Public Accounts Committee on April 15th, 2021

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

It started with $900, and somewhere an analysis was made that people couldn't survive on $900. I note that, because in Ontario our social assistance is somewhere around $720. We are legislating people into poverty.

I have a question for you that's around the way in which we dealt with supporting Bay Street and big banks. As you'll know, through the paper purchase buyback program, the Bank of Canada provided liquidity supports and quantitative easing to the tune of $750 billion.

Was there ever a consideration within the Department of Finance to consider modern monetary theory in having sovereign debt financing for our social programs in the way that we bailed out big banks to inevitably loan us back this imaginary money, even at low interest?

[Michelle Kovacevic]

That's a loaded question. Thank you.

I am not aware of that kind of analysis specifically, and certainly that is nothing that I have personally touched over the last year while we were dealing with the CERB, so I am not really qualified, and I barely understand the scope of that kind of analysis. However, I am happy to take that back and give the member a more informed response.

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

We've had audits, and members of this public accounts committee will recall these questions that I put to the Parliamentary Budget Officer. These are things that have been applied loosely: We've sent $750 billion to big banks and Bay Street, but just $100 billion to workers, and $100 billion to debt financing, as we've seen referenced here so frequently in the House and in our committees.

I am just wondering if the finance department has looked at sovereign abilities through monetary theory to finance our own social programs so that we're not giving money to big banks to allow them to lend it back to us.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly Block]

Give a very short answer, please.

[Michelle Kovacevic]

My answer is the same, sir. With respect to the CERB, I can speak to the analysis we did for income supports to Canadians who needed them, but your bigger question, which is important, is something that I'm not really qualified to answer. However, I'm happy to take that away.

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Now that it's on the record, I do appreciate your taking that question away.

Thank you for the time, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly Block]

Thank you very much.

Colleagues, it is past 1:30. This will bring our meeting to an end.

I want to thank all of you and our witnesses for being gracious enough to extend your time so that we could get all of the questions in that our members had for you today. I want to thank you for being here.

I want to remind our members that the meeting on Tuesday next will be on report 8, “Pandemic Preparedness, Surveillance, and Border Control Measures”.

With that, is it the committee's will that we adjourn the meeting?

I see thumbs up.

Thank you very much, and enjoy the rest of your day. The meeting is adjourned.