Evidence of meeting #1 for COVID-19 Pandemic in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was point.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Justin Trudeau Liberal Papineau, QC
Since 2015, our government has taken very seriously the need to fight tax evasion and tax avoidance. That is why we have invested more than $1 billion in the Canada Revenue Agency to fight tax evasion and tax avoidance and to ensure that everyone pays their fair share in taxes. We continue to do that. We have worked on measures with the revenue agency and internationally to prevent the practices of tax evasion and tax avoidance.
Bloc
Christine Normandin Bloc Saint-Jean, QC
Mr. Chair, like many of my colleagues, I have received numerous questions from my constituents during the crisis. Some of them told me they did not file a tax return the previous year and could, therefore, not prove that they had earned more than $5,000, which would give them access to the Canada emergency response benefit, or CERB.
Some companies are not making the tax contribution they should, but are eligible for programs, while Canadians are not. Congratulations to those businesses, but Canadians are being punished.
When I have to explain to my constituents that they will not be eligible for the CERB, as they did not file their tax return, they understand that, when we do not contribute to the social safety net, we should not benefit from it. That is a simple principle that an average bear understands.
I would like to know whether the government also understands that simple principle.
Liberal
Justin Trudeau Liberal Papineau, QC
We have taken unprecedented steps to help workers and unemployed people. One example is the Canada emergency response benefit and the wage subsidy. Those are measures we have implemented to help Canadian workers keep their jobs, even during this difficult time. A verification process has been implemented for extraordinary or unusual requests. I hope your constituents who need help will be able to obtain it.
At the same time, our government is continuing its fight against tax evasion. As I said, we have made unprecedented investments in the fight against tax evasion and tax avoidance. There are serious consequences for anyone looking to defraud the system.
We will continue to ensure that those who need assistance will get it and that those who are involved in tax evasion or tax avoidance do not receive assistance.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Anthony Rota
We will continue with the honourable member for Elmwood-Transcona, Mr. Blaikie.
NDP
Daniel Blaikie NDP Elmwood—Transcona, MB
Thank you very much.
Mr. Chair, when this crisis began, I think there was a pretty clear choice ahead of the government, which was whether they would take a suite of measures to shore up the status quo, providing some income replacement to people who had lost their regular income, or whether they would recognize that there was a whole group of people being left behind by the status quo, who were also going to face increased difficulty coming through this crisis and, therefore, provide universal income support that covers everybody and makes sure there are no cracks for people to fall through.
There have been a number of different iterations of different programs, and we spent a lot of time trying to identify those cracks and negotiate with government to get them to fill them. A couple of significant groups of people who continue to fall through the cracks—and who are by no means the only ones—are seniors and people living with disabilities. Their incomes may not have been cut, but they weren't great before. They are facing increased costs like additional dispensing fees, grocery delivery fees and, in some cases, having to pay to have people do their laundry.
There have been a number of costs for vulnerable populations that haven't been met with any direct financial assistance by government.
Beyond the one-time increase in the GST rebate, what is the government's plan for seniors and for people living with disabilities so that they can get direct financial assistance to help them weather the crisis?
Liberal
Justin Trudeau Liberal Papineau, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Obviously this is an unprecedented crisis that we needed to move extremely quickly on. We took a moment to reflect and to look at how we could best help people.
Conservative
Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
Mr. Chair, we can't hear him. If you're listening to English....
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Anthony Rota
We have another point of order. We are having a technical issue. I just want to pause for a second.
Ms. Vecchio, is the issue that you're not hearing on the English...?
Conservative
Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
Correct. I am currently on the English version and I cannot hear the Prime Minister at this time.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Anthony Rota
If you don't mind, we'll just push pause for a second and we'll see if we can fix that from this end.
Prime Minister, I will let you continue now.
Liberal
Justin Trudeau Liberal Papineau, QC
From the beginning, we knew that we were going to have to help millions of Canadians who we were asking to stop working and to stay home because of COVID-19. That's why we moved very quickly with the Canada emergency response benefit that would be an income replacement for people who lost their paycheques. The first and biggest challenge was to make sure the people who were counting on a paycheque to come in—to help them pay their rent and pay for groceries—and who were relying on that paycheque, which suddenly disappeared, would get the support they needed. That's why we moved quickly on that.
We knew that targeted measures were the best way to help people, including the most vulnerable. It was not going to be worthwhile to send cheques to people who continue to make salaries and who have paycheques coming in and don't need the help. We much preferred to focus on those people who needed help.
NDP
Liberal
Justin Trudeau Liberal Papineau, QC
We moved forward on targeted measures to replace those paycheques for people. We then recognized that students, for example, were expecting to be able to start work in May, in many cases, as post-secondary students. We put forward a plan for them just last week. We recognize as well that seniors, people with disabilities and other folks have been facing extra challenges that we are responding to, that we are putting forward support for. We've done a number of things for the most vulnerable seniors already and we will continue to put forward more measures as well.
NDP
Daniel Blaikie NDP Elmwood—Transcona, MB
Can Canadian seniors expect your government to be announcing direct financial assistance sometime in the very near future?
Liberal
Justin Trudeau Liberal Papineau, QC
We are working on getting the support for seniors that they need. There are many seniors who are particularly vulnerable because of COVID-19, not just on a health basis but because of increased costs, because of challenges around isolation and because of loss of income or portfolio because of the stock market challenges. We are going to continue to help everyone who needs help as well as we can as a government in the days and weeks to come.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Anthony Rota
Mr. Blaikie, we have about a minute left, so 30 seconds for the question and 30 seconds for the answer.
I want to remind the honourable members that the question and the answer should be about the same length of time. That's a rule of thumb that we use in the House during committees. I just want to remind the people answering as well as the people asking the question.
Mr. Blaikie, please proceed.
Liberal
Bryan May Liberal Cambridge, ON
Mr. Chair, I have a point of order. Could you remind questioners to direct the questions through you? There seems to be a lot of back and forth.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Anthony Rota
Yes, that's a good point. I was going to bring it up before we started the next round. Please place your questions through the chair of the committee and not directly to the person you're speaking to.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Mr. Chair, I have a point of order as well.
With respect to Mr. May's point, it's just not a requirement in committee that members pose their questions through the chair. You've suggested we do it, and that's a legitimate suggestion, but it's not the convention of parliamentary committees—and this is a committee—to require members to pose their questions through the chair.
Thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Anthony Rota
Normally, that's the case when you're questioning witnesses, but this is a little bit different, so in order to keep some form of discipline and decorum, I would prefer that the questions be asked through the chair.
Mr. Blaikie.
NDP
Daniel Blaikie NDP Elmwood—Transcona, MB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I humbly submit that, at this point in the crisis, I think seniors and people living with disabilities would be more reassured by hearing a plan from the Prime Minister for how they're going to get financial assistance, rather than a simple echoing of their concerns.
When it comes to students, because the benefit proposed for students is so much lower and their needs obviously aren't any different now than anybody else's in terms of food and rent, I'm just wondering if the Prime Minister could give an example of costs that students are exempt from, compared to ordinary Canadians who need to eat and have a roof over their heads, because I'm not aware of any.