Evidence of meeting #10 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 economic.
A video is available from Parliament.
2:55 p.m.
NDP
The Acting Chair NDP Carol Hughes
I remind the member that she is to address the questions to the chair and not to the minister.
The hon. President of the Treasury Board.
2:55 p.m.
Liberal
Jean-Yves Duclos Liberal Québec, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I'll say it in French so that it'll be even clearer. It's always better in both languages.
The most important thing here is quickly and effectively helping millions of families with or without children who need our assistance in an emergency situation. We're rolling out several programs that we've announced, and there will always be more to do.
2:55 p.m.
NDP
Lindsay Mathyssen NDP London—Fanshawe, ON
Madam Chair, even as workplaces and industry start to slowly reopen, Vanessa can't work outside her home for fear of exposing her son to COVID-19. Schools are closed. She cannot use other forms of child care as they may not be safe for him, and there are no available spaces that are affordable for her. She is struggling to make ends meet.
What is this government's plan to help parents like Vanessa, who need to go back to work but cannot leave their children at home alone?
2:55 p.m.
Liberal
Jean-Yves Duclos Liberal Québec, QC
Madam Chair, I'm so grateful for raising the issue of child care. This is an example of the types of measures that were put in place in normal times that have a big impact in unusual times. The $7.5-billion, 10-year investment that we started to implement in the first mandate is one of those types of measures that are also very important in the context of a particular crisis, and we know they will be important once we emerge from the crisis.
3 p.m.
Bloc
Gabriel Ste-Marie Bloc Joliette, QC
Madam Chair, what is the government doing to honour the supplementary unemployment benefit agreements it has concluded with businesses?
3 p.m.
Liberal
Jean-Yves Duclos Liberal Québec, QC
Madam Chair, earlier, we were talking about youth unemployment. Let me tell you that we've never seen—at least within living memory—such a high unemployment rate in Quebec. The Canada emergency response benefit is very important in Quebec, and I look forward to continuing to talk about it.
3 p.m.
Bloc
Gabriel Ste-Marie Bloc Joliette, QC
Madam Chair, I'll repeat my question, and I'd like the Treasury Board President, if he's answering, to answer the question.
What is the government doing to honour the supplementary unemployment benefit agreements it has concluded with businesses?
3 p.m.
Liberal
Jean-Yves Duclos Liberal Québec, QC
Madam Chair, this allows me to continue what I was going to say.
In Quebec alone, according to my calculations, there are about 2 million Quebeckers, many of whom wouldn't be eligible for employment insurance benefits, who are receiving the Canada emergency response benefit. Obviously, there will be follow-up to this emergency benefit, and we are looking forward to discussing it with the opposition members.
3 p.m.
Bloc
Gabriel Ste-Marie Bloc Joliette, QC
Madam Chair, I'll give the hon. President of the Treasury Board some details.
As a result of being forced to shut down their operations, many businesses had to refer their employees to employment insurance before the emergency benefit was in place. To support their purchasing power, they entered into supplementary unemployment benefit agreements. Instead of receiving 55% of their wages, through the supplementary unemployment benefit, workers were therefore able to receive about 80% of their wages. However, despite the agreements reached with the businesses, the government didn't contact them and converted employment insurance into emergency benefits. It's radio silence about the supplementary unemployment benefit agreements. The government has forgotten about them.
If there is no response, businesses honour their part of the contract. Left in the dark, they continue to pay the extra benefits to their employees as agreed. Now workers have to pay back their emergency benefits because the supplementary unemployment benefits are over $1,000 and exclude them from the emergency response benefit. Because businesses often have more than 1,000 employees, that's a lot of people falling through the cracks.
What will the government do?
May 20th, 2020 / 3 p.m.
Liberal
Jean-Yves Duclos Liberal Québec, QC
Madam Chair, I thank the hon. member for his somewhat lengthy question, which will allow me to provide a little more detail.
It's important to differentiate between three periods: the one prior to March 15, the one between March 15 and the end of the Canada emergency response benefit, and the one after the Canada emergency response benefit.
Prior to March 15, there was the employment insurance program, which applies to everyone who applied for employment insurance before March 15.
Between March 15 and a maximum of four months out of a total of eight months, people can receive the Canada emergency response benefit, which significantly increases the number of Quebeckers who can receive assistance from the federal government. In fact, about 30% of Quebeckers who currently receive the benefit would not receive it if we were in employment insurance mode.
There will be a post-Canada emergency response benefit. We have already announced that the employment insurance program will follow the Canada emergency response benefit, to pay employment insurance benefit to those—
3 p.m.
Bloc
Gabriel Ste-Marie Bloc Joliette, QC
Madam Chair, I want to stress the seriousness of the situation. Thousands and thousands of workers are currently falling through the cracks because there has been a lack of communication and follow-up between the large businesses that have signed a supplementary unemployment benefit agreement with the government. This is causing a serious problem, and the government must take action.
I'd like to ask the President of the Treasury Board if he would consider authorizing a new interim order that would exclude employment income earned under an authorized agreement for the emergency benefit through the supplementary unemployment benefit plan, at least for the period from March 15 to April 11.
3 p.m.
Liberal
Jean-Yves Duclos Liberal Québec, QC
Madam Chair, I'd like to thank the hon. member for stressing the importance of communication. Of course, communication is sometimes more difficult in an emergency situation than in a normal situation.
There are people, organizations, businesses in his riding that need help. We know that they can call on his work, his energy, his expertise. Otherwise, Service Canada agents who work very hard in an exceptional context will be happy to help him and those they serve.
3 p.m.
Bloc
Gabriel Ste-Marie Bloc Joliette, QC
Does the government realize that it's falling behind with regard to the current situation and that it doesn't seem to want to do anything right now?
3 p.m.
Liberal
Jean-Yves Duclos Liberal Québec, QC
I agree a little less with the hon. member on that. In fact, saying that the government is doing nothing under the current circumstances is a bit of an exaggeration.
3:05 p.m.
Conservative
John Brassard Conservative Barrie—Innisfil, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I'll be splitting part of my time with the member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes.
On May 12, the CBSA announced the suspension of service at the Lake Simcoe Regional Airport. This airport has a commercial port of entry designation.
With this decision, there is now no international clearance ability for persons or goods within the central Ontario region, meaning that any international flights requiring customs will not be able to use the airport. Those unable to use the airport include, for example, Honda Canada, the area's largest employer, which just restarted production and needs the airport for parts; DND, which will not be able to use it for Operation Laser, the Canadian military operation related to the pandemic that is stationed and on standby near Canadian Forces Base Borden; local manufacturers supplying PPE during the COVID-19 crisis; international medical repatriation flights; and Hydro One, which maintains the Ontario power grid.
How could such a decision be made, given how important this airport is to this area during this pandemic?
3:05 p.m.
Liberal
Bill Blair Liberal Scarborough Southwest, ON
I want to thank the member opposite for this question.
The matter, of course, had been brought to me by one of his colleagues earlier. I inquired of the CBSA, and it provided that answer to the Lake Simcoe Regional Airport. Provisions have been made for emergency landings still being managed through the Borden airport and, additionally, for some facilitation of commercial flights.
There are restrictions that have been put in place at this and many other locations due to the lower volumes directly related to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, I believe a solution has been put in place for that airport.
3:05 p.m.
Conservative
John Brassard Conservative Barrie—Innisfil, ON
Mr. Minister, there is no landing opportunity at CFB Borden. There is simply no functional runway there.
This is a short-sighted decision by the minister. It's such a concern that County of Simcoe Warden George Cornell contacted all area MPs, saying that the Lake Simcoe Regional Airport has always maintained service due to a variety of reasons during past crises.
Will the minister commit to reinstating services to the LSRA as a commercial point of entry because of its importance in maintaining supply chains for our local and Canadian economy, and for the receipt of PPE?
3:05 p.m.
Liberal
Bill Blair Liberal Scarborough Southwest, ON
In the response that the CBSA provided, it indicated that CFB Borden arrivals could be facilitated at the Lake Simcoe Regional Airport, as well as other specific commercial traffic.
We will do our best to continue to support the essential movement of goods and services through that airport, but at the same time, general aviation and private aircrafts' comings and goings will be restricted while these restrictions remain in place.
3:05 p.m.
Conservative
John Brassard Conservative Barrie—Innisfil, ON
Last week at PROC, there was a report issued, and it clearly showed that there was a contempt of Parliament. In fact, what the Liberal members and the Bloc members supported was a move to a virtual Parliament. Exploiting the pandemic to implement a permanent virtual Parliament with its reduced ability to hold the government to account is gravely undermining a democracy.
Why would the government support a move to a fully permanent virtual Parliament?