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.
Liberal
Marie-Claude Bibeau Liberal Compton—Stanstead, QC
Mr. Chair, for insurance protection, our proposal to the provinces is to include the possibility of recognizing a labour shortage as an insurable risk. It is up to each of the provinces to sign on to that or not.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
Without price insurance, how many ranchers have had to address cash flow by selling cattle at the bottom of the market?
Liberal
Marie-Claude Bibeau Liberal Compton—Stanstead, QC
Mr. Chair, we have established a number of programs in order to help our beef producers. For example, we are providing $50 million through the AgriRecovery program and $77.5 million for food processors.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
On May 1, the Young Cattlemen's Council asked the minister to extend the deadline for attaining calf price insurance. Today is that deadline. Did the minister meet it?
Liberal
Marie-Claude Bibeau Liberal Compton—Stanstead, QC
Mr. Chair, we discuss different options with representatives of various organizations almost every day. We are trying to work with them to improve the various programs and to meet their needs, in addition to the risk management programs, of course.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
She didn't respond to the request of the Young Cattlemen's Council.
The minister is telling farmers to access the BRM program, but just now I got a text from a young cattleman in my riding who's losing $250 to $300 per head and just told me that those programs in no way increase their capacity to deal with this crisis. The Farm Credit Canada lending capacity was increased by $5 billion, but only to service and manage loans of current customers. How many farmers have applied for that assistance?
Liberal
Marie-Claude Bibeau Liberal Compton—Stanstead, QC
However, Mr. Chair, there is a whole range of programs for our producers, whether they be specific programs for the agriculture sector, or the Canada emergency business account, the CEBA, the criteria of which have been broadened. This allows us to provide more loans, also with a forgivable portion of 25%, which could amount to $670 million for the agricultural sector.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
What percentage of Canada's farmers are customers of Farm Credit Canada?
Liberal
Marie-Claude Bibeau Liberal Compton—Stanstead, QC
Mr. Chair, Farm Credit Canada is well-established from one end of the country to the other and it is ready to meet the needs of our agricultural producers. In addition—
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
Of the 25% of farmers who use FCC and have applied, how many have received assistance?
Liberal
Marie-Claude Bibeau Liberal Compton—Stanstead, QC
Mr. Chair, I stand to be corrected but, according to the most recent information I have received, $4 billion in flexible loans to producers have been made available since the crisis began.
Conservative
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
Is the minister concerned that cow-calf numbers will sharply decrease if producers aren't able to protect the value of their herds, which they cannot do, jeopardizing the future of the Canadian beef supply chain?
Liberal
Marie-Claude Bibeau Liberal Compton—Stanstead, QC
Mr. Chair, I can assure you that I am extremely concerned about the future of the agri-food sector. That is why we are working extremely hard with the sector every day to improve existing programs and create new ones, especially in support of the meat industry.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
They made it clear that the BRM programs don't work and there's not funding in place to assist them. Three weeks ago, the processing backlog was more than 100,000 head.
How many beef operations are facing the real danger of going out of business because of this pandemic and the lack of support by the agriculture minister and this Liberal government?
Liberal
Marie-Claude Bibeau Liberal Compton—Stanstead, QC
Once again, Mr. Chair, we know that the risk-management programs are not perfect. That is why we are working with the provinces to find solutions. These are shared-cost programs with the provinces and we want to improve them. This is why we are trying to incorporate some flexibility. In addition, we are supplementing the funding, especially for the meat industry.
Conservative
The Acting Chair Conservative Bruce Stanton
We'll now go to Ms. Wilson-Raybould in Vancouver Granville.
Independent
Jody Wilson-Raybould Independent Vancouver Granville, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
The Minister of Employment has stated that measures would be forthcoming for individuals with disabilities, similar to the one-time payment increase given to seniors on OAS and GIS.
Could the minister please provide some more details with respect to the statement she made? When can individuals with disabilities expect meaningful financial assistance?
Liberal
Carla Qualtrough Liberal Delta, BC
Mr. Chair, we know that Canadians with disabilities are disproportionately impacted by COVID in terms of both their own personal health and the access to supports that they have, or don't have, more specifically. We are three days away from National AccessAbility Week, the first week after we legislated it in the Accessible Canada Act. I would expect something from our government during that week.
Independent
Jody Wilson-Raybould Independent Vancouver Granville, BC
Thank you for that.
My office has heard from many constituents who are frustrated over the lack of information on eligibility requirements from the government regarding the business credit availability program. Furthermore, banks are giving small and medium-sized businesses mixed messaging.
How will the government ensure that the messaging for BCAP and similar programs is articulated properly?
Liberal
Mary Ng Liberal Markham—Thornhill, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank the honourable member for her question. Nothing is more important to us right now than making sure our small and medium-sized businesses are supported. The lending program through BCAP is available through financial institutions; that's banks and credit unions across the country. The money is flowing to those businesses.
I would encourage Canadian businesses to get in touch with their financial institutions.
Thank you so much.
Independent
Jody Wilson-Raybould Independent Vancouver Granville, BC
Mr. Chair, members may not be aware, but there are ongoing restrictions on when some civil servants can access government servers and their files due to the pandemic, to ensure that those dealing directly with the pandemic have priority. For example, this is affecting negotiations with indigenous peoples.
Can the government please tell us when the system will have sufficient capacity so that all civil servants can do their work remotely and without limitation?