Evidence of meeting #25 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.
1:50 p.m.
Liberal
Karina Gould Liberal Burlington, ON
Madam Chair, Canada is committed to the UN system. We are committed to multilateralism. As a middle power, we know that this is how we will continue to have an influence in the world, and we will do that proudly with our Canadian values at the lead.
1:50 p.m.
NDP
The Acting Chair NDP Carol Hughes
The floor goes to the honourable member for Mégantic—L'Érable, Mr. Berthold.
1:50 p.m.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
On March 12, the House unanimously passed a motion I introduced, in which I asked the House to urge the government to offer consular services to Raif Badawi and work with the government of Saudi Arabia to give him access to those consular services.
Can the Liberal government, which now has time for Canadians after Justin Trudeau's failure to obtain a seat on the Security Council, tell us that it did provide the required consular services to Mr. Badawi?
1:50 p.m.
Liberal
Karina Gould Liberal Burlington, ON
Madam Chair, the promotion and protection of human rights, including the rights to freedom of expression, conscience, and religion or faith are an integral part of Canada's foreign policy. We remain extremely concerned by the case of Raif Badawi. We have raised it at the highest levels and we have repeatedly called for clemency to be granted.
1:50 p.m.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
Can the minister guarantee that consular services were provided to Mr. Badawi as the House asked the government to do?
1:50 p.m.
Liberal
Karina Gould Liberal Burlington, ON
Madame Chair, as I will reiterate, Canada remains extremely concerned by the situation of Raif Badawi. We have raised this situation at the highest levels.
1:50 p.m.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
Madam Chair, since the start of this special committee on COVID-19, we have been asking Liberal ministers questions. As we have just seen, we very rarely get answers.
If the government does not want to answer questions from members, perhaps it might deign to reply to questions that residents of Mégantic—L'Érable have suggested to me.
Guillaume Nadeau asks how many billions of dollars they gave in the hope of obtaining a seat at the United Nations for nothing.
1:50 p.m.
Liberal
Karina Gould Liberal Burlington, ON
Madame Chair, again, I find it so disappointing that the Conservatives view the incredibly important work that we're doing around the world as a waste of money. Whether it is supporting those in urgent need of food assistance, whether it is providing urgent health care needs that—
1:50 p.m.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
No answer for you, Mr. Nadeau.
Mélanie Bolduc asks why the CERB is continuing when a lot of companies are going to close because they need staff. She says she understands the assistance being provided, but you have to check whether people really need it. Not a day goes by without people telling her that they are going to continue to get the CERB because they are better off and they can do what they want. She does not see that as right.
Does the government have any employment incentive measures in mind to encourage people to take the jobs that are now available?
1:50 p.m.
Liberal
Jean-Yves Duclos Liberal Québec, QC
Madam Chair, I would like to remind the honourable member that we are going through an emergency that absolutely requires us to achieve two objectives at once. The first objective is for those who have access to work in reasonable conditions to return to it. The second objective is to make sure that everyone has money to put bread on the table
1:50 p.m.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
No answer for you either, Ms. Bolduc.
The Chambre de commerce et d'industrie Bois-Francs/Érable asks the following:
Adjusting the eligibility criteria for the CERB, which was first rightly established in an emergency situation, could have resulted in a program that would have supported the economic recovery and become a help to employers rather than another obstacle.
Does the government have any employment incentive measures in mind to encourage people to take the jobs that are now available?
1:50 p.m.
Liberal
Jean-Yves Duclos Liberal Québec, QC
Madam Chair, the honourable member probably heard my earlier answer, that, very soon, there will be a declaration process whereby people, workers, will have to confirm that they could not return to work, reasonable work.
However, millions of Canadians and many Quebeckers have no access to work and will not have access to it next year—
1:50 p.m.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
“Soon” is vague; we do not know when “soon” will be. We are used to it.
Mélanie Paquette asks: “When will we be able to access the Canada emergency business account? The announcement was made a month ago now and we still cannot apply through our banks.”
What is the answer?
1:50 p.m.
Liberal
Mélanie Joly Liberal Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC
My dear colleague, please tell Mélanie to go and see Canada Economic Development in her constituency, or to drop by your office. We will have a solution for her. You know that everything is available so I am counting on you to provide her with the information.
1:50 p.m.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
I will pass that information on to Ms. Paquette.
Marcelle Brière says the following:
If people really do not have work, they will be getting regular unemployment and those who have work will go to work because they are better off than having the CERB. Mr. Trudeau's little game is to win votes in the next election.
Does the government have any employment incentive measures in mind to encourage people to take the jobs that are now available?
1:50 p.m.
Liberal
Jean-Yves Duclos Liberal Québec, QC
Madam Chair, that allows me to inform the honourable member that, in his constituency, there must probably be about 20,000 workers who have been able to receive the Canada emergency response benefit in recent weeks.
Claiming that those workers did not need that emergency assistance is certainly not what the honourable member is suggesting. However—
1:55 p.m.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
The question came from Ms. Brière. She is wondering, and rightly so.
The only positive aspect of this special committee on COVID-19 is to show Quebeckers and Canadians the extent to which Liberal government ministers avoid answering questions. It is impossible to get an answer on any subject at all.
Let me make one last demonstration.
Can the Prime Minister tell us how much Canada's deficit is, as of today?
1:55 p.m.
Liberal
Mona Fortier Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
Madam Chair, from the outset, we have made investments to support Canadians in these difficult times. We are going to continue to do so in order to make sure that they can continue their work or help their families during this crisis.
1:55 p.m.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
It's estimates week in Ottawa, so I thought I would take a look at some of the government's spending.
We had an Order Paper question come back recently, listing thousands and millions of dollars of Canadian taxpayers' money spent on hospitality in a period of just a couple of months.
I want to start with the CRA. In their departmental plan, they state that they're deeply committed to open and honest communication and to transparency. In the Order Paper, there are 620 items of hospitality listed and over $1 million of spending, without a single detail released about the description of goods, number of employees, attendees or hospitality, except to mention a $2,100 order for Subway.
Why is the CRA transparent on nothing except for Subway sandwiches?
1:55 p.m.
Liberal
Diane Lebouthillier Liberal Gaspésie—Les-Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC
I can tell my colleague that, at Revenue Canada, we are very proud of the work that we have done, whether it is on the issue of tax evasion or in terms of customer service. This is also National Public Service Week. We have arranged for 8.5 million people to be able to receive the CERB.
