Evidence of meeting #11 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 important.
A video is available from Parliament.
Bloc
Sébastien Lemire Bloc Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC
Mr. Chair, I spoke with the Community futures development corporations—CFDCs—in my region.These CFDCs were unanimous in saying that the July 15 deadline for submitting projects to the Regional relief and recovery fund is too early.
For a direct recovery, could the government agree to postpone the July 15 date to September 30, for example, to give the RRRFs enough time to do their work and for entrepreneurs to be able to benefit from their acknowledged expertise?
Liberal
Mélanie Joly Liberal Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC
Mr. Chair, I would like to thank my colleague. I know that he is very keen on the CFDCs, as I am. They have just received the biggest budget in their history, with a $70 million boost. At the moment, the objective is to get them in place quickly. If my colleague has any suggestions, I would be happy to discuss them with him.
Conservative
Damien Kurek Conservative Battle River—Crowfoot, AB
Sorry. Once again, before moving on to the next question, there was an issue with the interpretation. I was not able to understand the last 45 seconds. It was a volume issue again.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Anthony Rota
Okay. We'll turn to our tech.
Is there anyone else on the line who is having the same issue? We have Ms. Vandenbeld and Ms. Jansen with that problem. We'll probably have a technician contact you directly and see if we can figure that out.
Go ahead, Ms. Jordan.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
Mr. Chair, I believe that Minister Joly was probably on the English channel but speaking French, and that's why she was just as loud as the interpretation.
Liberal
Mélanie Joly Liberal Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC
I was on the floor channel. I can repeat my reply to my colleague Mr. Lemire's question.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Anthony Rota
Yes, please. You have about 20 seconds to answer the question again, and we'll go from there.
Liberal
Mélanie Joly Liberal Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC
Mr. Chair, I would like to thank my colleague, who is very keen on the CFDCs, as I am. As they recently received a whopping $70 million in funds we want to make sure that they can get the money as quickly as possible to our companies in the field. If my colleague has any suggestions, I would be happy to discuss them with him.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Anthony Rota
Before going to Ms. Ratansi, I want to remind all honourable members that if you're switching from one language to another, make sure that the right button is on. I'm not lecturing. I'm telling you as someone who has actually done that a number of times, and I apologize in advance; I probably will be doing that again. Let's just try to pay attention, and we'll be fine.
Let's go to Ms. Ratansi.
Liberal
Yasmin Ratansi Liberal Don Valley East, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Before I begin, I wish to inform you that I'll be sharing my time with the member for Beaches—East York.
During the current COVID-19 pandemic, our government has invested significantly in ensuring that all Canadians are looked after and that all sectors of the economy are looked after as well. Our government introduced the Canada emergency response benefit to look after those who lost their jobs, introduced a top-up to the Canada child benefit, increased payments to seniors and provided a one-time additional GST credit.
As well, to assist businesses to remain viable, our government introduced incentives for businesses to keep employees on their payroll, including the Canada emergency wage subsidy, the Canada emergency business account, the business credit availability program, Canada emergency commercial rent assistance, and investments in the oil and gas sector, the agriculture sector, innovators, start-ups, indigenous communities and many more. The investments continue to be made as the situation evolves.
Mr. Chair, through you to the Minister of Finance, can the minister advise how these programs are positioning the Canadian economy to start up after the pandemic? How does Canada fare in relation to G7 countries in its investments?
Liberal
Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
Mr. Chair, first I'd like to thank the member for Don Valley East for her question.
We have and will continue to be unwavering in our support for families and for our economy. We know that we're all in this together and that our government needs to be prepared to use whatever means necessary to support Canadians and come out of this in a strong position.
We're also helping Canadian employers to protect jobs and pay their bills by providing programs that were mentioned by the member, such as the Canada emergency business account, offering a 75% wage subsidy to help keep employees on the payroll and helping businesses to pay their rent. All of these measures, we believe, will leave businesses and Canadians poised for a strong recovery.
We know that we entered into this crisis with a strong fiscal position, and we are willing and able as a country to respond to the challenges posed by COVID-19. We also know that this is a global challenge and that Canada, more so than any other country in the G7, is well positioned to respond based on our very strong balance sheet.
I'd like to thank you, Mr. Chair, and through you, thank the member for her question.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
I am thankful that our government continues to listen to Canadians and to adjust and improve support programs based on that feedback. In that vein, I trust that we will extend the CERB. I hope that we build it out on a negative income tax model.
Of course, we only face an economic crisis because we face a health crisis. We know that the answer to the health crisis is to test, trace, isolate and support, and yet for weeks now we've seen less than 50% of our national daily testing capacity of 60,000 tests is used, capacity that itself is insufficient and needs to be scaled up. While B.C. has managed to contain community spread, my province of Ontario has failed to test quickly, smartly or sufficiently. On tracing, Dr. Warner at my local Michael Garron Hospital has said that Ontario is “aspiring for mediocrity” and called these tracing efforts “inexcusable”.
To the Minister of Health, what are the obstacles to improving testing and tracing efforts? How will our federal government lean in, show leadership and help overcome these obstacles?
Liberal
Patty Hajdu Liberal Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON
I want to thank my colleague from Beaches—East York for an important question about testing and about testing strategy.
Last week we hit a milestone of sorts. Canada completed over a million tests of Canadians. Although this seems like a high number, there's more work to do. We have the capacity in Canada to date to be able to test 60,000 Canadians. We're reaching somewhere on the average of 27,000 or 28,000 tests a day right now.
The challenge is multiple. As we know, each jurisdiction has control over their own testing strategy. I will congratulate all provinces and territories for working really diligently to boost their capacity to do these tests, working in partnership with local public health units and working in partnership with the public health labs.
At the federal government, the work we're doing is to support that increased capacity by ensuring that access to labs and access to resources needed for testing, such as swabs and reagents, and access to the ability to increase capacity around data are not barriers. We continue that work with our colleagues. We know that testing strategies will vary from province to province, but we are very encouraged by the progress we're seeing to date.
Jack Harris NDP St. John's East, NL
This is my first time appearing before the COVID-19 special committee of the whole. I would like to take the opportunity to pay tribute to all the health care workers, front-line workers and essential workers across the country who serve so diligently and selflessly during the crisis.
I also wish to offer my condolences to the families and loved ones of the far too many Canadians who have lost their lives due to this disease. I offer a special tribute to Snowbird Captain Jennifer Casey and also the crew of the RCAF Cyclone helicopter crash.
Mr. Chair, the fiscal situation facing Newfoundland and Labrador is very bleak and getting worse as each day passes. Since 2008 we've been considered a “have” province and have received no equalization payments. This year our province is facing a deficit, however, of $2 billion due to the loss of revenues and royalties due to COVID-19, while Nova Scotia and New Brunswick each received $2 billion in equalization.
We were happy to contribute when we could do so, but now we need help. Will the Government of Canada adjust the equalization program or find another way to ensure that Newfoundland and Labrador is not unfairly burdened as a result of these circumstances?
Liberal
Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
Mr. Chair, I would like to thank the member for his question and for his kind words to all Canadians.
I assure him that we have been working together with the group at finance in Newfoundland and Labrador to understand the issues and challenges facing that province, which are significant. Certainly, what we've seen during the course of this pandemic are measures to be of significant support. Things like the top-up for essential workers have been important across the country, including in Newfoundland and Labrador. The Bank of Canada's decision to move forward and support provinces in the issuance of their provincial debt has been important for many provinces, and certainly of significant importance for Newfoundland and Labrador.
We continue to recognize that the programs we have—the stabilization program, for example—need to be looked at in the context of changing circumstances. We know it has been a decade since that program has been reviewed. Of course, there is a regular review of the equalization program every five years, and that review will take into account the considerations of Newfoundland and Labrador and other provinces to make sure that we come to a good conclusion.
NDP
Jack Harris NDP St. John's East, NL
Madam Chair, that ate up a lot of my time, but it didn't answer the question about what we're going to do for the next five years, waiting for that change.
The fishing industry support plan, recently announced, provides a number of positive programs, including allowing fish harvesters to use last year's catch numbers to qualify for EI because of the anticipated shorter season this year due to COVID-19. However, fish plant workers were left out.
Will the minister for fisheries or finance announce today that fish plant workers can do the same and use last year's weeks to qualify for EI, if necessary, so that they will not go without income after the fishing season?
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
I want to thank the honourable member for his question.
We have put in place a number of measures to address concerns that we have heard from harvesters directly, including the extension of EI to make sure that they are able to qualify this year based on last season's earnings.
We continue to look at measures that can address the seasonal workers in fish plants as well as crew on boats to make sure that those concerns are addressed. We will work with the industry and with the people in the provinces to make sure that we are addressing all of these concerns as we go forward, and I look forward to having more to say about that.
NDP
The Acting Chair NDP Carol Hughes
Before I recognize you, Mr. Harris, could you either bring your mike closer to your mouth or closer to the computer, one or the other? We're having a hard time hearing you.
NDP
Jack Harris NDP St. John's East, NL
Thank you, Chair.
That's essential to look at it, but what we want to know is if you will do the same thing for fish plant workers as you're doing for fish harvesters.