Debates of Nov. 3rd, 2020

Opposition Motion—Consequences of the pandemic on Canadian workers and businesses

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Madam Speaker, I assure the member that the government is, in fact, acting quickly to bring forward the information that is necessary and is doing what it can to modify programs so that we can best serve the small and large businesses in all regions of our country.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley.

I want to thank the member for Calgary Rocky Ridge for the excellent motion he presented today. It is very important. I am very pleased with it, and I will be supporting it strongly.

I want to break down the motion a bit.

Part one says, “the pandemic has had devastating consequences on Canadian workers and businesses, especially in the restaurant...and tourism sectors”. It has been 12 months since the coronavirus showed up in China, 11 months since the Prime Minister and the health minister were warned about it, 10 months before Canadians started getting sick on cruises, nine months since the first cases in Canada and eight months since small businesses were hit with declining or disappearing revenue.

One of the first messages I received was from a small manufacturing business in my riding. The constituent wrote, “The government’s support for small business in this COVID-19 situation is entirely inadequate. Avoiding layoffs is the critical issue right now. Our production line is idle and we need action now. The government has provided 10% salary support...and it's not enough.”

It turns out that this business owner was far more perceptive than the government. The government's big idea was a 10% wage subsidy. Business owners knew intuitively this was not enough. Other countries had already implemented higher subsidies. The U.K. had a subsidy of 80%. Business owners understood that if businesses were not supported, individuals would need help one by one.

I received another letter in March. It states:

I just wanted to let you know that Bateman Jewellers would be celebrating 75 years in business this year. But due to COVID-19 we are going to have to shut down for a while until this pandemic passes. The 10% special wage subsidy is not even close for us to continue to run our business. As a result, we are adding to the already 500,000 going to EI for support. We will add five more this week. I ask you to try and get the government to do more for small business. Small business has carried this country for years and it is time for the government to support us.

It is clear that the average business owner in Canada could clearly see where things were going, yet the government was slow to act. Yes, the government eventually increased the wage subsidy to 75%, but it was because the opposition continued to bring forward the business point of view in the House. Unfortunately, for most businesses it was too late. People had already been laid off and were applying for CERB. In the months since then, small businesses have continued to suffer, creating an economic crisis in our country.

The second part of the motion asks us to “immediately pause the audits of small businesses that received the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy until at least June 2021.” We have had eight months of economic hardship and uncertainty, and now the Prime Minister wants to audit the same small businesses he promised to help.

I spent 20 years as an accountant and 12 years as a small business owner. This morning I was quite amused that the member for Guelph had the audacity to suggest that business owners appreciated audits and that audits could be helpful and a learning opportunity. Let me help this member and the rest of my colleagues opposite better understand the anatomy of an audit call.

After answering the phone, a business owner will hear, “Hello, Mr. Smith. The CRA has selected your file for audit.” Let me paint a picture of what happens at that moment. His knees will get wobbly and he will have to sit down. His entire business life will flash before his eyes. The vast majority of business owners are honest, but the system is complex. Mistakes can be made, so the next thought is “I am going to be in trouble”.

At this point, he has to take a deep breath and calm down. Once settled down a bit, he has to start to figure out what to do next. Usually the first call is to the accountant. However, for many small businesses, the business owners are the accountants. They are calling themselves. They have to dig out a bunch of records and spend a bunch of time with the auditor. Remember, the small business owner has likely laid off much of his support staff, if he had any to begin with. He may be cooking in the kitchen. He may be delivering orders. He still has to run his business. He is struggling to pay his bills and the last thing he needs is to deal with an auditor.

The bottom line is that we assume small business owners are honest, hard-working Canadians. They are not tax cheats like the Liberals would like us to think. Small business owners are our best asset to deploy in this pandemic. They will get Canada working again and will generate revenue for employees and for the government. They need to be focused and they need time to do their jobs. I believe it is very reasonable to provide CRA with info in 2021 once these small businesses have filed their paperwork for 2020.

The third part of the motion asks us to “immediately introduce legislation to enact promised extensions and amendments to support programs”. I want to remind the House that the government shut down Parliament in the spring. It replaced Parliament over the spring and summer with a sham committee system that kept the government unaccountable and then, of course, prorogued Parliament. The Liberals had seven months to introduce legislation for this, but instead they acted late and their actions were inadequate, although they still managed to find ways to launder money to their friends, like the Kielburgers.

The fourth part of this motion asks us to “provide additional flexibility in the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy, the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, and other support programs.” This is what my party has wanted for nine months. Businesses with mortgages were treated different from businesses with leased space.

I have another letter from a constituent. It says:

I own a small business called The Backyard...we took out a mortgage with BDC to complete this expansion and currently the only relief offered...is to defer principal payments, but they still require payments of interest. As we have been ordered to be closed now for nearly a month, we obviously have no income and no ability to pay the...interest they are requiring. I fail to see how it makes sense that a bank who is federally mandated to serve entrepreneurs, and had a net income of $886M in 2019, should continue to collect interest from small businesses and entrepreneurs such as ourselves who have been ordered to be closed.

Clearly, many of the criteria were too rigid.

I have another letter. It states:

I wanted to...give my feedback regarding the 75% rent relief announcement made by the Prime Minister.... My company has been ordered to close by the Provincial government.... Despite my doors being closed I have done my best to operate in some way to generate some sense of revenue online. Had I not taken these steps I would likely never re-open my doors.... Essentially, over the 2 and a half months of closure.... This accounts for [about] 50% of our pre-covid [income]...or more importantly an entire month and a half's worth of revenue. I'm sure you can understand how devastating that is to a small business. To say that our business has been kneecapped due to the governmental responses to covid-19 is an understatement.

The biggest problem with the rent relief program was the requirement that the landlord had to initiate the application. One of my constituents, Sherry, had a restaurant that was on the verge of going bankrupt. She asked many times for the landlord to make an application for her for the rent relief program. She asked me to see if I could help, so I phoned the commercial leasing agent. I was told that they were not going to apply to the program, even though they have many commercial tenants, because the application process was too onerous. Then Sherry got behind in her rent for July and August and the landlord would not renew her lease.

We can see that the design and implementation of these programs were entirely inadequate. They only helped a narrow swath of businesses. The results of these programs speak for themselves. The wage subsidy program has been very under subscribed. The rent relief program was seriously under subscribed. Originally, businesses had to lose 70% of their revenue to qualify, and the results show that this did nothing for 90% of businesses in Canada.

The Conservatives immediately called on the government to address this flaw, and the redesigned program was announced October 9. For five months, the Conservatives called for a new program with the introduction of a sliding scale instead of requiring a hard 70% reduction in revenue. The Liberals have finally made these changes, but they were announced a full week after the program expired. Why was this not done in August? It was because of the prorogation. The legislation was only introduced in the House of Commons yesterday.

What is missing in all of these programs? Why are we debating this motion and not Bill C-9? It is all about flexibility. Once again, the Liberal government has unilaterally made programming changes without proper consultation.

The Conservatives have supported COVID programming in the past, warts and all. Why? It is because Canadians need help. We would rather get some help to them, flawed or not, than leave them with no help. The Liberals are in the all-or-nothing club. We must vote for the Prime Minister or he will make something a confidence vote, triggering an election. The Conservatives do not operate like that. We do not play brinkmanship with taxpayer dollars, we do not play brinkmanship with people’s jobs and we do not play with people’s health. That is why I am supporting this motion.

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Families]

Madam Speaker, I was a city councillor in 2008 when the real estate industry triggered a collapse of not just the North American economy but in fact the global economy, which created a recession. I was also a city councillor when I watched the federal government propose a budget that did absolutely nothing to protect thousands of jobs and the production of new housing in the country. It was only when the opposition parties threatened to bring down the government that the former Harper government decided to act.

Would the member care to contrast the substantial delay, the proroguing of Parliament and the inadequate response from the Harper government to that recession, that economic crisis, which at the time was the deepest and darkest recession the country had faced since the Great Depression?

The Harper government refused to act, was bent into action by the opposition and then acted with measures almost too small to make a difference to save the jobs and the construction industry. We lost thousands of houses and thousands of jobs in that 2008 slow response.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Madam Speaker, I was not around in those days, but in listening to the member, it sounds like he was describing what we just experienced in the last six months.

All I know is that there was a slow response from the current government to this pandemic. There was an inadequate response, especially for small businesses. Small businesses needed help and it was not there, which forced them to lay off people. Now the government is finally coming back and making some of those corrections to the programs that should have been made months ago and for which we as opposition have been asking. That is what I have seen. The government should have acted faster.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech.

Of course, the Bloc Québécois welcomes the motion. In Quebec, the tourism industry and the restaurant industry have been going through difficult times, as elsewhere in the country. In the Gaspé Peninsula and the Lower St. Lawrence, we have been fortunate. This summer, a few people came to see us. There is, however, the Riôtel group in Matane, Percé and Bonaventure, who is going through especially difficult times. The winter is going to be tough.

Does my colleague think that the government could support them more by extending the various programs that are already in place?

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Madam Speaker, the hospitality sector is definitely in deep trouble. One of the important things that needs to be done to encourage people to travel and have the confidence to visit hospitality places like hotels and restaurants is rapid COVID testing. We need to have better testing. We need to have rapid testing. People need to know they are safe and need to feel safe.

I think once we can help Canadians feel safer with the situation, and testing is one of the big keys in that, it will help us get our economy rolling again, especially in the restaurant, hospitality and travel sectors.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Madam Speaker, like the member, many small businesses in my riding of Vancouver East are in desperate straits and in need of the commercial rent subsidy. Would the Conservatives support calling for the Liberal government to apply the commercial rent subsidy retroactively so businesses that did not qualify in the earlier program would be able to access the resources and support they desperately need?

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Madam Speaker, it is an interesting suggestion and is something that should be looked at. What I find most interesting is that the calendar is not difficult to interpret. The government knew that the current program was expiring at the end of September, yet it waited until now to introduce something new. Obviously, part of the reason was because it prorogued Parliament and could not introduce anything in Parliament.

The calendar is very simple to understand and I am surprised the government had not introduced a replacement program sooner so we did not have to talk about it being retroactive.

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

Madam Speaker, this pandemic has affected Canadians from all walks of life in many different ways, whether it be front-line workers who have put themselves in harm's way to keep us all safe; or workers in the service industry, like retail employees and servers, whose jobs have vanished; or retirees who have seen their savings decimated by the financial markets tanking; or small business owners who have had to adapt to this new reality, resulting in many suffering massive losses and some even being forced to close their doors for good.

So many in my community have phoned or written my office in the last eight months. They are struggling to get by. They are facing a once-in-a-lifetime challenge. While this government has made some announcements which seemed promising, when it came time to deliver many of these programs, they just could not get it right.

I believe it was my colleague, the member for Edmonton Centre, who previously described it best: The government gets an A for announcement and an F for delivery.

Our motion today discusses the devastating consequences on Canadian workers and businesses, especially in the restaurant, hospitality and tourism sectors. I want to bring to light three real-life examples of small businesses in my community that have struggled during the pandemic in a few different ways.

Two weeks ago, I met with Tony Siwicki from the Silver Heights Restaurant. They have been known by all in sunny St. James since 1957 for having the best ribs in town. I confess that I have sampled those ribs several times, and I agree. I can confidently say those ribs definitely live up to the hype. I might add Tony is also chair of the Manitoba Restaurant and Foodservices Association.

Tony is a third-generation restauranteur and certainly over the past 63 years the businesses built by his family have seen many ups and downs, but this pandemic has hit them harder than ever before.

Tony went to apply for the commercial rent assistance program in the hopes he could get much-needed support to weather the storm. After months of fighting to access the program, he was finally able to get some help, but it took a strong will and jumping through many hoops.

The process was challenging, and he is not the only one facing it. With only 8% of restaurants owning their building, the vast majority have had issues with the landlord portion of the commercial rent assistance program. By mandating landlords’ involvement the program, a fatal error to this program, and setting a hard cap on revenue losses, this program turned out to be a total and utter disaster.

With Manitoba now facing more serious restrictions as it has entered code red, this is adding on to the challenges Tony has been facing. When we spoke last, he had only one table for the entire lunch hour on what is usually one of his busiest days. Fixed costs are not going away and the added costs they have incurred for new cleaning and safety measures have not helped them stay afloat. Restauranteurs, just like Tony, need help and they need it right now.

Then there is Tim Hudek who owns One Great City Brewing. I think we can all agree that nothing is more Canadian than an ice-cold beer. In fact, I wish we had one now, given the stress that everyone is undergoing with these programs. Tim opened the brewery in 2017 and is one of many outstanding small craft breweries in Winnipeg. His brewery has a fantastic restaurant that serves food to accompany their delicious craft beers made on-site.

At the start of the pandemic, Tim reached out to my office for assistance and I was happy to help him, just as my team and I have been doing since the beginning. We had issues with the Canada emergency wage subsidy program due to the structure of his business. The government did not recognize that a one-size-fits-all approach to business supports was not feasible for a business like Tim’s.

Tim is concerned. He is concerned about the climate of uncertainty facing small businesses when it comes to what supports are available and which restrictions will be put in place. He is fighting to do everything he can, not only for business but for the countless individuals he employs. Small businesses are the job creators and backbone of our economy and we must ensure we are doing our part as they face challenges like never before.

My friend Will Gault has also faced challenges during the pandemic. Will owns Willy Dogs, the best hot dog cart in Winnipeg. Will tried qualifying for the much needed $40,000 CEBA loan through the Canada emergency business account. He was turned down because he did not meet the specific requirements for the program.

With winter now upon us, Will has shifted his business indoors at our local Deer Lodge Curling Club. However, with the recent restrictions, he will not get any foot traffic from curlers as sports have been suspended. He is now limited to takeout and curbside pickup only and he cannot sustain his business under these conditions. He does not think the club will be able to stay open much longer, leaving him with no place to set up his operation.

Will said he is a month away from his livelihood being killed. He may be forced to put his house up for sale. Will provides for his wife and two young children, and as parliamentarians, we must do everything in our power to help Canadians who are struggling just like him. Emergency programs need to work for Canadians in emergency situations, just like my friend Will.

We are here to work together for Canadians across the country. They hired us to work for them by electing us to this place. In the middle of this pandemic, though, the Prime Minister locked out MPs and shut down Parliament to block investigations into the government’s ethical scandals. At a time when Canadians needed us the most, the Liberals put politics before people. Instead of allowing members from all parties to come to work and do our jobs, introduce and debate ideas, help improve their legislation, and help people and local businesses stay afloat, they shut down everything because of their own ethical scandals.

Throughout the pandemic, we proposed constructive solutions. We proposed increasing the wage subsidy from 10% to 75%. The government finally took our advice and implemented this change. We called for changes to the commercial rent assistance program from this side of the house, such as making the program more flexible and allowing landlords to negotiate with their tenants directly instead of the mandated reduction. Many small businesses contacted my office saying the required participation of their landlords in the rent assistance program was their biggest hurdle. It took many months, but it seems like the government may finally be listening after our calls for changing this requirement.

Conservatives have been calling on the government to end the restriction for small businesses operating out of personal chequing accounts to be eligible for the $40,000 CEBA loan. After many months of dragging its feet, it seems there may finally be some action taken on this front.

My colleague, the member for Carleton, and I proposed back in April to allow Canadians a one-time tax-free withdrawal from their RRSPs and to give them until the end of 2023 to repay it without penalty. This would have given Canadians who are struggling access to their own funds instead of having to rely on government benefits. We received absolutely zero response to this suggestion. The member for Carleton and I also proposed waiving all mandatory RRIF withdrawals for the 2020 calendar year to allow seniors to keep their investments protected and not be forced to liquidate them during a time of losses. It was another suggestion and, yet again, there was nothing but crickets to be heard from the government.

Throughout this pandemic, our Conservative team has taken a team Canada approach and did everything we could with the Liberal government. We were hearing feedback every day from our constituents, just like members in this House from all parties. We proposed constructive solutions to help Canadians when they needed support the most.

Canadian small business owners and workers need a plan that keeps Canadians safe, protects jobs and gets our country back on track. They need a plan that recognizes the key points of this motion. The government needs to take action to address promised extensions and amendments to emergency support programs while providing added flexibility, which small business owners desperately need.

This is why I urge that all members in this House support our motion today and get Canadian small business owners and workers the certainty, clarity and and support they need. I will add that Tony, Tim and Will are counting on all of us.

[Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Families]

Madam Speaker, first of all, the member should know that Tony, Tim and Will are in our hearts and minds as we pull through this pandemic together as Canadians. I hope they see good days ahead as we work together to make sure those good days arrive. I thank the member for telling their stories.

I will put aside the party opposite's concerns that we are spending too much money. The member for Carleton often says we should stop spending money. I am not sure how to do that and help small business simultaneously. However, I will ask a very particular question.

I have a run a restaurant and had to meet a paycheque running a restaurant. I understand entirely the complexities of the leases that restaurant owners have and the debt structure that many restaurant owners have in terms of putting their private assets up against the business in order to get the financing they need to open. Leases are an area of exclusive provincial jurisdiction. The laws that govern commercial leases are entirely within provincial jurisdiction. The time it took to get provinces on side to help small business was substantial, including the province that the member opposite comes from.

If we were to intervene unilaterally in a private contract between two individuals under provincial jurisdiction, does the member opposite think the courts would for a minute defend our actions against landlords who decided they did not want to participate? Does he think we could have overridden the courts, overridden provincial jurisdiction and intervened in private contracts unilaterally, with no consequence?

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

Madam Speaker, I think, with the greatest respect, that the member is missing the point. The approach was just simply incorrect, and they have essentially admitted to that through the introduction of their latest legislation, which simply aims to provide a direct subsidy to tenants. If they had just done that from the beginning, many businesses would have survived through this pandemic. It has been eight months.

I remember being at a finance committee meeting where Mr. Siddall from CMHC was defending the rent assist program by saying that of course landlords would accept it because it makes sense for them to accept it, and it was designed to be in their interests. He could not have been more wrong, and that was months and months ago. We were pleading with the government to wake up and examine this program and make it right. Instead the Liberals created a fake Parliament, a COVID committee. They then prorogued, and now we are here in November having this debate all over again.

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his speech.

I have a question for him. I will have an opportunity to speak soon, but I will say right now that we will support the opposition motion.

The member gave several examples of how difficult things are in his riding, and we could do the same for ours. I would like his thoughts on sectors like tourism, which is closely connected to the hospitality and restaurant sectors. We knew from the beginning that the road would be long. This sector was shut down in March, it picked up a bit in the summer and then it was shut down again. This will have long-term consequences.

What type of measures does the member envision in the long term?

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

Madam Speaker, aside from the subject matter of this motion, we have been asking the government for months now for rapid testing. Every country in the world seems to have rapid testing.

Rapid testing would go a long way in easing the concerns of people who would be customers in the restaurant, hospitality and tourism sectors. That is an area of policy we need to pursue in order to alleviate many of the concerns. Hopefully that will get people coming back out and being customers again.

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages (Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and Official Languages)]

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to participate in the debate on the motion moved by our colleague from Calgary Rocky Ridge. I also want to inform the House that I will be sharing my time with our esteemed colleague from Richmond Hill.

Today's motion deals with an important matter. I want to give a little context to the motion by giving an overview of what Canada's six regional development agencies are doing to support small businesses get through the COVID-19 pandemic and tackle the challenges the pandemic is leaving in its wake.

The pandemic has had a significant impact on Canadians from coast to coast to coast. With the lockdown, much of our economy is on forced pause. Everyone's life has been disrupted. This is especially true for entrepreneurs and workers in small and medium-sized businesses. These businesses are a source of good local jobs, but also of local pride. They are the backbone of our economy and our communities.

The Government of Canada very quickly understood the importance of helping them weather the crisis and acted very quickly. We launched the largest economic assistance program in our history. That included the Canada emergency wage benefit to help businesses keep their employees and rehire the ones they had to lay off, deferral of GST and HST remittances and customs duty amounts for businesses, and the Canada emergency business account offering interest-free loans to businesses and not-for-profits. We have been responsive to needs and have continuously adjusted and improved our assistance.

However, one of the things I heard when I met with entrepreneurs in my region, the vast and magnificent Madawaska—Restigouche, is that, despite the extensive social and economic safety net we set up, the smallest businesses are still having a hard time.

We asked ourselves two questions. How can we help those who are slipping through the cracks? What tool can we use to assist them, knowing that these entrepreneurs would rather turn to institutions that are part of their community, institutions they trust?

To respond to both of these concerns, we created a special assistance program implemented by our six regional economic development agencies. These agencies are on the ground. They are the ones who are best positioned to help workers and SMEs at the very heart of our communities.

That is why we established the regional relief and recovery Fund, or RRRF. The RRRF has a total budget of $962 million and is implemented either directly or indirectly by our regional development agencies in co-operation with key partners such as Community Futures development corporations, or CFDCs, in Quebec, or the CBDCs, in the Atlantic provinces, for example, and lastly with the PME MTL network.

The purpose of the RRRF is to support businesses at the heart of their local economies that cannot use existing federal programs or whose needs cannot be met by those programs. It provides SMEs and organizations that lack liquidity with emergency financial support to enable them to pay their employees and cover fixed costs so that they can stay in business.

Through the RRRF, we have been able to provide financial and technical assistance to thousands of businesses and organizations across the country, from coast to coast to coast. For example, by supporting Québec International, we have helped build the resilience of many SMEs in the Quebec City region affected by COVID-19, such as the Quartier Petit Champlain co-op, which has since shifted to e-commerce, and Défi-Évasion, which now has an online gaming platform.

Through the RRRF, we have provided direct assistance to many SMEs, including Proposify, a Halifax-based tech company that develops winning marketing strategies for its clients, particularly in exports. I would also like to mention Vexxit, a budding, innovative and majority woman-owned company in Winnipeg that has developed a unique intellectual property protection algorithm and uses it to match professional services businesses with clients.

The RRRF has proven essential to help businesses stay open and retain their highly qualified employees. I have seen it myself in my own riding of Madawaska—Restigouche.

Since the launch of the regional relief and recovery fund, the RRRF, in May, more than 12,000 businesses across the country have received help through this fund. However, it should be noted that the economic repercussions of the pandemic are not felt the same way in every region of the country, and that is especially true for Canada's northern territories. The Government of Canada understands and acknowledges that. That is why, in addition to the RRRF, $15 million was allocated to the creation of the northern business relief fund, which targets other immediate assistance needs for SMEs and seeks to ensure stability for businesses in sectors that are essential to economic recovery in the North.

Our response to the challenges that SMEs are facing in this crisis would have been incomplete if we had not recognized that certain sectors have been more directly hurt and require special attention. One of those industries is the fish and seafood processing chain. That is a vital sector of our economy, especially in Atlantic Canada, Quebec and in western Canada.

Overnight, the health crisis paralyzed these businesses' supply chain and cut off their access to markets. Action was needed. That is why the government created the Canadian seafood stabilization fund. With $62.5 million in support, this important sector of our economy can get what it needs and adapt to the new realities brought about by COVID-19.

Together, these measures have helped protect many Canadian jobs, provide emergency support to families, and keep businesses afloat as they deal with the impact of the health crisis. No sector of our economy has been spared by this health crisis, and with the arrival of the second wave, there is clearly a need for additional support.

That is why the Government of Canada announced another $600 million on October 2 to help Canadian businesses recover from the impact of COVID-19. This additional investment brings the total amount of assistance provided to businesses through the RRRF to over $1.5 billion.

Our SMEs are still facing many challenges. As my colleagues know, businesses on our main streets are vital to our communities. They have been hit hard. Many businesses have responded to the lockdown by expanding their offer of goods and services and joining online stores to attract new customers and to reach new markets. This was an unprecedented opportunity for us to help them not only rebound, but also to become better prepared to be competitive in the economy of tomorrow.

That is why we launched the Digital Main Street platform, which seeks to support almost 23,000 Ontario businesses by helping them survive and also prosper in the new economy. With federal funding of more than $42 million disbursed by FedDev Ontario, this innovative program helps businesses go digital.

We also know that it is not just main streets that are facing challenges. All the economies of our major cities have been greatly impacted by the economic repercussions of COVID-19. The number of active businesses in all major Canadian cities fell sharply in February and June as follows: 18% in Toronto, 15% in Montreal, 10% in Vancouver and 9% in Calgary.

I will use the example of Montreal, which became the epicentre of the Canadian pandemic in the spring of 2020. Social distancing measures and bans on large public gatherings have deprived the city's economy of its main sources of revenue associated with commerce, industry and tourism. The increase in e-commerce and telework has also had a serious impact on customer traffic in the downtown core, and the absence of international students has compounded the situation. In short, customer traffic in downtown Montreal is estimated to have dropped from 600,000 to 50,000 people a day. As of August, 26% of commercial space in downtown Montreal was vacant. Hotel occupancy in this tourist metropolis has plummeted by 69%.

The Canadian government is well aware of these challenges and has already begun to take action. For instance, we have allocated $30 million through the RRRF to the PME MTL network to provide targeted support to SMEs within Montreal affected by the economic impact of the pandemic.

I could go on. We have been listening to our businesses and to SMEs all across the country. We are ready to answer questions about the government's plans and the measures we have put in place.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Madam Speaker, one of the things that has been affecting small businesses during the pandemic and even prior to that is the predatory practices of the credit card companies. Their outrageous behaviour prior to COVID-19 saw interest rates up to 28%, some at 19% and some even in the 15 percentile. Then we had better operators like Vancity, for example, which during COVID-19 went to 0%.

The question I have for the member is whether or not he thinks there is room and there should be legislation or at least some type of a window provided to lower credit card interest rate fees and the service charges on small businesses. Those charges are absolutely outrageous and criminal when we look at them compared with other countries. Canada has some of the highest fees and rates, which are a drain on small businesses as they have moved to more operations. Whether it be credit cards or Interac, all those fees are going on.

I would like to hear the government's response to this. It is one of the things we have really not seen much from it on. It should have been dealt with before the pandemic, and it should be dealt with right now because they are getting more business than ever before.

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for this excellent question.

I would say that Canada's entire financial services sector has been listening to businesses during the COVID-19 crisis. Based on the Parliament of Canada's suggestions, many credit unions offered to suspend or defer required payments. Canadian banks and credit unions have been very co-operative.

That is an excellent question about credit cards. This problem has been around for a long time, but during the COVID-19 crisis, businesses were able to benefit from government measures like the Canada emergency wage subsidy, the Canada emergency commercial rent assistance program, the Canada emergency business account and the regional relief and recovery fund. Businesses saw that we were there and they welcomed the assistance provided by the federal government.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. He is my riding neighbour and I want to acknowledge him.

He spoke a lot about the regional relief and recovery fund, the RRRF, which was well received in my region of the Lower St. Lawrence and the Gaspé. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the excellent work that the four Community Futures development corporations in my region did as part of this program. They supported a number of struggling businesses.

There has been an increase in assistance, which I think is good, but it is temporary, while the pandemic could be around for quite a long time and businesses will continue to struggle for just as long. I am therefore wondering whether the federal government intends to make this program permanent.

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Madam Speaker, I thank my neighbour for that question.

From a geographic perspective, I would say that she is practically my riding cousin because our two ridings have the same type of population and the same type of businesses in the tourism, forestry and fishing industries.

The RRRF was extremely well received in very rural areas such as Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia and Madawaska—Restigouche. The program was enhanced and it was extremely well received. It helped an incredible variety of businesses, from florists to campgrounds to minigolf courses. It is unbelievable.

My colleague asked a good question. The program was enhanced. We have stepped up. I hope all residents of Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia will be able to fully benefit from this excellent program that we put in place.

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

Madam Speaker, one component of the motion we are debating today is flexibility. I was listening for that. I am recalling all of the emails I received, particularly back in May and June, and I am going to focus my comments specifically on the commercial rent program, CECRA.

Many businesses could not make use of that because of their relationship with their landlords, but I want to cite a meeting I had with Fred Naclerio, a large commercial landlord, who met with me wanting to do the right thing by his hundreds of tenants. He wanted to help them, but the hard cliff of the 70% drop and the inflexibility of the program forced his tenants to share with him financial details that made it very awkward on a go-forward basis. Even more so, for any fit-ups or any work he did as the commercial landlord on behalf of his clients, he now had to eat the utility costs and the fit-ups in his 25% contribution. He was willing to do the 25%, but there was no flexibility for all of the additional.

Can the member comment on why the landlords were pushed into a corner and had to remain within that tight restriction?

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his excellent question.

The government has heard from businesses and from commercial landlords and tenants. That is why this new program, the Canada emergency rent subsidy, will provide much more flexibility and will even be backdated to September. This is a great opportunity for those most affected who need rent support. I hope that my colleague will be able to reassure his constituents in this regard.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Madam Speaker, I stand to speak to the motion put forward by the member for Calgary Rocky Ridge. The motion put forward seeks to pause the audits of small businesses that received the Canada emergency wage subsidy and provide additional flexibility to the Canada emergency rent subsidy, the Canada emergency wage subsidy and other support programs.

When the pandemic hit, our government quickly rolled out many programs to help individuals and small businesses through the pandemic. The Canada emergency wage subsidy has helped protect more than 3.5 million Canadian jobs by supporting employers to keep their staff on the payroll.

However, an important step in understanding the viability of the program is by conducting audits on businesses that received this support. The Canada Revenue Agency recently began a small-scale post-payment verification project. This will help the government understand the level and degree of non-compliance. It will also help us refine the approach to better help our small businesses. The scale is small and the focus is on refining the program to help our small businesses better.

In the bill introduced by the Minister of Finance on October 9, we hoped to extend the wage subsidy program until June 2021. In ensuring this is administered fairly to employers, it is vital that CRA continues to probe and conduct audits. On the first part of the motion, which is talking about the audit, I strongly suggest we continue doing the audit because it is focused on bettering the program. On the second part of the motion, which is talking about the extension and modifications of various subsidy programs, we are doing that. As such, I cannot support the motion put forward by the member for Calgary Rocky Ridge.

Let me highlight the work we have done and the work we are planning to do to better address the second part of the motion. Small businesses, as all members know, are the hearts of our communities and the backbone of the Canadian economy. They make up 95% of all businesses, employ 8.5 million Canadians and account for 40% of our economy. These small businesses continue to add charm to our towns and cities, attracting tourists from every nook of the world.

In my riding of Richmond Hill, attractions like the David Dunlap Observatory continue to fascinate both amateur and expert astronomers alike since its opening in 1935. Some of the hardest-hit sectors were in food services, cultural, recreation and entertainment industries that usually benefit from tourism spending.

Tourism has always been a driving force in the building of Canada. It draws newcomers, investors and economic activity into our communities. It generates $102 billion in annual economic activity, 1.8 million jobs and accounts for 2% of our GDP. The sector’s footprint is virtually everywhere, underpinning businesses and not-for-profits in every province, territory and city, as well as many small communities.

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic is having a dramatic impact on Canada’s economy, and the challenge for the tourism sector has been amplified by closures and travel restrictions. Social distancing, capacity limitations and traveller sentiment will continue to impact the tourism industry into the future, even as travel restrictions slowly begin to ease.

In a meeting with hoteliers in my riding and the Hotel Association of Canada, I was informed that the tourism and hospitality sectors have been hardest hit during COVID-19 and continue to face significant barriers to recovery. There is no question that times are tough, especially with many parts of the country experiencing the second wave of the pandemic.

We made available several financial supports to businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. I will briefly mention them, as the details have been reviewed by many of the members in the House. They are the Canada emergency business account, the business credit availability program, the Canada emergency wage subsidy, the Canada emergency response benefit, the Canada emergency commercial rent assistance, the COVID-19 emergency support fund and the northern business relief fund.

There are also new supports for women and youth entrepreneurs, indigenous business owners and Black entrepreneurs. These measures are necessary because economic empowerment of all Canadians is the key to a just economic recovery.

The pandemic has hurt our small businesses the hardest, and owners have shown incredible resilience by continuing to serve their communities. I want to highlight the efforts of Aneal Swaratsingh, owner of Aneal's Taste of the Islands: a Caribbean restaurant in the heart of Richmond Hill. Aneal's restaurant has faced challenges during the pandemic. Still, he has donated meals to the local peer support centre and is consistently serving the most vulnerable in our community.

In May, we established the regional relief and recovery fund, delivered through the regional development agencies, to mitigate the financial pressure experienced by businesses and to allow them to continue their operations. The regional relief and recovery fund provides targeted assistance to businesses and business support organizations that were unable to access our existing COVID-19 relief measures. A lifeline for businesses that might otherwise not have survived, the RRRF has been vital in helping them continue their operations, keep their employees, pay bills and get access to capital.

On October 2, the Prime Minister announced $600 million in top-up funds for the RRRF. We are providing over $1.5 billion through the RRRF to help more businesses and organizations in sectors such as tourism that are key to the regions and to local economies.

So far, more than 2,700 Canadian businesses in the tourism sector have benefited from the fund. I would like to take the opportunity to thank the six regional development agencies: the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency, the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario and Western Economic Diversification Canada.

The regional development agencies are taking a place-based approach to delivering the regional relief and recovery fund program. They are taking a leading role in implementing measures to help businesses and individuals within communities across the country, and they are providing as much flexibility as possible with their existing recipients. Our RDAs are there to help businesses and innovators grow, succeed and create good jobs for Canadians.

The government is proud of the measures and initiatives taken to support our small and medium-size businesses, particularly those in the tourism sector.

Some of the work we are planning to do includes expanding the Canada emergency business account to help businesses with fixed costs, improving the business credit availability program and extending the Canada emergency wage subsidy until June 2021, to help businesses keep employees on the payroll and rehire workers.

Further, following a commitment in the Speech from the Throne to provide direct financial support to businesses temporarily shut down as a result of a local public health decision, we have introduced the new Canada emergency rent subsidy to provide rent subsidies directly to tenants while also supporting property owners. Qualifying organizations would be able to access rent and mortgage support until June 2021.

COVID-19 has caused businesses across the country, both large and small, to rethink their approaches. Entrepreneurs and owners are looking at more digital options, more creative solutions and more climate-friendly investments. We will support people and businesses in the tourism sector through this crisis as long as it lasts. Whatever it takes, we are here and our government is here for small businesses and the tourism sector.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Madam Speaker, in the member's speech he mentioned audits from the government as if they were good things. This morning, the member for Guelph also mentioned audits as if a small business would appreciate an audit or enjoy an audit, and would learn something very important from an audit.

Does the member believe that audits from the CRA are something that small businesses would look forward to with joy and anticipation?

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Madam Speaker, I would like to provide a different perspective on the audit.

If I may, I will ask the member to consider a small business owner who gets a call that says, “I am calling from the CRA. We are so happy you have been benefiting from our wage subsidy. We would like to have some questions answered to see how we could improve the program and make it better. Your business has some uniqueness that we may not have considered in the past.”

Let me draw a parallel example. When quality assurance is done in a manufacturing facility, someone looks at how they can improve the product or service. They do not say they are going to do a quality check because they want to punish the employee who provided that product or service.

I would like to present that different perspective.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Madam Speaker, I hear my colleague loud and clear, and audits can be a way for large and small businesses to improve. My colleague mentioned manufacturing companies.

That said, the government keeps repeating that we have to work together and that it is here to help citizens. Businesses are “corporate citizens”.

However, do Canada Revenue Agency's repeated refusals to postpone audits not show rather a lack of support for small entrepreneurs, when the agency is under the responsibility of the member for Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine, a riding with many small entrepreneurs?

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Madam Speaker, our government respects the CRA's arm's-length status.

I would also like to highlight that the Minister of National Revenue does not instruct the CRA to begin audits, nor does the minister intervene in audits that are under way.

However, going back to the comment I made previously, this is a continuous improvement. We got feedback in committees about how we could improve the program. Small businesses are another stakeholder in this whole process, and we needed to reach out to them in the same way that, at the beginning of COVID-19, we asked them what we could do differently, whether the measures taken had been effective and, if not, how we could improve them.