Human Resources Committee on April 30th, 2020

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

It's not a point of order, so I'll pass.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Go ahead, Ms. Kusie, please, for five minutes.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

Minister, my question is in regard to a letter that I and my colleague, the member of Parliament for Calgary Shepard, Tom Kmiec, recently sent you. It's about the registered disability savings plan.

Unfortunately, it seems as though this service desk, this 1-866 number, has been disabled completely during this time. That's leaving a lot of families who rely upon this benefit in very vulnerable positions, since they are without a desk to service their inquiries. I am asking you if you will please commit to restoring this phone line, Minister, for the sake of these families.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

It's a very important question, and I completely understand the urgency of the situation.

Unfortunately, this is actually not a service that falls within my portfolio. It is completely under the Canada Revenue Agency, and I would invite my officials to comment further.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Thank you, Minister.

My next question is in regard to a news story that came out today, which said that government cheques amounting to $33,000 were found on a routine patrol by the RCMP in Surrey, British Columbia. Many were indicated to be CERB cheques. We know, given the benefit amounts available, that $33,000 means that 15 or 16 families who were looking forward to these cheques arriving in the mail could be missing their CERB at this time. I'm asking, Minister, if you will inquire with Service Canada as to how this discrepancy came to be, how these cheques were somehow stolen or taken away, and ensure that a failure in the delivery of this service never happens again.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Thank you very much. That's a very important question. I'll ask my officials to respond, please.

[Lori MacDonald]

I'll add that we're working closely with the police on this issue. We would also very much encourage people who are applying for the CERB to use direct deposit. It's quick, it's fast, it goes into the bank account within a few short days and it avoids any other issues we have in service delivery.

Of course, in any of these circumstances, we look at our processes to ensure it does not happen again.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Thank you very much for that; I'm very happy to hear that.

We've heard a lot of discussion to this point with regard to maternity benefits. We received some good information from the officials in the previous round. Of course, there's been incredible confusion around pregnant mothers across the country who attempted to [Technical difficulty—Editor] not have the opportunity to apply for the CERB and then were told they had to go on maternity leave immediately, resulting in more panic and more disappointment and more confusion, and then, most recently, in receiving the benefit, not getting the same amount of the benefit that they would have received on EI.

In particular, we've seen in the news today the story of Kristen Aldridge, from Airdrie, Alberta, who is filing a human rights complaint against non-delivery of the CERB for pregnant mothers attempting to go on maternity leave or going on maternity leave.

Minister, what will you do to ensure that the miscommunications and the service gaps for maternity benefits will be cleared up? Clearly many pregnant mothers across the country feel that they have not received proper benefits during this time, to the point that they are filing human rights complaints. What will you please commit to ensuring that these gaps are filled and that they feel taken care of during this difficult time, which should be a time of joy as they look forward to welcoming their children?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

We are aware that some expectant mothers are being moved to regular EI claims, but we are working to ensure that persons who are expecting a child and are eligible for the CERB can receive the benefit, even if they expect to start an EI maternity or parental claim soon.

The CERB does not affect the weeks of entitlement for EI maternity and parental benefits, and these EI benefit claims will continue to be processed as usual, whether they were established before or after March 15, 2020.

In addition, workers receiving the CERB can switch to EI maternity and parental benefits when appropriate to their situation, as long as they meet the eligibility criteria for those benefits.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Minister. Thank you, Mrs. Kusie.

Now we have Mr. Turnbull for five minutes.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the minister for joining us today. It's always a pleasure to have an opportunity to ask you a few questions.

I'm really proud of Canada's strong non-profit and charitable sector. We estimate there are over 170,000 non-profits in this country, with about 85,000 having charitable status. I know these organizations are essential to the strong social safety net we have in this country, which I think we're all very grateful for at a time like this. These organizations are definitely experiencing unprecedented instability. We talk about supports for small business and many other segments of our economy, but I think the non-profit charitable sector deserves support as well.

Minister, could you tell us a little about how we're ensuring that this sector can weather this financial crisis and whether you see that in phases? What does our support for that sector look like?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

I'm really glad you asked that question. The non-profit sector and charitable organizations do amazing work every single day. Many Canadians from coast to coast to coast rely on their services.

At a time when more and more Canadians are relying on their services, these non-profit organizations and charities are facing unprecedented challenges. They're seeing their donations drop rapidly. They're seeing, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, that they're incurring additional costs that they didn't have to incur. They're seeing a drop in the number of volunteers that they can rely on to fulfill their mandate and mission of serving the most vulnerable.

That is why we have been engaged with them. I have been talking to this sector for a very long time, very regularly. I have been listening to them and seeing what we can can do to help them. I am very proud of the fact that we moved quickly to include the non-profit sector and charities in the Canada emergency wage subsidy. We included them in other measures by, for example, providing $350 million to enable them not only to continue the work that they're doing to help the most vulnerable in our society, but also to maybe expand their capacity to help even more people. That should go a long way toward helping them.

We are giving $100 million to food banks and community food programs, $7.5 million to Kids Help Phone and $9 million to senior organizations serving seniors. We are doing what we can to make sure that those organizations that are there for Canadians at this difficult time are able to continue that work. We know that they're reaching some of the most vulnerable people in our communities.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Thank you, Minister.

I also appreciate the fact that our charitable sectors are our partners. They are often struggling with capacity at this time to serve our most vulnerable segments of the population, in many cases, the most marginalized segments of our society. Like my colleague, Mr. Dong, I really appreciate our being able to take care of the most marginalized.

What else are we doing in terms of equipping them to serve the most vulnerable or most marginalized populations?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

One of the key things that we're doing is through the $350 million fund. One of the three national intermediaries that we are using is the Canadian Red Cross, precisely because of their long experience and expertise in dealing with emergencies and their ability and capacity to help organizations equip and transform their services to the COVID-19 pandemic environment. This means training, being able to increase the capacity of organizations to train volunteers properly to deal with the effects of COVID-19. It also means helping organizations train volunteers on the use of personal protective equipment and other supplies.

That is another way we're helping charities and non-profits deal with COVID-19 impacts.

On top of that, the non-profit sector and charities have submitted a proposal to the government for further supports to keep them resilient, survive COVID-19 and emerge stronger from this challenge. That is something that the government is looking at, and we are having a conversation with the sector.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you.

Go ahead, Ms. Kusie, please, for five minutes.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Thank you very much. I'll be splitting my time with Mr. Vis.

Going back to the charities and non-profits, the $350 million was announced on April 21, 2020. As my colleague from the NDP and my colleague Karen Vecchio in the virtual Parliament two days ago have said, it has been difficult in many cases to track the distribution of this funding. In fact, when I asked the parliamentary secretary for specifics as to the distribution of funding across the nation on a riding-by-riding basis, I was unable to receive that direct breakdown of funding. I have the same concerns about the distribution of the $350 million for charities and non-profits.

Could the minister please provide more details as to how these funds will be distributed? Also, how will the government ensure that small organizations in smaller communities have access to these resources?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

That's precisely why we have made sure that we're using three trusted and long-experienced intermediaries who have a national presence in the territories, in rural Canada and in urban Canada, right across the country—the Canadian Red Cross, United Way Centraide Canada and Community Foundations of Canada—but make no mistake, the money does not belong to those organizations. They are a dispersing mechanism.

We felt that the organizations helping those vulnerable people needed the help now and not in three months. That's how long it would take if we just had a regular open call for proposals through the government. We decided to go with intermediaries to get the money out faster, in weeks rather than months. We are negotiating with them to make sure that there is national reach, that rural Canada is served, that we cover small as well as large organizations and that we make sure there is space in there for faith communities that are doing COVID-19-related work. A lot of them are charities and non-profits as well.

The funds will be open to everyone as long as they are a non-profit or charitable organization that is engaged in serving the most vulnerable Canadians in the context of COVID-19, helping them by providing services such as counselling or by providing food or medication or other kinds of help. That's the restriction, but the funds will be open to any organization as long as they're engaged in COVID-19-related work for vulnerable Canadians and serving vulnerable Canadians, as long as they are a non-profit or charitable organization.

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

I have a question about CEBA eligibility that I'm hearing a lot from my constituents. I'm wondering if the minister could let us know whether the government is considering maintaining the payroll threshold that clearly discriminates against many sole proprietors in my neck of the woods. There has been a lot of frustration from my constituents, many of whom operate a small business or a social enterprise and don't qualify for this benefit because of the payroll calculation.

Could the minister please provide some comment on that?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Thank you. That's a very important question. Unfortunately, this is something that's within the portfolio of the minister responsible for small businesses.

I will invite my officials to comment on this question, if they're able to.

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

That's all I have. Thank you, Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Mr. Vis.

Thank you, Minister.

Mr. Housefather, you have five minutes, please.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I really appreciate the opportunity. I have a few things I want to say, and then I have a couple of questions.

First, Minister, I want to say how impressed I have been over how quickly these programs have been rolled out and how adaptations have been made to these programs in response to comments from Liberal MPs and in response to comments from opposition MPs. It has truly been, I think, a team Canada approach, and I really appreciate it.

I also wanted to mention that in terms of the comments that have been made about Service Canada, while indeed we sometimes have had, in my riding and in adjacent ridings, somebody who's had difficulty receiving a response, in general, in over 90% of the cases, I think my office and constituents have actually received very good responses. I want to thank Service Canada for what they're doing.

I also wanted to mention that in response to the questions about maternity benefits, Minister Qualtrough, who was here last week, committed to ensuring that the issues that expectant mothers are having under the CERB will be rectified. We've already had assurances from the minister responsible for that program.

I would like to turn to you now, Minister Hussen. Thank you for being here.

A lot of comments have been made about renters who are very concerned. We're all getting that in our ridings. As I understand it, the Canada housing benefit funds have already been transferred to provinces, to B.C., Ontario, Alberta and Manitoba, among others. Would those provinces not have those funds right now and be able to roll them out to help renters?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Yes, absolutely. The beautiful thing about the Canada housing benefit is that when we sign agreements with provinces to help renters, the provinces determine their priority populations.

Ontario was the first province to sign an agreement with us and signed at the beginning of this year. It's called the Canada-Ontario housing benefit. The Province of Ontario said it wants to target folks who are most in need of housing: vulnerable Ontarians, women fleeing domestic violence, those who have suffered human trafficking, Ontarians with disabilities, indigenous Ontarians and seniors. Because they have kept the benefit to those populations, they have managed to make it much deeper, between $6,000 to $7,000 a year, which enables people to get out of temporary housing and into permanent housing. Someone may need it just one time in their lifetime to get into housing. Another person may end up using it for a year. Other people may end up using it for longer. The Canada housing benefit is our response to the issue of rental affordability.

We are also making sure that we build more affordable housing. We enable developers to build more affordable rental housing through the RCFI, the rental construction financing initiative. I and Adam Vaughan, my parliamentary secretary, have made many announcements, and we have ensured that a number of projects have either been started or completed. We will ensure that renters will have affordable rent in places where they have simply been priced out.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Mr. Minister, do I understand that you're also taking steps to help the homeless as we come out of COVID by building them additional units and trying to find them emergency shelter?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Yes. There is the additional amount of money, the $157.5 million plus the $50 million directly to women's shelters, and when you add those amounts, it's $207.5 million in additional money. It's additional to the regular Reaching Home funds, which continue to flow.

Because we've freed up that fiscal space for municipalities, they are now able to use some of their capacity to buy property, to acquire it outright. The money we have provided is to enable them to acquire more space, acquire more cleaning supplies and acquire more physical barriers to enable them to allow the homeless population to practise social distancing and enable them to get hotel rooms for social isolation.

We've made that money very flexible. The majority of the communities that are supposed to get that money have received it already. The money has flowed at record speed. We've been able to really be proactive. It was one of the first things we did in response to COVID-19.