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.
This enactment amends the Income Tax Act to revise the eligibility criteria, as well as the level of subsidization, under the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) as part of the response to the coronavirus disease 2019. It also extends the CEWS to June 30, 2021. The enactment further amends the Income Tax Act to introduce the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS) in order to support those hardest hit by the coronavirus disease 2019. This subsidy provides relief in respect of rent and interest on debt obligations incurred to acquire real property used by businesses, charities and not-for-profit organizations in the course of their businesses or other activities. The rent subsidy is effective as of September 27, 2020.
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-9s:
Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
Madam Chair, right now, I am talking to small business owners, restaurant owners, who are working 12 to 14 hours a day. They have to go home now and get all of this documentation, and it is expected within two weeks. Why is the government asking for this documentation right now with such a short turnaround?
Mary Ng Liberal Markham—Thornhill, ON
Madam Chair, as someone who grew up in a family business, I know what working those very long hours are all about. That is exactly how we put these programs together. These programs are specifically to help those hard-hit businesses.
Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
Madam Chair, I am going to pivot here, because we are talking about documentation at a very busy time, but we have heard the exact same excuse when we ask for documents regarding WE and these other programs. Why is it okay for small businesses that are extremely busy at this time, closing their businesses and losing employees, all of those great things? Why is it okay for the government to ask for documents, but the government will not give documents?
Jean-Yves Duclos LiberalPresident of the Treasury Board
Madam Chair, I fully support the importance of transparency and providing information and I do, indeed, want to assure the MP that we are doing precisely that. The open government portal is providing over 300 different files with all sorts of documentation related strictly to COVID-19 and the—
Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
Madam Chair, I very much appreciate that Liberals want to be accountable, but I just heard from the Conservative finance critic that back in 2019, they did not bring a long-term fiscal update and we are looking at accountability for that.
The finance minister is saying that this fall she is going to be bringing forward a fiscal update. I am wondering what “this fall” means. Does it actually mean December 21, the last day of fall, just like the Liberals did with the fiscal update in 2018, or does it mean that they are going to bring it in the next two months?
Jean-Yves Duclos Liberal Québec, QC
Madam Chair, because the time that we have to discuss these important issues is always limited, I was going to add that the GC InfoBase provides hundreds of pages of detailed information on various budgetary estimates in support of the crisis.
Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
Yes, Madam Chair, they are up to date until July, I guess. Are these redacted documents or are these actually for all of us to see?
Jean-Yves Duclos Liberal Québec, QC
Madam Chair, I am delighted to say that these pieces of information are on the Internet. If people click on it, they see them immediately.
Tako Van Popta Conservative Langley—Aldergrove, BC
Madam Chair, the government's rent subsidy program failed so many Canadians because the application was too complicated and it relied on landlords making the application. A number of worthy businesses in my riding that really needed the help just did not qualify, but I am so happy to see that the government, in Bill C-9, has picked up on some of the suggestions from the Conservative Party.
My question is about another group of Canadian businesses that the government has left behind, and that is businesses that do not rent but own the buildings where they do business. For example, Jasmine in my riding runs a very successful retail business in beautiful historic Fort Langley. She has worked hard all of her life. Her savings went into buying the building where her business is. The irony is that she would qualify for the rent subsidy, but she owns the building. Her mortgage company has just recently called and threatened foreclosure.
Is there help for Jasmine?
Chrystia Freeland LiberalDeputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance
Madam Chair, obviously, to answer categorically, one would need to know the specific details, but this rent support also covers interest payments. It is not only for rent. If someone has an interest payment on a building, that is covered too.
Tako Van Popta Conservative Langley—Aldergrove, BC
Madam Chair, that is good. When is help going to be on the way? Is this a program that is going to be implemented as soon as the bill is passed?
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
Madam Chair, let us get it passed in the House, let us get it through the Senate and then we can get it out to Canadians.
Tako Van Popta Conservative Langley—Aldergrove, BC
Madam Chair, I have a question about the wage subsidy program, which has been a very important program to keep businesses afloat, but it of course required businesses have employees. I have spoken to a lot of businesses that wanted to hire people, but they felt they were competing with the government CERB program.
For example, Gordon in my riding runs a very successful landscaping business. He had the opportunity to expand that business to build cedar fences, but he could not get people to work for him because people were at home collecting CERB. People like Gordon are competing with the government for good employees.
Mary Ng LiberalMinister of Small Business
Madam Chair, I think the hon. member would agree that supporting Canadians in the fight against COVID-19 is something we all agree is a good thing to do. At the same time we are making sure those very businesses are supported to get the employees and to pay for those costs so that we can have these businesses continue to bridge through better times. In fact, dare I say, some of them have been thriving during this time. Using the wage subsidy is helping them get through this and this is the—
