Status of Women Committee on Feb. 15th, 2024

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you very much.

We're now going to pass it online to Emmanuella. You have five minutes.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'd like to begin by thanking Minister Valdez for being here to answer our questions. We really appreciate your time.

My first question is going to be about the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub. I know you recently announced funding of several million dollars for research into finding the barriers and enablers to entrepreneurial success. I'd like you to let us know why it's important that this funding went there, and about the importance of the women entrepreneurship knowledge hub.

Can you tell us why you think it's important and how you think it will help women entrepreneurs?

[Rechie Valdez, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Thank you for that question.

I mentioned in my opening that the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub is a wonderful organization. It's led by the Toronto Metropolitan University. It supports 10 regional hubs across the country. That's 250 organizations that it continues to support. It is a one-stop shop for women entrepreneurs. It provides them with success stories and data.

It's all to help us, as policy-makers, see how we can continue to provide support to women through the entrepreneurship knowledge hub.

One really important thing they do, every single year, is produce a report called “The State of Women’s Entrepreneurship in Canada”. This report is vital for us to continue to learn about how we can continue to support women entrepreneurs across the country.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Thank you so much.

I know you've spoken to many women across the country regarding the women entrepreneurship strategy. Can you share what benefits stood out to you in your conversations with different business owners?

[Rechie Valdez, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

The women entrepreneurs I met who have been able to benefit through the women entrepreneurship strategy have shared with me some of their amazing wins in being able to get the capital they need to start up and scale up their business. They've been able to get the support through the ecosystem fund that we provide.

What I can do is share a success story on someone from Also Recrutement. They've been a beneficiary of the women entrepreneurship strategy and received support from Evol, an organization funded by the women entrepreneurship's ecosystem fund, to get the financing needed to provide a new temporary staffing service. Evol also connected her to a networking opportunity, where she can meet other entrepreneurs who share the same challenges. I think you heard, in previous testimony in this committee, how important those networking opportunities are for women entrepreneurs.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Yes, and actually, the next question I am going to ask is related.

We have heard from witnesses, but I'm sure you've heard as well, about the importance of mentorship and the importance of creating ecosystems for these women. Can you speak to the importance of that and about how this can help them reach the many opportunities they have at their fingertips when they're able to be in this ecosystem together and share best practices and all of that?

[Rechie Valdez, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

What I can share is my own personal experience.

Sometimes it can be very isolating to be an entrepreneur. You have to juggle so many different things, and sometimes you might have a question or need some support in a specific area. What the ecosystem does is provide networking opportunities so that women like me can connect with others to get help and support, and sometimes you just need a tribe behind you to support you. They can help support you by way of promoting you through social media and sharing all the work you do and continuing to advocate each other. I certainly benefited from that. I think the work we're doing to help women entrepreneurs is spectacular, because it really helps women know that they can go somewhere to get the support they need whenever they need it.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Madam Chair, how much time do I have left?

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

You have 37 seconds.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Well, I appreciate your sharing your experience with us, Minister. It's important to hear that as well, because you were once one of the people you're helping now, and so it's really great that you get to do that with first-hand experience.

I don't have any other questions that will be answerable in under a minute, so I just want to say thank you once again.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you so much.

We're now moving over to two and a half minutes, and I'll pass the floor over to Andréanne Larouche.

Andréanne, the floor is yours.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Minister, I can answer the question from my NDP colleague, because I have the emergency account numbers in hand. According to the CFIB, to date, 150,000 businesses have not repaid their loan.

It is likely that next year will be hard for these businesses and some of them may be facing bankruptcy. In fact, 200,000 businesses went into debt to pay back the emergency account. That brings the total up to 350,000 businesses in jeopardy, according to the CFIB. For them, and especially for the 150,000 businesses that have yet to pay back their loan, next year will be critical. It is likely that they will just have to close their doors.

Minister, have you assessed the economic cost these bankruptcies would incur?

[Rechie Valdez, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

One thing I want to clarify again is that nearly 80% of small businesses have been able to pay it back. There's still a second date that we are looking at with regard to the refinancing. There are still small businesses that are seeking refinancing to pay back their CEBA loan. Again, there are still three years, with the extension, that they do not have to pay back their CEBA loans.

I'll turn it over to my official, who can address some of the rest of your question.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Minister, 200,000 businesses went into debt to pay back their loan. We talked about 80%, but that percentage is either fallacious or misleading, because it takes into account people who remortgaged their homes to pay back the loan. There are risks; it’s not inconsequential. It’s like paying a credit card with another credit card. On an economic level, it’s not a good solution.

Small businesses weren’t the only ones who got the loan; festival organizers did too, for example. These organizations breathe life into our communities.

Minister, did you consider what would cost more: let businesses go bankrupt or set up a direct helpline quickly so that people can talk to someone? In some cases, people lost their subsidy because they were a few days late.

Could we not show a little humanity and flexibility?

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Unfortunately, that time is up as well. Perhaps there are information and documents that you would be able to send to us specifically in response to Ms. Larouche's question.

I'm now going to pass it over to Leah Gazan for two and a half minutes.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Thank you so much.

Just going back to the $20,000, I have to be honest, Minister, that small businesses could either pay off their loan—they were given a choice—or refinance. I agree with my colleague. It's either like paying a credit card with a credit card or ending up paying for an additional $20,000 in debt. How did the government come up with that decision, knowing that we lost many businesses as a result of the pandemic? It was not the fault of businesses or anybody else. What's the rationalization for that?

[Rechie Valdez, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

I don't think anyone in this committee would ever want any small business to close, and our government certainly does not want that to happen. That is the reason we provided multiple flexible options and time for small businesses to be able to repay their CEBA loans.

I just want to ask my official to share some of the things related to the question—

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Actually, would you please send that to the committee? Thank you.

Small businesses most impacted by your government's refusal to provide relief for small business owners are food services, retail, and tourism, since 82% of accommodation and food services and 78% of tourism businesses applied for CEBA loans. In fact, most of those industries are likely owned by women.

Out of those industries in that particular sector, could you please send to the committee how many were forced to close as a result of not being able to pay their CEBA loan? Thank you.

My question for you, Minister, is that racialized business owners were disproportionately likely to take out CEBA loans. I come from a community that I'm very proud of, my community of Winnipeg Centre. We have lots of small businesses. We are a community of small businesses, many of which have had to close as a result of not being able to pay back their CEBA loans.

Are there any plans by your government to change course, to make sure that we don't see any more small businesses close as a result of what I see as a plan that is unfriendly to small businesses, particularly those owned by women?

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

You have about 10 seconds.

[Rechie Valdez, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Yes, of course. I've spoken to a few of them, again, through the women entrepreneurship strategy, whether that's funding for entrepreneurs or whether that's supporting the ecosystem to support them. I already mentioned the indigenous entrepreneurship program, which is certainly going to be able to help them as well.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Perfect. Thank you very much.

We're going to finish up this round with five minutes with Anna and five minutes to Lisa.

Go ahead, Anna. You have five minutes.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Minister, I have a couple of questions for you, and then I want to ask you about something that a constituent has brought to my attention.

The first question is this: What advice would you be able to give the Prime Minister and the Minister of Environment on the recent announcement to cease funding on road construction in Canada? As you know, it will burden the small businesses on their supply chain issues.

The second question I want to ask you is that 46.4% of parents reported difficulties finding child care in 2023, which is up from 36.4% in 2019.

Now I want to tell you about a constituent. I want you to reflect on this for minute.

I had a call from a female constituent who has a small business. She had very few employees, and she was obviously affected by the pandemic. She hasn't taken a paycheque for many years, and she had the blessing of having savings that she was able to live on. Now the savings are gone. She phoned in to find out what other options she has. She doesn't qualify for a loan, but she was told that if she does go bankrupt, the government will come after her RRSPs, because they have the right to do so.

Can you maybe answer those questions, and tell me how would you react if someone brought that to your attention?

[Rechie Valdez, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Thank you. I think there were several questions in there, so I'll try to do my best.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

I'm sorry about that.

[Rechie Valdez, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

That's okay.

The first question is around infrastructure. Our government has made a significant amount of investment into that all across this country, and we will continue to invest in the infrastructure that is needed for this country, including that which is connected to small businesses.

The second is with regard to entrepreneurs who are having challenges. Yes, I acknowledge that there are challenges, and I've experienced them myself. I think we've provided incredible, unprecedented supports for women entrepreneurs in particular, and for those who are under-represented or continue to have challenges. We will continue to be there for them, again through the women's entrepreneurship ecosystem fund. I mentioned already the loan fund that's helping to provide them with capital, and of course the $10-a-day child care program is helping support women to get the support they need to help their families. We will continue to be there for women entrepreneurs.