COVID-19 Pandemic Committee on May 13th, 2020

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Mr. Chair, I assume the member opposite is referring to the prohibition of grenade launchers. There are about 34 in Canada and we have brought in regulations that now prohibit grenade launchers. It does not apply to some of the other things that have been suggested by the member opposite.

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

Mr. Chair, I was referring to the iconic, heritage 12-pound cannon that is mounted on a pedestal in Stanley Park. It was manufactured in 1816. Any cannon that can be fired can be loaded with a projectile, so it meets the definition of a firearm, which means that every cannon in Canada, every heritage piece that might be in a museum, every heritage piece that might be in a collection, is now a prohibited firearm.

Was the minister not aware of this when he announced this policy?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Mr. Chair, just to help the member opposite, let us be very clear. We have prohibited weapons that were unfortunately widely available in Canada and were being used for purposes other than sporting activities, which is the only use of a firearm in Canada, for either hunting or target shooting sporting activities. Rather, they were being used to harm individual Canadians and, in some tragic cases, many individual Canadians.

We've done the right thing, Mr. Chair, and we—

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

We'll go to Mr. Nater next.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Mr. Chair, agricultural societies across rural Ontario are making the difficult decision to cancel their fall fairs this year. Some of these fall fairs have been around since before Confederation. Not only is this a terrible loss for these communities of important community events, but it's also putting a significant financial strain on these agricultural societies.

What action is the government taking to support agricultural societies in Canada?

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

Mr. Chair, what we've done is we've put forward monies to support our regional development agencies. These agencies have the mandate and the ability to support local initiatives, including the events the member has highlighted. This is more than doubling the budget that currently exists, so that we have sufficient resources to support communities and these very important local events.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Mr. Chair, the arts and culture industry has a massive impact on local economies. In my riding alone we have the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, the Stratford Festival, Drayton Entertainment and Stratford Summer Music. The postponement and cancellation of the seasons of these important cultural institutions is having a massive impact on the hospitality industry, including local restaurants, hotels and bed and breakfasts. Many of these businesses are small businesses and owner-operated businesses that are falling through the cracks in the government's programs that have been introduced.

How will the government address the blind spot in their programs for small businesses in communities like this, which rely on the tourism and the arts and culture industries?

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

Mr. Chair, clearly, we understand how important these organizations are to these communities. That is why we allocated $500 million to respond to the specific financial needs of arts, heritage and sports organizations, to help them be more resilient through this difficult time. Last week we rolled out the funding of this announcement, and we look forward to engaging with communities across the country.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Mr. Chair, 1.8 million jobs are attributed to the tourism industry in Canada. Among these, 740,000 are related to international travelling. No one wants to see the borders reopen until it's safe to do so, but can the government provide clarity on what criteria will be used to provide some information to these tourism operators of how, when and under what criteria international borders will be reopened?

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

Mr. Chair, I would like to thank the member opposite for his view that we need to be cautious and prudent and put the health and safety of Canadians first. That is very much the view of our government as well.

When it comes to international borders, the health and safety of Canadians is absolutely the first criterion we are going to look at. Of course, we will be looking at the situation with coronavirus—

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

We'll go back to Mr. Nater.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Mr. Chair, many Canadians continue to fall through the cracks of programs announced by this government. One of my constituents only recently returned to the workforce after spending many years out of the workforce raising her children. As such, she doesn't qualify under the $5,000 minimum requirement for income over the past 12 months.

How will the government address these people who are falling through the cracks?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Québec, QC]

Mr. Chair, we are mindful of the very difficult circumstances in which many Canadians who have a foot in two places find themselves. We have a number of different measures to help them and we're going to continue to do so.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Mr. Chair, it has been reported that as many as 15% of farmers and farm families in Canada could face going out of business and bankruptcy because of the massive impact that COVID-19 is having on agriculture in Canada. Business risk management programs are not working for these farm families, and the processing capacity is simply not there for farmers and for farm families, especially in the beef and pork industries.

How will the government immediately address the short-term processing capacity issues found in the beef and pork sectors? When will they finally live up to the commitment of a complete review of the business risk management programs?

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

Mr. Chair, I've been holding discussions with my provincial counterparts to review the risk management programs.

With respect to the AgriStability program, we've offered producers some accommodations and pushed back the enrolment date to July 3. We've also increased, from 50% to 75%, the advance payment that they can obtain quickly, in provinces where this is possible.

We've also posted a calculator online. So before they say that the program isn't working, I encourage them to use this calculator to find out how much they can receive.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Mr. Chair, this government continues to show a blind spot for small businesses in Canada. Many don't qualify for the CEBA because they don't have a high enough payroll or because they don't have a business account.

So many small businesses are falling through the cracks. Will the government expand the criteria so that small businesses in my community and across Canada can qualify for the important assistance they need at this time?

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

Mr. Chair, I would like to remind my honourable colleague that we did expand the eligibility criteria threshold from $50,000 down to $20,000 so that more businesses could be eligible, and on the top end, for salaries, from $1 million to $1.5 million. That is why we have seen 590,000 small business loans issued. That's a testament to the program.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The next question will go to Mr. Maguire.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Mr. Chair, hog and beef producers have seen drastic price drops. Producers are telling me that they would use the western livestock price insurance program if the premiums were affordable, which they are not.

Will the Minister of Agriculture work with the industry to make the premiums affordable so that producers can have price protection against these market fluctuations?

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

Mr. Chair, we're working closely with the industry and my provincial counterparts to identify the best programs to help producers in this difficult time.

Last week, we announced specific programs for the meat sector: $77.5 million for processors, $50 million for beef producers and $50 million for pork producers.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Mr. Chair, Chez Angela Bakery in Brandon has seen tremendous success since it opened two years ago. Due to this growth and the eligibility criteria for the wage subsidy program, their revenues would have to decline much further than 30% in order for them to receive help.

Will the Minister of Finance amend the eligibility for the wage subsidy program so that Chez Angela and similar businesses can apply?

[The Acting Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

The honourable Minister of Industry.

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

Mr. Chair, I'd like to thank the honourable member for his question.

I want to highlight the fact that we did make an amendment. When we originally proposed this initiative, the threshold was 30% for the month of March. Now businesses will only need to show a 15% decline in revenue, and businesses will have the option of using January and February as a reference period to show revenue losses, or of using the same time last year. This reflects, again, our ability to understand the needs of businesses, to act quickly and to make sure that they benefit from this very important initiative.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

They still don't qualify, Mr. Chair.

The Blarney Stone restaurant in Killarney has repeatedly asked the Minister of Finance if they could refinance their loans through the Canada small business financing program.

Will the Minister of Finance give small business owners the ability to refinance their existing loans through the program, yes or no?

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

Mr. Chair, again, we've demonstrated flexibility and nimbleness when it comes to these financing options.

I'd also like to highlight another very important initiative that was mentioned earlier, the deferring of GST/HST and customs duty payments for businesses for the next three months. This will help 3.2 million business owners and entrepreneurs across the country. Again, it's another initiative to put more money in the pockets of businesses as they deal with this unprecedented health care crisis.