Finance Committee on Aug. 12th, 2020

Evidence of meeting #50 for Finance in the 43rd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was cabinet.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

Government spending, WE Charity and the Canada Student Service Grant

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Clerk of the Committee Mr. David Gagnon

Benoît Robidoux Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Employment and Social Development

Marc Tassé Senior Advisor, Canadian Centre of Excellence for Anti-Corruption, University of Ottawa, As an Individual

4:45 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

Minister, your feed is breaking up.

4:45 p.m.

Liberal

Mary Ng Liberal Markham—Thornhill, ON

Can you hear me? Is this better?

4:45 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

No. You started breaking up about 10 seconds ago.

4:45 p.m.

Liberal

Mary Ng Liberal Markham—Thornhill, ON

Oh. Okay. All right.

4:45 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

This will be the last question, Mr. Julian.

4:45 p.m.

NDP

Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC

Yes, I do have a final question.

4:45 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

Go to your final question. If you need clarification on what you didn't hear in the answer, ask for that as well.

4:45 p.m.

NDP

Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC

This is the final question. In the solicitation around youth entrepreneurship, what was the amount that was going to go to WE for administering or managing that program?

4:45 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

Minister Ng?

Minister Ng, I believe you're frozen out.

4:45 p.m.

Liberal

Mary Ng Liberal Markham—Thornhill, ON

I don't [Technical difficulty—Editor] for the social entrepreneurship proposal. I'm happy to get that information [Technical difficulty—Editor]

4:45 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

Mr. Clerk, you may have to get the IT people to look into why we can't hear Minister Ng.

4:45 p.m.

Liberal

Mary Ng Liberal Markham—Thornhill, ON

Can you hear me there?

4:45 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

No, we can't. Just hold tight. We'll have to see what happens here.

4:45 p.m.

Liberal

Mary Ng Liberal Markham—Thornhill, ON

It says my Internet [Technical difficulty—Editor]

4:45 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

I think it's your Internet, Madam Minister, because all of us are not hearing you. Try it again.

4:45 p.m.

Liberal

Mary Ng Liberal Markham—Thornhill, ON

Can you hear me now?

4:45 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

I can hear you now.

4:45 p.m.

Liberal

Mary Ng Liberal Markham—Thornhill, ON

Okay. Can you hear?

4:45 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

Yes. Try that.

I see you on the screen, Madam Minister, but I don't see any body movement, so there's something going on there.

4:45 p.m.

NDP

Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC

She's not moving. She's frozen, I think.

4:45 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

I think so.

4:45 p.m.

NDP

Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC

It's a metaphor.

4:45 p.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh!

August 12th, 2020 / 4:45 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

Okay, Mr. Clerk, we'll....

4:45 p.m.

The Clerk

It's probably an Internet connection, Mr. Chair. I just spoke with the technicians in the room.

One option, Madam Minister, if you can hear me, may be to try to turn off your video. Maybe that would put some space on your Internet connection and we'd be able to hear you. Otherwise, we think that this is the problem.