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.
Owner and Operator, Churchill Wild
Yes, definitely, that would be a two-prong relief or help, not only for us but also for our airlines, the local airlines that serve our industry and bring that clientele north—in our case, north of Winnipeg—up into remote communities.
They operate on a very tight budget as well, and of course their expenses are horrendously high compared to east-west routes. They would be able to fly more people to us at a reduced rate, which would certainly open the pipeline further for us.
Liberal
Peter Fragiskatos Liberal London North Centre, ON
I'm thinking long term here, and that is useful.
I will have to come back to Mr. Cameron at another time.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
We're out of time. I'm not sure we'll go back to the first of the rotation.
Ted, do you have a couple of questions here, or Pat Kelly?
Conservative
Ted Falk Conservative Provencher, MB
Yes. Thanks again, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Reimer, my office was recently in touch with Senator Tina Smith's office. We're dealing with an issue with the Northwest Angle.
They informed us that Canada is on a do-not-travel list. We're in the company of countries such as Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan. Whereas countries such as China are a level 3, we are a level 4. That has to impact your business. Other countries around the world, globally, see us as not a safe destination.
We hear the opposite in the media. We hear how terrible things are south of the border, but in reality, when they look at us, they find us to be in a very troubling situation when it comes to our response to the pandemic and how we've dealt with it. We know that lockdowns and restrictions don't come.
Recently our House debated a motion calling on the government to produce a data-driven plan for reopening the economy. In the recent budget that was presented, the Liberals say they have a plan for the safe reopening of our borders, but they don't provide any details. There aren't any schedules in there, or benchmarks or markers, or as our chair likes to call it, there are no “hard stops” as to when this economy will reopen or what the things are that need to happen.
How important to you is a plan that has transparency so that you know when you can restart your business?
Owner and Operator, Churchill Wild
It is absolutely critical to have that plan. As I've said before, we tried to do something in March. Just before opening, we were told that the Manitoba border was closed. We can't bring anything to our staff as far as a plan goes. One day it's this and one day it's that. We hear “yes”, “maybe”, “no”, “partly”, “almost”. We have nothing to go on, nothing solid that we can plan our business recovery on and use to provide some help and stability to our staff.
Conservative
Ted Falk Conservative Provencher, MB
I think, too, it's important that the government establish some very important benchmarks like vaccination, penetration, infection rates, hospitalization rates and ICU occupancy. What are going to be the benchmarks to open our economy?
I'm asking that from my provincial counterparts, but I'm also asking that from the federal government. Give us a plan. Give us some real hard stops, some real benchmarks we can use to plan our businesses and kick-start the economy, businesses like yours that need to plan well in advance and need to maintain employees.
Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
We'll move on. The last questions will go to Ms. Dzerowicz, and then we'll have to close off.
Liberal
Liberal
Julie Dzerowicz Liberal Davenport, ON
Perfect.
Thank you for that, and thanks to everyone for this really great conversation on a multitude of issues.
I will start off with ACORN Canada.
One of the things in my great riding of Davenport, which is a downtown west Toronto community and a very working-class community, is they put these little signs on their lawns and they've been asking me for years, “Julie, when is the federal government going increase the minimum wage to $15?” They've been very much lobbying for it. I know that they've been delighted to see that it's been introduced into budget 2021. Can you talk to how our announced $15 federal minimum wage can help low-income Canadians?
Member, ACORN Canada
That's going to be of great benefit to them. It means that they can afford to eat better, to live better, to provide for their families. You kind of cut out there, so I didn't get what was introduced federally.
Liberal
Julie Dzerowicz Liberal Davenport, ON
I just talked about what we introduced, which was the $15 minimum wage in our federal budget, and I wanted to get your thoughts about how you think it's going to be helpful to low-income Canadians.
Member, ACORN Canada
I'm not versed on the subject in terms of who exactly will benefit from that, since it's federal and not provincial legislation. I would have to refer you to our head office to answer that particular question. I apologize.
Member, ACORN Canada
I think if they're setting that standard federally, it definitely puts pressure on the provincial governments to follow suit.
Liberal
Julie Dzerowicz Liberal Davenport, ON
That's great.
Mr. Cameron, it's interesting, because I was going to say exactly that. I think it's beyond just that people were happy that the federal minimum wage has gone to $15; there's also the example that it's going to set for the provinces, and I think that was just as important for my residents as well.
The other thing is that there's a lot of changeover happening in my riding, where 43% of the population were born in another country. As they're getting older, they're moving out, moving back with their families. We have a lot of young families who have moved in. As part of our budget, we have introduced a national child care program. We call it the early learning and child care plan. Can you talk about how a program like this serves to help low-income Canadians like single mothers, new Canadians and young families?
Member, ACORN Canada
It's hard for a family to sustain itself on a single income, especially for low-wage earners, and having child care that's affordable and regularly available is going to help them get to work and not have to pay out large sums for child care at exorbitant rates. They will have to rely less on family and neighbours. That's going to really help their situation.
Liberal
Julie Dzerowicz Liberal Davenport, ON
Thank you very much.
The other question I have is perhaps for Mr. Wood or Mr. Reimer, or anyone who wants to respond.
One of the things that we've been hearing for the last few months as we've been doing this COVID study is that there's been a big push for the federal government to invest in a Destination Canada type of program, and we have invested $100 million in our budget to get Canadians travelling across the country to events and using tour operations like the one that you run, Mr. Reimer. Can you talk to the benefit of that program? Will that be helpful in terms of helping to restart your respective businesses, or your respective industries? Who would like to respond to that?
Owner and Operator, Churchill Wild
I will, just quickly.
Yes, it would definitely be a huge benefit. Destination Canada has always been a strong supporter of our product and our particular tourism entities. Yes, we would like to see more of that, and we're very grateful for what Destination Canada is able to bring to us, and to see renewed Canadian interest in us is definitely huge for us.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Okay. We will have to just about end it there.
I do have one question, and I guess it's for Mr. Reimer. Several things have to happen, but number one, how do we get over the fear factor that's been established in Canada by governments at all levels and even by us as politicians in terms of the political stands that end up happening due to politics?
I'll give you an example. I co-chair what's called the Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group. A congressman for New York and I are co-chairs. In terms of the U.S. side, about a month and a half ago we each put out a request and put a little pressure on our governments to lay out a plan on how that U.S. border would open. Basically, all we're saying is that there need to be criteria laid out on what would have to happen. They could change as time went on, given certain circumstances, but the criteria would have to be laid out for the conditions under which the border would open.
I did warn my staff here that they could expect the phones to light up the next morning and that people were going to be giving me hell. Well, they sure did. They really did light up. I did get some calls saying that, yes, that was the right way to go, but what it really showed me is that there is a fear factor out there that in itself is going to make it difficult for political decision-makers to open up the economy in the way that it should be opened up.
Do you have any suggestions on how we start to dampen that down? I know that we had to encourage people to stay home as part of this, but now our situation is that we have to dampen down that fear factor so that we can get the border with the U.S. opened and other borders opened. Do you have any ideas?
I guess it's up to you, Mr. Reimer, but I can tell you that my phone lit up.
Owner and Operator, Churchill Wild
Actually, I think there's a very quick solution to this, Wayne, and that is to essentially force people back to work. Turn off the tap from Ottawa. Turn off the deluge, the tsunami of money that is pouring into people's pockets across this country. As my buddy says, man is first and foremost an economic being. If you take away his pocketful of money coming into his bank account, he will suddenly wake up and decide that it's time to get back to work.
It's time to open borders and it's time to get back to what this country has been noted for doing, not just printing money and essentially giving people the opportunity to not have to get their heads up out of the sand and get going again. I think that's essentially what needs to happen. That would really turn this around. Turn off the tap.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Okay. We're hearing a lot of different viewpoints, that's for sure. The panel today was wide-ranging right across the board; there's no question about that.
On behalf of the committee, I thank each and every witness for your presentations and for answering our questions. We wish everybody much success as we continue to go down this road and hopefully get things turned around in a safe and beneficial way.
With that, thank you again.
The meeting is adjourned.