Bill C-4 (Historical)

COVID-19 Response Measures Act

An Act relating to certain measures in response to COVID-19

Part 1 enacts the Canada Recovery Benefits Act to authorize the payment of the Canada recovery benefit, the Canada recovery sickness benefit and the Canada recovery caregiving benefit to support Canada’s economic recovery in response to COVID-19. It also makes consequential amendments to the Income Tax Act and the Income Tax Regulations.
Part 2 amends the Canada Labour Code to, among other things,
(a) amend the reasons for which an employee is entitled to take leave related to COVID-19, and the number of weeks of that leave that an employee may take for each of those reasons; and
(b) give the Governor in Council the power, until September 25, 2021, to make regulations in certain circumstances to provide that any requirements or conditions, set out in certain provisions of Part III of that Act, respecting certificates issued by a health care practitioner do not apply and to provide for alternative requirements and conditions.
This Part also makes related amendments to the COVID-19 Emergency Response Act to ensure that employees may continue to take leave related to COVID-19 until September 25, 2021. Finally, it makes related amendments to regulations and contains coordinating amendments.
Part 3 amends the Public Health Events of National Concern Payments Act to limit, as of October 1, 2020, the payments that may be made out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund under that Act to those in respect of specified measures related to COVID-19, up to specified amounts. It also postpones the repeal of that Act until December 31, 2020.

COVID-19 Response Measures Act

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Madam Speaker, we are very much in a second wave of this pandemic. When we look at what people are going through right now, it is fair to say that there is a lot of fear. There is a lot of worry, and there is a lot of uncertainty in people's lives. In this second wave, when people are afraid, worried and uncertain, they need to know that help will be there if they need it. We see the number of cases rising in major cities in Ontario and in Quebec.

Now people are deeply concerned because the numbers are going up. People are scared that their places of work will be closed again. In this precarious situation, when everyone fears for the future, it is essential to provide the help that people need.

It is essential, in the context of a second wave, that people can count on support.

The first act of the Liberal government after proroguing Parliament for nearly two months was going to be cutting the help that families receive. That is what the Liberals told us in the summer. They prorogued Parliament and, while people are afraid and the second wave is upon us, they were going to cut the help that families need to get by.

Instead of $2,000 a month, which is not a luxurious amount, but just enough to get by, the Liberal government was going to cut that by $400 to $1,600 a month. The Liberals were going to force those families who were just getting by to get by with $400 less, despite the fact that we knew before the pandemic that families were just a couple of hundred dollars away from not being able to make ends meet. It was cruel what the Liberal government was going to do.

On one hand, the Liberals were presenting a throne speech with all sorts of promises and words to make life better for people, but those words rang very hollow. They were empty words. The first action of the government was going to be to cut the help that people need, so we fought back.

We fought back and made it very clear for Canadians, who are right now afraid of the future, who are worried about the second wave, that there is no way that we would allow the government to cut the help that families receive. We fought back and we won for Canadians. This was a victory for Canadians. This was a victory to say that we believe in investing in people and we believe that support should be there for families. If there is a situation where jobs have to be put on pause or if there is another shutdown, people need to know that they can count on support.

I was talking to my colleague from Vancouver Island and he was sharing a story of a woman in her 50s who has been a massage therapist for most of her life. She had a successful career, but as a result of COVID-19, she had to shut down. Even after the shutdown, a lot of people are nervous, as we know, about going back to some of the things that they used to do, so she was not seeing a pickup in her business again. She could not go back to work, so she lost everything.

On top of that, the Liberal government timed the throne speech to land just as CERB was ending. There was no time to give that woman any sense of security that there would be help for her. Right now, she is not sure how she is going to pay her rent. She is going to go to her line of credit to see if she can scrounge up enough money to pay rent, and she is waiting every day to find out what is going to happen. She asks if she will get help, but she does not know. I want her to know that we are going to pass this legislation tonight, and she will get that help.

Many people cannot work because of COVID-19. Their job and even their entire sector have ceased to exist. It is in no way the workers' fault.

They are scared. They don't know what they are going to do. They do not know how they are going to make ends meet.

This Liberal government planned the Speech from the Throne just when the CERB was ending. That was not right. I want people who need the CERB to know that we will fight for them. This evening, we will be voting in favour of a bill to continue helping people.

However, that is not the only thing that people worried about. As we all know, there are so many Canadians faced with the impossible choice of going into work sick and risking infecting their colleagues, or staying at home without pay not knowing how to pay their bills at the end of the month. That is an impossible choice made even more impossible by a pandemic. How does it make any sense that a worker be faced with this impossible choice when facing a global pandemic?

Back in May, we fought and obtained a commitment from the Liberal government to bring in paid sick leave for workers. Months later, there was no action. We made another clear demand. We said that if the Liberals wanted our support, they had to bring in paid sick leave for workers in legislation. There should never be any worker making that impossible choice. Any worker who is worried about being infected by COVID-19, who is potentially vulnerable or susceptible to COVID-19, should be able to stay at home and not risk infecting their co-workers and still be able to pay their bills. That is what we did. We fought and we won another massive victory for Canadians and for workers. We want them to know they will never have to make that impossible choice again.

We were able to obtain something that is the first of its kind. This is a historic moment. For the first time in the history of our country, there will be a federal paid sick leave for workers.

We are extremely proud of the work we have done. I want to thank my entire team. Together, we fought for Canadians. For the first time in our country's history, we have obtained paid sick leave. This is incredible. It means that workers do not have to make an impossible choice between going to work sick and staying home not knowing how to make ends meet.

We are there for them, we fought for them and we won for them.

These are two massive victories. We are very excited and honoured that we were able to fight for Canadians and win for Canadians. For New Democrats, it is not enough to put in place a paid sick leave during a pandemic. We believe that this is the first brick in the foundation for a permanent paid sick leave for all Canadians now and forever. That should be a part of our social safety net, not just in a pandemic, but all the time. No worker should live in fear that they cannot take time off from work if they are sick. That is our vision.

We know that there will be a lot of folks talking about how we are going to pay for these programs. It is a fair question. We need to be able to pay for these important investments in people. I am worried because as the deficit increases, we will hear more and more from Conservatives who will say we should cut the help to people in the middle of a pandemic. There will be some Liberals who are going to listen to the words of Conservatives and say that maybe we should cut the help. In fact, that is what the Liberals were about to do. They were convinced by the Conservatives there was too much help given to people and were going to cut that help. What other explanation is there for cutting the help in the middle of a second wave as the Liberals were planning to do but for the fact the New Democrats fought back and stopped them.

The Liberals are falling prey to this ideology, this belief of the Conservatives that when times are tough, let us put the burden, the weight and the pain on working people. That is what Conservatives do.

In some cases, I guess the Liberals listen to that because we are seeing a lot of talk about the deficit. It is important and scary to see a massive deficit, but the way forward is not to put the pain on the woman who lost her entire career in massage therapy on Vancouver Island, the solution is not to put the pain on working-class Canadians who have lost their jobs or on small businesses that are on the brink. Who should pay for this pandemic? The ultra wealthy who made record profits during this pandemic. We are not going to hear this from the Conservatives. We are not going to hear this from the Liberals. They talk about taxing extreme wealth inequality and I challenge anyone on the Liberal bench to explain what that even means. How can the government tax inequality? I know what it can tax. It can tax the ultra rich. It can tax those who make profits in Canada but hide all that profit and pay no taxes in Canada. That is what it can do.

What we are proposing is this. Those who have profited off this pandemic, the ultra rich who have made record profits during this pandemic, the ultra rich who have made billions of dollars in profits, should be the ones who pay for the recovery. If a company makes a profit in Canada, that company should pay taxes in Canada. The reality is there are far too many companies. One is not more than enough, there are so many companies that make a profit here in our country but pay virtually no tax in our country. That is who we should go after. There are companies that make record profits from Canadians in Canada, take that money and put it in an offshore tax haven, hiding it and not paying their fair share. That happens again and again. Recently we saw that the CRA had even taken a company to court for hundreds of millions of dollars of taxes it did not pay. The judge found it had certainly made profits in Canada, that it had taken all those profits and put them into a bank out of Canada and it was legal to do so. That needs to end. We need to stop that. We need to be very clear that the pain of, the cost of and the recovery from this pandemic should not fall on Canadians, on workers or the people who have felt the pain, but on those who have profited. That is what the New Democrats are going to do. We are going to fight to make sure the wealthiest pay their fair share.

While we are dealing with the crisis of COVID–19, it is immediate and we are feeling it right now. People are feeling the pain, they are worried and afraid, so I want them to know that we see them, hear them, know that they are going through difficult times right now and we are going to be there for them. From the beginning of this pandemic, we have fought every step of the way to make sure Canadians were at the centre of everything we did. Whether it was the CERB, the wage subsidy, students, people living with disabilities or seniors, every step of the way we fought for them and I want them to know they can count on us to continue to fight for them.

We know there is not only one crisis we are up against. We are not just facing a COVID–19 crisis. There are so many other crises we are up against. We know the climate crisis is still raging. In my home province of British Columbia and riding of Burnaby South, just a couple of weeks ago the air quality was so bad in the Lower Mainland it was one of the worst air quality ratings of all major cities in the world. While in the classrooms people were being advised to open the windows to let the fresh air in, at the same time they were being told close the windows to prevent the incoming fumes from the forest fires and climate fires. We know the climate crisis is impacting us right now. It is an emergency and we have to do everything we can to fight that crisis as well. That means making the right investments so we create jobs in communities that help us reduce our emissions and make a better quality of life. One example is if we invested in retrofits and building affordable housing, we could create local jobs, make life more affordable and fight the climate crisis. That is what a just recovery would look like.

We also know we are up against a crisis of systemic racism. Just recently, there was an example of an indigenous woman in Quebec, a heart-rending story, who pleaded for help with her dying breath. It was recorded and put on Facebook. She asked for somebody to please help her.

She asked that someone come for her.

She was dying in a hospital bed and the video recorded hospital staff mocking her and insulting her as she was lying and dying. I have said before that systemic racism kills people. It strips people of their dignity and it kills them. This woman died and while she was sick was subjected to racial taunts and systemic discrimination.

I have said again and again that it is not enough to just talk about these things. That woman's life was precious. She did not deserve to die that way. We have to end systemic racism in all its forms, whether it is in health care, in our criminal justice system or in our judicial system. We have to stop talking about it and actually get to the work of ending systemic racism. Enough is enough.

We know we are still faced with an opioid crisis that is taking the lives of so many Canadians. We have to stop our approach to this crisis as a criminal justice problem, as a problem that we can arrest our way out of and, instead, look at it for what it really is: a health care crisis that is going to require compassion and care to save lives.

We know that the impact of COVID-19 disproportionately affected women, so we need a she-covery. We need to be very thoughtful and purposeful with our investments to acknowledge that if women were impacted disproportionately, then we need to have a clear path to remedying that problem. One of the solutions that all of the experts are calling for is massive investment in child care. Therefore, if women, parents in general, but specifically women, choose to go back to work, they do not have to be faced with the impossible reality of not being able to find affordable child care or losing their careers. That should not be a choice that anyone has to make, particularly for women. If we believe in a society where everyone has the right to work and participate, we need to invest in child care.

I will end on this last note.

There is always talk about what should be done about the many crises we are facing, including the climate crisis and the systemic racism crisis, but we have to act. We do not have time to wait before taking action; we have to do it now. Words are no longer enough, and now is the time to act. We have solutions, and we can do something, so I demand that the government take concrete action to address these crises.

We must ask ourselves what the price of inaction is. Unless we take action, inequalities will certainly continue, and the gap between the average person and the very wealthy will only widen. That is why action is needed.

The reality is we need to act. Some people will say we should just let it be and not act. Inaction is a choice. If we do not act, if we do not fight the inequality in a meaningful way, if we do not make the wealthiest pay their fair share, inaction will result in the wealthiest getting even wealthier and everyone else falling behind, and that simply is not a choice New Democrats are going to let happen.

We are going to make sure that this crisis does not create more wealth inequality. We are going to ensure that this crisis does not make life worse for women or working-class people. We are going to fight for them because we know the cost of inaction is too grave. We will fight to make sure we have a more just, resilient and fairer economy, one that works for everyone, one in which everybody has the opportunity to live their best life.

[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, I would like to rise to the challenge the leader of the New Democratic Party gave us when he asked what we are doing regarding Canada's wealthiest. The Prime Minister addressed that point in a question and answer earlier today, where he illustrated that one of the first actions we took after the 2015 election was to reduce the taxes of Canada's middle class and at the same time increase the taxes for Canada's wealthiest.

I remind the leader of the New Democratic Party today that the NDP voted against that particular tax decrease. In fairness, he was not the leader back then. It was Tom Mulcair, and those were the days in which they had a tough time even acknowledging the need for a deficit. I appreciate the fact that the NDP is supporting the bill. It was a very bold move for New Democrats to come forward and say that they wanted to see this legislation.

Would the leader of the NDP not agree it is absolutely critical that the government invest in people in order to minimize the negative impacts of the second wave?

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Madam Speaker, what the member is talking about is an action taken over five years ago. Right now we are calling for clear action to make sure that those who profited off this pandemic pay their fair share, that we close offshore tax havens and that any company that makes profits in Canada pays taxes in Canada. The fact that I have to say that and it is not already happening is a problem. The fact that the Liberal government has been in a majority and allowed that to continue speaks for itself.

We are saying very clearly that everyday people pay their taxes. The member contributes. What about those companies that make record profits and then hide those profits and do not pay any taxes here? That is what the Liberal government has failed to address and that is what we are fighting for.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Madam Speaker, I find it curious that the parliamentary secretary speaks about what the Prime Minister spoke about today about the top 1% paying their fair share. Shortly after that was implemented, the Parliamentary Budget Officer reported that the net negative effect to the treasury was going to be $8.9 billion over six years. What that meant was that the Liberals' top 1% tax plan actually was going to cost Canadians money.

The ones who benefited the most from this were actually MPs, where we saw, according to the Centre for Policy Alternatives, our tax rate decrease. We are $343 billion in deficits and approaching $1.2 trillion in debt. Has the hon. member costed out what a tax on the top 1% would be, and would it pay down the $343 billion in deficits and the $1.2 billion in debt?

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Madam Speaker, one of our measures, which we campaigned on and we still believe must happen, is a tax on the ultra-wealthy, those who have fortunes of over $20 million. The Parliamentary Budget Officer costed out this proposal, a tax on the wealth of those who have fortunes of over $20 million. Over 10 years, it would raise over $70 billion. That is a massive revenue increase. It is something that has been costed out.

There are many other examples. We know we are losing billions of dollars of revenue to offshore tax havens. Companies make profits in Canada off the backs of Canadians, and then they hide that profit in offshore tax havens. There should be no excuse. If one is going to make profits in Canada, one should pay taxes in Canada. It is a simple thing we are asking. Everyone else pays their salaries, earns here and pays taxes here. If a company makes money off Canadians, it surely has to pay taxes here.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Madam Speaker, I want to congratulate the leader of the New Democratic Party and the team who made the improvements in the legislation we have before us tonight. It is very important. It is important to see people are not going to be receiving less off CERB as they transition to EI.

I also recognize, though, the leader of the New Democratic Party is in a position to do considerably more. About climate he said, “the climate crisis is still raging”. Of course it is. It is worse by the minute. With the power that party has, I wonder why in the election we heard that this was going to be a priority for the NDP. The NDP in British Columbia has of course increased greenhouse gases and bet its money on fracking and LNG.

I wonder when we will see this federal NDP press the federal Liberals to give us more than lip service on climate. This is the moment. We are running out of time.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Madam Speaker, in fairness, the member is right when she talks about a Liberal government that pays lip service to the climate crisis but then does the opposite. The Liberals talk about these lofty goals, and then miss each and every one of them without any accountability. They talk about planting two billion trees and have planted zero. They talk about the importance of our climate and then buy a pipeline.

What we need to do is to stop the pretty, empty words. We need some concrete action. One of the things that we are fighting for and pushing for, once we get past the immediacy of the second wave of the pandemic, is the recovery where we invest in people, create jobs locally and fight the climate crisis by reducing emissions. We must do that. Nothing less can happen.

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

Madam Speaker, I thank the NDP leader for his speech and for the work that he has done over the past while.

I am proud of the work that we have done to drive aspects of the government's response to the pandemic. Sometimes, and just from the previous question, I get the sense that we made it look too easy, but I know how hard fought and hard won the victories we did get are. I know that there are some people now in the country who think there is some kind of hotline, that we just call up the Prime Minister and he gives us anything we want, but that is not true.

We hear from people who would like us to push all sorts of things, including proportional representation and climate action, which are things we remain very committed to. I know that the NDP leader raised the question of proportional representation with the Prime Minister, and I would like him to tell us if there was any openness at all to discussing issues outside of the constraints of the pandemic and just how difficult it has been to extract these concessions from the government.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the member for Elmwood—Transcona. He was critical in the negotiations in achieving this massive victory, as was our House leader. In fact, I want to thank all of our team for their solidarity.

This was hard fought. Every step of the way, with any victory that we won for people, we had to fight tooth and nail. The Liberal government was not just going to do any of these things. It was not going to help students. We had to fight for that. It was not going to help those living with disabilities. We had to fight for that. Then it offered something that was so little that we had to fight more to make sure that it did not exclude so many Canadians, but there is still so much more to do.

With respect to the help for Canadians and paid sick leave, the Liberals promised this in May. We had to fight for months and months to get legislation. We had to fight tooth and nail every step of the way to win for Canadians, and we are not going to stop fighting.

[Richard Lehoux, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

Madam Speaker, in my riding of Beauce, dozens of businesses are at risk of closing down or are being forced to slow down production.

This is not because they cannot sell their products, but because they are in need of workers, and factories are not the only ones with this problem. For example, Giovannina Pizzeria in Sainte-Marie has been a family-owned business for over 50 years. It has to close at least three days a week now.

How will Bill C-4 help in this case?

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Madam Speaker, the labour shortage is a big problem, and it has come up a lot on my visits to Quebec.

That said, we did manage to do something important with this bill. A number of workers are afraid to work because they do not have paid sick leave. With this paid sick leave, they will now know that if they become sick, they will be able to stay home. This makes workers more confident about returning to work. They will have this assistance, this support, which can give them more confidence.

I know that there is still a lot of work to be done. I am prepared to do what it takes to move forward on this issue. It is a big problem in many regions of Quebec and across the country.

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Minister of Middle Class Prosperity and Associate Minister of Finance]

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise this evening in support of Bill C-4, an act relating to certain measures in response to COVID-19.

This is a very important bill. It will allow us to build on the measures already set out in Canada's COVID-19 economic response plan so we can protect Canadians during the next wave of the pandemic and, more importantly, continue to support them as the economy reopens.

A number of my colleagues have already spoken eloquently about the new measures this bill proposes, such as the Canada recovery benefit, the Canada recovery sickness benefit and the Canada recovery caregiving benefit. I will also talk about them in a few minutes, but I would first like to talk about the importance of passing Bill C-4 quickly. Time is running out.

As we know, the legislation we are debating here today would, among other things, extend the Public Health Events of National Concern Payments Act to the end of this year. It is a very long title for a very important act that is otherwise set to expire. As hon. members may recall, it was enacted in March as part of Bill C-13, adopted by the House. It allows the government to spend the money needed to protect Canadians and address the public health crisis of the global COVID-19 pandemic. It has been a cornerstone of Canada's COVID-19 economic response plan, a plan that has been critical to supporting Canadians and Canadian businesses.

I know I have spoken about this many times, but I cannot understate the extent to which Canadians have relied on our economic response to get them through these extraordinary times. Through this plan, our government has delivered on programs, such as the Canada emergency response benefit, that have helped millions of Canadians. The CERB has ensured that millions of Canadians have not had to make impossible choices between putting food on their tables and paying their bills when they have lost their jobs or seen their incomes reduced as a result of the pandemic.

The CERB has helped nearly nine million Canadians since March.

Given how many Canadians lost their jobs this year, it quickly became apparent that many of them would need financial support until they could get back to work. However, the existing income support programs were not designed to deal with a crisis of this magnitude. That is why we created the Canada emergency response benefit, or CERB, and made sure that many Canadians would be eligible, for instance by allowing workers to earn up to $1,000 per month while still receiving the CERB.

The Canada emergency response benefit has been a key program, supporting millions of Canadians unable to work because of COVID-19. It has had a tangible impact on the quality of life of millions of families from coast to coast to coast, in every constituency in this country, and that is thanks to the Public Health Events of National Concern Payments Act. The Public Health Events of National Concern Payments Act also paves the way to support businesses across this country, especially our small businesses.

Canadians have worked their whole lives to establish businesses that serve their communities and provide good local jobs. Small businesses not only are the backbone of our economy, but define our neighbourhoods. They give our main streets their character, owners become community leaders and they become the places we rely on to connect to one another.

The list goes on. It is largely thanks to the Public Health Events of National Concern Payments Act that we are able to help Canadians, support our businesses, and protect everyone's health and safety. However, there is still more work to be done. The increase in COVID-19 cases across the country and the arrival of the second wave clearly show that we are still grappling with the pandemic. We must not let our guard down. We must continue to protect the Canadians who need us most. We must continue to support them, but first we must give ourselves the means to do so, and we must do it now. When Parliament passed the Public Health Events of National Concern Payments Act in March, the date of repeal was set for September 30, 2020. This means that the act will expire tomorrow, but COVID-19 will not expire. We must extend the act. We owe it to Canadians.

The limited extension of this act would allow the government to continue to do a lot of the things we have been doing to support Canadians and businesses that are most in need. For example, this act would allow the government to keep buying the necessary personal protective equipment to help essential workers. It would also crucially continue support for the public health, social and economic response in indigenous communities. We understand that indigenous communities are vulnerable to the impacts of COVID-19, which is why we acted quickly to provide nearly a billion dollars to support public health and community-led responses in these communities.

Extending the Public Health Events of National Concern Payments Act to December 31 would ensure that there are no needless interruptions to several programs, especially since a second wave of the pandemic is imminent and has already hit some regions. The extension would enable the government to continue to support the provinces and territories and improve the capacity of our health care system. Take, for example, the federal government's investment in testing and contact tracing. We are talking about a legislative framework that has been essential to our assistance plan.

Extending the act would also enable the government to help small businesses and maintain support measures for farmers, food companies and food supply chains. It would ensure that there is no interruption to the final payments under existing programs, such as the CERB, while we begin to transition to the new assistance programs.

We are now six months into the worst health and economic crisis in Canadian history. COVID-19 has affected all aspects of Canadians' lives, from their health to their livelihoods. We will overcome this pandemic, but this will require the work of every order of government, every community and every one of us. For our part, we will support people and businesses through this crisis as long as it lasts. Let me be absolutely clear with the House and with all Canadians: We will do whatever it takes to get through this pandemic.

We are trusting science to lead the fight until a safe, effective vaccine becomes available. Until then, we must remain vigilant and use the tools available to us, such as testing, treatment and physical distancing. The government will continue to be there for Canadians, just as Canadians are there for each other. We will do whatever is necessary.

Canadians are counting on their government to be there for them when they need it. We know that too many are still unable to work because of COVID-19, including many women, many newcomers to Canada and many people who are self-employed. As we have said previously, and the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion said earlier this evening, we will continue to support these vulnerable Canadians. Those who have been receiving CERB will be supported by the employment insurance system. Let me be clear on something: We will not let down those who do not qualify for EI.

Bill C-4 would ensure that the workers impacted by COVID-19 have the support they need by creating three new transitional benefits to ensure that Canadians can continue to support their families and make ends meet.

First, under the Canada recovery benefit, $500 per week for up to 26 weeks could be available to those individuals not working due to the pandemic and who do not qualify for EI, including the self-employed. This would also be available to those individuals working reduced hours who have lost 50% or more of their income due to the pandemic.

Second, the Canada recovery sickness benefit would provide $500 per week for up to two weeks to workers who are unable to work for at least 50% of the time they would have otherwise worked, either because they contracted COVID-19, think they might have it or because they isolated because of the virus.

Third, the Canada recovery caregiving benefit would be available to those who cannot work because they are caring for a close relative or because their child cannot go to school or day care because of the pandemic. These Canadians could receive $500 per week for up to 26 weeks.

These transitional benefits are proposed as part of the government's plan to support Canadians, as we work to build a stronger, more resilient economy. All three would be available for one year. We know this crisis will not pass this week or next.

This pandemic is the worst public health crisis Canada has ever encountered. Canadians of all ages everywhere in the country have been hit hard. Millions of Canadians lost their jobs or had their hours cut along with their income. Job losses may be the most obvious effect of the global economic shock we have all had to withstand, but the shock also highlighted a whole range of quality-of-life issues, such as mental health, family violence and social ties.

We firmly believe that policy development must be guided by prosperity and quality of life for all Canadians. That is what will help us build a stronger, more resilient country, and that is what guides us as we develop the pandemic recovery plan.

This is not the time for austerity. As Canadians continue to weather the consequences of the pandemic, we must maintain certain assistance program and launch others. Bill C-4 will enable us to round out many of the existing measures. It will also help us make our COVID-19 economic response plan more effective. In the medium and long terms, we will also have to recover from the pandemic by building a stronger and more resilient Canada.

Canada entered this crisis in the best fiscal position of its peers. For the past six months, the government has been using that fiscal firepower so Canadians, businesses and our entire economy have the support needed to weather the storm. The same firepower can also help us to overcome this crisis and build back as a stronger, more resilient country.

It is critical to ensure that the Canadians who need it the most continue to receive the support they need. It will help to ensure that Canadians and the businesses where they work continue to receive the support they need.

I will end by saying this. Our government's first priority is addressing this pandemic and ensuring Canadians are healthy and safe. We are getting them the help they need today, while finding solutions which will improve their quality of life over the months and years to come.

Our government's priority is to fight this pandemic and make sure Canadians stay healthy and safe. We will give them the help they need now, and we will come up with solutions to improve their quality of life in the months and years to come.

The measures contained in this bill would help us to do exactly that. I urge every member of the House to do the same.

[Richard Lehoux, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

Madam Speaker, dozens of businesses in my riding of Beauce are at risk closing down or are being forced to slow down production due to a labour shortage. It is not that they cannot sell their products, it is that the labour shortage is a serious problem locally. Factories are not the only ones with this problem. In my riding, Giovannina, a restaurant in Sainte-Marie-de-Beauce, has to close three days a week because they are short-staffed.

How will Bill C-4 help in this case?

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague for his question and for his concern about his constituents.

We know that we are all working to find solutions and help workers and businesses during this pandemic. From the start, as we have seen, the emergency wage subsidy was a very important solution that allowed more people to continue working.

This bill, Bill C-4, will also allow workers and Canadians to continue to be supported during this crisis. We know that their health and safety are a priority during this period. In addition to providing this support to Canadians and Quebeckers, we will continue to work hard to create more than one million jobs, returning us to pre-pandemic levels. We will also work with the provinces, territories and parliamentarians to find ways to—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

I apologize, but others want to ask questions. Answers should be about the same length as the questions.

The hon. member for Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot.