Finance Committee on Feb. 14th, 2022

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

You can't say today, even though—

[Maximilian Baylor]

—have those—

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

—you're in front of a parliamentary committee—

[Sophie Chatel, Liberal, Pontiac, QC]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

On a point of order, we have Madam Chatel.

[Maximilian Baylor]

My—

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

There's a point of order.

[Sophie Chatel, Liberal, Pontiac, QC]

It is hard for translation when you....

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

I say this more to the members than the officials, but the crosstalk affects the interpreters. They request that we don't have that crosstalk.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

I apologize. I respect that.

My last question is to Mr. Baylor. Can you say with certainty that 100% of farmers will receive at least 10% of their carbon tax back in the form of this rebate?

[Maximilian Baylor]

I believe my colleague Mr. King may have those numbers in terms of how much they pay under the fuel charge and how much they'll receive through the tax credit. If not, I do not have them at this point.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

Thank you.

I'll give my time over to Mr. Stewart.

To confirm, you can't even say with certainty that farmers will receive 10% of their carbon tax rebate back.

[Maximilian Baylor]

That's because it's not something I was looking at. Like I said, my colleague Mr. King would have looked at that.

[Jake Stewart, Conservative, Miramichi—Grand Lake, NB]

Thank you.

My first question is through the chair.

We've already established that officials aren't willing to speak about whether or not health transfers were ever discussed in the $70 billion in new spending, despite economists calling for no economic stimulus spending. Also, any money spent should be on health care transfers, according to economists.

Today in the House of Commons, and for me here in committee on the voting app, we're going to be voting to have the government place and table a plan to live with COVID and to end the mandates. The government is asking for more new money for proof-of-vaccination initiatives. I will read that to you here: “Part 5 authorizes payments to be made out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the purpose of supporting coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) proof-of-vaccination initiatives.”

Can someone please tell me where this directive is coming from? Two-thirds of Canadians want an end to vaccine passports. They felt that the overarching reach of government was really intrusive over the last couple of years. I'm wondering why we're spending taxpayer dollars in the billions to increase vaccine passports and the measures surrounding them.

Thank you.

[Sophie Chatel, Liberal, Pontiac, QC]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

On a point of order, we have Madame Chatel.

[Sophie Chatel, Liberal, Pontiac, QC]

These are officials from the government. They're not political people. I would remind my colleague Mr. Stewart: If he has a political question, please ask a minister, a member of the government, but not an official.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, Madame Chatel.

Yes, these are officials. They are not here to answer political questions.

[Jake Stewart, Conservative, Miramichi—Grand Lake, NB]

Yes or no: Is this bill investing billions of dollars into increasing vaccine passports?

[Stephen Bent, Acting Vice-President, COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Task Force, Public Health Agency of Canada]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Perhaps I could clarify one point. Over the past year, the Government of Canada and provinces and territories have worked together on a standardized proof-of-vaccination credential, recognizing the need for citizens and residents to have access to a secure and verifiable document for both domestic and international travel. We've collaborated over the last year to develop a standard using a SMART health application standard.

The purpose of this fund is to compensate provinces and territories for the costs of establishing the proof-of-vaccination credential programs, for the issuance of proof-of-vaccination credentials and for maintaining the program for as long as it's required, either domestically or for international travel.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you.

We are moving to MP Dzerowicz for five minutes.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair.

Maybe I'll start off by indicating, to Mr. Stewart's queries around the vaccine mandates, what's behind that logic. I know that there was a recent poll that was done. Éric Grenier sort of announced this on Twitter. He said: “I've seen lots of reference to the Angus Reid Institute poll that suggests a majority want to end restrictions and 'let people self-isolate if they're at risk', whatever that means. Léger's more straightforward question still shows [that the] majority don't want to lift restrictions...”. I'll leave it with that statement.

I did want to turn my attention to small businesses. As we all know, they are the heart and soul of our economy. I had a chance to visit many of our small businesses across the Davenport riding over Saturday: a big shout-out to The Green Jar, African Palace and Caribbean Queen. They're amazing businesses, and I think they're going to be very happy to learn that Bill C-8 includes a small business air quality improvement tax credit, where there would be a temporary refundable 25% tax credit for eligible businesses on expenses incurred to undertake air quality improvements that increase outdoor air intake or air cleaning in commercial properties.

I think this is on everybody's minds as we're trying to get into the world of the post-COVID economy: How can we continue to keep our staff safe and keep our customers safe?

Can officials comment on how this new fund will work? How will small businesses be able to access this tax credit?

[Maximilian Baylor]

Absolutely, Mr. Chair, I can comment on that.

It's not a fund, per se, of course. Businesses, when they make an eligible expense, in this case, in terms of purchasing eligible HVAC systems or HEPA filters, can then claim that expense as a credit against their tax payable through their tax return. Also, of course, because it's refundable, if they happen to not owe tax in that year, then they would receive the funds through the refundability aspect.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

One of the other things that Bill C-8 includes is an extension of the repayment of the Canada emergency business account. The CEBA has provided $49 billion in interest-free partially forgivable loans to nearly 900,000 small businesses affected by the pandemic, many across my riding, and I'm sure all of our ridings right across this country. Bill C-8 would extend the repayment deadline, and offer partial loan forgiveness for those who repay before 2024.

Is there an official who can talk to the impact that this extension will have, and what would occur if we did not extend this repayment deadline?

[Ling Wang, Senior Director, Financial Programs and Strategy, Financial Services Division, Financial Sector Policy Branch, Department of Finance]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, I can answer that question.

Bill C-8 proposes to set a limitation period for CEBA loans. It's to support the extension, but not exclusively for the extension that was announced on January 12 for CEBA repayment. The provision in the bill proposes a limitation period of six years for all CEBA loan holders. Doing so would assure that no matter where CEBA loan holders live in this country, the government can treat them consistently, and the government would have the ability to provide leniencies for businesses that may be facing financial challenges repaying the CEBA loans.