Finance Committee on Aug. 12th, 2020

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

I will officially call the meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 50 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance. This is panel number one of three today.

We are meeting on government spending, the WE Charity and the Canada student service grant.

Today's meeting, the main part, is taking place by video conference, and the proceedings will be made available via the House of Commons website.

I'd like to welcome our two witnesses for this panel. First, by teleconference, is the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion. Welcome, Minister, all the way from Delta, B.C., I gather.

From the Department of Employment and Social Development, we have Benoît Robidoux, associate deputy minister.

Welcome to you both.

Minister, if you could keep your opening comments fairly tight, certainly no more than 10 minutes, that would be helpful. Then we'll go to questions. The question round will start with Mr. Poilievre, and then Ms. Dzerowicz, Mr. Fortin and Mr. Julian.

Minister, welcome, and thank you for being here.

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Minister of Employment]

Thank you very much, Chair.

Good afternoon, everyone.

I'd like to begin by thanking the committee for allowing me to participate by telephone. This allows me to use my accessibility software and participate in a more meaningful way while having the chance to refer to my speaking remarks.

I'm hopeful that my participation today will be helpful. It's my understanding that your committee—

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Minister, we just lost you. We can barely hear you.

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

Oh, dear.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

I don't know whether you moved away from the mike.

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

I didn't mean to.

Is that better?

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

No.

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

Oh, really? I don't have a—

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

Mr. Chair, I have a point of order. I have no trouble hearing the minister at all.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

I can't hear you, Elizabeth, either.

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

That's interesting.

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

I can hear her.

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

And I hear her.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Wayne, I think you might be the problem.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

What am I?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

You might be the problem.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

How am I the problem?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Everyone else hears just fine.

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

I can't hear. Wayne is not the only one. I can't hear her, and I couldn't hear Elizabeth May, but I can hear Wayne very well, and I can hear you, Pierre.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

There's something funny about the system. When people talk, I see two pictures of Peter Julian. One of him is enough—thank you, Peter—and I see two pictures of me. One of those is enough, too.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

I think Pierre just wants a chance to get in the chair again.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Try again, Minister, and we'll see where we are.

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

Thank you.

I'm hopeful that my participation can be helpful. It's my understanding that your committee is reviewing the Canada student service grant—

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Can any of you hear her? Peter Julian can't. I know I can't.

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

I can hear her when I take my interpretation to background and take it off a language channel. I think the problem is that when you go on English or French, you can't hear her. If you go to pure background, you can. I've heard everyone so far, and I'm sure you've heard enough from me.