Industry Committee on April 29th, 2020

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

—have access to credit.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

—that what you've provided, as every industry report has said, is not enough. So here you are as the minister of WD. You don't even know how much the oil and gas sector provides for clean technology.

I'm just going to ask you. Are you, as minister of WD, pressuring Minister Morneau to come good on his promise of over a month ago to provide adequate support for the energy sector and the workers in Alberta?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Well, I'm always there to defend the interests of all Canadians, making sure that we are there to support the economy and the environment, and I'm there also to support, through WD, the people who are facing real challenges in the west. People in Alberta know that WD is there for them, and I had a good conversation—

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Thank you. That didn't answer my question.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

—even with the CEO of the Stampede yesterday, and if you want to have more information, I would be pleased to have a conversation.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Unfortunately, Madam Minister, that's all the time we have.

For the next round of questions, we go first to Sébastien Lemire.

Mr. Lemire, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Madam Chair, correct me if I am wrong, but I believe a Liberal member has the right to speak.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

I am sorry, I couldn't hear you, Mr. Lemire.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

I think it is the Liberals' turn. However, I would have had enough to say to fill five minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Please forgive me. Thank you, Mr. Lemire.

The next question is for Mr. Longfield. You have five minutes.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Thank you so much for giving me my five minutes. In that spirit of co-operation I'm sharing my time with Paul Manly from the Green Party, and I'll be splitting that down the middle. It's very important that we have as many different voices at the table as we can.

Minister Joly, that was a staggering number of western people you spoke of through the chamber of commerce network. I know you've been working across party lines and with different organizations.

You've mentioned the regional relief and recovery fund. I've been working with our local municipality, which has also been hit hard. There have been 600 layoffs in the city of Guelph. We're looking at our recovery programs going forward. How do we know what parts of the Guelph economy are working well? How do we engage the not-for-profits like the chamber of commerce network, like the business improvement areas in the downtowns to help the Main Street businesses?

Could you maybe comment on how not-for-profits can access this regional relief and recovery fund?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

I wanted to complete my answer to Brian a bit earlier. Businesses can have access to the wage subsidy if they don't have access to the CEBA, but not-for-profits are going through more difficult challenges.

We've adapted the wage subsidy, but for economic development types of organizations such as chambers of commerce and also for BIAs, which are so important to protect our different Main Streets, we're looking to partner with them through the new funding I'll be announcing.

Also, we very much know that certain regional development agencies are not really present in big cities. We're trying to see how we can do third party organization partnerships to make sure we can get to businesses by providing funding to them.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Thank you.

I know we've talked about recovery plans and the timing. We're also working with regional tourism offices in the provinces and territories. Everybody has to work together, so thank you for that.

Minister Bibeau, I've been working with Cargill in Guelph and also with one of the Conservative members north of us who is in the Huron—Grey—Owen Sound area, which has a lot of cattle farmers. Trying to get cattle to market is becoming a lot more expensive, but we also have to protect the producers with PPEs and other protections. We need to take a coordinated approach.

I see I'm at the end of my time. I'll leave that as a comment for the minister if she wants to work that into a future answer. I'll move over to Mr. Manly. Thank you.

[Paul Manly, Green, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Thank you very much for sharing your time, MP Longfield. I really appreciate that.

Minister Bibeau, I have a quick question about the regulations for abattoirs and meat-processing plants. When they were changed by the previous Conservative government, they were really meant for large corporations. Small companies that did meat-processing on Vancouver Island shut down because a 10,000-foot abattoir had to have a separate washroom and an office for the meat inspector. Spending $200,000 on a small abattoir wasn't feasible for them.

I'm wondering whether you would consider changes to the regulations to allow for more small regional operations, to make it more effective for them to do that.

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Smaller operations, regional operations, would fall under the provincial regulations or authorities. Maybe this is a question that can be answered further by the president of CFIA afterwards. If we have time, maybe I can turn now to the president to complete my answer.

[Paul Manly, Green, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

The other quick question I have is about the local food infrastructure fund. I understand that's been put on hold during this crisis. I think the money from that was reallocated towards food banks, but a number of organizations here are trying to ramp up food production on Vancouver Island, where we only produce 3% to 5% of the food we consume. I'm just wondering whether that program will be brought back soon, whether than funding will be available.

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

I want to reassure you that, out of this $100 million that I have announced for the food banks, $75 million was new money; $25 million was reallocation. The program hasn't been put on ice. We might go forward with a second call for proposals, but for those who got money in the first round we can look at being more flexible if they want to change the purpose of their request to face COVID-19.

[Paul Manly, Green, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Okay. Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Your time is up. We now go to Mr. Lemire.

Mr. Lemire, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I think we have to face the facts: Canadians having access to high-speed Internet service, to broadband Internet service, is a very significant issue, and tonight's meeting proves it.

I would like to ask questions about concrete assistance for people who pay themselves salaries in the form of dividends. I would also like to ask a question about the Canada summer jobs program.

Are we all aware that compensation for businesses is increasing from 50% to 100%, from the same envelope? In the end, jobs have been cut, many of them in agriculture. Have you thought about creating a summer jobs program in agriculture? A program of that kind would have to be flexible throughout the year, which would make it possible to mitigate the sad consequences of the measure.

Since my colleague Yves Perron is quite dissatisfied with the answers he has received throughout the day, I will give him a chance to ask a question.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Lemire.

Actually, I want to make an appeal from the heart.

I am quite surprised to see that the door seems to be closed on compensation. Yet, it is easy to pay out the amounts. The amounts are set, and they are not new expenses. Negotiations in this regard are over. We would be putting money on the ground, in a sector that is very much affected.

I would like to say this to the ministers, especially Ms. Bibeau: the existing programs are not working. In fact, only 30% of people are benefiting from the AgriStability program. There needs to be a special fund, an emergency measure.

We want an announcement now; at the very least, we would like to know the date. When are you going to make an announcement for the farming community?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Your question has several parts.

I have to say that, in terms of compensation, the door is not closed. All of our teams are overloaded with work related to emergency programs for the hardest-hit sectors. Our commitment still stands.

As far as the risk management programs are concerned, it is not true that they do not work. However, they are not generous enough. The Conservatives cut $400 million from these programs, at a time when everything was going well. Now we have to come to an agreement with the provinces to get things back in order. The risk management initiative is not only a provincial program.

To answer Mr. Lemire's question about summer jobs programs, I will say this. I too represent a riding with 36 municipalities. The number of jobs has not changed, actually. The budget has been increased, but 70,000 jobs are available through this program. Personally, what I've noticed is that the number of weeks has increased. That is what the department proposed. This makes it look like there are slightly fewer jobs available in our ridings. If you wish, you can certainly discuss this with the department.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Thank you very much, Madam Minister.

The last round of questions goes to MP Masse.

You have two and a half minutes.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll go back to Minister Joly.

With regard to tourism and the funding we've allocated for advertising internationally, as you know, in Canada, the CTC has moved to more international visitation models over the last number of years. Is there a reconsideration of those advertising and other types of dollars being focused inside the nation, given the fact that we will have a higher degree of complication with regard to international destinations, visitations and so forth?

Has the government given that any thought to date? What can local tourism associations, like the one in Windsor-Essex County, expect in terms of support to perhaps do more focused domestic and provincial tourism initiatives? People won't travelling in the short term. Quite frankly, I think patterns may have already changed for the medium and the long term.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Brian, I know been you've elected for a long time, but it has not been called the CTC for a long time now.