already to help with these investments, help build homes for people who do not have them and create affordable housing.

We are on the right track. I would strongly encourage the member to talk to Minister Hussen, who would probably be very willing to work with him in order—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

I would like to remind the member that she is not to use the names of ministers or individuals.

We have time for a brief question. The hon. member for Nanaimo—Ladysmith.

[Paul Manly, Green, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for outlining all of these different programs and needs that Canadians have.

One of the things I am deeply concerned about right now is the growing inequality and wealth disparity in this country. We have seen that over a long period of time, but right now we have 200,000 businesses that could go bankrupt and disappear, while the big box stores are surviving.

Does the hon. member think that it is time for a wealth tax and for a better and fairer tax system in this country?

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Madam Speaker, this is something that I am concerned about as well. I am going to be working with the government to see how we can move forward in order to help solve this problem and make Canada a fairer place for everyone.

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

Madam Speaker, as we said, we will support this bill. However, we are still disappointed. We need to do more than what is in the bill, much more.

First I will reiterate our requests, and I hope that the Minister of Finance will include them in her first budget, which we are eagerly awaiting. The betting is that it could come as early as late February, or else in March or April.

The federal government needs to contribute its fair share to health care. I heard the hon. member for Saint-Laurent say in her speech that long-term care facilities need funding, but she did not say anything about the standards the government wants to impose. Our long-term care facilities do not need standards, they need better funding. Barely 20¢ of every dollar spent on health care comes from the federal government. The rest is paid by Quebec and the provinces. This is unfair, and it needs to change. Health care costs have exploded since the beginning of the pandemic, and the federal government needs to increase funding on a permanent basis.

We are also asking for a permanent increase to the old age pension, since seniors were hit hard during the health crisis and deserve support.

I would also like to mention the need to immediately create a special committee to study COVID-19 spending, because it is an urgent matter. Yes, businesses and workers and their families needed and still need help to get through the pandemic.

We have made several proposals that were accepted. All this costs money, which is normal, but we cannot forget the size of the deficit, as the Liberals are doing. It is a costly legacy to leave to future generations, and given the government's reckless spending, the WE scandal and the awarding of dubious contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars, it is urgent that we create the special committee that the government promised us to make sure that taxpayer money is being used for the right reasons, namely to help Canadians, not cronies.

We would have liked this bill and the economic statement to focus more on environmental issues. We have my colleague from Repentigny here who is proudly taking on this fight against climate change to protect the environment. The government is failing to implement a green recovery like we are proposing. The section on the environment is one of the smallest in the entire economic statement. The federal government is missing yet another opportunity to join the 21st century, create jobs and restart the economy with clean energy, research and regional economic development. Instead the government is merely announcing yet again that it may plant some trees some day. I sincerely hope that the upcoming budget will focus on a recovery that emphasizes the environment and a real green economy.

I want to come back to November's economic statement, which this bill is based on. A credit program for highly affected sectors was announced. We did not have any details until today, when we finally got a little bit of information about it. I am sure that my colleague from Abitibi—Témiscamingue will ask me about that. The pandemic has been going on for more than 10 months, but the federal government says that it is still not ready to provide help to the tourism, hospitality, arts and culture, or major events sectors. We also see that Ottawa still has not announced any support for the aerospace sector. Clearly, a lot of work remains to be done for the industries hardest hit by COVID-19.

There were good intentions in the statement, but there is nothing in the bill. Today I got a little message saying that we will discuss it when I am questioned about it. Before the pandemic hit, Canada was the only country with a major aerospace industry but no aerospace policy. That is unacceptable. The pandemic had a direct impact on the industry, one it will not soon recover from. Some say it will take a decade. The government must urgently set up a targeted support program for the industry. France, Europe and the United States have done so, but Canada has not. The industry plays too important a role in our economy, especially Quebec's economy, to be abandoned. The government must take urgent action.

In addition to creating a targeted support program and an industry-specific strategy, the government should make better use of its civilian and military procurement budgets to buy Canadian-made aircraft. It should also set up a program to finance purchases of aircraft made in Canada to make it easier to sell them under the present conditions. The strategy also needs to include strong support for research and development. That is crucial in high-tech sectors like aerospace.

Our industry needs to stay on the leading edge, especially when it comes to the environment. Let me remind the House that the plane manufactured in Mirabel is the most fuel-efficient plane in the world. It is therefore ideally placed to fight climate change. In addition, it is the only plane capable of circulating fresh air while in flight, which is a significant advantage in a pandemic. The airlines that have these planes are leaving their other models on the ground in order to fly them because of the advantages I just mentioned. If there were a sales program, it would help them significantly.

One of the good things about the economic update is, of course, that the GST will apply to web giants as of July 1, 2021, but also that their revenue in Canada will be taxed by 2022. At last, some good news.

However, there is no reason to wait. This government has the power to act now, and it must act now. Quebec's culture and economy are suffering from the pandemic while the web giants are raking in record profits. These giants must take part in the recovery by paying what other companies are paying, sooner than next summer. They are currently exempt, which is unacceptable and must change. We welcome these announcements, but all of this can be done sooner than has been announced.

As I mentioned earlier, we will have to wait until we see the budget to learn more about the Liberals' recovery plan. Most of the measures in both the economic statement and Bill C-14 are measures that had already been announced rather than plans for the future. We are disappointed that the government is making highly targeted expenditures but not addressing the actual problem. We are in the midst of a public health crisis and we need to prioritize health and vulnerable Quebeckers and Canadians.

I want to touch on one last point, about the Canada emergency wage subsidy. We have heard from all kinds of workers on this issue. Some large employers are apparently requesting this subsidy solely for the employees who are still working at the company and not for the workers that the company chose to lay off.

Since the implementation of the emergency wage subsidy, the government has gone on and on about how this subsidy is meant to help and provide an income for workers, including those who were laid off. This is in line with the spirit of the measures intended to help us through the pandemic, and it also helps maintain that employer-employee relationship. This is meant to help stabilize the economy and get it back up and running more quickly.

Why are some large employers refusing to pay this subsidy to the workers they laid off? We need to look into this issue, understand what is happening and do something about it. The government is implementing programs with the support of the House. In this case, some large employers appear to be misusing the program. That does not work and we need to change it. We will come back to this.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada and to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Madam Speaker, my question is about something that I have believed for many years as a parliamentarian, both at the provincial legislature in Manitoba and now as a member of Parliament in Ottawa. It is with regard to the important issue of health care. No matter the region, province or territory I have had discussions with, there seems to be a general feeling, which has been reinforced during the pandemic, that the federal government has more of a role to play in health care than just giving money. Long-term care and a pharmacare program are the two specific areas that constituents want me to advocate for.

I wonder if my friend could provide his thoughts on the idea that we need a national government to be involved in health care beyond just giving out cash.

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

Madam Speaker, I thank the parliamentary secretary to the government House leader for his intervention, his comments and his question.

Clearly, he and I are not talking to the same people. I invite him to come to Quebec—virtually, of course, because of the pandemic—and visit the Quebec National Assembly to speak with any elected official there. Every one of them will tell him that health is a Quebec and provincial jurisdiction, and that all roles and standards are for Quebec to decide. It is not up to Ottawa to decide these matters.

In closing, I would remind the House that for every dollar spent on health care, just over 20¢ comes from Ottawa, while Quebeckers pay half of their taxes to the federal government. We can do better.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his description of the leading-edge clean aerospace technology.

The government has had a string of failures, led by the Prime Minister, such as the dismantling of GPHIN, the early warning system for viruses; plowing PPE into landfills; refusing to allow rapid testing until October; no serum testing except for blood donors; and refusing to allow soldiers returning from the Military World Games in Wuhan, just before the virus was exposed, to be tested for COVID. Now the government is intimating that it will decide who is going to get to travel outside of Canada and who is not.

Given this wonderful aerospace technology being developed in the member's riding, what is he going to do and what are these future employees going to do if Canadians cannot travel?

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

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her intervention.

The aerospace sector is not in my riding, but it obviously plays a vital role in Quebec's overall economy. There is, of course, a clear link between aerospace and aviation. In light of the pandemic and the COVID-19 variants, extra caution is required. That is what the Quebec premier has been telling the Prime Minister over and over again. We need to pay attention and we need to take action.

Early on, in the first wave, this government did not do its job. This caused more infections than we should have had. The Quebec government is saying that we need to pay attention. It is important to have a long-term vision, for when this crisis is behind us.

The aerospace industry is extremely important and must be supported so it can make a full recovery.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

Madam Speaker, the question I want to ask my colleague concerns the COVID-19 pandemic and the fact that we need leadership from the federal government.

As we know, many indigenous communities are going through a real crisis. Not only do they need more vaccines, but they also need investments in clean drinking water and a solution to the housing crisis.

Does my colleague believe that this should be a priority for the federal government, which does not seem to be the case, so that progress and real improvements can be made to the situation of people who are suffering right now?

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

Madam Speaker, in short, yes. The Manawan Atikamekw live in my riding. They are in desperate need of health care. We stand with them. The government must do more for health care, especially during a pandemic.