Finance Committee on April 24th, 2020

[Dr. Ian Lee]

There are two parts there. Let me deal with the last one first.

I don't pretend to be a medical doctor or an epidemiologist. I watch the press conferences every day, with the scientists around Trump, and of course read the medical reports in Canada.

I am really fascinated by Premier Legault of Quebec, who I think is doing some very innovative things in trying to bring the economy back while acknowledging that we do not have a vaccine for this. There are other illnesses, as we know, that have no vaccine. There is no vaccine for influenza, and although a lot of people get angry when you use that word, my late father died of pneumonia caused by influenza. It's not a trivial illness. It's a very horrible illness in its own right, yet we've managed to adapt and live with it and take precautions.

As to Europe, I've read everything I could get my hands on about the European countries. They're taking a risk-based approach that is advocated, by the way, in Canada by the C.D. Howe Institute in Toronto. We evaluate different occupations, different professions, different industries and different companies to determine the level of risk.

I think there is a path forward, because the total debt in our country—corporate, personal and government—is 350% of GDP. I urge everyone to read David Rosenberg's op-ed today in the Financial Post, which has unpacked the numbers.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you.

We will turn to Annie Koutrakis to wrap it up.

Annie.

[Annie Koutrakis, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank everyone for their comments and presentations today. This has been a great conversation, with very useful things to think about going forward.

My question will be addressed to Mr. Davidson and Ms. Therrien of Universities Canada.

An op-ed posted on your website states that “universities are well-positioned to make immediate and impactful contributions” in addressing the COVID pandemic. Could you elaborate on that statement and provide more detail on the collaboration between universities, industry and governments to address this pandemic? How is federal funding being used to support these projects while maintaining safe work environments for researchers?

[Paul Davidson]

I'll invite Wendy to reply to that question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Wendy, go ahead.

Ms. Therrien.

[Wendy Therrien, Director, External Relations and Research, Universities Canada]

Thank you so very much for the question. In fact, Canada's universities have been very pleased with the investments in research made by the federal government, which have enabled laboratories across our country to contribute to finding a vaccine to COVID-19.

Canada's universities have also been partnering with their local provinces and their local health authorities to provide personal protective equipment to support front-line workers in the response, and Canada's universities have also been doing research in the social science disciplines to understand the impacts that COVID-19 will have on populations across the country and to support in the preparedness for future crises.

Those are some of the ways we've been able to support in the response, and then looking forward, we think about the importance of enabling our research environment to be up and running quickly, because though urgent research is continuing, much research has been fallowed and it will be important to enable the research ecosystem to be up and running quickly to support in the innovation and economic recovery of our country.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you very much to you both.

Sasha McNicoll, you didn't get an opportunity to say anything. Do you want to make a point to close it off for the panellists?

[Sasha McNicoll, Senior Specialist, Policy, Community Food Centres Canada]

Sure. Thank you, Mr. Easter.

I would just say that when we're thinking about the people who are suffering the most from food insecurity and poverty and when we go forward after this crisis, we need to focus on single adults, because 43% of people who are food insecure are unattached adults. The federal government has very generous benefits for children and for seniors. Thus, we would really encourage you all to consider how we can better support single adults through measures such as making the disability tax credit refundable, especially for those who aren't able to work.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Okay. Thank you for taking the opportunity.

I ask committee members to stay for a moment. We need to look at the themes for next week. I have a proposal.

To the panellists, thank you for coming forward, for taking the time and making good suggestions. We'll have to get a summary of evidence before too long, but if there is one thing we are seeing in these hearings, it's that there are certainly a lot of lessons that can be learned from a crisis such as this. We have to deal with the immediacy of the problem in terms of the income, the business, the rents, you name it, but there are policy changes that can be made going forward as well.

Thank you all for your presentations.

Turning to committee members, I'm told that we might have a problem next Thursday. We will definitely have two hours, but the whips might not allow us to have four. We'll see how that pans out, but what I suggest is that we decide now on four panels. We might end up with three.

The first one on Thursday would be the minister and officials. That's a necessity for the bi-weekly report on the pandemic crisis and where the government is at. That comes out of the House of Commons, its motion.

I would suggest that we have a second panel, just a general panel. All of us have people who have somehow been missed, so it would be a type of catch-up panel to bring them in.

For Friday, panel three, I would suggest for the first part of the panel, support for Canadians ineligible for the announced measures to date. That comes out of our regular session we had long ago.

I would suggest that the last one be a combination of the manufacturing and construction sectors. That's more looking out at where do we go from here, at some of the suggestions that come up on what we do after this is over.

That's what I'm suggesting. Is there any disagreement with that?

Are you okay, Peter? Okay.

James, is that good?

[James Cumming, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Yes, but I was going to make a suggestion, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Yup.

[James Cumming, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

It strikes me that a lot of what we've been hearing about, from witness to witness to witness, has been the impact on small business. I would like to hear from the minister, if possible. I know that Minister Ng has appeared at other committees. I think it would be worthwhile for the finance committee to hear from her and her department on some of the programs that have been announced, and to hear from Minister Fortier as well, perhaps, with the first preference going to the minister for small business.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Could we look at that the next week, James, and gear that up for the next week? Is that too late?

[James Cumming, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Gladly. I just think we need to hear them. The later we leave it...because I think that's more related to the emergency response and these programs.

I think sooner is better, but I'll leave it in your hands, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Okay. We'll see what we can do with it.

I think it is a good suggestion. We've been hearing from the Minister of Finance certainly, who has the overall responsibility, but we need to hear from some of the ministers who have specific responsibilities in some of the areas that the programs have taken place. Maybe we can run something along those lines.

Folks, I know that an event is taking place shortly in honour of those in Nova Scotia. We may want to participate in that as well.

With that, I'll thank everyone.

Thank you, members, for your endurance. Keep in mind that we need witnesses for next week by six o'clock Sunday night.

With that, I'll thank everyone again and adjourn the meeting.

The meeting is adjourned.