Finance Committee on March 14th, 2022

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

You do, MP Albas. You have a minute and a half.

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

National Chief, you raised concerns around the reaction of the government. Do you think the emergency measures were justified at the time they were invoked? Also, what do you believe should be the threshold that would justify an invocation of such draconian legislation?

[National Chief RoseAnne Archibald]

I want to back it up to the length of time the government took to respond to this protest. If these were indigenous protesters in downtown Ottawa beeping their horns and blocking streets, they would have summarily been arrested and removed. Failure to do that led to the Emergencies Act being invoked. It was a real failure on the part of police services and governments to respond in the same way they would to any protesters, which they didn't do in this case.

I hope that answers your question, sir.

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, MP Albas.

Now we're moving to the Liberals for six minutes.

MP Baker, you have the floor.

[Yvan Baker, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Thank you very much.

My questions are for the Invest Ottawa representative.

Mr. Tremblay, thank you for being here today.

Do you think the invocation of the Emergencies Act was justified?

[Michael Tremblay]

As a company, our focus is on economic development and growth. I don't feel that I'm equipped to pass judgment on the usefulness of the Emergencies Act. What I can tell you is that we have invested so much time with companies to help them get through the pandemic in the last two years that three weeks was a very long time for these companies, and we were extremely grateful that it was brought to a close.

[Yvan Baker, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Thank you very much.

According to estimates reported by CBC News, the blockades in downtown Ottawa caused between $44 million and $200 million in lost sales and wages. It is easy to be shocked by such a large figure, but it is often difficult to get a more concrete understanding of how people are impacted.

Can you tell us what the impacts have been on small businesses and their employees?

[Michael Tremblay]

If you were any of the businesses at the Rideau Centre—just referring to the article—the Rideau Centre was completely closed and 180 businesses were unable to operate, which obviously has a dire effect on their bottom line.

To perhaps add to the question a bit here, from our experiences in delivering Digital Main Street services across the Ottawa area, many of the businesses—I'm talking about two-thirds of the businesses that we did work with on Digital Main Street services during the pandemic—were self-identified as leaders, founders and operators who would consider themselves to be part of marginalized communities, so on top of everything else, they had to deal with the dire effects financially of an extra three weeks, which I think is completely unacceptable.

I think the CBC article does a very good job of providing a variety of views on what those costs would be. I can tell you that from my vantage point they were very significant to this particular community in the downtown core of Ottawa.

[Yvan Baker, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Thank you very much.

My question and your response speak a bit to the short-term impacts. I have a business background, so I have a hypothesis as to the answer to this question, but I'm going to let you answer it. I hypothesize that there are long-term impacts, and I'm wondering if you could speak to what the long-term impacts of the convoy will be on businesses in Ottawa.

[Michael Tremblay]

It's hard to separate just the period of the convoy from the rest of the pandemic. What it does is add an extra three weeks of torment to companies that have already done everything possible to maintain a stable environment, as stable as they could, and then they had to restart again.

A simple example would be if you're a restaurant and you're planning for the opening. You've brought in all kinds of foodstuffs to be able to prepare for a really important opening, which includes Valentine's Day. You're unable to actually take advantage of that market opportunity, and it sets you way back. You have to carry the costs. You have to throw out the food. You really are in a tough place. On top of everything else, you have the incremental cost of bringing in inventory—in this example, food—that is a complete and utter waste.

For the long-term effects, I guess we will see what they look like, but it certainly added an enormous burden to these companies that were already in trouble.

[Yvan Baker, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Yes, and one has to believe, thinking back to my business background, that you'd have companies that either had to shut down or reduce revenue during that period in any case—significantly reduce if not completely shut down, with no revenue—and I suspect that a lot of these companies have fixed overhead, right? They have leasing obligations. They may have salaries they are paying, etc. They have to pay for that somehow and stay in business for the future. Presumably, they would have taken on debt and those sorts of things, which at the very least inhibits their ability to grow or finance their operations in the future.

Okay. I think I have about a minute left.

The federal government has announced that it's offering $10,000 to Ottawa businesses impacted by the convoy. This program is going to be launched on Tuesday. My understanding is that Invest Ottawa is handling the distribution of this funding, along with the support that has been offered by the provincial government. Can you tell us how this will support businesses that have been through these incredible difficulties you've just described, and how you'll make sure the money flows to businesses promptly?

[Michael Tremblay]

That's a great question. It's $20 million from the Canadian government and $10 million from the provincial government, so any company that went through the duress of those three weeks and was clearly impacted by it has access to up to $15,000. Tomorrow, they will able to apply—they will go through an attestation process in order to apply for it—and be able to take advantage of it.

There are a few areas that this funding is destined to cover. One is if you had to invest in providing some kind of security for your facility to protect it from damage. Another is the cost of inventory that is essentially perishable and gone to waste. The third is those costs that you would have as a business during that period that are also an ongoing waste in that you were unable to do anything during that period.

We will be executing the program between tomorrow and the end of April to receive requests, and the whole thing should be wrapped up some time late in May, perhaps early in June. We will be able to execute it pretty much immediately.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you.

Thank you, MP Baker.

Now we will move to the Bloc and MP Ste-Marie for six minutes.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to greet all the witnesses and thank them for their presentations. We really appreciate it.

My questions will be for Mr. Bisson, from the Gatineau Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Bisson, thank you for joining us. I would say that I was a bit shocked by your presentation. We were essentially seeing trucks in front of Parliament blocking downtown Ottawa. However, when we would walk over from Quebec, we would also see blockades in Gatineau, especially in the Hull sector.

You told us things were blocked up on your side. Is that right?

[Stéphane Bisson]

Thank you for the question.

That was indeed the case. We suffered collateral damage. I do understand that Ottawa was the focal point and that the situation was extreme there, but downtown Gatineau was literally stormed.

I will give you an example. Mr. Tremblay talked earlier about Valentine's Day. People drove with their partner to go to a restaurant for a romantic dinner on February 14, but they could not get parking. All they saw on the road were protesters. Protesters were seen throughout the city, driving their big trucks and displaying their flags. Although it was coming from downtown Ottawa, the sound of horns was hard on the ears outside downtown Gatineau restaurants, as we shouldn't forget that a river separates Ottawa and Gatineau. So it was really problematic.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Members of the Gatineau Chamber of Commerce, especially restaurant owners, bore the brunt of the siege in front of Parliament. They were unable to do business as they could have done had there been no siege. Is that right?

[Stéphane Bisson]

That's right. Everyone was a bit excited in preparation for businesses to reopen. COVID‑19 had been with us for nearly two years. There was a first major loosening of restrictions, and businesses were expected to reopen. Just like children before a school break, everyone was somewhat excited, but then the situation got out of control.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

That's a really unfortunate situation.

Mr. Tremblay talked about the loss of goods. Have your members experienced the same kind of a situation?

[Stéphane Bisson]

That is what I've been told by restaurant owners I have talked to. People have started to return to work in offices, but many people decided to continue working from home. That creates all kinds of constraints in terms of reorganization, especially for businesses in the downtown area.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

The government has announced compensation for businesses and restaurants in downtown Ottawa.

Does that also apply to your members?

[Stéphane Bisson]

We are currently waiting to find out whether the government will include downtown Gatineau in its compensation initiative. The Gatineau Chamber of Commerce has not received any confirmation or notice indicating that this decision has been made.

That explains what I have said today. There is a lot of talk about the national capital when it is convenient, but Gatineau often ends up being the poor cousin that gets crumbs, while Ottawa has the biggest part of the budget. This is part of the reason I am appearing today before the committee: I want to make the case that Gatineau has also suffered damages. It would be appropriate for Gatineau businesses to also be compensated.

I actually had a meeting today with the provincial minister, Mathieu Lacombe, who is responsible for the Outaouais region. He is carefully assessing the possibility of the Quebec government giving money to Gatineau businesses, like the Ontario government did for the city of Ottawa.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Bisson. Of course, I sincerely hope that you'll be included. You have borne the brunt of this siege, along with the business owners in Ottawa.

On that note, my colleague Nathalie Sinclair‑Desgagné, the member for Terrebonne, introduced a motion in the House of Commons stating that Gatineau businesses should be eligible for the assistance program. The motion was passed. Let's hope that this will also be taken into account.

I find it a bit sad that the government still hasn't contacted you, since you're the president of the Gatineau Chamber of Commerce. The government should at least announce its decision as soon as possible. Furthermore, the decision should be in line with what the House of Commons agreed to in terms of including you.

That said, now that the siege has ended and there are fewer and fewer health measures, how are your members feeling right now? How is business going?

[Stéphane Bisson]

A survey conducted by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business last week showed that 14% of businesses were simply thinking of declaring bankruptcy. I wouldn't go so far as to make the connection with the blockades. However, let's just say that they significantly affected morale.

Business debt has increased to an average of $158,000. Of course, this is just the average debt per business. We know that not all businesses were affected by COVID‑19 to the same extent. In any case, this constitutes a considerable amount of excessive debt. Entrepreneurs must pay their debts every month. This also affects all Canadians.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Obviously, we wish your members all the best. This is a challenging situation. Let's hope that the situation gets better and that the support measures apply to Gatineau businesses.

On that note, there should be as little paperwork as possible when making claims. I imagine that your members aren't immune to the labour shortage and are stretched thin, as is the case everywhere else.