COVID-19 Pandemic Committee on June 2nd, 2020

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Again, the member is asking me a question that is solely the responsibility of the law enforcement agency of jurisdiction, and that is their decision, not ours.

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

The minister has said that the issuance of firearm licences and transfers was stopped recently due to a printer failure. We now know that to be completely false. There was no such failure, but an ordered shutdown.

Who ordered the RCMP to withhold these services from law-abiding Canadians?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

I have absolutely no knowledge of the allegation the member has just made, Mr. Chair, and so I cannot really confirm or deny that it actually ever happened.

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

Maybe the minister needs to check with his officials and find out who actually did the ordering.

What does the minister believe to be the estimated cost of the firearms confiscation plan?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Mr. Chair, there was no firearms confiscation plan. We will, however, be bringing legislation forward at the very first opportunity to facilitate a buyback program that will treat Canadians who purchased these firearms fairly.

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

You can't buy back something that you never owned in the first place, Mr. Chair.

These costs must include administration, price per firearm, as well as the industry costs. We know that industry costs are over $1 billion. If this minister doesn't know the cost, maybe he's as incompetent as our Minister of Finance.

I am wondering, Chair, through you, why the law enforcement notes were removed from the firearms reference table?

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I want to remind the honourable members that parliamentary language is something we need to respect in the House. We should be careful what we say.

The honourable minister may reply.

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I'd just like to advise you and this House that our purpose is to protect the lives of Canadians, and we are taking strong action to strengthen gun control. We are not influenced by the gun lobby or by gun manufacturers, only by our interest in keeping Canadians safe.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

We will now continue to Mr. Duncan.

[Eric Duncan, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I want to start by thanking the government for listening to my proposals a couple of weeks ago regarding the extension of benefits for vulnerable Canadians who may not have been able to file their income tax by this week's deadline. There are millions of relieved seniors with GIS and parents with the child tax benefit and GST who now know they have a bit of time and protection and aren't to be cut off from their benefits.

I'm hoping to go two for two here today, so there's no pressure to the Minister of Public Safety.

I want to build on the comments last week from Ms. Gladu, my colleague from Sarnia—Lambton, about family reunification between Canadians and Americans. Many constituents in my riding are concerned and are caught in this situation.

I certainly support, and I think we support in this chamber, the idea of the extension for travel. However, it's now been three months since many spouses have seen each other, and there are Canadian and American children in custody arrangements who have seen their parent only on one side of the border or the other.

After stating for months that reunifying families wasn't considered essential travel, I am thankful that he and the Prime Minister have now said that it is.

Will the minister agree to the safe and fair proposal we outlined in our letter last week, which would exempt spouses, children and those with medical needs travelling back and forth with accompanying documentation, so that we can get people and their families back together?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

I'd like to thank the member for what I think is a very important question and I want to assure him that I have had similar conversations with members of this House from all parties and representing all parts of the country. We recognize the challenge that this particular policy of restricting non-essential travel has meant for families. It is not our intention and never will be our intention to separate families. We are working very closely with the CBSA to ensure that individuals are treated fairly.

I want to share this with the member and honourable members of this House. Any change we make to our arrangement at the border will require a change by an order in council. Because there is a great deal of concern in our communities and from our provincial and territorial partners about the movement of people across our border, any change has to be discussed and negotiated with our provincial partners. Some of them, you may be aware, have expressed some concern, and we're addressing those concerns because we respect their concerns.

At the same time we are working very hard, and I am very hopeful that we'll be able to resolve this challenge to the satisfaction of the many Canadians you and everyone else represents.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I want to remind the honourable members that when they are asking or answering a question, they should speak through the Chair and not directly to the other member.

We will go back to Mr. Duncan.

[Eric Duncan, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

We were looking at each other. It's a bad habit.

To the minister, I appreciate the comments. I will just note that the Canadian and American governments have worked with provinces, as we have with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, to repatriate Canadians from around the world. There have been quarantine protocols put in place to allow that. There are protocols and there is a precedence.

I am just wondering why there is a delay in acknowledging the families part. I believe there is a precedent and I believe there is a background there, and I think we can, through an order in council or whatever measure, get people back with their families.

Can the minister explain why reunifying families needs to be any different from repatriating Canadians from other countries?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Again I thank the member, because this is a very important issue and it's important to us as well.

We have been working over the past couple of weeks very diligently on trying to find a resolution of this problem, because it is never our intention to separate families and we have all heard some very heart-wrenching concerns that have been raised. At the same time, I think it's important to work very closely, as we have done, with our provincial and territorial partners to ensure that we address the concerns they have raised.

We are prepared to move forward and we are working very hard to resolve the concerns that were raised so that we can have a positive answer to those many families, and we—

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

We will go back to Mr. Duncan.

[Eric Duncan, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

I appreciate that comment from the minister.

I want to share the story of a constituent of mine, Mr. David Lee, from Cornwall. He and his wife Maria have been married for a couple of years now. She is an American citizen. They spend about five months of the year in Texas and five months in Cornwall and would generally travel about two months of the year. However, she couldn't come up to Canada because of the restrictions that have been put in place, and it's certainly putting a strain on them.

Can the minister confirm that the three concerns we outlined in our letter are being discussed as part of reaching a solution or a resolution as soon as possible? The three concerns are that spouses and long-term partners can be reunited, that children with child custody arrangements can see both of their parents, and that if somebody needs to travel back or forth over the border for medical appointments, they can do that and can stay with their spouse.

Can you confirm that all three are on the table and will be addressed?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

What I can confirm is that we're working hard to make sure we keep families together.

I want to reiterate, because you raise a very important point, that when people cross the border they're still subject to the quarantine orders of public health. That's for the protection of all Canadians. You mentioned travelling back and forth across the border. If the travel is deemed essential, that is an exception, but if it is not deemed essential, then a person must go into quarantine for 14 days. That's one of the concerns the provinces have raised with us and one of the assurances they have sought. We're working to provide those assurances.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Before we go to the next line of questioning, I want to remind the honourable members that we have interpreters who are working very hard to translate from one language to the other.

I therefore ask you to speak a little more slowly out of consideration for the interpreters, who are doing a really good job.

We'll now go to Mr. Kram.

[Michael Kram, Conservative, Regina—Wascana, SK]

Mr. Chair, I've had the opportunity to talk with Mr. James Bogusz, CEO of the Regina Airport Authority, and he paints a grim picture. He expects the airport to be out of money by the end of the summer. The loss of the Regina International Airport would be devastating, not only to the city of Regina but also to southern Saskatchewan.

The Liberal government has made a great show out of allegedly providing $330 million in assistance to airports through lease deferrals, but here is what it's not telling people: Airport lease payments are already tied to revenue and have been for many years, so when an airport's revenue goes down to zero, its lease payments to the federal government go down to zero, pandemic or no pandemic. That means the government has done absolutely nothing to help Canada's airports.

Will the government commit today to providing real assistance to Canada's struggling airports?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

The Minister of Transport has been working very closely with airports, large and small, right across the country. We have continued to update our responses in this rapidly evolving situation. We've been in touch with each of the airports, and we've been working very hard to help them manage through these difficult times.

We know that in some circumstances, continued operations at smaller airports have not been possible, but wherever possible we have done our very best to try to accommodate the very real financial challenges these airports are experiencing.

[Michael Kram, Conservative, Regina—Wascana, SK]

Mr. Chair, Canada's airports are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy and the Liberal government's response has been to defer their lease payments. These were already based on revenue, so these deferrals are effectively meaningless. In the meantime, the U.S. government's CARES program is providing $10 billion in grants and low-interest forgivable loans to support American airports.

Will the government commit today to saving Canada's airports with a similar program of grants and forgivable loans?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Mr. Chair, we have worked very hard, and continue to do so, to make sure we provide supports to regional airports right across this country. We know how important air transport is to such a vast country and we know the tremendous work they do. They support communities and the Canadian economy.

We're going to work very closely with them to make sure we provide the right supports to help them get through this difficult time, because we know how important they will be to the eventual restart of our economy. Their continued existence and success are important to that restart, and we'll work with them.

[Michael Kram, Conservative, Regina—Wascana, SK]

Mr. Chair, the airport crisis goes far beyond my home city of Regina. Airports are vital to Canada's economy, providing over 200,000 jobs nationwide and paying $13 billion in wages and $7 billion in taxes. However, now Canada's airports are on the brink of collapse, and the government has stood idly by as airports have lost over 90% of their revenue.

Last month Joyce Carter, chair of the Canadian Airports Council, called on the government for a three-point plan for airport recovery. It includes the permanent elimination of ground leases, substantive loan and bond guarantees and a special plan to support smaller airports that provide vital supplies to rural and remote communities.

Could the minister inform the committee if the government has done anything in response to the Canadian Airports Council's request?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

I would make the observation that all of our smaller regional airports are vital to the communities they serve. That's why it's important that we work with them all.

The Minister of Transport is in regular communication and in ongoing discussions with airport authorities, large and small, right across this country on how we can continue to support them. There have been a number of proposals made by the industry itself and by some of the regional airports on what form that help can take. That's all part of a very important ongoing discussion.

I believe it is clear that Canadians need our help, and we are there for Canadians to help them get back on their feet when we get through this pandemic.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Mr. Kram, we have time for a 15-second question and a 15-second answer.