COVID-19 Pandemic Committee on June 1st, 2020

[Chris d'Entremont, Conservative, West Nova, NS]

There you go, give her a clap.

More than $70 million will be invested to support this sector and promote Canadian destinations. Southern Ontario received $30 million, northern Ontario received $7 million and western Canada received $3.5 million. There's nothing for Atlantic Canada yet.

Knowing that we just had an announcement from the Minister of Transport that there will be no cruise ships in Atlantic Canada or anywhere in Canada this year, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in losses, where is the program for Atlantic Canada?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages]

Mr. Chair, I commend my colleague for his important question. I know he's a very strong advocate for the tourism sector in Atlantic Canada, so I want to reassure him. Obviously, we want to support the tourism sector in Atlantic Canada. ACOA has a clear direction to do just that. If he has any good ideas, please let him come forward and let's have a conversation.

Meanwhile, Atlantic Canada will also be supported through Destination Canada. Rather than doing marketing internationally, we will be supporting destination marketing organizations across the country, including in Atlantic Canada, to make sure that we launch this new movement to visit local.

[Chris d'Entremont, Conservative, West Nova, NS]

That would be all great if we weren't in the middle of a pandemic and you can't even cross the Nova Scotia-New Brunswick border without having to self-isolate for two weeks. It's going to make travelling, through the Maritimes at least, very difficult.

In Saint John, New Brunswick, 79 cruise ships and more than 270,000 passengers will not be giving back to that local community. At home in Nova Scotia, it's about 118 or 130 vessels. In terms of a minimum financial loss, $165 million will not be generated. There will be job losses and permanent closures of restaurants and boardwalk shops.

Prince Edward Island, which was expected to have a record attendance year, will lose visits of 97 ships and 154,000 passengers, and $60 million to the province's economy will be lost.

Mr. Chair, my question to the minister is this: Who is ACOA going to be working with, and what kinds of programs are going to be available to help them through this very difficult year?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

I agree with my colleague. The sector is really impacted by the pandemic and the economic crisis. It is a bit like the canary in the coal mine; it was the first impacted, and definitely it is still impacted. That's why we are in close contact with tourism leaders and operators across the country.

Again, recently I had good conversations with the chambers of commerce all across Atlantic Canada, including Hospitality Newfoundland and Labrador for the tourism sector. There is money for the tourism sector and tourism operators. They can have access to the wage subsidy. They wanted to have access to it until later in the summer, and it has been extended to the end of August. They have access to the rent relief program, the CEBA and ACOA funding.

As mentioned many times in this chamber, Mr. Chair, if my colleague has clear examples to provide me, let's work together. Let's make sure the money flows to these people, because they need it.

[The Acting Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

You have only about a minute left, Mr. d'Entremont.

[Chris d'Entremont, Conservative, West Nova, NS]

Mr. Chair, like the minister, last week, I spoke with Simon-Pierre Poulin, the director of Le Franco newspaper in Alberta, about the “Sauvons Saint-Jean” movement.

He asked me why we could not continue to work on official languages and on modernizing the act even though Parliament is sitting in a different configuration. Unfortunately, I had to explain to him that many restrictions were associated with the current format of this fake Parliament.

The pandemic is also threatening the protection of French in minority communities. The Liberal government made a commitment to modernize the Official Languages Act in the first six months of its mandate.

How will it proceed?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Mr. Chair, it goes without saying that our two official languages are important and that, when it comes to language rights, we must always be on guard and protect what we have achieved.

As for Campus Saint-Jean, I am very aware of the issue. I had the opportunity to speak with my two counterparts in Alberta late Friday afternoon to tell them about our concerns and the need to protect the institution from drastic cuts. That was the first point.

The second point is the modernization of the Official Languages Act. I have the same concerns as my colleague. Clearly, we must continue the conversations and find the right solutions. Finally, we must be there to protect our language rights.

If the member has good ideas, he can come to me to discuss them.

[The Acting Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

The hon. member for Chicoutimi—Le Fjord has the floor.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Mr. Chair, some people for whom the 15 weeks of sickness benefits were not enough before the COVID-19 crisis now have to exhaust their regular employment insurance benefits before they are entitled to the CERB.

Today, I would like to know whether they will be able to exhaust their weeks of eligibility for the CERB after October 3.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Mr. Chair, we ensured that those who switched over to the Canada emergency response benefit would be covered by it, whether they were EI eligible or not. We are committed to supporting all of the workers who have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

According to a survey conducted by the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières' research institute on small and medium size businesses, the Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean region would be the most affected by the economic effects of COVID-19. This is not surprising. In fact, in our region, the tourism industry generates more than $300 million in economic activity, including $58 million for the cruise industry alone.

The $70 million that you announced yesterday is a very modest start. What does the government intend to do for the tourism industry in the regions?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Mr. Chair, it goes without saying that the tourism industry is indeed very much affected. That is why we are responding to their concerns and worries.

We have therefore extended the emergency wage subsidy until the end of August. We are also providing the Canada emergency commercial rent assistance, as well as the $40,000 loans from the Canada emergency business account. We have also just announced $70 million in support for Canada's tourism sector.

I am having good talks with various stakeholders in Quebec, including Martin Soucy from the Alliance de l'industrie touristique du Québec. In addition, we are going to do our part to support the tourism sector through Economic Development Canada.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Mr. Chair, the tourism industry in the Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean region is the sum of all its stakeholders. Many of these businesses are too small to receive the assistance announced by the federal government. Overly restrictive standards will prevent some tourist accommodation from welcoming guests this year, even though they will have to pay their bills every month.

What does the government plan to do to help the regions most affected economically?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

I thank my colleague for his important question. What he is describing is the reason we are currently working on a game plan. We really want to be able to reach these small businesses, of which there are many in Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean, in Quebec and across the country.

That is why the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance have committed an additional $1 billion to help those businesses that fall through the cracks. We need to respond now, and I will have more to say about it in the next few days.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Mr. Chair, I was very disappointed to see that we had lost asparagus crops due to a labour shortage. When I spoke with the blueberry growers in my area, they told me they were concerned that the same thing could happen to them. Some employers to whom we granted summer positions are not finding students to fill them.

When will there be incentives to encourage people to work rather than disincentives?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Mr. Chair, we believe that the flexibilities we have introduced to the Canada summer jobs program will enable more employers to use it, including more businesses, as well as help young people to acquire the necessary skills and benefits from this really important program.

[The Acting Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Mr. Martel, you have about a minute left.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Mr. Chair, on May 19, the government said that it was studying several solutions to help business owners and entrepreneurs who operate their business using a personal bank account. When will the Canada emergency business account be available to them?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Minister of Small Business]

Mr. Chair, small businesses are the heart of all of our communities, and we've been working really hard to help them. Almost 650,000 small businesses have received the loan, which is really helping with those costs.

We have more work to do to make sure that those other businesses also get access to this support.

[The Acting Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

We'll now go to Mr. Epp, the member for Chatham-Kent—Leamington.

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I wish to congratulate my colleague, Cathy McLeod. On Tuesday, May 26, she gained a new resident when Brinnley Lisette Huby was born to parents Adam and Carina Huby. Carina is my daughter, and that makes Brinnley my first grandchild and presently my favourite newest Canadian. All are healthy, and I thank God for Brinnley's healthy arrival.

[Some honourable members]

Hear, hear!

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

Minister Jordan, the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation is allowed access to the seafood stabilization fund, while you deny its competitor, our Ontario fisheries that fish on the Great Lakes, the similar right to apply.

Minister, why?

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Mr. Chair, I want to thank my colleague for the very good question.

The Ontario inland fishers and the people in Ontario are eligible for other programs that are offered through the regional development agencies.

We are going to make sure that no industry is left behind when it comes to our fisheries. We're making sure that we're addressing the concerns of inland fisheries as well as coastal fisheries. Those programs will be available to anyone who needs to apply through the RDAs.

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

Minister, will you then direct these regional agencies to provide equitable funding equivalent to the seafood stabilization fund?