Finance Committee on April 29th, 2021

[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.

[Annie Koutrakis, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

It's like static.

[Ted Falk, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

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

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

I'm in the office.

[The Clerk of the Committee, Mr. Alexandre Roger]

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

[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.

[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—

[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.

[Blaine Cameron]

Okay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

It's the new world we live in.

[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.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Okay, thanks.

[The Clerk]

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

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

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

[The Clerk]

I can double-check and get back to you shortly.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Double-check on that. It's 5:30 Ottawa time and 6:30 my time.

Our apologies, folks.

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Wayne, should I be giving the B.C. flower update while we're waiting?

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

You might as well. You're coming through loud and clear.

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

The cherry blossoms, forsythia, apple blossoms and rhododendrons are now coming up in the front yard. I just wanted to pass that on to my colleagues.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Don't forget the dogwoods.

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Maybe there are some in Abbotsford, but not here.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Oh, yes, the dogwood is in full bloom.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Sometimes we love you, Peter, and sometime we don't.

[The Clerk]

Mr. Chair, let's see if we can continue. Let me know if we get more issues.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Maybe the problem was that we were on the system until two minutes before 3:00 in the morning my time last night for those votes.

Okay, Mr. Cameron, the floor is yours again. Hopefully the third time is a charm. Go ahead.