COVID-19 Pandemic Committee on May 13th, 2020

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

Mr. Chair, Ambassador Barton is an excellent representative of Canada in China, and he is a member of our government and very much shares and helps to formulate our government's policy when it comes to China. Ambassador Barton, of course, shares our government's view that a post-crisis review is absolutely necessary.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Mr. Chair, the government's March 27 duty deferral announcement has caused tension within the trade community. Customs brokers are being asked to shoulder tremendous liability as importers are not required to make duty payments until the end of June, when there is a real possibility that some of them may find themselves insolvent.

Will the government commit to a liability exemption for customs brokers whose clients are unable to pay the duties at the end of June?

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The honourable minister.

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Chair, we have worked hard to determine programs that we think can be supportive of individuals and businesses, including allowing for deferral of taxes through this period. That we believe is important with respect to the GST, which we've allowed to be deferred until July 1, and in terms of taxes for businesses, until the end of August.

We think this helps businesses to get through this challenging time, and we'll continue to support businesses and individuals so we can have a strong economy when we get through this crisis.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Mr. Chair, the following three questions are from constituents in my riding, so hopefully, I'll get some good answers for them.

The first one I'll talk about is Rick. He owns a small business, a local bowling alley, in Melfort. It's a family-owned operation, so he doesn't meet the payroll threshold for the wage subsidy benefit, nor does he qualify for any other announced loans or grants.

There are businesses right across Canada that are in similar situations. Is the minister suggesting that they lie to get the funds, or will they make some changes so they qualify?

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The honourable minister.

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Malton, ON]

I want to highlight some of the initiatives we have put forward to assist small businesses.

The Canada emergency wage subsidy covers 75% of the wages of employees, and that way they can maintain their jobs.

We've also put forward the enhanced work-sharing program. It's an option for businesses to pay their employees.

On top of that, I want to highlight the Canada emergency business account, which has issued 590,000 loans.

As the Minister of Finance recently mentioned, we've deferred GST and HST and customs duty payments for businesses for the next three months.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Mr. Chair, Robert owns a cleaning products company in Prince Albert. He tells me that Canadian custodians and building service contractors are not purchasing Canadian-made disinfectants because very few are included in the federal approval list for COVID-19, even though Canada produces many products that Health Canada has certified as disinfectants.

Why is the Liberal government not prioritizing the approval of Canadian-made products?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Mr. Chair, that assertion is not correct. In fact, we have been working very closely with producers of Canadian products as well as with our colleagues at Innovation, Science and Economic Development to make sure that Canadian companies have what they need to very quickly move through the approval process.

Health Canada has accelerated this process, and most companies can get approved in one to seven days. Of course, there is an iterative process that requires companies to ensure that a product is safe for use in Canada.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Mr. Chair, last week the government announced $252 million in assistance for Canadian farmers, which was largely seen as an insult, especially given that a good amount of this money was already budgeted.

A constituent of mine, Tracy, from Melfort, wrote to me asking me to advocate for farmers and ranchers so they can get the support they need to continue to produce our food.

When will the government start to prioritize farmers and ranchers? Will they continue to reform the business risk management program?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Absolutely, Mr. Chair. We're working very hard with our provincial colleagues to improve the risk management programs.

We did announce programs last week, and some of these new programs are designed specifically for the meat sector. A total of $77.5 million is earmarked for processors and $50 million for beef producers.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The next question goes to Mr. Calkins.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Red Deer—Lacombe, AB]

Mr. Chair, provinces are reopening at different speeds, and that includes opening their provincial parks before the May long weekend. It no longer makes sense for fully staffed national parks across the country to be uniformly closed.

Will the Minister of Environment commit to opening national parks in harmony with provincial and territorial parks across Canada?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

Mr. Chair, we are working very closely with our provincial partners on the reopening.

I am pleased that we were able to publish, on Tuesday, April 28, shared guidelines on the reopening, which were supported by the Prime Minister and all of the premiers of the provinces and territories—

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Mr. Calkins.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Red Deer—Lacombe, AB]

Mr. Chair, boating is a safe way to enjoy the outdoors while maintaining physical distancing. Why is Parks Canada postponing the opening of lock operations and similar functions along our heritage waterways?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

Mr. Chair, as I was saying in my answer to the first question, the question of coordinating national and provincial parks is a very good one. That is something we are definitely working on.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Red Deer—Lacombe, AB]

Mr. Chair, since the beginning of this pandemic, the minority Liberal government has been actively trying to push our democracy aside. It severely limited parliamentary sittings, attempted to take executive control of tax rates and used an order in council to ban lawfully acquired and responsibly owned firearms.

When will the government stop using this pandemic as an excuse to run roughshod over our cherished democratic values?

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

I don't understand this question at all, since we're meeting here to ask questions for two hours and 15 minutes. That's the equivalent of three question periods. Yesterday, there was the equivalent of two question periods, and tomorrow there will be the equivalent of two more question periods. We're talking about seven question periods. That's more than normal.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Red Deer—Lacombe, AB]

Mr. Chair, the inconsistency in support for various sectors in our economy is baffling. There is more money made available to forcibly confiscate lawfully owned property than in emergency support for our hard-working farmers or our prosperity-creating oil and gas sector.

The only consistent theme appears to be that sectors that do not traditionally vote Liberal are finding themselves left out in the cold. If that is not the case, why is there such an obvious discrepancy?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Mr. Chair, those comments are completely unjustified. We're fully committed to our sectors, including the energy sector and the agriculture and agrifood sector. This is particularly important. These sectors are critical.

That's why we're working to improve our risk management programs. We want to ensure that the criteria are broader and that more producers can benefit from these programs.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Red Deer—Lacombe, AB]

Mr. Chair, during the misinformation briefing, the public safety minister used Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom as examples for firearms policy. Does the public safety minister realize that these countries are islands and none share a border with anyone, least of which with the United States of America?

Is my bringing this new-found evidence to the minister's attention going to change his focus to smugglers, gangs and criminals, instead of wrongfully blaming lawful gun owners?

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

Mr. Chair, I would like to assure the member that I have actually seen an atlas.

I want to be very clear that those countries have recognized, like Canada has, that these weapons have no place in a civil society. They were designed for soldiers to engage in combat with other soldiers. They were not designed for hunting and sporting purposes, which are the lawful uses of a firearm in Canada, but rather for individuals to kill other individuals.

Tragically, in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, that is precisely what they have been used for, and we have prohibited—

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Mr. Calkins.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Red Deer—Lacombe, AB]

Mr. Chair, the nine o'clock gun is an iconic 12-pound cannon that has been fired daily in Vancouver in Stanley Park since the 1800s. It's now a prohibited firearm as of May 1, 2020.

Can the minister advise the public of the safety risks that this cannon, which was manufactured in 1816, poses to the public?