Finance Committee on April 29th, 2021

Evidence of meeting #38 for Finance in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was community.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

Covid-19 spending and programs

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Clerk of the Committee Mr. Alexandre Roger

Blaine Cameron Member, ACORN Canada

Mike Reimer Owner and Operator, Churchill Wild

Tania Lee Board Member and Land Border Duty Free Store Owner, Frontier Duty Free Association

Philippe Bachand Board Member and Land Border Duty Free Store Owner, Frontier Duty Free Association

Benoit Chartier Editor, Chair of the Board, Hebdos Québec

Sylvain Poisson General Director, Hebdos Québec

Christopher Sheppard President, National Association of Friendship Centres

Michael Wood Partner, Ottawa Special Events

Jocelyn Formsma Executive Director, National Association of Friendship Centres

3:30 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

I call the meeting to order.

Welcome, all, to meeting number 38 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance. Pursuant to the committee's motion adopted on Friday, February 5, 2021, the committee is meeting to study all aspects of COVID-19 spending, programs and related monetary policy.

Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format, pursuant to the House order of January 25, 2021, and therefore members are attending in person in the room and remotely using the Zoom application. The proceedings will be made available via the House of Commons website. So that witnesses are aware, the person speaking rather than the entirety of the committee will be shown on screen. As per the rules of Parliament, we ask that no screenshots or photos of the screen be taken.

I'm getting a little air in my ear. I don't know if anybody else is. Mr. Clerk, are you hearing it there?

I see some other heads shaking. It's just like a sea breeze.

3:30 p.m.

Liberal

Annie Koutrakis Liberal Vimy, QC

It's like static.

3:30 p.m.

Conservative

Ted Falk Conservative Provencher, MB

Wayne, it sounds like you've got your bedroom window open there.

3:30 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

I'm in the office.

3:30 p.m.

The Clerk of the Committee Mr. Alexandre Roger

IT is advised and they are looking into it right now.

3:30 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

We'll wait on the first witness.

It sounds good now, Clerk. We will start.

If witnesses could hold their opening remarks to about five minutes, that would give us more time for questions.

We'll start with Mr. Cameron, who's a member of ACORN Canada.

Blaine, welcome. It's good to have you here. The floor is yours.

3:30 p.m.

Blaine Cameron Member, ACORN Canada

Thank you, honourable member.

My name is Blaine Cameron. I am the chair of the Ottawa Centre chapter of ACORN Canada. We're a national independent membership-based organization of low- and moderate-income people. We're a community union with 140,000 members in nine cities across the country—

3:30 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

I don't want to interrupt you, Blaine, and we'll not take time away from you, but we're back into that sound. I see some others pointing to their ears as well.

3:30 p.m.

Member, ACORN Canada

Blaine Cameron

Okay.

3:30 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

It's the new world we live in.

3:30 p.m.

The Clerk

My apologies, Mr. Chair. We're still looking into it. The ITs are looking into it.

The problem appears to be on our end. They're muting and unmuting the room to see if solves the problem or not. They're still working on it. They're going to give me a heads-up as soon as we can start.

3:35 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

Okay, thanks.

3:35 p.m.

The Clerk

As an update, I don't know how long this is going to take.

3:35 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

We'll have to wait. Do we have a hard stop at 6:00?

3:35 p.m.