Evidence of meeting #18 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was question.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Bill Matthews  Deputy Minister, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Les Linklater  Associate Deputy Minister, Human Resources-to-Pay Stabilization, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Evan Siddall  President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Lori MacDonald  Senior Associate Deputy Minister, Employment and Social Development, and Chief Operating Officer for Service Canada, Department of Employment and Social Development
Clerk of the Committee  Mr. Paul Cardegna

6:10 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski

Thank you very much

Now we'll go to Mr. Jowhari for five minutes.

6:10 p.m.

Liberal

Majid Jowhari Liberal Richmond Hill, ON

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to welcome the minister and the department. I'll start by acknowledging the great work your department has been doing, especially the CRA, with the number of calls and the number of supports that have come over the last few months. It must have been challenging. We acknowledge the great work they've done.

Minister, as you know, the 12-week period for CERB is near completion. Can you give us a quick update of what the plans are as we are opening the economy? What do you see happening to CERB? Is CERB going to stop, or is it going to be modified?

6:10 p.m.

Liberal

Ahmed Hussen Liberal York South—Weston, ON

We introduced the Canada emergency response benefit to make sure that every Canadian who had lost their job or whose job had simply disappeared would be protected. As provinces begin to lift restrictions and businesses ask Canadians to return to work, our government will continue to be there for them.

We have structured the Canada emergency wage subsidy, the employee top-up, the Canada emergency business account and other support measures to ensure that workers are supported and businesses are in the best possible position when coming out of this crisis.

We're going to make sure that our priority remains Canadians having the support they need, and we will continue to support businesses and workers during this difficult time.

6:10 p.m.

Liberal

Majid Jowhari Liberal Richmond Hill, ON

Do you anticipate that the CERB will be coming to a termination when the 12-week term is up? Or do you feel that the government will continue supporting Canadians?

6:10 p.m.

Liberal

Ahmed Hussen Liberal York South—Weston, ON

We will always support Canadian workers, either the ones who have lost their jobs or those who have been recently laid off. For those whose jobs have simply disappeared, they have had access to the CERB. The Canada emergency wage subsidy is having a great impact in keeping people employed but also in allowing businesses to re-employ recently laid-off workers.

We are heartened by the fact that many folks have gone back to work. We'll continue to monitor the situation, but make no mistake, we will be there for Canadian workers as we continue to assess the situation.

6:10 p.m.

Liberal

Majid Jowhari Liberal Richmond Hill, ON

Thank you, Minister.

Allow me to switch to what I call the “rent subsidy”, the CECRA. Can you give us a comparison of the rates of adoption that your department has seen between CERB and the CECRA? Has there been the same pickup on the rent subsidy?

6:10 p.m.

Liberal

Ahmed Hussen Liberal York South—Weston, ON

On the commercial rent, I would say that we know that small businesses across the country are important. They are the job creators. They create prosperity, not only for the families but also for the communities. The program was launched on May 25. It offers assistance for the months of April, May and June of 2020 and can be applied retroactively.

There are over 26,000 property owners who have registered in the Canada emergency commercial rental assistance portal. As of June 2, applications approved or in progress represent approximately $73 million, supporting almost 20,000 small business tenants. I'm proud of the work we've done, but we have to continue to encourage more businesses to take advantage of this wonderful program.

6:10 p.m.

Liberal

Majid Jowhari Liberal Richmond Hill, ON

How do you think we can encourage them? In my riding, I have a lot of small business owners who are renting. They're reaching out to our office saying that they're not getting the support they need from the landlords and from other levels. Has your department heard anything on that? Do you have any response to that?

6:10 p.m.

Liberal

Ahmed Hussen Liberal York South—Weston, ON

We have been encouraging landlords to be there for their tenants. We have been trying very hard to publicize this program. I have been making outreach phone calls with members of the small business community in various parts of Canada and just highlighting the number of supports we are providing, including the Canada emergency commercial rental assistance program.

6:15 p.m.

Liberal

Majid Jowhari Liberal Richmond Hill, ON

How do you think we can encourage the landlords to participate in this? There are small business owners, and there are landlords. The landlords are not as enthusiastic to participate as we had hoped.

6:15 p.m.

Liberal

Ahmed Hussen Liberal York South—Weston, ON

Yes, absolutely, and I think—

6:15 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski

Minister, unfortunately we're completely out of time. I would ask that if you want to give a complete answer to Mr. Jowhari's question you do so as quickly as possible, in writing, and submit that answer to our clerk.

We will now go to our third intervenor, for five minutes.

Madame Vignola.

6:15 p.m.

Bloc

Julie Vignola Bloc Beauport—Limoilou, QC

Thank you.

Good evening, Mr. Hussen.

As you know, we are asking that Service Canada be reopened. I have had some answers, but I would like to know why Service Canada offices are not reopening, given that all constituency offices have received a reopening kit, that restaurants and hair salons are reopening, and that everyone has measures in place.

I know some spaces are tight. Nevertheless, measures are in place to protect Service Canada employees and customers. I would like to know the basic reasons why the offices are not reopening.

6:15 p.m.

Liberal

Ahmed Hussen Liberal York South—Weston, ON

Thank you for your question.

Our government is very much committed to ensuring that Canadians continue to have access to the benefits provided by Service Canada. We are currently working with our public health experts and officials on how best to reopen the Service Canada network for the public, but make no mistake about it, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic we have worked very hard to ensure that Canadians have kept the access that they're used to for quick and reliable Service Canada services. I can go into detail on how we've done that.

6:15 p.m.

Bloc

Julie Vignola Bloc Beauport—Limoilou, QC

It would be nice to have that in writing, at the very least, and to get a reopening date, if possible.

In my constituency, and I know it has happened elsewhere as well, people wanted to drop off documents in outdoor boxes at Service Canada, but they were closed and people did not know who to turn to. They turned to us, which was a good reaction, but it raised some questions in my mind.

How did you ensure that the general public, not just community resources, received information about what to do in a given situation? People do not actually seem to do a lot of research to find this information.

6:15 p.m.

Liberal

Ahmed Hussen Liberal York South—Weston, ON

I want to assure the honourable member that we have not stopped providing Canadians with access to Service Canada. We have redeployed almost 3,000 additional staff from other, less critical activities in Service Canada to support the delivery of employment insurance and the new CERB to Canadians. We've established a 1,500-agent call centre dedicated to supporting clients calling about the CERB. We have also deployed outreach and liaison officers to contact over 4,000 trusted intermediaries across the country.

We are doing whatever we can to make sure that we are there for Canadians who need services that Service Canada offers.

6:15 p.m.

Bloc

Julie Vignola Bloc Beauport—Limoilou, QC

The CMHC made it possible for multi-unit building owners to take advantage of a loan payment deferral. Do you have specific data on how many multi-unit building owners took advantage of this option?

6:15 p.m.

Liberal

Ahmed Hussen Liberal York South—Weston, ON

I will turn to the CEO of CMHC to provide you with that answer.

6:15 p.m.

President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

Evan Siddall

We'll provide an answer in writing. I don't have those exact numbers at my fingertips at this moment.

6:20 p.m.

Bloc

Julie Vignola Bloc Beauport—Limoilou, QC

The payment deferral was primarily intended to allow landlords to reduce the rent for their tenants.

I was wondering if the landlords who used the deferral had actually reduced the rent for their tenants. Is it possible to get data on that as well?

6:20 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski

Could we have a brief, 30-second answer, if possible?

6:20 p.m.

Liberal

Ahmed Hussen Liberal York South—Weston, ON

We have ensured that we are there to help Canadian families pay the rent by providing them with the Canada emergency response benefit, the wage subsidy, the extra payments for the Canada child benefit, and the GST tax credit. We will be there to support Canadians throughout this difficult period.

6:20 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski

Thank you very much.

We'll now go to Mr. Green for five minutes.

Go ahead, please.

June 9th, 2020 / 6:20 p.m.

NDP

Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON

Mr. Chair, my questions may be limited in scope, but I just want to put on the record that if Ms. May, given that it's her birthday, wants to take a little bit of my surplus time, I would allow that to happen.

Happy birthday to you.

Minister, you'll recall that when the first iteration of support for Canadians rolled out, it was a form of EI that came in three different variations. It was kind of confusing and not very well defined, and of course it was quickly scrapped in favour of the proposal that we put forward, which was to get money directly to Canadians at around $2,000 a month. We know that it changed from people who couldn't earn any income, to some income, and then to a little bit of income.

Would you acknowledge that this program has been evolving over the course of the COVID crisis?

6:20 p.m.

Liberal

Ahmed Hussen Liberal York South—Weston, ON

I think the pandemic and our response to the pandemic have certainly tested our ability to respond quickly and effectively to Canadians. They have tested our traditional programming and have made us move more quickly than we are normally used to moving.

I'm proud of the work that our civil servants and our world-class public officials have been able to put together.