This bill is from the 43rd Parliament, 2nd session, which ended in August 2021.
Chrystia Freeland Liberal
This bill has received Royal Assent and is now law.
This is from the published bill. The Library of Parliament has also written a full legislative summary of the bill.
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.
All sorts of information on this bill is available at LEGISinfo, an excellent resource from the Library of Parliament. You can also read the full text of the bill.
Bill numbers are reused for different bills each new session. Perhaps you were looking for one of these other C-14s:
Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2020Government Orders
Paul Manly Green Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
Mr. Speaker, to start with, we need a just transition for oil and gas workers. It has already been looked at. We have done this before with asbestos. We know that we need to take bold climate action, and now is the time to do that.
Clearly, the Conservatives do not see things the same way I do. I see a lot of good things in the fall economic update. However, I do not think it is bold enough and that we are taking the steps we should be taking to ensure that Canadians get the kind of support they need and that we deal with the climate crisis. These are the existential problems we face.
Denis Trudel Bloc Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
Mr. Speaker, I have a simple question for my colleague.
This week, the leader of the Green Party met with Premier Legault. They no doubt spoke about health care, and Mr. Legault surely reiterated the demand that all provincial premiers have made for health transfers to be increased from 22% to 35%. The Bloc Québécois has shared this demand with the federal government.
Can we count on the Green Party's support? Will the Green Party members support the Bloc Québécois and all provincial premiers in demanding that health transfers be increased?
Paul Manly Green Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
Mr. Speaker, yes, I believe that the provinces should get the health transfers they need. We have seen continual cuts to health transfers, and the way the Harper government set this up cut it back even further. We need to go back to the plan we had originally and ensure that the provinces have enough funding to take care of their own people.
Leah Gazan NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague talked about having a bold agenda, and the NDP has actually been doing that in real time.
I wonder if the member supports Bill C-213, the pharmacare bill we put forward; Motion No. 46, which would guarantee a livable income and dental care; and certainly Bill C-232, my private member's bill that supports a bold climate agenda. It is a climate action emergency framework that is about bold work. The NDP is doing it in real time.
Paul Manly Green Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
Mr. Speaker, we absolutely support all of those things. They have all been in our platform for many years. A guaranteed livable income is something the Greens have been putting forward for over a decade, and for universal pharmacare it is the same thing. Bold climate action is something we want.
I have actually signed on to a number of these private member's bills and motions, and I look forward to working with the hon. member to push the government to enact these bold changes for Canadians.
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
Mr. Speaker, does the member think the investments that have been made in Canadians to date have been the right move for our country? I know there was unanimous support for them throughout the House, but the Conservatives seem to be criticizing the fact that we invested in Canadians previously. How important is it to get us through this and out the other side?
Paul Manly Green Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
Mr. Speaker, I think we have been making the right investments. There have been some mistakes, but that is the nature of a changing pandemic.
I am quite confused by the Conservatives. On the one hand they want more spending to protect Canadians, but on the other hand they want cutbacks. I am not sure if they talked about this as a caucus or not.
We need to take bold action to protect Canadians during this pandemic to ensure that our small businesses survive and that Canadians pull through this healthy, safe and economically sound.
Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2020Government Orders
February 2nd, 2021 / 1:40 p.m.
Conservative
Eric Melillo Conservative Kenora, ON
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to join debate today on Bill C-14, which would implement measures put forward in the government's fall economic statement.
Many residents of my riding have been very hopeful for some time to see a new plan from the government to get our economy going again. However, time and again the government has disappointed, and I am afraid this economic statement is no exception to that.
We know the pandemic has touched the lives of all Canadians one way or another. Far too many have lost a loved one and others have been separated from friends and family. Small businesses across the country are struggling to get by, if they have not already closed their doors.
That is why the Conservatives were in favour of new programs to support Canadians through this unprecedented time. Every step of the way we worked with the government to bring forward very thoughtful amendments to improve many of these unprecedented and much-needed programs, such as the recovery benefit and the wage subsidy, as many Canadians found they were falling through the cracks regarding these programs. We also know that we need a long-term economic recovery plan moving forward that will result in jobs and paycheques for Canadians, not just more debt and uncertainty. We need a return to normal life, not another year or more of restrictions.
As mentioned, this pandemic has devastated small businesses across the country. Many relief programs were not sufficient for many business owners, in particular for many seasonal operators in the riding of Kenora, and they were unable to keep their doors open. I also believe a flawed rollout of these programs and, in many cases, poor communication on the part of the government have made this difficult time much worse for small business owners.
The Conservatives spent much of the spring and pretty much all of the summer calling for improvements to these programs to help reduce some of the barriers to entry and help more Canadians get the supports they need in this desperate time. Unfortunately, we saw the Liberals drag their feet. What should have been very simple fixes in many cases came far too late or in some cases have not come at all.
None of this has stopped the Liberals from wanting to raise taxes on Canadians. That does not surprise me and should not surprise any members of the House or any Canadians who may be watching, because it is always the ordinary hard-working Canadians who are struggling to get by who have to pay the price for the government's mismanagement.
A friend of mine in the riding of Kenora recently had to close his business, and his wife had to close hers. They are unsure of their next move given all the uncertainty moving forward. According to the CFIB, one in six small business owners is in a similar situation. They are considering closing their doors permanently. This paints a very frustrating picture of the current situation and of the urgent need for a robust recovery plan.
Last spring, lockdowns and other restrictions were put in place by governments not only across Canada but across the world in an effort to buy time. It bought the government time to get access to more permanent solutions, such as vaccines and rapid testing. We now know that other countries are well on their way to vaccinating most of their populations and are making use of rapid testing as well, but the current government has positioned us at the back of the line for vaccines and without widespread rapid testing. These are vitally important tools that are enabling other jurisdictions to position their economies to reopen, but many Canadians will have to wait half a year or more before they can get a first dose of vaccine.
This is incredibly troublesome for my region because tourism is a massive contributor to the economy there. Campgrounds, hotels, outfitters, regional airlines, restaurants and local shops have thrived in the past thanks to visitors from outside of the riding, primarily those from the United States.
To put it in perspective, for all members of the House, in my riding the American clientele for tourism outfitters is important. Based on the sheer population, there are more people living in the state of Minnesota than in all of northern Ontario, Manitoba and, I believe, Saskatchewan combined. I might need to be fact-checked on that, but we know that the market for domestic tourism is incredibly small when compared with what the American market brings in.
When the border closed last year, the business dried up. What made things even more difficult for many in my riding was the uncertainty around what conditions the border may be able to open in some capacity. Business owners did not know if they should be recruiting staff, paying insurance or setting up their facilities for visitors, who of course in the end were not able to come last season.
Not only did these business owners lose a whole season, with no income, but they also spent thousands of dollars on overhead costs that turned out to be unnecessary, because of a lack of clear communication and a clear plan forward from the government. I am afraid that history may be repeating itself, as we get closer to the spring and have yet to see a plan forward from the government.
In the House yesterday, the hon. member for Calgary Nose Hill asked whether people who had been vaccinated against COVID-19 would be exempt from the Liberal government's new quarantine laws. I believe it is safe to say that the answer from the government was non-committal.
It truly begs the question: If Canadians are not able to travel freely after they have been fully vaccinated, when will they be able to do so? What criteria is the government using to decide when and whether the restrictions would be lifted, or is the entire plan just to continue with the status quo forever or for however long it takes?
I believe my colleague from Calgary Nose Hill said it more eloquently yesterday, but there is a better way of doing things. There is a way we could begin to return to normal while still protecting the health of Canadians and, of course, keeping those who are most vulnerable safe.
I believe the strategic use of rapid testing could allow Canadians to go about their business more normally, but of course the government has not deployed tests in a way that would allow that. Vaccines, as I have noted, are vitally important, but we know the government has botched the procurement process.
If I am not mistaken, I believe that as of January, roughly only 2% of Canadians had received a single dose of a vaccine. That is why we need the government to bring forward a plan. We need the government to have success in bringing vaccines to Canada. We know that until the majority of the population is vaccinated, we could be faced with more restrictions and more lockdowns. More workers could lose their jobs and entrepreneurs could lose their businesses. More Canadians could struggle with isolation and their mental health, and unfortunately more Canadians could become sick and there could be more deaths.
Canada's Conservatives know that Canadians are frustrated and are looking for hope from their government and a clear path forward. That is what we are fighting for. We are fighting for every Canadian to have access to a vaccine. We are fighting for rapid testing and other measures to alleviate the impact of this pandemic. We are fighting for adequate support for our hospitals and health care systems. We are fighting to ensure that entrepreneurs who make our country stronger will have a fighting chance.
We can and we will beat this virus. However, once we do, we will have even more work to do to revive our economy and secure our future. I will end it there. I appreciate any questions and comments from my colleagues.
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
Mr. Speaker, the member raised the topic the member for Calgary Nose Hill raised about when and if vaccinated individuals could travel and what loosened restrictions there might be for such individuals. I do not have the answer to that, but I am going to go out on a limb and say the government is going to make its decisions on that based on advice from medical professionals, including our chief medical officer of health, rather than from MPs giving their personal opinions on the floor of the House of Commons.
Would the member agree that the best people to advise the government on making those decisions would be the public health officials who are spearheading us through this pandemic?
Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2020Government Orders
February 2nd, 2021 / 1:50 p.m.
Conservative
Eric Melillo Conservative Kenora, ON
Mr. Speaker, of course we know that public health officials and the experts have to be the ones guiding these decisions. However, to my colleague's point, I would say that the lack of transparency by the government about what it is hearing from public health officials has caused a lot of frustration. There have been a lot of mixed messages, and I believe, in many instances, the Liberals have allowed their own political rhetoric to get in the way of some of the information from public health officials.
Louise Chabot Bloc Thérèse-De Blainville, QC
Mr. Speaker, I agree with some of the member's observations about the vaccines.
The problem with the government is that it is always a step behind. We do not have the agreements to know about the number of vaccines. We know that we have reserved industrial quantities of them. We could give some to the rest of the world. However, the problem is that we are not able to get enough vaccines to conduct mass vaccinations. That is what we need.
Quebec is waiting. All of our vaccination sites are ready to go. The staff are ready to go, but we cannot meet demand.
I agree with the member on this, but since the government is a step behind—
Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2020Government Orders
Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2020Government Orders
February 2nd, 2021 / 1:50 p.m.
Conservative
Eric Melillo Conservative Kenora, ON
Mr. Speaker, as my colleague from the Bloc mentioned, we do agree that the government has botched the vaccine procurement process. We have seen a very slow rollout across the country, which has resulted in a lot of frustration and uncertainty for Canadians.
Moving forward, we really want to see the plan from the government on how it is going to move forward and distribute vaccines in a way that can help get our economy going again and secure our health and future.
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Mr. Speaker, I know the member's area very well, having passed through it a dozen times. Kenora is the linchpin between eastern Canada and western Canada, and I know that the folks in his riding are very hard-working. I know they are as concerned as all Canadians are about the very slow trickle of vaccines. The new Biden administration just confirmed that over the next couple of weeks, it will be delivering 10.5 million doses of vaccine. In Canada it is just a few thousand, a trickle.
My question is very simple. What is the impact, in his community and in communities across the country, of Canada trailing dozens of other countries in the actual rollout and administration of vaccines?
