COVID-19 Pandemic Committee on May 12th, 2020

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Ms. Bergen.

[Candice Bergen, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, I'm hearing in my riding of Portage—Lisgar that individuals who are dealing with Service Canada through the mail are experiencing delays. It seems that the mail that's going to Service Canada has not been opened. In fact, one of my constituents sent documents, including a doctor's note, two months ago on March 12 and is now being told that she must resend them because they've never been opened.

Can the government tell us whether this is a widespread problem, and how are they dealing with unopened mail at Service Canada?

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The honourable minister.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Chair, I want to assure the honourable member that we are doing everything that we can in Service Canada to meet the expectations of Canadians. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have had unprecedented volumes, but we have redeployed thousands of staff to front-line services by phone and by other means. We had to close a number of the centres because of COVID-19 concerns and the safety and well-being of Canadians.

[Candice Bergen, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Is the minister aware whether this is a widespread problem? Is this happening rarely, or frequently? I'm hearing about it. I know, from many MPs, we are at the front lines of dealing with and helping constituents who are not only wanting to get support but also are trying to get programs unrelated to COVID-19. Is unopened mail a widespread problem at Service Canada?

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

Mr. Chair, I'm happy to look into the particular case that the honourable member brings up. I am not aware of unopened mail being a widespread issue. I'm happy to work with the honourable member to see what happened in this individual case.

[Candice Bergen, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Thanks very much.

Mr. Chair, the Iver Johnson single-shot rifle is a standard farm gun used by many farmers in my riding, in fact, passed down from generation to generation in some cases. Why are the Liberals making this gun illegal? What's the purpose of banning this particular farm rifle?

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The honourable minister.

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I just wish to advise the member that we worked very closely with the Canadian firearms program, with law enforcement and with their firearms verification to identify the makes, models and variants of nine rifles, all of which had in their earliest provenance a design for military use, for soldiers to use in combat. Those are the weapons that have been—

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

We'll now go back to Ms. Bergen.

[Candice Bergen, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

I would challenge the minister on that. I do not believe that he has been consulting with front-line officers. We're hearing from front-line officers that they are concerned about gangs, drug dealers and illegal weapons being smuggled across the border. They are not concerned with these types of farm rifles that are being used by our farmers and, in some cases, hunters. These are specifically used for hunting.

So, Mr. Chair, we'd like to see the evidence on why the Liberals are once again targeting law-abiding Canadians, ignoring gangsters and drug dealers. Why are they banning the Iver Johnson?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

It's a great opportunity, I think, when the member opposite says what the police are saying.

Let's hear what the police are saying.

The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police declared that military assault rifles were produced for the sole purpose of killing people in large numbers and urged the government to enact legislation to ban all military assault rifles, except for law enforcement and military purposes.

The Ontario police leaders said that they support a prohibition on all military-designed rifles. They said, “In our view, these weapons have no place in our communities and should be reserved for use by Canada's military and law enforcement.”

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Ms. Bergen, we have about 50 seconds left.

[Candice Bergen, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Mr. Chair, we've seen this before, where the Liberals introduced a long-gun registry that cost billions of dollars and did absolutely nothing to stop violent crimes. This is a repeat of what the Liberals have done before.

Is the minister saying that the Iver Johnson that farmers use is an assault rifle?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Actually, what I'm saying, and what our regulations say very clearly, is that weapons that were designed not for hunting and not for sport purposes but for soldiers to use in combat to kill other soldiers have no place in Canadian society.

I would also advise the member that any Canadian killed by gun violence is one too many. We have far too many tragedies where these types of weapons have been used to kill Canadians.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

We'll now continue with Mr. Rayes.

[Alain Rayes, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My question is for the Prime Minister.

Is it true that Canada Revenue Agency employees who process applications for the Canada emergency response benefit, or CERB, have been asked to send the payment even if fraud had been detected, as was pointed out in a national media report today?

[Diane Lebouthillier, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Chair, our government considers these to be very difficult times for Canadians. We're going to do everything we can to support them by helping them pay for their housing and their groceries.

I'm very proud of the public servants who work at the Canada Revenue Agency. Nearly seven million—

[Alain Rayes, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

I repeat my question, which is extremely simple: Is it true that the Canada Revenue Agency sent a memo to its employees asking them to ignore the fraudsters and still send the CERB payments??

[Diane Lebouthillier, Liberal, Gaspésie—Les-Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC]

I'll finish my response, which was interrupted: Nearly 7.8 million Canadians have applied for the Canada emergency response benefit. The priority is for Canadians to be able to pay for their groceries and their housing.

[Alain Rayes, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Yes or no: Did the Canada Revenue Agency send a memo to its employees—who are doing an exceptional job, I'd like to point out—so that they would ignore the 200,000 potential cases of fraud that they detected?

[Diane Lebouthillier, Liberal, Gaspésie—Les-Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC]

The answer is no.

[Alain Rayes, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

The CERB has been distributed since March 25, so for seven weeks now. The federal government website clearly states that if an employee returns to work, the employee must pay back the CERB. Can the Prime Minister tell us whether employees who decide to return to work have to pay back the full $2,000 per month, or only $500 for week of the month?

[Diane Lebouthillier, Liberal, Gaspésie—Les-Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC]

As I mentioned, we believe that Canadians are going through a very difficult time, and we need to support them. We need to help people pay for their groceries and their housing. That's what our government is committed to, and that's what we'll continue to do.

[Alain Rayes, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Mr. Chair, the extremely simple question I am asking the Minister comes from companies and workers. None of the officials dares to answer it when we call on technical matters, even though they are supposed to give us information that we can pass on to the public with complete transparency.

So let me repeat my question; I don't think there can be a simpler one. The answer will benefit the workers and the companies that want access to the Canada emergency wage subsidy.

If an employee is called back to work—which is perfectly fine—agrees to do so and wants to reimburse the CERB, must he reimburse $500 for each week he works during the month, or the entire $2,000?