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.
The Assistant Deputy Speaker Carol Hughes
Before giving the floor to the hon. member for Saint-Laurent, I want to let her know that she will not have time to give her whole speech.
Emmanuella Lambropoulos Liberal Saint-Laurent, QC
Madam Speaker, I am grateful to have the opportunity to talk about the government's plan regarding our support for businesses and the economic recovery in response to COVID-19.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, our government has been pursuing two goals, namely to protect Canadians' lives and to protect and safeguard businesses, jobs and the Canadian economy.
In the face of economic uncertainty, our government took decisive action to support businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and to help protect the jobs that Canadians depend on.
Although some sectors of the economy are recovering, others are still dealing with lower revenues, increased costs and uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many business owners and businesses in Canada still need help with cash flow and operating costs. That is why our government introduced an act to amend the Income Tax Act regarding the Canada emergency rent subsidy and Canada emergency wage subsidy.
Bill C-9 would implement new targeted supports to help hard-hit businesses. These measures are designed to help businesses get through the second wave of this virus so they can protect jobs, continue to serve their communities and be positioned for a strong recovery.
From very early on in the first wave of the pandemic, it was overwhelmingly clear that one of the most important ways to help businesses survive these trying times was through rental supports. Many Canadian businesses either had to shut down for months on end or lost a significant percentage of their revenues, yet still had to pay rent to their landlords.
This is why our government quickly developed the Canada emergency commercial rent assistance program, or CECRA, to help businesses with rent so they could stay afloat during the pandemic. One of the problems with this program was that it required landlords to apply for assistance, rather than the businesses themselves.
Businesses reached out to me when this program was announced to let me know that, while they needed the rental support to make it through, their landlords refused to apply for the program and they were being forced to pay the full amount even when in some cases their revenues were non-existent. As much as I try my absolute best to help my constituents and the businesses in my riding that reach out to me to access programs, I had no idea what to tell these people who were at the mercy of their landlords.
What I did was raise these concerns at caucus, as did several of my colleagues, and I am extremely happy our comments were listened to. Through the new and improved version of CECRA, the Canada emergency rent subsidy, we are proposing to provide direct and easy-to-access commercial rent and mortgage support until June of 2021 to organizations and businesses that have been affected by COVID-19, with a subsidy of up to 65%.
The new rent subsidy builds on the Canada emergency commercial rent assistance program, designed for small businesses. This program has already supported more than 133,000 small businesses and 1.2 million jobs in Canada.
We have been working closely with small businesses from the beginning of the pandemic. The new rent subsidy will be better targeted, easier to access and paid directly to small business tenants.
What would this look like in real terms for Canadian businesses? Let us look at a hair salon, for example, that followed public health and safety precautions and closed to the public back in March or April, like Trimz hair salon in my riding. It opened again over the summer as it was allowed to serve the public at a much lower capacity, and limited its number of customers in order to follow social distancing guidelines.
In Quebec, hair salons have been given permission to remain open until further notice and were open in the months of September and October. Let us say that in October their revenues were down 25%. On top of this, they incurred $2,500 in eligible rent costs for the first period of the rent subsidy—
The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès) Alexandra Mendes
My apologies, but it being 6:04 p.m., pursuant to order made earlier today, it is my duty to interrupt the proceedings and put forthwith every question necessary to dispose of the second reading stage of the bill now before the House.
If a member of a recognized party present in the House wants to request a recorded vote or request that the motion be passed on division, I invite them to rise and so indicate to the Chair.
The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès) Alexandra Mendes
Accordingly, pursuant to order made on Wednesday, September 23, the division stands deferred until Thursday, November 5, at the expiry of the time provided for Oral Questions.
It being 6:05 p.m., the House will now proceed to the consideration of Private Members' Business as listed on today's Order Paper.
The House resumed from November 4 consideration of the motion that Bill C-9, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy and Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy), be read a second time and referred to a committee of the whole.
The Speaker Anthony Rota
It being 3:12 p.m., pursuant to order made on Wednesday, September 23, the House will now proceed to the taking of the deferred recorded division on the motion at second reading stage of Bill C-9.
Call in the members.
Before the Clerk announced the results of the vote:
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The member for Calgary Midnapore had to leave the chamber prior to the vote concluding, so we would ask that her vote not be recorded.
(The House divided on the motion, which was agreed to on the following division:)
The Speaker Anthony Rota
I declare the motion carried.
Accordingly, pursuant to order made on Wednesday, November 4, the bill stands referred to a committee of the whole.
I wish to inform the House that because of the deferred recorded divisions, Government Orders will be extended by 37 minutes.
(House in committee of the whole, Mr. Bruce Stanton in the chair, resuming consideration of Bill C-9, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act regarding the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy and the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy)
The Chair Conservative Bruce Stanton
Pursuant to order made Wednesday, November 4, I do now leave the chair for the House to go into committee of the whole on Bill C-9, an act to amend the Income Tax Act with regard to the Canada emergency rent subsidy and the Canada emergency wage subsidy, and the economy in general.
Before we begin debate, I would like to remind hon. members of how the proceedings will unfold over the next four hours.
Pursuant to an order made on Wednesday, November 4, the Chair will call members in a fashion consistent with the proportions observed during Oral Questions. The rotation used for questions will be the one used for the former Special Committee on the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Each member may address the House for not more than five minutes and may use that time to ask questions.
Members may share their time with one or more members, but must indicate their intention to do so to the chair.
The Chair will expect a minister's response to approximately reflect the time taken to ask the question. The debate will end after four hours, or when no member rises to speak.
We will now begin the debate with the hon. member for Carleton.
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Mr. Chair, what is the dollar value of the national debt as of today?
Income Tax ActGovernment Orders
November 5th, 2020 / 7:30 p.m.
University—Rosedale Ontario
Liberal
Chrystia Freeland LiberalDeputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance
Mr. Chair, I am not going to offer new projections, but let me remind the member that in the fiscal snapshot, the deficit—
