Evidence of meeting #13 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 chair.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

1 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Anthony Rota

We'll go to Ms. Gladu.

1 p.m.

Conservative

Marilyn Gladu Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yesterday my colleague asked the Minister of Public Safety a question, and he did not get a good answer.

Why are asylum seekers being allowed to cross the closed border and reunify with their families when Canadians are not being allowed to reunify with their counterparts in the U.S.?

1 p.m.

Liberal

Bill Blair Liberal Scarborough Southwest, ON

Mr. Chair, to correct an error that was just repeated, we have put in rules that have excluded people from non-essential travel. We currently have an agreement with the United States that people crossing our border irregularly are being directed back to the United States. We've put in protection for those individuals to uphold our international obligations. We're continuing to deal with the—

1 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Anthony Rota

We'll go back to Ms. Gladu.

1 p.m.

Conservative

Marilyn Gladu Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON

Mr. Chair, I have in my riding a pregnant woman who is having her first child. The father of the baby is not being allowed to come over. I have another citizen who's married to an American woman who needs medical services every three weeks who is not being allowed to go over and come back.

I also have parents who have not seen their children in months because they're not allowing custody arrangements between Canadians and Americans to continue.

Will the minister create exemptions to allow the reunification of these Canadians with their family?

1 p.m.

Liberal

Bill Blair Liberal Scarborough Southwest, ON

I thank the member for an important question.

It is never our intention to keep families apart. At the same time, we are exercising all due diligence to ensure that we prevent non-essential travel to protect the health and safety of Canadians.

We've been working very hard to ensure that we have a solution for those individuals who need and want to reunite with their families. We will have further information on that as soon as we're able to resolve that difficulty.

1 p.m.

Conservative

Marilyn Gladu Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON

Mr. Chair, the Minister of Agriculture has known there's been a capacity issue on cattle processing for more than a year and has done nothing. We don't have a BSE exemption that would allow us to use American processors, and there's been no incentive to create additional capacity to process.

How bad does it have to get for the minister to act?

1 p.m.

Compton—Stanstead Québec

Liberal

Marie-Claude Bibeau LiberalMinister of Agriculture and Agri-Food

We have done a great deal for the meat sector lately. We have invested $100 million in the beef and pork sectors through the AgriRecovery program. That's a significant increase, because in the last few years the program has provided between $7 million and $15 million only. That is significant.

We have also invested $77.5 million to improve the capacity of processors—

1 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Anthony Rota

We'll go back to Ms. Gladu.

1 p.m.

Conservative

Marilyn Gladu Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON

It still hasn't solved the problem. That's not a beef burger; that's a nothing burger.

What is the minister going to do to help the cattle farmers who are struggling, especially in this pandemic?

1 p.m.

Liberal

Marie-Claude Bibeau Liberal Compton—Stanstead, QC

Mr. Chair, once again, we have helped the meat sector through the AgriRecovery program and we have put in place a $77.5 million program to help meat processors deal with the situation and reorganize their work environment in a way that is safe for workers—

1 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Anthony Rota

We will go back to Ms. Gladu.

1 p.m.

Conservative

Marilyn Gladu Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON

It's not enough for the farmers in my area.

To the Minister of National Revenue, I've had complaints from seniors in my riding that paper tax filings are not being processed. They're sitting on desks because people are not going in to the office.

When will we begin to process those paper tax filings so seniors can get the refunds they need?

1:05 p.m.

Gaspésie—Les-Îles-de-la-Madeleine Québec

Liberal

Diane Lebouthillier LiberalMinister of National Revenue

Mr. Chair, we consider this to be a difficult situation for Canadians, and our government will do everything it can to support them.

I can confirm that the CRA is still processing paper returns, but because of the reduced staff on site and the physical distancing, Canadians can expect delays. We regret the inconvenience this causes for those who file their returns on paper—

1:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Anthony Rota

We will go back to Ms. Gladu.

1:05 p.m.

Bloc

Andréanne Larouche Bloc Shefford, QC

Mr. Chair, I have a point of order.

The sound is not very good. This happens when ministers respond in the House.

1:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Anthony Rota

We will talk to the technicians about that. I'm not sure whether there's anything we can do now, but we'll see if we can sort it out for the next meeting. It will certainly be fixed by next Monday. In the meantime, we will do our best.

Thank you very much for your comment.

We go back to Ms. Gladu.

1:05 p.m.

Conservative

Marilyn Gladu Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON

Mr. Chair, obviously with COVID, many people are struggling with the loss of loved ones and their grief. The Canadian Grief Alliance has submitted a proposal looking for a very modest sum of funding from the government to extend their virtual grief counselling.

Can the Minister of Health let us know if that funding has been approved?

1:05 p.m.

Thunder Bay—Superior North Ontario

Liberal

Patty Hajdu LiberalMinister of Health

I'm not aware of that specific proposal, but I commit to asking my officials to bring it forward to me and I will take a look.

1:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Anthony Rota

Ms. Gladu, you have time for a 15-second question.

1:05 p.m.

Conservative

Marilyn Gladu Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON

Many are struggling with mental health in this pandemic. Can the Minister of Health tell us what she is doing to increase the capacity to help people who are suffering?

1:05 p.m.

Liberal

Patty Hajdu Liberal Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON

I know I don't have much time, but let me repeat our infomercial to Canadians. They should visit Wellness Together Canada, the portal that will provide access for Canadians to a variety of mental health supports, including connection to professionals.

1:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Anthony Rota

Mr. Champoux, you have the floor.

I'm sorry, Mr. Champoux; you are next. Mr. Waugh now has the floor.

Oh, it's Mr. Waugh. My apologies.

1:05 p.m.

Conservative

Kevin Waugh Conservative Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK

Thank you, Chair.

Major events and mass gatherings being really out of the conversation for the foreseeable future, many event venues right now, such as concert halls and fairgrounds, are looking at the possibility of going more than a year without any revenue. Many are owned or managed by non-profit organizations. I can think of many in my riding, such as the Saskatoon Fringe Festival, Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan, the jazz festival, the folk festival, along with WDM and the Aviation Museum.

Can the Minister of Canadian Heritage tell us what support has been made available to date to these organizations that are left up in the air?

1:05 p.m.

Liberal

Steven Guilbeault Liberal Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC

As the member knows, we have done a number of things in the past weeks to help the arts and culture sector. We could talk about the Canadian emergency response benefit, or the wage subsidy.

We have provided advance help to a number of organizations from Canadian Heritage programs or the Canada Council for the Arts on top of the $500-million program, which has started to be deployed and will continue to be deployed in the coming weeks specifically for these types of organizations.