House of Commons Hansard #27 of the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was ndp.
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
Madam Chair, I have thought really carefully about the intended consequences of the lockdown support. What I believe this support will do is empower public health officers, mayors and premiers to do the right thing for health because that is going to be the right thing for the economy.
Greg McLean Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
Madam Chair, the balance sheet of the Bank of Canada has increased by $450 billion since the pandemic started. Of that, $175 billion is in the repo market. That means it has paid the banks. Can the minister tell us why so much?
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
Madam Chair, the members opposite seem to be confusing the job of the finance minister with the job of the Governor of the Bank of Canada. I understand the distinction, and I honour it.
Greg McLean Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
The answer, Madam Chair, is to keep interest rates low. Interest rates go down, outstanding bond prices go up. It is kind of a rule, but about 100% correlation: we will put it that way.
With $250 billion in the secondary market, how many billions of Canadian dollars has the Bank of Canada wasted and overpaid to institutions to redeem off-the-run securities in the financial markets?
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
Again, Madam Chair, the members opposite seem oddly keen on undermining the independence and the authority of the Bank of Canada, and I can think of nothing that is more pernicious and more dangerous in this difficult time. Our government believes in the independence of our Bank of Canada. We know how important that is to our economy.
Greg McLean Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
Madam Chair, who is responsible for the overpayments of the government's Crown corporation called the Bank of Canada?
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
Madam Chair, the Conservatives may, for partisan reasons that I actually do not entirely fathom, seek to attack the Bank of Canada—
Greg McLean Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
It is billions, Madam Chair, and the Canadian taxpayers are responsible for it, so somebody in the House should be responsible for it. However, with a few billion here and 10 billion there, pretty soon I know we are going to be talking about real money. That will need to be repaid by Canadian taxpayers.
Financial analysts are reporting that with the amount of on-the-run buying of Canadian bonds in the marketplace, by the end of this year, there will be no external demand for Canadian securities at all. At that point in time, can the minister tell us what she thinks will happen to interest rates?
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
Again, Madam Chair, external demand for Canadian securities is in fact very strong because of our strong economic performance and because of our strong fiscal record. However, I want to repeat, the Conservatives cannot have their cake and eat it too. Either they believe in supporting Canadians and Canadian businesses or they do not.
Greg McLean Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
Madam Chair, with 44% of the Bank of Canada's buying being in the on-the-run marketplace, there is no demand for new Canadian securities out there, and it escalates every month.
Who is going to be paying this accelerating interest?
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
Again, Madam Chair, I say to the Conservatives to pick a lane: They are for austerity or they want to support Canadians. We know what we believe in.
Marilène Gill Bloc Manicouagan, QC
Madam Chair, Bill C-9 is pretty late in coming, but it fixes some of the problems the Bloc Québécois identified back at the start of the pandemic. We will definitely support this bill, and we hope it will be passed in a timely manner. The Bloc wants to support our workers, our entrepreneurs and our communities.
Does the government agree that the bill must help those who really need help, those whose needs are so great that the pandemic could threaten their existence?
Jean-Yves Duclos LiberalPresident of the Treasury Board
Madam Chair, I am very happy to hear my Bloc Québécois colleague. We are from the same province, and those of us on this side of the House also recognize the major issues and challenges that our businesses, especially our small businesses, are facing. That is why we are so happy we can count on the Bloc's support for this bill.
Marilène Gill Bloc Manicouagan, QC
Madam Chair, would the government also agree that a business or applicant should not receive assistance twice for the same need? For instance, a restaurant or bed and breakfast could not receive both the Canada emergency wage subsidy and the Canada emergency commercial rent assistance for the same premises.
Jean-Yves Duclos Liberal Québec, QC
Madam Chair, I think we all agree that government assistance should be targeted at those who need it most, in a way that respects the integrity of the use of public funds.
Marilène Gill Bloc Manicouagan, QC
Madam Chair, I am so happy to hear the government say that assistance should go to those who really need it, to people whose very existence is in danger, and that people cannot receive double payments of government assistance.
Does the government believe that political parties like the Liberal Party of Canada, the Conservative Party of Canada and the New Democratic Party, which have accumulated a combined total of $25 million in their coffers over the last six months, which they will use to finance the next election campaign, are as much at risk from the pandemic as SMEs on the North Shore?
Jean-Yves Duclos Liberal Québec, QC
Madam Chair, if she had the time, my colleague might have also added that the assistance, as was the case in the past few months, was provided efficiently, quickly and without discrimination as to the type of work people do or the regions where people live.
Marilène Gill Bloc Manicouagan, QC
Madam Chair, again, the recipient should need the money. It is not right to double dip.
Does the government agree that the Liberal Party, which received $1.2 million from the emergency wage subsidy that it will use it for the next election and be reimbursed for by the Chief Electoral Officer, essentially got twice the assistance when it did not need any?
Jean-Yves Duclos Liberal Québec, QC
Madam Chair, this gives me the opportunity to thank my colleague for her question and point out that the emergency wage subsidy has helped close to four million workers over the past few months. That is four million workers who would have lost both their job and their ability to put food on the table.
Marilène Gill Bloc Manicouagan, QC
Madam Chair, in light of these inconsistent answers, I would like the government to be honest enough to say that it applies for double the assistance when it does not need any, while people back home on the North Shore and elsewhere in Quebec are not getting anything during this pandemic.
Jean-Yves Duclos Liberal Québec, QC
Madam Chair, I am somewhat concerned when the member says that no one in her riding has received government assistance. If that is the case, they really have to take action in that riding because, in Canada, almost nine million workers, including tens of thousands—
Marilène Gill Bloc Manicouagan, QC
Madam Speaker, the government misunderstood the question. Some have received assistance, but there are some who need it more than the Liberal Party does.
To prevent wealthy political parties, like the Liberal Party of Canada, from receiving twice as much financial assistance, which they do not need, when at the same time companies whose survival depends on it are denied that assistance, does the government think that reinstating public funding for political parties would be the solution?
Jean-Yves Duclos Liberal Québec, QC
Madam Chair, I did not have time to finish my answer. I was going to say that 8.8 million workers have received the CERB. I imagine that there are tens of thousands in the member's riding. If that is not the case, if she does not have that kind of information, she has the right to ask for it. We will do everything we can to obtain it.
