COVID-19 Pandemic Committee on May 14th, 2020

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

Mr. Chair, I feel, in the question periods we've had this week, that Conservatives want to have their cake and eat it too. Half of their questions are about businesses in their communities or sectors that are not receiving enough government support. The other half of their questions are about how we need more red tape to make it harder to support Canadians.

Our government knows that Canadians need support. The Conservatives—

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

We'll go back to Mr. Albas.

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

—need to say which side they are on.

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

Well, we're on the side of the law that was passed by Parliament, Deputy Prime Minister. With all due respect, Canadians deserve that support, if they're eligible and not trying to defraud the system.

We know now that there are multiple memos directing staff to ignore fraud and misrepresented claims. The minister said that there was a piece of paper. Will the employment minister table these pieces of paper so that the Canadian people can know how her department is operating?

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I want to remind honourable members to place their questions through the chair and not directly to other members when they ask them, as well as when they answer.

The honourable Deputy Prime Minister.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Let me just say this: I will make no apologies for our government's approach, which has been to value speed over perfection and to be there when Canadians have needed us the most. Of course, fraud must be and will be looked into, but right now the priority is getting support to Canadians. You know what? I trust Canadians to do the right thing. I think that all members of this House should do that as well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

We'll go on to the next question.

Mr. Thériault, the floor is yours.

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My question is for the Minister of Health.

We are facing the worst public health crisis in our history. Our health networks are under stress. For example, to understand the virulence of this contagion, when Quebec declared a state of health emergency, on March 13—it was the first to do so—there were 17 cases in Quebec and no deaths. In Canada, there were 176 cases and one death. Today, two months later, Quebec will exceed 40,000 cases and 3,000 deaths. In Canada, there are more than 72,000 cases and more than 5,000 deaths.

All the experts who have testified before the Standing Committee on Health have told us that, going forward, one of the great lessons that we must learn from the pandemic against which we are fighting, is that the chronic underfunding of health networks leads to weak links and makes dealing with pandemics of this kind difficult.

When will the Minister announce that health transfers have been put back to 6%, as was the case before Mr. Harper's Conservatives reduced them to 3%?

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

My thanks to the hon. member for his question.

I completely agree that the pandemic crisis is truly very serious in Canada and very serious also in Quebec, especially in Montreal. A few days ago, I spoke with Valérie Plante, the mayor of Montreal, and I will be speaking with her again tomorrow. Our government is very involved. We are working in close collaboration with others.

At the same time as we are holding a virtual sitting of Parliament, the women and men of the Canadian Armed Forces are providing their assistance to seniors in Quebec and Ontario. Let me take this opportunity to thank them.

As for health funding, we have increased the funds for the provinces and territories by $500 million in order to help them prepare to fight COVID-19. It is very important to do so.

Finally, let me assure the provinces that the federal government is here to help you in the fight against COVID-19, including the funding for that fight against COVID-19.

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Mr. Chair, I do not know whether it was a slip on the minister's part when she talked about the worst economic crisis. It is first and foremost a public health crisis, one that has repercussions on the economy.

The government has rightly followed our proposals and invested $150 billion in order to better support workers. Meanwhile, $500 million out of the $150 billion represents only $0.33 per $100 invested in all the other programs.

It is not right that the government is not injecting funds now, so that people working on the front lines can fight the pandemic appropriately. Our health system is under stress, and 11,000 workers are sidelined.

When will you commit to putting the health transfers back to 6%?

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I remind the hon. member that he must direct his remarks through the Chair instead of addressing the person to whom he is asking a question.

The Honourable Deputy Prime Minister has the floor.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My thanks also to the hon. member for his question.

I must emphasize that we do understand the importance of working in close collaboration with Quebec during the crisis. In fact, that is what we are doing.

We have already increased the health transfers by $500 million, in order to help the provinces to fight the pandemic. We are ready to do more, because we understand that this is a genuine health crisis.

Let me now give an example to prove that the federal government has stepped up. The Canadian Armed Forces are in Quebec at the moment. We are working in close collaboration with Quebec on the matter of procurement, which is an extremely important problem.

We have to work together and we are going to continue to do so.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

For the next question, I'm going to go to Mr. Cannings.

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to pass on my best wishes for your birthday tomorrow as well. I hope you have a good Zoom birthday party.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Thank you.

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Mr. Chair, the new support package for large employers apparently excludes companies that have been convicted of tax evasion. The problem there is that most tax avoidance by Canadian companies is completely legal. Companies like Cargill that shelter their profits in Luxembourg and have been convicted of tax evasion in the U.K. don't have a conviction in Canada. Has Cargill requested taxpayer help in this pandemic?

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The honourable Deputy Prime Minister.

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

Not to my knowledge, Mr. Chair.

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Mr. Chair, Canadians have seen companies get bailouts and then move their operations and jobs out of the country. Can the Deputy Prime Minister guarantee that money going to help major corporations will actually benefit the workers here in Canada?

I think Canadian workers would be much happier if they knew that big companies getting public dollars actually pay their fair share of taxes, so can you assure us of that?

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Once again, I want to remind the honourable members to place their questions through the chair and not directly to whoever they're asking their question of.

The honourable Deputy Prime Minister.

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

Thanks for that reminder, Mr. Chair. I should also say happy birthday. Buon compleanno.

It is easy to forget to respond through the chair when we see each other so intimately on video, so no problem.

Look, I really want to thank the honourable member for that very important question. Let me assure him, through you, Mr. Chair, that our government is absolutely focused on ensuring that our support for the Canadian economy is designed to support Canadian workers. Sometimes that does mean supporting Canadian companies, but I want to assure the member opposite that we will put every measure in place that we can to ensure that this support does what it's designed to do.

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Four years ago, a huge rockfall damaged a critical irrigation canal that provides water to much of the South Okanagan. That canal allows orchardists and vineyard owners to grow the crops that make the valley famous. The Town of Oliver has tried to secure federal funding of about $5 million to help repair the canal, but the federal agriculture department won't provide money because it's an infrastructure problem, and federal infrastructure department won't provide funding because it would benefit agriculture.

Last month, the infrastructure minister announced that she was looking for shovel-ready projects to help local economies pull out of the pandemic. This project has been shovel-ready for two years. Can the Prime Minister find one ministry that would step up and help fund this critical work?

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The honourable Deputy Prime Minister.

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

Like many people who grew up in Alberta, I am very familiar with the amazingly beautiful Okanagan, but I am not personally familiar, I'm sad to say, with that canal. I can commit to the member opposite that I will raise this issue with our Minister of Infrastructure, who is working very energetically with the provinces right now to get money to shovel-ready projects.

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Well, Mr. Chair, we've been waiting for two or three years now for the funding. It doesn't fit into the little packages that federal money tends to come in, so the Town of Oliver and the people of the South Okanagan would like a federal commitment today that, in this situation, would say, let's find the money to build this project and keep those vineyards and orchards growing, because without water they will die within weeks.