Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thanks, Minister Freeland, for being here today. We hope that you and your family continue to be safe and healthy during this pandemic.
I want to say at the outset that I think it is absolutely inappropriate that we have gone two years without a budget. In Canadian history, we have had massive crises and we've never had a two-year period without a budget. It's a question of accountability.
Despite the fact that we're talking about the fall economic update and Bill C-14 today, the reality is that C-14 has areas where it doesn't respond at all to the needs of Canadians at this critical time during the pandemic.
I'll start with an issue that I have raised with you, which is the issue of subsidies that have been given that permit abuses. We raised this with your predecessor last spring. If we're going to give wage subsidies and supports for businesses, we need to put in place...as other countries did, to avoid abuses—like dividend payments, executive bonuses and stock buybacks—of government funds.
We have seen a whole range of abuses taking place with government funds. There's Bell Canada, which received $122 million and laid off hundreds of workers and are still paying dividends. Suncor laid off a couple of thousand people.
Here is a critical issue. You referenced it in your opening remarks when you talked about $505 million for long-term care. Extendicare, Chartwell and Sienna Living paid out, collectively, over $172 million in shareholder dividends, despite the fact that they were receiving massive and significant government subsidies. During this time and up until now, over 760 residents and workers have died in their facilities.
I think it is obvious to anyone that instead of being paid out in dividends, that money should have gone to resident care and to support the safety of their workers.
My question is very simple. Do you agree that there was a major mistake made in not ensuring that abuses like this couldn't take place? Why wasn't this loophole closed in Bill C-14?