COVID-19 Pandemic Committee on May 19th, 2020

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Ms. Stubbs.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

On April 13 and again on May 4, the Ontario Petroleum Institute wrote the finance minister asking for federal assistance for Ontario's orphan wells that's in line with what has been offered to other provinces. On April 17 the Prime Minister announced $1.7 billion for orphan wells in B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan, but there are 1,500 inactive wells in Manitoba and 27,000 orphan and inactive wells in Ontario.

Will the Liberals provide the same opportunity to oil services companies in Ontario and Manitoba?

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The honourable minister.

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

I'd like to thank the member for her important question. It gives me an opportunity to point out how important our $1.7 billion for cleaning up the orphan wells has been.

This program, as we have already seen, is creating great jobs for workers in the oil and gas sector in Alberta, Saskatchewan and B.C. These are the parts of the country that have been the most affected, and that's why we have targeted our support there.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

The OPI proposed an Ontario orphan well reclamation program to create jobs, support the economy and remediate thousands of wells in the province. On what date will the minister at least actually respond to the OPI?

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

Let me just say that I am sure the member opposite, who is a member for Alberta, is not in any way suggesting that any of the funds we have dedicated to orphan well cleanup should be taken away from Alberta and moved to any other part of the country. We will—

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Ms. Stubbs.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

I can assure the minister that what I believe is that support should be given to all provinces to deal with the issue of orphan wells.

On March 17, of course, the finance minister said oil and gas support was coming in “hours” or “days”. That was 55 days ago. On April 28 I asked for an update. The minister said it would be “rolled out as quickly as possible”. We must have different definitions of quick. It's 21 days later and still nothing.

On what date will the BDC loans for small and medium oil and gas operators and the Canada Development Investment Corporation loans for larger bridge financing actually be available?

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

Mr. Chair, I think the member opposite must have a definition different from what the oil and gas sector has for what constitutes real and meaningful support, support that has reassured the industry, support that has reassured the oil sector.

Let me talk about the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and its reaction to the LEEFF financing support. It said, “Today, we welcome the federal government's action to increase access to capital and liquidity”.

These are important steps. They've increased confidence in the industry, and that's the right thing to do.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

However, the announcement doesn't equate to support being actually available to the industry. On what date will it actually be available?

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

Mr. Chair, the industry understands very well that this is significant support and that the support absolutely is coming.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

The minister says the right things, but do you know what? Death by delay is a tactic of anti-energy activists. It sure is an effective way to phase out the industry, isn't it?

Talking about nice words, but failing to deliver and letting people down.... My constituents are frustrated. They're spending hours, days and even weeks trying to reach Service Canada. They're being cut off. They're getting busy signals. They're often unable to access the system at all.

I'll give you an example. After finally reaching an agent, Mike from Vermilion was told that the agent was not the “proper level” and couldn't help him, and that he would be escalated for a callback. That never happened.

I acknowledge that since the pandemic, Service Canada is overloaded, but this was already a problem pre-COVID-19. How will the minister fix it and make sure that Canadians actually get the support they need?

[The Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, Ahmed Hussen]

Our priority has always been, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure that Canadians have access to their benefits through Service Canada. We have redeployed over 3,000 staff members to provide services to Canadians with regard to EI and the CERB. We have also ensured that we set up a 1,500-agent call centre to respond very quickly to any Canadian who has applied for the CERB and has questions.

Our focus will remain on making sure that we continue to provide the benefits to Canadians through Service Canada.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Ms. Stubbs, you have 25 seconds are left, so ask a 10-second question, if possible. Then we'll see about an answer.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Sure. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

I have a quick question, and it should be a clear answer.

What will the Liberals do to support Keystone XL, depending on the outcome of the U.S. presidential election?

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

Mr. Chair, our government has long been clear in its support for Keystone XL. In fact, in 2013, before we were in government, our then future prime minister travelled to Washington to make very clear our support for that important pipeline.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The next question goes to Ms. Vecchio.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Last week, it was reported that many single parents, mostly women, are struggling. Due to the pandemic, they're not receiving their support payments from their former spouses. Many of the parents have been impacted due to a job loss.

What is the government doing to ensure that single parents who rely on these types of supports are getting their funds?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

Mr. Chair, we know that single parents, particularly single women, are struggling. That's why we have put in place a number of measures, including the GST credit and the augmented CCB payment. We're looking to see how much more we can do, but I can assure the member that we too are very concerned about this vulnerable population.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Thank you very much.

The government provided the first round of funding for the shelters through delivery agents. This question is for the Minister for Women and Gender Equality: Has this money actually flowed into the bank accounts of these shelters?

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

Mr. Chair, very early in the pandemic, we made sure that we flowed that money to all the community entities. An additional $50 million that went directly to women's shelters has enabled—

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Exactly, and that was specifically my question. Have these women's shelters received the money, yes or no?

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

They have, in the sense that the money was distributed very quickly through us to make sure they're able to respond very quickly to COVID-19.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Thank you.

I want to remind the honourable members to place their questions through the chair and not directly to the person to whom they're asking the question.

Please continue, Ms. Vecchio.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Will do. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

We know that many municipalities and sexual assault centres have been there to help women who are fleeing and are at risk. Many of these organizations, especially some of the sexual assault centres, do not get money.

What is the federal government doing to help these municipalities and these organizations that are using their funds and these operating expenses to fill the voids that the government has not addressed?