COVID-19 Pandemic Committee on June 15th, 2020

[Seamus O'Regan, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Madam Chair, in the oil and gas sector we have focused on workers. That has been key in the inactive and orphan well program, which we are working on with the provincial governments of Saskatchewan, British Columbia and Alberta. The focus on workers has assured that success, and we will continue to focus on workers in all the industries, particularly our natural resource industry, as they go through this extraordinarily difficult time.

[Taylor Bachrach, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Madam Chair, reforestation is a very important part of the forest industry in the riding I represent, and people were keenly interested to hear this government's plan to plant two billion trees in the next 10 years. That's a lot of trees. I'm wondering if the minister could tell us how many trees are going to be planted under this program by the end of this season.

[Seamus O'Regan, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Madam Chair, this government is committed to two billion trees. We are working with forestry associations, the industry and with individual companies to ensure this tree-planting season will be one of the largest the country has ever seen.

[The Acting Chair, NDP, Carol Hughes]

The floor goes to the honourable member for Rivière-du-Nord.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Madam Chair, last week, the government introduced Bill C-17 and the Minister of Justice sent us briefing notes in which he said that it was important to suspend a number of time limits and to extend others, and that the failure to do so could have important repercussions on Canadians, their families, their situations, their finances and their ability to exercise their rights. We in the Bloc Québécois agree with that.

When are we going to talk about it?

[David Lametti, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, QC]

Madam Chair, the contents of Bill C-17 are clearly very important.

We have addressed the mandatory time limits in federal legislation as well as certain time limits that courts may not be able to handle. It is very important that we address this issue. That is why the law—

[The Acting Chair, NDP, Carol Hughes]

Mr. Fortin, you have the floor.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Madam Chair, we agree that it is important. I concur.

The minister's briefing notes say that, among other things, when it comes to divorce—which means children are involved— people are waiting on custody rights, child support and visitation rights. The minister pointed out that the national security review would require consultations if no decision is made in the prescribed time frame. It could pose a national security risk. It is really a big deal.

When are we going to debate it?

[David Lametti, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, QC]

Madam Chair, I completely agree with my honourable colleague. The issue needs to be addressed. That is why it is in the bill. That is another reason to debate the bill.

I beseech my colleagues opposite to debate it with us.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Madam Chair, what a coincidence, because I beseech my colleague opposite to debate it with us. That is what we are asking.

Last week, the leader of the Bloc Québécois asked the Liberal government to debate Bill C-17 today. He did not get an answer. It does not seem to matter.

Richard Wagner, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who is hardly a dimwit or greenhorn, told us that the justice system needs to be modernized. As recently as this past Saturday in La Presse, Justice Wagner said that it is essential that the Criminal Code be amended to address the backlog of court proceedings.

When will the Liberal government opposite pull up its socks, do its job, govern the federation, sit down with the opposition and discuss the vital matters in Bill C-17?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Madam Chair, if I were my colleague, I would be a little embarrassed, because the bill was sent to the Bloc Québécois several days in advance. They received a technical note several days in advance. We were all available to take questions. When we asked for the support of the Bloc Québécois and the other parties to debate it—we were not even asking them to vote in favour of the bill—they refused.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Madam Chair, we never refused to debate it. Actually, we were the ones who asked to debate it. What exactly does “debate it” mean?

We set some conditions. For example, we asked the Liberals to put the money back into the wage subsidy fund and to commit to dip into it no longer.

Are we asking too much of our colleagues opposite?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Can my colleague explain to me what the emergency wage subsidy has to do with a bill about justice? This is an absolutely fundamental piece of legislation.

We wanted to debate it, but they refused to do so.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Madam Chair, I would like nothing better than to explain it to him, but I must remind him that he is the leader of the party in power, the party that is supposed to govern the country. So I do not know why he is asking me that.

My party proposed that we debate this today but we did not get an answer. Meanwhile, court time limits are running out and people are losing rights.

I am thinking of families, child support, child custody, labour law disputes in Federal Court, marine transportation, interprovincial transportation, aviation, banks, and those with grievances waiting for a Federal Court ruling.

The whole system, the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, everything is on hold because nobody in the government wants to do their job.

We want to discuss Bill C-17. When can we talk about it?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Madam Chair, we have done our job. We have introduced the bill. We informed them in advance. We told them they could ask us any questions they wanted. We asked for a debate in the House.

However, when we asked the Bloc Québécois if they wanted to debate the bill, they said no, instead of doing what they usually do and saying yes.

[The Acting Chair, NDP, Carol Hughes]

We will go to the honourable member for Essex, Mr. Lewis.

[Chris Lewis, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

When the CERB runs out, many workers in my riding of Essex will not have sufficient hours to collect their EI benefits. In early July, the midnight shift at Chrysler will be eliminated. Because of the shutdown, a mom-to-be who had just returned to work in January, and several hundred of her fellow employees, may not have the 600 hours required for regular or EI parental benefits.

Immediate action is needed. What is the government doing now to backstop these workers?

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

Madam Chair, the Canada emergency response benefit has been providing much-needed help to Canadian workers across the country who have stopped working due to COVID-19. We know that there is still a lot of uncertainty for many Canadian workers, and we know that many will be exhausting their benefits in the weeks to come.

We will have more to share soon, as early as this week, on our continuing efforts to support Canadian workers and make sure that help is available during this—

[The Acting Chair, NDP, Carol Hughes]

Go ahead, Mr. Lewis.

[Chris Lewis, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Thank you, Minister, for the answer.

The EI system needs to be fixed. Even before the shutdown, the system was deeply flawed. Will this government commit to a complete review and overhaul of the EI system?

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

Madam Chair, we have been there for Canadian workers. We will continue to make sure that we make the necessary investments in the EI delivery system and modernize it to continue to meet—

[The Acting Chair, NDP, Carol Hughes]

We will go back to Mr. Lewis.

[Chris Lewis, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Small businesses have been hit extremely hard by the COVID-19 shutdown. Many have already been forced into bankruptcy. Much uncertainty lies ahead. As the economy reopens, what is the government doing to help small businesses recover?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

Madam Chair, today we are seeing small businesses that have been helped, whether it is getting access to the small business loan, which some are also using in the restart as they are safely restarting, or getting help with their payroll, helping them keep their employees—

[The Acting Chair, NDP, Carol Hughes]

We will go back to Mr. Lewis.