COVID-19 Pandemic Committee on May 20th, 2020

[Bob Saroya, Conservative, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Madam Chair, while I support crisis relief programs, there are clear issues that need to be resolved. One of the most obvious is the Canada emergency commercial rent assistance program. Many landlords are not interested in this program. Some landlords are hoping that their tenants will take out loans just to pay rent. When will the government make this program more flexible?

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Madam Chair, this is an unprecedented challenge, and I know that many are having to make sacrifices they never imagined they'd have to make. Our government is asking landlords to do their part and help tenants like the one he's mentioning to get through this. Many landlords have already stepped up, and we commend their efforts. We will continue to work with this program.

[Bob Saroya, Conservative, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Madam Chair, before COVID-19, Markham was thriving and there was almost no commercial space available for businesses, and rents were high. Now those businesses are trying to pay high rent with a fraction of their customers. Unfortunately, the government rent relief only covers businesses that have lost 70% of their sales. Some businesses have lose 65% of their sales. How does the government expect them to pay rent?

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Madam Chair, this program will be delivered in partnership with provinces and territories. This program will provide forgivable loans to commercial property owners, who in turn will lower the rent for their tenants by 75%.

[The Acting Chair, NDP, Carol Hughes]

The honourable member has 35 seconds to ask a question.

[Bob Saroya, Conservative, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Madam Chair, even with COVID-19, shootings continue in the GTA. Last year, there were 292 victims of gun violence in Toronto alone. Many of these shootings were gang-related. Toronto police chief Mark Saunders has said that the majority of the guns used in these crimes were smuggled over the border. Is the Minister of Public Safety aware that smuggled weapons are used for this violence, yes or no?

[The Acting Chair, NDP, Carol Hughes]

Please give a very brief answer, Minister.

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Yes, of course we are aware that many weapons are smuggled into the country, but we are also aware that there are many guns here that, tragically, have been used in crimes. We are taking effective action to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, regardless of their source.

[The Acting Chair, NDP, Carol Hughes]

We will go now to the honourable member for Battle River—Crowfoot.

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. It's good to be back in Parliament.

Over the last number of weeks, I've heard a great deal of frustration from constituents about firearms. They have expressed outrage, disappointment and fear that the government would use a tragedy that took place in the midst of a global crisis to further its political agenda. I have a few questions about this.

Can the Minister of Public Safety confirm if they have found any errors in the firearms reclassification OIC, yes or no?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Madam Chair, in response to that, I would remind the member that unfortunately during this COVID crisis, we've seen an increase in gun violence. We've seen a significant increase in domestic violence, and tragically, we've even seen a mass shooting. All the while, there is a proliferation of weapons totally unsuitable for civil society, which continue to be sold. We have taken action to end that proliferation and we have prohibited those weapons.

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Madam Chair, I urge the minister to be careful with the words he uses, because a weapon is something used with intent. We're talking about firearms, specifically firearms owned by law-abiding Canadians.

Can the minister share how many staff in his office and the department were assigned to work on these regulatory changes in the midst of a global crisis?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Madam Chair, this is a wonderful opportunity to commend the hard-working men and women of Public Safety and in my ministry office, who, notwithstanding the many challenges of this COVID pandemic, have responded and continue to do the work that is necessary to keep Canadians safe, for which all Canadians should be grateful.

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Maybe a freedom of information request will shed some light on that.

Can the minister share the date when the government had originally planned to make these changes?

[The Acting Chair, NDP, Carol Hughes]

Please give a brief answer, Minister.

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Madam Chair, the member may remember that we campaigned on this issue and we made a commitment to Canadians that we would take action on it. We brought forward the order in council on May 1, and we have fulfilled our promise.

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Canadians, specifically law-abiding firearms owners and anybody who's concerned about executive overreach, have far more questions than answers on this issue.

Will the minister accept a province's constitutional right to appoint its own chief firearms officer, yes or no?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

The Government of Canada will always uphold Canadian law and the Firearms Act. I would invite the member opposite to perhaps offer some explanation of why he believes these weapons, which were designed for soldiers to kill other soldiers in combat, are suitable for use in civil society.

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

I'm happy to answer that question. Using Liberal logic, I would expect that the minister will also ban something like rental vehicles and kitchen knives, maybe even baseball bats.

I'll go on to my next question. There are many businesses in my constituency that are falling through the cracks and don't qualify for the supports offered by the government. Certain businesses were denied the CEBA, yet they breathed a sigh of relief last week when the RRRF was announced, only to be denied again. This was supposed to be a fix, yet once again Canadian businesses were let down by the government.

Can the Liberals commit to reach out and fix the gaps that exist in these programs?

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Actually, Madam Chair, yesterday we did fill one of those gaps by making businesses with dividends and contracts able to have access to CEBA. We will continue to look at those gaps and work with the honourable member to make our programs available for businesses.

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Madam Chair, I look forward to a phone call so that those gaps can be specifically addressed.

Many of my constituents, including members of my family, are working hard on farms and ranches across Canada to ensure that our food supply chain is secure. Can the Minister of Agriculture explain why her government is letting down so many producers by not providing the certainty they need in these uncertain times?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Madam Chair, in Canada we are fortunate to have a wide range of risk management programs with which producers were already familiar before this crisis began. I invite them to apply for those programs, including AgriStability. They can already go online to see how much money they are entitled to.

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Madam Chair, there's still a lack of certainty in the industry. There was an article published in The Hill Times by the Information Commissioner saying that the federal government needs to send a serious message to its departments about freedom of information requests.

Can the government commit to making sure freedom of information requests during this COVID pandemic are still honoured and that privacy doesn't take a back seat?

[The Acting Chair, NDP, Carol Hughes]

The hon. minister has the floor to respond quickly.

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Québec, QC]

Madam Chair, I can assure him that, despite the very difficult situation we are going through, the Information Commissioner and the Government of Canada as a whole are very aware of how important it is to maintain access to information.