Finance Committee on May 14th, 2020

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

All right.

Mr. Julian, you have five minutes.

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I'll have some brief questions. I just want to make a comment to start. The idea of the CERB is to provide support for people who don't have other means. Somebody who quits their job because they don't have access to protective equipment, for example, should qualify for the CERB.

I find it a bit rich to be talking about widespread fraud when what we have in many cases are people who are just not meeting the strict criteria. That is why the universal benefit that Jagmeet Singh proposed makes such good sense. I hope the government continues to think about that because it would eliminate a lot of the problems that we are seeing.

My question, to the Department of Finance, is the question I asked the minister. I did not get a reply.

What is the budget for the LEEFF? What are the funds that are projected to be spent, the loans that are projected to be outlined for the LEEFF?

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Go ahead, Ms. Dancey.

[Evelyn Dancey]

The LEEFF is targeted to transactions of about $60 million or higher per firm. At this time, the government has not provided an estimated ceiling or size of the program. The reason is that it is very uncertain in terms of the economic landscape and the financing requirements of the companies that will have to assess whether this program meets their needs and whether they have indeed exhausted their other conventional lending sources.

That is something for which we would anticipate being able to provide updates. At this point, we don't have that estimate due to the current economic uncertainty.

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Thank you. So you can't tell us whether there are 100 businesses that would be targeted or 1,000? You just can't say?

Okay. Then I'll go into my next question.

The supplemental unemployment benefit is a program that we've raised numerous times. We have understood, and the finance minister has confirmed, that there was a workaround being put in place that would allow SUB, the supplemental unemployment benefit, to be paid in addition to CERB benefits.

Is there any update that the Department of Finance can provide us on that?

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Go ahead.

[Suzy McDonald]

I'll start. Then my colleagues at ESDC may like to add.

Part of putting in place the CERB is that the EI system is not functioning in the way that it was previously. The CERB is put in place, and it suspends some of the EI particularities. The supplementary programs or SUB programs are not part of that at the moment. Employers can continue to deposit or to put in place those SUB plans with ESDC so that their employees can benefit from them when EI comes back into play.

At the moment, that's the state of play.

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Thank you for that.

My final question then is around the wage subsidy and the commercial rent relief program for small businesses. In both cases the thresholds have been difficult for people to reach.

Are there further changes planned to either the wage subsidy or the commercial rent relief program that will allow more small business to access these programs?

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Who wants to take a stab at that one?

[Andrew Marsland, Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Tax Policy Branch, Department of Finance]

Perhaps, Mr. Chair, I can begin on the wage subsidy.

While I can't comment on any future changes the government might make, the wage subsidy was designed with flexibility in mind. I think the committee is probably familiar with some elements of that flexibility, which were intended to recognize the particular challenges of all businesses, particularly small business, in accessing the program, for example, through the use of cash or accrual accounting, different reference periods and so on.

I think the minister did indicate that we will continue to look at these programs and make adjustments as necessary.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Does anybody have anything else they want to add—any of the others there?

[Leah Anderson, Assistant Deputy Minister, Financial Sector Policy Branch, Department of Finance]

On the commercial rent program for small business, that program is not yet launched. It is targeting the small businesses most significantly hit by the crisis, and I believe it will be very impactful for those small businesses and their landlords to bridge them through this period.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you.

Do you have a supplementary question, or are you okay there, Peter?

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Oh, I have tons of supplementaries, if you want to give me another five minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

That wouldn't be a supplementary; that would be a new question.

We'll go to Mr. Cumming and then on to Mr. Fraser.

Go ahead, James.

[James Cumming, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Great. Thank you so much.

Can you tell me how many applications you've had under the EDC assistance program and the value of the loan guarantees that have been granted so far?

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

That would be to Finance, I suspect.

Do I see anybody there for the question on the money backed up for EDC?

Go ahead, Ms. Giles.

[Nicole Giles, Director General, International Finance and Development Division, International Trade and Finance Branch, Department of Finance]

Thank you.

There are several business credit availability programs, BCAP, that EDC is involved with. Could I ask which program in particular your question is about?

[James Cumming, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

It's the original program that was announced—the first program that was brought on—along with the other series of programs with BDC that are providing guarantees on lines of credit.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Was that the six and a half billion....?

[James Cumming, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Yes.

[Nicole Giles]

Could you give me a moment to look that up?

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Okay, you can look that up and we'll come back to you.

Go to your second question, James, and we'll come back to that one.

[James Cumming, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Sure, I'd be glad to.

How many applications have you received under the wage subsidy program?