COVID-19 Pandemic Committee on May 20th, 2020

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Chair, directing help to workers and people who need help right now is what this government has done since the beginning of this pandemic. With the Canada emergency response benefit helping over eight million Canadians, with the wage subsidy helping millions more, we are moving forward in ways that directly help workers. For large enterprises, the financing facility—

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

We'll go back to Mr. Singh.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Chair, currently, there is no provision in the plan that the government has announced that would stop public money from going to a company that is purposely hiding its funds in an offshore account to not pay its full share of taxes.

Will the government commit to making sure money goes to workers, not to a company that is not paying its fair share of taxes?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Chair, the honourable member knows that we have taken significant measures as a government to ensure that we're cracking down on tax avoidance and evasion, and have invested significant amounts in the Canada Revenue Agency to do that. The member opposite likes to speak in generalities, but if he has specific companies whose workers should not be helped, please, he should bring those names forward to the government.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Mr. Singh, we have 30 seconds left.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

[Inaudible—Editor] company that has their money registered in an offshore tax haven should not get help, every single one.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Chair, can he name one company where he thinks its employees should not get help from the government?

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Now we'll go on.

Mr. Berthold, the floor is yours.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Chair, the cinema in Lac Mégantic has not received a cent from the government. Restaurant owners, hairdressers, dentists and massage therapists all across the country are sending us messages begging us to let them return to work. Here in Parliament, the Liberals, the Bloc, the New Democrats and the Greens are doing everything they in their power to not return to work. They are making agreements among themselves.

Why is the Prime Minister so insistent in staying at home, when thousands of Canadians are simply asking to return to work?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

I am sorry to learn that my colleague is not working, but I can assure him that all the other members in the House are working extremely hard. This includes all the MPs in their constituencies who are making calls each day to isolated seniors, and helping food banks.

All MPs are working extremely hard and I hope that my colleague will acknowledge that.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Chair, a virtual haircut never turns out well. A virtual House is no different, as that shows.

Mr. Chair, we have not seen you in the Speaker's chair in the House of Commons for a real sitting here since at least March 12. During that time, the Liberals, the Bloc, the NDP and the Greens have been making agreements of all kinds among themselves so that we cannot ask real questions here.

If this was a real sitting of the House, the Prime Minister would be answering all the questions today, as he usually does every Wednesday in the House.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Mr. Chair, I will not comment on the haircut portion of his question. As for the rest, I want to remind my colleague that we are here to answer questions. We answered questions yesterday and we will answer questions tomorrow.

Furthermore, when the House is sitting five days per week, there are normally five question periods of 45 minutes. Currently, from Tuesday to Thursday, there are seven periods of 45 minutes when the opposition can ask questions.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Chair, the House is also called on to adopt bills and move them forward. We have not done that at all since this pandemic began, since you left your chair on March 12.

How many projects from the provinces are still waiting for approval? How many projects does the Minister of Infrastructure have on her desk and how many have been put aside?

Unfortunately, because of that, the economy cannot reopen.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

I will happily send him the list of bills that have been passed. It is a long list. It starts with the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, which was ratified on March 13. Then I could mention all the programs we have adopted here to help Canadians, such as the Canada emergency response benefit and the wage subsidy.

We have passed many bills here in the House. The work goes on.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

We are in complete agreement that those bills were passed. We were here. However, we would like Parliament to resume its work.

For example, how can we reopen the economy while we are waiting to hear from the Minister of Infrastructure? The minister has not been here in the House very often. Unfortunately, I have many questions to ask her. She said she intended to grant 80% funding for municipal infrastructure projects.

When will we have a press release about that?

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The Right Honourable Prime Minister is raising a point of order.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Members know that they must not refer to anyone's presence in or absence from the House.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The Right Honourable Prime Minister is correct. We bent the rules earlier, but this time it was fairly clear.

Let me remind all members that they must not refer to a member's presence in or absence from the House, especially in the current situation.

The honourable minister has the floor.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Actually, my colleague is helping me to demonstrate the importance of virtual sessions. Nearly all ministers are attending these sessions, and members can ask them questions and get responses directly.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Chair, we learned last week that the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities caused some consternation in her government by announcing infrastructure measures that were not yet fully finalized, according to La Presse. The minister announced in the media that her department was speeding up the allocation of $3 billion to modernize infrastructure such as hospitals and schools across Canada.

When will the Prime Ministerconfirm this announcement?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Chair, I would like to thank my colleague for his question.

The Minister of Infrastructure and Communities is working closely with her provincial and territorial counterparts, municipal elected officials across Canada, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and public transit authorities to assess needs and priorities—

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Mr. Berthold, you have the floor.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Will the 80% federal contribution apply to the more than 400 projects waiting, sitting idle on the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities' desk? Will it apply to all new projects? Which municipalities will be granted 80% funding for projects? We have no answer.

For once, could I get a real answer, please?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Malton, ON]

Mr. Chair, we will continue to work hard every day with our colleagues across Canada, particularly elected municipal officials. We will continue to find solutions that will help municipalities.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

We will continue with Ms. Rood.