COVID-19 Pandemic Committee on May 14th, 2020

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

Mr. Chair, I totally support Okanagan vineyards and orchards, but I think the member opposite will agree that it is imprudent to make a commitment without knowing all the details. What I can commit to doing is to looking into this and getting back to the honourable member.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Mr. Cannings, we have about 55 seconds left.

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

Mr. Chair, even before the pandemic knocked the bottom out of the oil markets, workers in Alberta and other parts of the oil patch were hurting, and the long-term future looks just as difficult. Those workers need good long-term jobs now.

Will the Deputy Prime Minister commit today to direct funds towards diversifying the Alberta economy to give workers the support they deserve? Can the Deputy Prime Minister guarantee that the support goes to workers and not to executive bonuses and stock buybacks?

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

That's a great question, Mr. Chair. Let me just say that yesterday I had a very good conversation with the Premier of British Columbia, John Horgan, who told me how glad he had been yesterday to announce a project putting to work federal support for cleaning up orphan wells and how many great jobs that was creating. It's one example of doing what the member opposite suggests, and I agree that there is always more to do.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The next question goes to Mr. Steinley.

Mr. Steinley.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

My constituent, Samir Patel, purchased multiple restaurants last year, buying two smoothie bars in October and a pizzeria in July. Samir reached out to our office and reported that his CEBA loan application for the smoothie bars had been denied, yet the pizza application was approved.

My question for the Deputy Prime Minister is when will her government change the CEBA program qualification criteria to support business owners like Samir who have been excluded from the program because of when they purchased their business last fall?

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The honourable minister.

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Minister of Small Business]

Mr. Chair, I'm really proud that CEBA loans right now are helping over 580,000 small business owners all across the country. That is real help directed to businesses, and we're going to keep working to make sure that our businesses are indeed supported by this loan program. The work isn't done, and we continue to work.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Mr. Chair, a father and son duo called my office last week and said that their bank had turned down their CEBA loan application because the father had transferred ownership of the family business to the son in January even though the business has not changed its name, staff, location, or services offered.

When will the Prime Minister change the CEBA qualifications to accommodate recently transferred, family operated businesses?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

We have listened to business owners across the country to make sure they are indeed supported. Right now, we're really pleased that almost 600,000 businesses across the country are getting this support, but we will always make sure that there's more to do so that our small businesses are supported in our country, including those in the honourable member's riding.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Just think how many more businesses you could support if you would investigate the fraudulent claims made to CERB.

Another application issue that has arisen in Saskatchewan is with non-profit sports and recreation organizations. Sask Sport does payroll for 150 organizations, and because of this, the 150 individual organizations do not have a CRA payroll number.

I have spoken with Kevin Gilroy, the CEO of Sask Sport, and he is hoping that the minister can resolve this problem. Will she?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

Of course, our programs and the various measures we have put in place are there to help our businesses get through this very difficult time of COVID-19. The work isn't done, and we will continue to work to help our businesses.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

I'm hoping we will be able to follow up with the minister's office so we can get some support for Sask Sport and the 150 organizations.

Mr. Chair, I was born and raised on a dairy farm in Rush Lake, Saskatchewan, and I'm proud to have strong roots in Saskatchewan's farming community. In speaking with my family, friends, constituents and business owners, nobody agrees with the Prime Minister's claim that our country's agricultural producers are better off with a carbon tax, let alone an increase in this tax during a financial crisis.

Will the Prime Minister apologize for his blatantly false and out-of-touch comments that ignore the nearly unanimous opposition within the agriculture sector to the Liberal's job-killing, revenue-stealing carbon tax?

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The honourable minister.

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Chair, we put that price on pollution because it is important for our economy to go in a different direction. We know that we must support our agricultural producers. That is why the fuel that farms buy and use for agricultural work is exempt from the tax. We have also provided a reduction for greenhouse producers.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

That's not enough for agriculture producers. You're leaving them behind.

The Prime Minister said he would be open to providing farmers with additional funding. Will this be like the help the Liberals promised the oil and gas sector? When can farmers expect to see funding that doesn't put them further in debt, or hasn't already been previously announced like the last two announcement by this minister?

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

Mr. Chair, last week we made significant announcements specifically for our beef and pork producers and processors. We have also announced a significant contribution to buy surplus food and send it to people in need across the country.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

A few days ago, the Liberal government promised the oil and gas sector the urgent relief it so desperately needs in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and historically low oil prices.

When will the government step up and stand by its promise to help our oil and gas sector by granting it access to the cash liquidity it needs to survive this crisis?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Chair, the oil sector and its workers have been deeply affected by the COVID-19 crisis, and of course we've seen what's happened internationally as well in terms of supply. That's why we put forward measures around liquidity. We have focused those measures on small and medium-sized players that make up 85% of the jobs in this sector. In the recent LEEFF initiative that we put forward, bridge financing is also available for the oil and gas sector. These liquidity measures supplement the wage subsidy initiatives, as well as other direct measures that are helping us—

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

We now go to Mr. Généreux.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Mr. Chair, Céline Dumont, the owner of la Ferme Labrie Saint-Alexandre, operates a family farm that is set up as a general partnership, a SENC, as they are known in Quebec. She is contributing to Canada's food security in this time of crisis, but she is still not eligible for the small business emergency account because of the restrictions that the government has put in place.

Will the government be changing that position soon?

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

Yesterday, we made a very important announcement for agricultural producers who were not eligible for the emergency assistance for businesses. It involves the regional development agencies, Economic Development Canada, and the CFDCs and BDCs. So I am inviting farms across the country that were not eligible…

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Mr. Généreux, you have the floor.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

As I understand it, they are now eligible for assistance. I am happy about that.

Micro-chalets des Appalaches, in Montmagny, is a company operating in the tourism sector. Like everyone, of course, it has bills to pay, but it is not sure that it will be able to open this summer. The owner-operators do not quite reach the minimum payroll level of $20,000. They are very close, at $18,000. They award maintenance contracts that are not considered in the payroll calculation, as is the case for a number of companies.

Can either of the ministers tell us whether Mr. Falardeau and his wife will be eligible for the new emergency account?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages]

My thanks to my dear colleague. We have had the opportunity to speak together on several occasions in recent weeks and I know that he is an ardent supporter of economic development in his region.

As my colleague the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food has said, the Falardeaus will have access to assistance…