Finance Committee on April 13th, 2021

Evidence of meeting #33 for Finance in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was pandemic.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

Covid-19 spending and programs

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Josh Berman Director, Research and Public Policy, BGC Canada

Chad Polito Executive Director, BGC Dawson, Montréal, BGC Canada

W. Matthew Chater National President and Chief Executive Officer, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada

Margie Grant-Walsh Executive Director, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Pictou County, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada

Barbara Boraks Member, Coalition Canada Basic Income

Martin Roy Executive Director, Festivals and Major Events Canada

Tim Kennedy President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance

Trevin Stratton Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President, Policy, Canadian Chamber of Commerce

Alla Drigola Director, Parliamentary Affairs and Small and Medium Enterprises Policy, Canadian Chamber of Commerce

Nancy Wilson Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Women's Chamber of Commerce

Brad Sorenson Chief Executive Officer, Providence Therapeutics

Petra Kassün-Mutch Board Member, Canadian Women's Chamber of Commerce

6:25 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

Thank you, all.

Ms. Jansen, the last question will be from you.

6:25 p.m.

Conservative

Tamara Jansen Conservative Cloverdale—Langley City, BC

Thank you. My question is for Trevin Stratton.

I was talking recently with Anita Huberman. She's the CEO of the Surrey Board of Trade, and an amazing woman. We were talking about, obviously, the provincial barriers as a big issue that they recommended we co-operatively work on getting rid of. I'm not sure why we need to study it again, but she was also talking about reducing regulatory burdens.

One of the recommendations she really wanted me to talk about was in regard to our deteriorating relationship with our neighbours to the south over the last five or six years. She even mentioned some of the decisions that President Biden has made recently that are really quite impactful on Canada. The recommendation they gave us was to create a Canada-U.S. relations committee to implement an economic recovery plan that recognizes the integration of the North American economy.

I wonder if you could give me a bit of a rundown as to how you think about this situation.

6:25 p.m.

Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President, Policy, Canadian Chamber of Commerce

Dr. Trevin Stratton

Absolutely. First of all, Anita is one of the greatest champions of the chamber network across the country. She's great.

As sometimes happens, the business community might be one step ahead in terms of doing this. You may have noticed that just this morning we announced a task force that is going to be looking at Canada-U.S. relations when it comes to economic recovery and a number of different areas, including infrastructure, including a green recovery, including opening the border when it comes time to do so.

If there's an opportunity to work together with the committee when it comes to that, we're all set.

6:30 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

I'm sorry; we will have to end it there.

There are a number of questions I'd like to raise, but we're out of time.

I want to thank the witnesses for coming forward and taking the time from their busy days to help us out with this study.

Thank you, all.

The meeting is adjourned.