Finance Committee on March 11th, 2021

[Tamara Jansen, Conservative, Cloverdale—Langley City, BC]

Then, under what conditions will you finally open the border? Is it when we're 75% vaccinated?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

Canada's border policy is guided by science, and Canadian borders will be reopened when it is safe for them to be fully reopened. That's the reality.

I also want to say, when it comes to the border, particularly with the Canada-U.S. border, a real success, and this speaks to Canada and the U.S. working together—

[Tamara Jansen, Conservative, Cloverdale—Langley City, BC]

I'm really short on time. I'm wondering if—

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Hold on, Ms. Jansen. We'll let the minister finish. We'll give you the time.

Minister, you can finish.

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

A very important success that we should all note has been to limit non-essential travel but to allow trade to continue.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

This is your last question, Madam Jansen.

[Tamara Jansen, Conservative, Cloverdale—Langley City, BC]

Madam Minister, I have one more question. Do you even have a list of criteria prepared, or are you just going to wing it like all the other pandemic response measures so far?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

Ms. Jansen, our response to the pandemic has been to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to support Canadian families, Canadian jobs and Canadian workers. When it comes to health measures, we take those in close consultation with scientists and in working very closely with our provincial and territorial partners. The border is an issue that we have discussed at great length with our provincial and territorial partners. We're acting together.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thanks to both of you.

Ms. Koutrakis, you have four minutes to wrap it up.

[Annie Koutrakis, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Madam Minister, for being with us this afternoon. I'd like to thank you for your dedication and leadership during these rather demanding times.

In Vimy, affordable housing is an extremely important concern, particularly for vulnerable populations, like women who are victims of spousal abuse. I take pride in seeing that many Vimy organizations received support under the rapid housing initiative.

Can you explain why $1 billion in additional funding was required under the rapid housing initiative in the fall economic statement?

After that, can you tell us what you think our affordable housing situation would be like without this supplementary funding?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

Ms. Koutrakis, thank you for your tireless work and your very important question.

I completely agree with you. In the riding of Vimy, and elsewhere in Canada, there has always been spousal violence and violence against women.

However, during the crisis and the accompanying lockdowns, we've observed a tragic increase in such violence. The lockdowns were and continue to be particularly dangerous for women and children. That's why it was very important for our government to invest in helping women who were victims of violence to find a place where they could take shelter. This was very important and I'm proud of our efforts so far.

However, Ms. Koutrakis, I completely agree with you that we need to continue with this essential work. Everyone has made sacrifices during the lockdown, but some people have been put directly in harm's way. We have an obligation to help them.

[Annie Koutrakis, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

You previously explained to the committee that you had been attending many meetings with organizations that help women.

Can you explain how a sound action plan for women would strengthen the economy as a whole?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

That's another excellent question.

The most important thing to understand is that the economic crisis we're experiencing today is different from the other crises we have had. The current economic crisis is nothing like the 2008 crisis, for example.

It has hit women, young people and low-income workers hard. That's why it will be important for the economic response to be tailored to the crisis we are experiencing. That's also why it's so important to have an economic response and a recovery plan that targets women, young people and low-income workers.

[Annie Koutrakis, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

Thank you very much.

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

Mr. Chair, I'd like to add something.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Please be quick.

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

Very quickly, I will just add this.

Ms. Koutrakis, I would further add that if women are not participating in the economy, then we can't have true economic growth. So by helping women, we would be creating economic growth for everyone.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you both, and thank you, Minister, for taking the extra time to give the committee an hour, with the complications of the vote.

We even had a good discussion about guitars and pianos in the waiting zone there.

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

Don't forget the bagpipes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Yes, and the bagpipes.

On behalf of the committee, I'd certainly like to thank you for appearing before us. We no doubt will see you again. You have received the pre-budget consultation report that we sent in, so we wish you luck in establishing your priorities as we move as quickly as possible to a budget.

With that, thank you very much. We will release you and turn to the officials.

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

Goodbye, everyone.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much, parliamentary colleagues. I appreciate your hard work.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you.

The officials are here. I'll quickly go through the list so we know who's here. We have an hour with officials.

We have, from the Department of Employment and Social Development, Atiq Rahman, assistant deputy minister; and Steven Coté, executive director.

You could raise your hands, so they know who you are.

From the Department of Finance, we have Maude Lavoie, director general; Dave Beaulne, director general, legislation; Trevor McGowan, senior director; Lesley Taylor, senior director; and Nicolas Moreau, director general.

With the Department of Health, we have Edward de Sousa, acting chief financial officer; Jocelyne Voisin, associate assistant deputy minister; Monique Frison, acting assistant deputy minister; and Greg Loyst, director general, policy and regulatory strategies.

From the Department of Western Economic Diversification, we have Barbara Motzney, assistant deputy minister.

Those are the officials.

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB]

I have a point of order. I just want to address how we conclude this meeting.

We're behind schedule because of the votes. We had planned an hour for officials and an hour to hopefully complete the PMB for Larry. Some of our officials are here for both.

I wonder how we might proceed on this. We could maybe have officials be prepared to take questions on either bill and, at the conclusion of an hour, I would at that point ask if we could then go to clause-by-clause on Mr. Maguire's bill.

I'll put that out there and let you respond, Mr. Chair, as to how we might accomplish both of these things today in this meeting.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

We can take an hour with officials and still have a half an hour left for Bill C-208, or we could go 45 minutes with officials and take 45 minutes or thereabout on Bill C-208.

There is one official who is the same. Trevor McGowan from the Department of Finance is on both panels. Shawn Porter, who will be here for Bill C-208, is a different witness.

I think we'll have to deal with Bill C-14 first. We'll take 45 minutes to see where we're at, and then we'll go from there.

Does anyone have any remarks to start? I wasn't told there was. Do we just go directly to questions?

Gabriel Ste-Marie, you had your hand up. Do you have a question?

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

Yes, but Mr. Fragiskatos put up his hand before I did.

He can begin, and I'll speak afterwards.