Transport Committee on June 16th, 2020

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC]

I don't manage the budget of VIA directly, and I'd refer you to them on that.

I'm a veteran myself.

[Scot Davidson, Conservative, York—Simcoe, ON]

I know, so you're the one to ask that question. Thank you for your service.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister.

[The Chair, Liberal, Vance Badawey]

Thank you, Mr. Garneau.

Mr. Bittle, you have five minutes.

[Chris Bittle, Liberal, St. Catharines, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Minister Garneau, we seem to have left off on the same tone we started with when you appeared before we shut down in March. It's unfortunate that the Conservatives are again attacking your integrity. We just talked about your service to this country as a veteran and your service in politics all this time.

I'm wondering if you can respond to the baseless allegations because it seems we left off on that in our previous study and we've gone back to it in the estimates. Would you like an opportunity to respond?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Bittle.

I try to ignore gratuitous statements that are not based on any factual evidence. I have spent the last three months working very closely with all the transportation sector and particularly with the airlines because they have been profoundly affected by the COVID pandemic.

Their revenues have decreased by 90% to 95% to 100%, and I or my officials have been in constant touch with the airline industry right from the beginning. I have spoken a great deal, and I know where the organizations like ATAC and NATA and ACPA and all the organizations, and CUPE on the union side, stand on different issues, and I and my department are working with them to do the best we can.

I'm comfortable that my department and I are doing the right thing.

[Chris Bittle, Liberal, St. Catharines, ON]

I'd like to go back to the issue of refunds. You talked about.... Excuse me, Mr. Chair. Some heckling is going on.

I didn't interrupt you during your time, Mr. Doherty, so I hope for that same level of respect.

[The Chair, Liberal, Vance Badawey]

We were rolling along quite well, so let's try to keep it that way.

[Chris Bittle, Liberal, St. Catharines, ON]

We talked about the reality of the situation with the refunds. With respect to the EU, is the reality of the situation that the refund policy is not being enforced by member nations for their national airlines?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC]

Yes, in fact, many countries and airlines have said that they are not in the position to do it, and it is not being enforced.

[Chris Bittle, Liberal, St. Catharines, ON]

With respect to the United States, the U.S. airlines received a taxpayer-funded bailout of $25 billion U.S. Is that correct?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC]

They actually received a total package that was larger than that. It was $50 billion U.S. Part of it was to help with labour costs, essentially very close to our wage subsidy, and some of it, roughly half of it, was low-interest loans comparable to some of the programs we have also put in place.

[Chris Bittle, Liberal, St. Catharines, ON]

My understanding of the refund mandate from U.S. authorities, and correct me if I'm wrong, is that the refund policy isn't being enforced in the United States.

Is that true, as far as you're aware?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC]

Although the government's Department of Transportation said it needed to be enforced, as I understand it, that's not happening everywhere.

[Chris Bittle, Liberal, St. Catharines, ON]

Everyone on this committee, including you, has mentioned the importance of having a national airline. If the government mandated refunds that in turn led to the bankruptcy of a national airline, then what would the value of individual tickets be, if they're an unsecured creditor in a bankruptcy proceeding?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC]

Of course that's a scenario I hope to avoid, because things can get worse and we definitely don't want that to happen. I will not be able to give you a precise figure because it's information that is commercial and confidential, but there are billions of dollars involved here with vouchers that airlines have committed to passengers. There are large amounts involved.

[Chris Bittle, Liberal, St. Catharines, ON]

Okay. I'm out of time.

Thank you, Minister.

[The Chair, Liberal, Vance Badawey]

Thank you, Mr. Bittle.

Thank you, Minister Garneau.

That's it for our time today, and I appreciate your taking the time to come to the committee today to answer questions from members.

Members, thank you as well.

I'm going to suspend now to prepare for the next witnesses.

[The Chair, Liberal, Vance Badawey]

I would like to resume the meeting.

Welcome, Minister McKenna.

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities]

I'm very happy to be here.

That's nice facial hair there, Vance.

[The Chair, Liberal, Vance Badawey]

Thank you, Catherine, and welcome. It's great to have you out today.

We're going to start off with our first member. Mr. Berthold, the floor is—

Oh, I'm sorry. I have to give the minister five minutes. Luc, I wanted to go to you right away, but....

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Ottawa Centre, ON]

I'd really like to speak with Mr. Berthold, but we'll take five minutes to make a presentation, if you don't mind.

[The Chair, Liberal, Vance Badawey]

You have five minutes. You're set to go.

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Thank you.

Good afternoon, and thank you for inviting me to speak with you today.

The health and well-being of Canadians have been and will continue to be the top priority of our government, but this pandemic has affected more than our personal health. It's having a profound effect on our economy.

Our government's historic plan, Investing in Canada, is to build a more prosperous, resilient and sustainable future for our children and grandchildren.

Over the last three months, we've assessed and approved hundreds of projects. We've talked with every province and territory about their changing infrastructure needs and priorities. We've put in a new chair at the Canada Infrastructure Bank, Michael Sabia, a leading businessman from Quebec who headed the Caisse de dépôt. Just this month, we announced an MOU with the Government of Alberta on an exciting proposal for a Calgary-Banff rail line. We're funding electric buses, renewable energy and water projects, as well as better broadband that will help create good jobs and help communities get back on their feet.

Our Government understands the challenging situation that cities and towns are in. I have spoken with provinces, territories, mayors, and indigenous leaders, and I’ve heard about the financial pressures this pandemic has imposed. That is why we are looking at ways to help them safely restart their economies—without losing sight of our long-term goals: to create jobs, and build a stronger, cleaner and healthier and more connected country.

Our investing in Canada plan is investing more than $180 billion over 12 years in five key priorities: public transit, green, social, trade and transportation, and rural and northern communities infrastructure. We are making great progress.

Together, the 20 federal departments and agencies that deliver funding through the plan have already committed over $68 billion, investing in projects across the country and making a huge difference in the lives of Canadians. Most of these projects are either under way or completed—projects like the ones I was happy to announce this morning in Waterloo. There are investments in public transit and active transportation, from improvements to bus shelters and pedestrian crossings, to new and expanded walking and cycling routes. These will help create jobs, get more people moving and make our cities and towns better places to live. It was great to be able to make this announcement with the provincial government as well as with the municipality.

We are also proposing to introduce a new COVID-19 funding stream that would allow provinces and territories to redirect over $3 billion of existing federal funding to projects that can start quickly.

Communities must have the resources they need to get projects going during this pandemic. As announced on June 1, we pushed out all of this year's funding to municipalities through the federal gas tax fund, and we provided it in one single payment last week. It's a first step to help ease the immediate cash crunch.

We believe that better is possible when it comes to maximizing the value of infrastructure investments. That's why my mandate letter includes instructions from the Prime Minister to look at best practices globally when it comes to assessing and funding infrastructure needs. I firmly believe that a national infrastructure assessment, which they have established in the U.K., would benefit our country and our long-term infrastructure planning.

I also believe that there may be room to explore outcomes in a broader sense, so we consider infrastructure projects as part of overall plans to achieve outcomes for Canadians. The idea is to better connect national infrastructure priorities with long-term provincial and municipal strategies, while also improving accountability for all orders of government, for example from provinces and municipalities for gas-tax funding.

COVID has also shown that we need to ensure we are building resilient and inclusive communities. This includes affordable, high-speed broadband across the country, including for people living in rural communities and for first nations, Métis and Inuit peoples; housing for all; and more access to open spaces and nature.

Finally, I can assure you that I'm focused on getting value for taxpayers. We need to ensure that every dollar does double and triple duty, with outcomes that benefit our climate, marginalized populations and disadvantaged communities while creating jobs and growing our economy.

What we build and where we build matters. That is why we're focused not simply on projects being shovel-ready but also on ensuring they are shovel-worthy.

We're contributing to a safe restart for our economy, helping communities get back on their feet, supporting them to get more infrastructure built—such as high-speed broadband, public transit, affordable housing and clean water—creating jobs and building a stronger, cleaner, healthy and more connected country. When Canada builds, Canada grows.

I look forward to answering your questions.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Vance Badawey]

Thank you, Minister McKenna.

We'll start off with Mr. Berthold, for six minutes.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good afternoon, Madam Minister.

Thank you for being with us. It would have been nice to see you in person, as you live very close to Parliament. We would have liked to be able to talk to you, but we will do that when we get back to the House.

Madam Minister, can you tell us how many projects have been announced and funded under the Investing in Canada infrastructure plan?