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

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Madam Speaker, the minister told us that it was not going to last a few weeks, but a full year. I would like to ask her why we are once again being presented with a temporary measure when so many changes could have been made to employment insurance.

After the EI program was ransacked for years and the EI fund plundered, why is the measure temporary? Is it so that they can have an excuse to get rid of it in a year?

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

Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. colleague for her question and comments.

In my opinion it is important is to demonstrate adaptability despite the uncertainty of these times. At the start of the pandemic, we truly wanted to help Canadians who had lost their jobs or could not work. The CERB supported millions of Canadians.

We are going to transition to the EI system. We will improve our EI system by developing these supports. With Bill C-4, we will give Canadians and Quebeckers ways to obtain support so they can subsequently return to work.

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

Madam Speaker, the minister talked about having the backs of businesses, but the government's flawed commercial rent assistance program has been a boondoggle. This morning we learned from the PBO that it only will have spent half the money budgeted because it made it a landlord-driven application process.

The minister of small business said we should stay tuned three weeks ago. We are looking at this. The government keeps saying that it is listening to small businesses, but small businesses are saying that this program is only going to save businesses two days from now.

Businesses in Quebec will be closing their doors because the second wave of the virus is hitting us. The lockdown will affect restaurants, cinemas and other businesses. They cannot wait to stay tuned any longer. They need the minister and the government to fix that program.

The government keeps pointing its finger at the provinces, but the provinces are saying that it is the federal government that needs to lead on this. These businesses are counting on the federal government. Will the minister fix this?

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

Madam Speaker, I am grateful to the member for sharing what I have heard across the country since the beginning of this crisis. Many businesses have asked for support. That is how we know that thousands of small businesses have been hard hit. It is why we brought many programs forward: CEWS, the Canadian emergency wage subsidy; the Canadian emergency response benefit; and the Canadian emergency business account. As of September 28, commercial rent assistance has helped over 120,000 Canadian small businesses, representing over a million jobs, over $1.68 billion in support.

Our government is actively exploring options to further support small businesses as they face the ongoing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the challenges of fixed costs and rent. This is at a time when health concerns and precautions prevent many businesses from operating at full capacity.

We will continue to work with businesses to ensure they have a bridge through this pandemic.

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

Madam Speaker, there is an issue clearly looming as we look at where we are in terms of the deficit and our debt. I was recently looking at an article by our former parliamentary budget officer, Kevin Page, pointing out that we really cannot continue spending without looking at the revenue side of the ledger.

As the minister looking at middle-class prosperity, when will we look at a wealth tax? We need to find new sources of revenue. The Green Party has been advocating for a wealth tax. I wonder if she has had a look at it. The PBO has costed it and it is viable.

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

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for her leadership on many files. By working all together, we will find ways to make sure we get through this pandemic. She has encouraged us to all work together, and it is important to do that.

I want to recognize that the PBO has done important work on behalf of Parliamentarians and all Canadians. As we entered as a country into this crisis, we had a strong fiscal position relative to our G7 peers. By using this fiscal firepower, we will continue to ensure Canadians, workers and businesses get the support they need. We have a well-deserved international reputation for small and prudent fiscal management. Our plan continues to be fiscally sustainable, and we will continue to be responsible.

Canadians are counting on our government to be there for them. We have done, and will continue to do, exactly that.

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

Madam Speaker, I want to go back to the commercial rent assistance program. I have outlined that many businesses have not received the support they need. The minister spoke about the other programs. What we are hearing from small businesses, and CFIB again this morning, is that many of these businesses simply will not survive without commercial rent assistance. They have closed their doors for public health reasons to do the right thing, and they should not be on the hook when their landlord does not apply or if they do not meet the threshold and only lost 60% of their business. Trying to survive losing 50% or 60% of business is going to be nearly impossible. They need help. They need the government to fix this program.

Will the minister reassure those small businesses that she can help them and fix this broken program?

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

Madam Speaker, it is important to say that since the beginning, we have developed and implemented many programs to support businesses. I mentioned this earlier. The CECRA program has had its difficulties, but we have been working really hard to make sure we work with provinces and territories to find a way to encourage owners to use the CECRA program that was developed and offered.

As I said earlier, over 120,000 Canadian small businesses, representing over a million jobs, had access to commercial rent assistance. As we continue to face COVID-19 challenges, we will continue to find ways to support the fixed costs of businesses, including rent, and we are working on this as fast as we can.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Barrie—Innisfil.

Before I came here at this late hour, I watched something that I am having trouble processing right now. That is the coverage of the death of a first nation woman, Joyce Echaquan. It should trouble all of us. We are sitting in this place tonight, debating this bill, and I am reflecting on the Prime Minister's comments. I actually agree with him for once. I do not agree with his overall response, but he made some comments earlier this week around the Speech from the Throne, and how the pandemic had exposed cracks in our society. It has, but it has exposed the cracks to people in Canada who have such privilege that they do not have to live in those cracks on a daily basis.

I worry about our capacity to address these issues because we have such a divide. There is a privilege in making the statement, “This pandemic has exposed cracks in our society” like a revelation, because there are people living this so profoundly day to day. What we saw tonight in the death of this woman should shake us all, regardless of political stripe. It should shake us into realizing that there is much more to be done, and statements of sympathy and caring down a path that is set one way or the other is not going to address this in a pluralism. It just is not.

That is where I would like to frame some of my comments tonight on the bill. How do we address these cracks? We are ostensibly addressing a bill tonight, given that closure was invoked on it. That is a signal often given by the government to say it is an important piece of legislation that is going to fix a bunch of problems. I think it is a missed opportunity. The process we are going through here, the time that we lost in prorogation, at this moment in our country's history, is a missed opportunity for us to look past our individual dogmas and actually chart a course forward that can address some of these fundamental inequities, the systemic racism, the systemic misogyny, the class divide that we see widening in our country.

I wanted to come in here and talk about this issue from the perspective of the people who live this reality in my community, because they have experienced the situation of the pandemic in a unique way. We already had a severe jobs crisis going into the pandemic.

I am hoping everyone can put their partisanship aside for a minute tonight, and understand what it is like to be living in a community that has no hope of getting back to work. We are here debating a bill tonight that is not tied to a plan for long-term economic viability or tied to measures that will get us through the pandemic beyond lockdown. That is the failure of the bill.

Of course, I think everybody in this place, including me, wants to ensure that Canadians have the benefits they need through the pandemic. There is no question of that. I know people in my community who need the CERB to make ends meet. That is the reality. For them it is like, “You guys have shut down my job. I need to eat, and you as government have made a decision to do this, so where is it?”

I was going to give a huge speech about how prorogation cost five weeks that we could have continued their benefits in.

Members have to understand what it is like to not only be told that one's job is dirty, but to have it disappear and then have no plan for what comes next.

I will speak from a woman's perspective tonight. The women in my riding have gone through so much. They are trying to keep marriages going throughout the downturn of the energy sector, and they hear that their jobs are dirty and that they just need to diversify the economy. These are women who care about the planet. They care about climate change, but they also work in an industry where they know that our energy is part of the solution to a transition to that clean economy and there is no plan, beyond government handouts, to restore their dignity and work. It is just take away jobs, take away dignity, take away marriages and take away their houses.

I just feel that the bill before us is a continuation of that spirit of the paternalistic attitude, the misogynistic attitude that is pervasive in this place. It is pervasive in our approach to legislation. It is pervasive in our messaging and our paternalism, be it “everybody just do their part,” or “we just need to give you more benefits.” There is dignity and beauty in self-determination that our systems, and the government's response to current events, have removed from people. So, yes, cracks in our society have been exposed to those who benefit from the power structures of systemic racism, of systemic misogyny, of systemic regional alienation, but they are apparent to everyone else. They are apparent to people who live this day to day. They are apparent in every part of our society, and I just feel like the bill fails it.

Of course we want benefits to be continued for people. I want the people in my community to work, but I want them to have an answer for their kids when they ask about Halloween, about holiday dinners, or when they wonder if they can go and see their mom in a long-term care facility after it has been shut down. It is not sufficient to say that an entire society should be dependent on the government. It is paternalistic, and it is misogynistic, to say that the government should be the only answer to this situation.

I guess I am pleading, after nearly 10 years of being in this place. I have tried the fight. I have tried the bombast. I do well at that. I am proud of the fact that, over the last two weeks, a small group of feisty people in Room 600 Valour got the government to admit to rapid testing, and I thank Bari, Julia, Sean and Jill. Those guys got her done. However, I am tired of this attitude that is so disconnected that some of the people in my riding feel that they cannot be Canadian any more. That breaks my heart, and it breaks my heart to watch what we saw on TV tonight.

It is such a late hour, and I did not come with a prepared speech, but we can do better. The government has to do better, because our country is failing. It is not about politics any more. It is about doing something bigger than that, and the bill before us could be so much better. It could do so much more. It could inspire Canadians. It could get us through this, but instead it is being rammed through in four hours. I cannot speak in 10 minutes to everything I talked about tonight, but Canadians need us to do that, and that is why this place matters. That is why each of us matters in here.

It is up to each of us, regardless of political stripe, to reclaim that power that every Canadian has and to make democracy matter again, especially with what we saw tonight south of the border. This is not entertainment, folks. These are people's lives, and what is happening here with the bill, with prorogation, is not enough. We need to do better. I call out of desperation and with a plea for hope that the government can do better than this. It is not enough.

I am happy to answer questions.

[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]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleague's comments this evening. They remind me of a tour I had earlier this month of an organization called LITE, Local Investment Toward Employment. She is right that there is a certain segment of society which far too often we overlook. I do not think it is intentional; I believe unintentional things take place that unfortunately cause some people to fall through the cracks as the Prime Minister made reference to and the member just spoke to. It was Tyler Pearce who provided me with a tour of the facility. This organization does some incredible work which COVID–19 has had an impact on. The people who are being serviced in many ways are completely dysfunctional and need the assistance and the opportunity to put in a few hours and get some cash. There is a willingness to do that.

In good part, I agree with what my colleague across the way is saying and maybe government needs to be more involved in directly supporting those individuals who are finding it so difficult to—

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

We will go to the hon. member for Calgary Nose Hill.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I think it is deliberately intentional that we overlook that stuff because, to be honest, the plight of people who suffer only comes to this place when it becomes politically inconvenient. That is what is wrong with our system in Canada right now. We are at a place in our nation's history where people have actually forgotten the power they hold because they have been conditioned to think what we are getting here is sufficient, that a daily ration from the government is what Canada is capable of. It is not. It is much more than that.

The country my family came to and worked in was one where anything was possible. I am not sure that it is the same country for the people who are coming to Canada today or live here. It is arrogant to say it is not intentional because the choices we make here have intent and our choices in this bill mean that we do not have a plan going forward to deal with the pandemic in a way that is beyond that daily handout from the government. I believe there should be more. I wish there were more—

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Questions and comments, the hon. member for Saint-Jean.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague made a passionate plea on behalf of those who are falling through the cracks during this pandemic.

I may digress a little from the main topic, Bill C-4, to speak on the same issue. In the middle of a pandemic, the Bloc suggested amendments to the throne speech, to make sure it did not leave out seniors aged 65 to 75, for example. We suggested immediate health transfers so that no one in Quebec's health care system would fall through the cracks. However, the Conservatives voted against our amendment.

Does my colleague think that the government is letting other people fall through the cracks right now?

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I worry about seniors in Canada. I worry about my mother. I worry about how I am going to be a caregiver to my parents as I do this job. I worry about so many people and what has happened with the long-term care facilities in Canada right now during the pandemic.

What we should be doing here is having a discourse of thought on how we can solve these problems for Canadians. I feel like my power is being eroded, that I do not have the chance to meet with my colleague. We have never had a chance to have wine and talk about the areas we agree on and do not agree on because we have not been together.

Tonight I hope we realize the sanctity of this place and its ability to keep peace and bring prosperity and do not let that power go away. Of course I am open to talking about ways to help our seniors. I hope to have that glass of wine with her, but we need better than what we have here and we should have time to discuss that and come together as a country rather than accepting the status quo.