This bill was last introduced in 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.
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.
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
Madam Chair, the Conservatives may, for partisan reasons that I actually do not entirely fathom, seek to attack the Bank of Canada—
Greg McLean Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
It is billions, Madam Chair, and the Canadian taxpayers are responsible for it, so somebody in the House should be responsible for it. However, with a few billion here and 10 billion there, pretty soon I know we are going to be talking about real money. That will need to be repaid by Canadian taxpayers.
Financial analysts are reporting that with the amount of on-the-run buying of Canadian bonds in the marketplace, by the end of this year, there will be no external demand for Canadian securities at all. At that point in time, can the minister tell us what she thinks will happen to interest rates?
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
Again, Madam Chair, external demand for Canadian securities is in fact very strong because of our strong economic performance and because of our strong fiscal record. However, I want to repeat, the Conservatives cannot have their cake and eat it too. Either they believe in supporting Canadians and Canadian businesses or they do not.
Greg McLean Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
Madam Chair, with 44% of the Bank of Canada's buying being in the on-the-run marketplace, there is no demand for new Canadian securities out there, and it escalates every month.
Who is going to be paying this accelerating interest?
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
Again, Madam Chair, I say to the Conservatives to pick a lane: They are for austerity or they want to support Canadians. We know what we believe in.
Marilène Gill Bloc Manicouagan, QC
Madam Chair, Bill C-9 is pretty late in coming, but it fixes some of the problems the Bloc Québécois identified back at the start of the pandemic. We will definitely support this bill, and we hope it will be passed in a timely manner. The Bloc wants to support our workers, our entrepreneurs and our communities.
Does the government agree that the bill must help those who really need help, those whose needs are so great that the pandemic could threaten their existence?
Jean-Yves Duclos LiberalPresident of the Treasury Board
Madam Chair, I am very happy to hear my Bloc Québécois colleague. We are from the same province, and those of us on this side of the House also recognize the major issues and challenges that our businesses, especially our small businesses, are facing. That is why we are so happy we can count on the Bloc's support for this bill.
Marilène Gill Bloc Manicouagan, QC
Madam Chair, would the government also agree that a business or applicant should not receive assistance twice for the same need? For instance, a restaurant or bed and breakfast could not receive both the Canada emergency wage subsidy and the Canada emergency commercial rent assistance for the same premises.
Jean-Yves Duclos Liberal Québec, QC
Madam Chair, I think we all agree that government assistance should be targeted at those who need it most, in a way that respects the integrity of the use of public funds.
Marilène Gill Bloc Manicouagan, QC
Madam Chair, I am so happy to hear the government say that assistance should go to those who really need it, to people whose very existence is in danger, and that people cannot receive double payments of government assistance.
Does the government believe that political parties like the Liberal Party of Canada, the Conservative Party of Canada and the New Democratic Party, which have accumulated a combined total of $25 million in their coffers over the last six months, which they will use to finance the next election campaign, are as much at risk from the pandemic as SMEs on the North Shore?
Jean-Yves Duclos Liberal Québec, QC
Madam Chair, if she had the time, my colleague might have also added that the assistance, as was the case in the past few months, was provided efficiently, quickly and without discrimination as to the type of work people do or the regions where people live.
Marilène Gill Bloc Manicouagan, QC
Madam Chair, again, the recipient should need the money. It is not right to double dip.
Does the government agree that the Liberal Party, which received $1.2 million from the emergency wage subsidy that it will use it for the next election and be reimbursed for by the Chief Electoral Officer, essentially got twice the assistance when it did not need any?
Jean-Yves Duclos Liberal Québec, QC
Madam Chair, this gives me the opportunity to thank my colleague for her question and point out that the emergency wage subsidy has helped close to four million workers over the past few months. That is four million workers who would have lost both their job and their ability to put food on the table.
Marilène Gill Bloc Manicouagan, QC
Madam Chair, in light of these inconsistent answers, I would like the government to be honest enough to say that it applies for double the assistance when it does not need any, while people back home on the North Shore and elsewhere in Quebec are not getting anything during this pandemic.
