Finance Committee on May 21st, 2020

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

We'll have to go back to Mr. Fraser and give him the opportunity for one more, Minister.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Thank you, Minister. I appreciate that.

I have two quick plugs before my second question. There are two things I continue to hear. First, businesses are concerned about the uncertainty, wondering whether some of these benefits will be extended if it becomes necessary. Second, there are still some very small businesses that may not have $40,000 in expenses or a business account, but would like some kind of support. They don't necessarily need the same level of support the CEBA provides, but are looking for some kind of assistance to help with their expenses.

This is my second and final question. When I talk to female entrepreneurs, I am hearing with an astonishing level of frequency about particular concerns they're facing. I'll ask you to comment on the support we've put in place for them, and make a plug to deal specifically with the issue of child care.

I can't tell you the number of women-owned businesses and agricultural producers who have said all they need to do are simple things, such as re-profile their Canada summer jobs person to child care instead of on the farm. They say, “I know how to farm and I don't have the time to train someone else to run my business. If I could have help with child care, I could get back to work and make a real difference for the economy.”

If you could comment on supports for women entrepreneurs, I would be grateful.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

You''ll have to do it in a minute, Minister. I want to keep this round fairly tight.

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

Okay.

I just announced $15 million on Saturday to support the women entrepreneurship strategy ecosystem fund. This is part of an $85-million strategy that we have put in place for these entrepreneurship ecosystems specifically to help women.

Women are wearing lots of different hats right now, and they are severely impacted, so we're helping them navigate, get access to capital and get the support they need. These ecosystems are very busy. They operate all across the country, and they're doing their level best to make sure our female entrepreneurs are supported.

For the smaller businesses that may not want the CEBA, that's what community futures programs and the regional development agencies are doing. In your region, ACOA is of course doing extraordinary work.

Will we continue to adapt, listen, and make sure businesses are supported? Absolutely. That's been the approach all the way along, and it's going to continue.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Thank you so much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you both.

Mr. Ste-Marie is next, followed by Gord Johns.

Go ahead, Gabriel.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Thank you Mr. Chair.

First of all, I would like to greet you, Minister, and thank you for being with us this afternoon. I would also like to acknowledge and thank all the officials who have joined this committee.

To begin, Madam Minister, I would like to know if your government will be able to provide an economic update by the end of the parliamentary session. In your preamble, you listed all the programs that have been announced. There are a lot of them. With an update, we could get an overview of what's been announced, where spending is at and what assumptions you're juggling for economic recovery. That economic picture would be useful to us.

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

Thank you, Mr. Ste-Marie. It's really wonderful to see you here.

As my colleague the finance minister said, he would be pleased to provide an update when we have more stability.

During this extraordinary period—because it is an extraordinary period—we've always committed to being open and transparent about the support we're providing to Canadians, to families and to businesses.

Right now, $150 billion of direct support has gone out for this effort. We will commit to continue to be open and transparent. That is what Canadians expect of us, and we will do that. I know that the finance minister will be able to provide an update when we have a bit more stability.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Thank you.

I'd like to make a comment before I ask my next question. When the situation has stabilized, I think it will be time to present a budget with an overview of the recovery. The Parliamentary Budget Officer, when he came before this committee, said that it was urgent and absolutely necessary that there be not a budget, but an economic update so that we could take stock of the situation. We have been going through this crisis for several weeks now. Your words at the opening of this meeting testified to that. I am therefore reiterating my request.

I'll now move on to my question. On March 20 of this year, the Prime Minister announced a plan to mobilize industry to fight COVID-19. The goal was to establish an emergency supply chain in response to the crisis. I am talking about the Canadian industrial mobilization plan to address COVID-19.

Apart from a few names of companies that participated, we did not receive any updates on the results of the plan from this committee. Next week we will begin a study on self-sufficiency and supply chains. In this context, this information seems to us to be important, even crucial. So I'm going to ask you a series of quick questions about this plan.

Do you have any idea how much money has been invested in this plan by the various departments?

What was the production capacity for the products targeted by this plan?

Could these companies, under normal circumstances, continue this production and still be financially viable or, in reality, did this plan only involve a single amount of money being disbursed at the beginning?

Finally, what's the extra cost of making these products here instead of somewhere else?

I've asked you a lot of questions, but you can answer them based on what you know. Afterwards, if you or your officials could send your answers to the committee, we would appreciate it.

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

Thank you so much, Mr. Ste-Marie.

It's really remarkable, and I'm so proud to be a Canadian right now, because businesses have stood up to add to the fight against COVID-19 by retooling their shops in order to produce PPE and the necessary equipment and supplies that we need during this period.

Wearing my other hat as the international trade minister, I have been working steadfastly with partners in G7 and G20 countries, like-minded countries, through organizations like the World Trade Organization to ensure that supply chains remain open, particularly around medical supplies and key agricultural products, so that we can get the supplies into our industries and to Canadians. It's really important. Over 5,000 companies have stood up in our made-in-Canada strategy to help us all through this crisis with the production of equipment.

With respect to the restart to the economy, COVID-19 has been experienced differently in different parts of the country, so as expected, you see restarts taking place with a different phasing approach in each of the territories and provinces—probably just slightly differently. The federal government has been working with jurisdictions to make sure that we're taking a coordinated approach so that we are doing this restart carefully, with the health and safety of Canadians at the forefront.

We've asked Canadians, including ourselves, to make enormous sacrifices in the effort to flatten the curve and to help make sure that the health and safety of Canadians is our top priority. A lot of sacrifices have been made, and certainly businesses have been impacted because of this. This restart is going to be done in coordination and collaboration, and we're going to do it while supporting our businesses as they go through this.

With respect to the specifics around mobilization, I don't know if my deputy wants to add to that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Mr. Kennedy, if you have anything to add, add it fairly quickly. We're a little over time.

[Simon Kennedy]

I simply want to say that it will be our pleasure to provide further details to the committee about this. As the minister said, we have received...

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Mr. Kennedy, the sound quality isn't very good.

Are you on “French” when you're speaking French, do you know? It's on the bottom.

[Simon Kennedy]

Sorry, I'm on “off”.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Okay.

You'll see two little people together. The next circle to it, put it to “French” if you're speaking French.

[Simon Kennedy]

All right.

As the minister indicated, we have already received more than 5,000 offers from businesses...

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

We'll have to leave it for now. They can't pick you up.

We'll go to Gord Johns and then to Mr. Cumming again.

Gord, you have six minutes.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Great. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, can you tell us what percentage of small businesses the government expects will go under in the next few months?

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

Our job right from the get-go is to support our Canadian businesses. I think you've heard me say this publicly: Saving businesses and saving jobs is what we are steadfastly committed to doing—

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

I'm just looking for a number. Do you have a number? Does the government have an analysis based on the current speed of rollout? Does it have a number for the percentage of businesses that are expected to go under?

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

My focus and the government's focus is to keep supporting them.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

In early April, my colleague Mr. Julian and I presented a proposal around the Canada emergency rent relief program to the government. We cited Australia as an excellent model. It's a federation like Canada that was able to negotiate and put in place a rent eviction moratorium. We were very happy and honoured that the Prime Minister honoured that proposal a week later, but five weeks after that, he still hasn't amended the part around an eviction moratorium.

Has the minister put this as a priority in negotiations with the provinces, or will she be doing that?

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

We have been working with the provinces and the territories on this program, in respect of their jurisdictions, of course. I know that some Atlantic provinces have implemented a moratorium on evictions. We of course will continually work with the provinces to make sure that this program is going to be effective so that small businesses can get their 75% reduction.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Our concern is that the government didn't make it a priority and actually hold the provinces to that when they negotiated this arrangement.

Let me talk about Jay Sussman. He owns Tacofino in Tofino. He has about 10 small businesses throughout the province of B.C. The businesses are very important employers, as tourism is a very important industry. Only one out of his 10 landlords is willing to play ball, which I think is really disappointing, considering that Jay closed his doors for public health and now he's being expected to bear the brunt of 100% of the hit from COVID.

What is the government going to do to get these landlords to the table? The minister talked about the first step. Is the second step going to be a program to support Jay and many people like him when their landlords aren't going to play ball?

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

I'm pleased that the application is open on Monday. You've heard me and the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister say how important it is to support these small business owners like Jay. They need to get supported with the 75% rent reduction. That's what this is about. We're going to keep working on this. I think we have a track record of continuing to listen to business owners and our colleagues, and of working together so that we can do what I think we all agree on, which is to help those businesses.