Finance Committee on Dec. 8th, 2021

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

I will recognize Mr. Chambers and Mr. Blaikie, and then I think Mr. Stewart wanted to speak.

[Adam Chambers, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I think it would be safe to recommend that officials review the questions that were posed to officials yesterday and then send individuals who would be capable of answering those questions that were unanswered yesterday. I think that would be at least a place to start, and then we could go from there.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Go ahead, Mr. Blaikie.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Go ahead, Mr. Stewart.

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

I totally agree. Obviously in a perfect world we could have the minister and the deputy and a couple of the staff members who could answer yesterday's questions, but I agree as well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

We will look to bring in the officials from the CRA.

Mr. Clerk, let's see if we can get them in here on Friday, December 10.

(Motion agreed to)

We're going to finish off this round. We are moving to the Liberals for five minutes.

Ms. Dzerowicz, you have the floor.

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

Mr. Chair, was the motion passed?

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

The motion was passed. I did see that—

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

There was no disagreement.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

I didn't see any disagreement. I thought everybody was on the same page, but I shouldn't assume anything after our first day on committee.

Yes, it has passed, and we are moving to Ms. Dzerowicz.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair.

I'm going to try to save the last minute or minute and a half for Ms. May, who I believe might also have a question. My question is actually directed to l'Union des artistes.

I am just going to speak in English, because I'm a little shy speaking in French. My apologies.

[Michel Laperrière]

You have a lovely accent.

You can do it.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Thank you.

In my riding of Davenport, I have a huge group of artists and people who work in the cultural sector. I have a lot of heart for them and I'm one of their biggest champions. Now, that being said, this Bill C-2 is not intended to actually address additional supports for the arts sector. However, that said, we have made a commitment to the arts sector to provide some additional emergency supports because we know that artists have been disproportionately impacted and we know it's going to take more time for them to come out on the positive side as we try to move through this pandemic. The Minister of Canadian Heritage, Pablo Rodriguez, has committed to developing a plan to support self-employed cultural sector workers, and I've actually held a couple of round tables in my riding with my artists to get their best ideas.

Mr. Laperrière, what recommendations would you have for such a program, based on your experience in supporting artists?

Did you understand the question?

[Michel Laperrière]

From my experience with this kind of program, the important things are accountability and that the structure be as light as possible, so that the available money can actually go to the artists who need it. Too often, the programs are basically very well-intentioned. That is not at all where the problem lies. It lies with the way in which they are developed, meaning that the money does not go to the artists themselves. So I would urge you to be careful with that kind of program.

This is why I am bragging about the experience that I have had with the government of my province. It is important for any plan to be as effective as that one. I will gladly suggest mine to you, if that can help you and everyone in my family of artists in Quebec and Canada. In my view, the most important things are accountability and that the structure be as flexible as possible so that the money actually goes to the artists.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Thank you.

Mr. Laperrière, if you could send your recommendations to us in writing, that would be very helpful to the committee. As you said, keep it simple and keep it flexible and directed to individuals. I think that would be very helpful to us.

I have a minute and a half left, so I'll cede my time to Ms. May.

[Michel Laperrière]

Thank you, Ms. Dzerowicz.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

My pleasure.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Excellent.

I think Ms. May is virtual.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Yes, I'm joining you virtually.

I have to start by thanking Julie for the bit of time.

I'll be very brief. I'm going to ask questions of Beth Potter from the Tourism Industry Association of Canada.

It's the first time we've met, and I want to congratulate you on your position. I'm sure you're sick of hearing people say, “We'll all miss Charlotte Bell forever.” It was a tragic loss, but I'm sure you're going to do an excellent job.

My question is this. I have a lot of tourism industry people in my riding, and they all support this bill and want to see it passed. However, it's not adequate to meet the challenges of the tourism industry right now. For instance, there are different rules if you're coming into Canada by ground rather than by boat. There are different rules such that you can get rent help, but you can't get wharfage help if you happen to be the kind of business that relies on taking people out on the water. There's so much more that needs to be done for the tourism sector.

I want to give you some time to suggest some of the other things that we, as members of Parliament, should be looking for to help.

[Beth Potter]

Thank you, Ms. May. I really appreciate your kind words.

Our industry is unique, and there's no getting around that. We're an industry that brings people together. We're an industry that ebbs and flows with not only the weather but the seasons. At this point, we are looking for every possible way we can rebuild the industry to what it used to be, to get back to the vibrant industry that was growing and employing close to a million people here in Canada.

We are an industry made up of seasonal businesses, and we continue to work with finance officials on the background of this bill to make sure that seasonal businesses will be able to take advantage of the tourism and hospitality recovery program. We are not only continuing to look for ways in which we can encourage Canadians to get out and explore their own country, but also looking for a pan-Canadian approach to moving people back and forth across our borders.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you so much, Ms. Potter.

Ms. May, thank you for joining our committee for our third and last round with these witnesses.

On behalf of all the members of the Standing Committee on Finance, all the staff, all the interpreters and everybody here, thank you very much for your testimony. We thank you for what you do, and all your members. We are hopeful that Bill C-2 will bring the supports that are required by industries that have been very hard hit and hurt. Thank you very much.

That concludes our meeting for today.

We are adjourned until tomorrow at 11 a.m.