Finance Committee on May 19th, 2020

[Evan Siddall]

I do. It's a matter of provincial constitutional jurisdiction. That's basically it.

I think many provinces in fact have banned evictions. Some 90% of Canada is subject to eviction bans right now.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

Do you know why the provinces—

[Evan Siddall]

That's residential, not businesses.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

I'm talking about the commercial program.

[Evan Siddall]

I don't know.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

That's a question for provincial governments.

[Evan Siddall]

Unfortunately, I'd be speculating.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

That's fine. I don't like to speculate either; it's just a question that continues to come in from constituents who want access to the program. There are many landlords who are going to utilize the program, but there are other landlords who don't want to. Constituents who are renting, who have very legitimate questions about participation, are asking why the provincial government wouldn't have made that a mandatory program.

I guess that's neither here nor there. You're with CMHC and maybe you're not as well placed to answer that, but do you have thoughts on that?

[Evan Siddall]

We asked them to co-fund it, which you'd have thought would make them complicit, but we haven't seen anything yet.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

Okay.

Chair, do I have time?

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

We can give you one more supplementary question. We have a fair bit of time on this panel.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

On housing prices, I know you expect them to go down. Are there particular areas of the country that will experience a decline, or is this something that's going to be spread fairly evenly?

[Evan Siddall]

There will be a generalized decline. As usual, we have different housing markets in Canada. We expect oil-producing regions, unfortunately, to be disproportionately affected because of exogenous, non-COVID factors, including this silly war of oil prices between Russia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Those regions are Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland.

We expect Toronto and Vancouver to have softer prices as well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you both.

We'll go to about a three-minute round each.

Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd also like to thank the witnesses for being with us today.

I'd like to ask some questions about the CMHC website. Documents and information on the emergency commercial rent assistance program have been added recently.

Do you know when the portal will be online, so that documents can be uploaded?

[Evan Siddall]

It will be open on May 25. Right now, you're able to sign up to register for the information to be sent to you already.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

How long will it take from the filing of the documents to the payment of the emergency assistance?

[Evan Siddall]

Oh, goodness, I don't know that information, how quickly it will take.

I would imagine a matter of weeks. I'm looking to see if somebody's giving me the answer here. I should say we've had over 40,000 entities already register on that website for more information.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

This information should be verified because we need to give it to our constituents. This issue is very important to them.

Mr. Siddall, if a landlord refuses to participate in the program, what recourse does the tenant have? Is there any?

[Evan Siddall]

Well, I think the renter would appeal to the logic of the landlord. Again, we're going to be sharing information on why it would be a poor business decision by landlords not to avail themselves of this program. It will be much more expensive to get rid of that renter.

That information, as I say, will be published on May 25.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

According to the Conseil québécois du commerce de détail, 40% of eligible businesses say that their landlords don't want to participate in it. Although they say it makes sense, that's what we're hearing, and it will cause distressing situations for many tenants.

It's not just that. For instance, the 70% revenue reduction criterion is excessive and will leave many SMEs on the sidelines. The program excludes SMEs whose landlords no longer have mortgages to pay, as well as chain stores.

Do you think the government has properly evaluated the effectiveness of its program? What should be done to make it truly accessible to everyone?

[Evan Siddall]

We spent a lot of time looking at who should be included and excluded. I wish I could tell you how much time we spent analyzing all those things, and this is the balance that was struck and the decision that was made by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance.

I wanted to just elaborate on my earlier answer. It will take one day to adjudicate a claim and the money will flow within one week. That's what my team is telling me. I think it's the week of May 25, perhaps not the exact day of May 25, but the money will flow very fast.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

So payments can be expected on June 1. Perfect.

[Evan Siddall]

We will aim for payments as soon as June 1.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Okay. Thank you, Alexis.

I believe you had your hand up, Elizabeth. I'll take you later.

We'll turn to Mr. Julian and then to Mr. Poilievre.

Peter.