Debates of Nov. 5th, 2020

Income Tax Act

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

Madam Chair, I can tell the minister that I was talking to one of our local farm families, and they have been told by their financial institution that, because they do not have a business registration number with Revenue Canada, they do not qualify. Therefore, I am going to ask the minister to let them contact her. Will she make sure that they get access to the CEBA program?

I want to switch gears a bit and follow up on some of the questions that were asked by my colleague from Brandon—Souris.

In rural Canada, fairs, festivals and rodeos are the backbone of our communities during the summer. Of course, right now, they are really struggling. In 2009 and 2010, I was proud when our former Conservative government announced the marquee tourism events program: $100 million over two years. Does the Minister of Finance plan to bring forward any support for our fairs and festivals across this country?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Madam Chair, I am very familiar with the marquee tourism initiative. Unfortunately, I also remember I was an opposition member at that time, and that program discriminated against certain organizations.

In our investments, we have made sure that we have an open process that enables many organizations to take advantage of such initiatives. That is why we have invested $1.5 billion through the regional development agencies to advance such programs and assist such associations, as well as $500 million through the Minister of Canadian Heritage, in his fund, to assist these types of organizations.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

Madam Chair, I can tell the member that fairs, festivals, special events and cultural events are waiting with bated breath, because there have been no announcements or support offered by the government. I think the government needs to make sure that there are dollars rolling out, because nobody has seen a single red cent yet.

Again, one thing that is important in my riding is tourism. I know that our independent travel agencies are struggling and our youth camps are struggling. I know that Camp Arnes, Camp Massad, Gimli Bible Camp and Camp Cedarwood are looking for some level of support.

Beyond the wage and rent subsidies, can the government guarantee that some of those dollars will flow to our camps, so that they can be there in operation for our youth in the future?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

Madam Chair, for those businesses that are so terribly hard hit, we absolutely want to see them supported through this very difficult time of COVID-19, and we are going to need to keep working together on this.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Madam Chair, in the town of St. Thomas, it was recently announced that the Marriott was closing its doors. The Marriott hired over 500 individuals, mostly women. At this time, they have all lost their jobs and are looking for new ones. Multiple sectors just like this have also been hit hard, but specifically the tourism sector. I am wondering what the next steps are that this government is going to take to reopen Canada.

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Minister of Small Business]

Madam Chair, I want to thank the hon. member for her advocacy and her hard work, particularly for her community and so many of the incredible businesses there. I know how much she cares and how hard she works for them.

The broad-based emergency supports are there to help our businesses, but remember that the fight we are fighting right now is the COVID-19 fight.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Madam Chair, just yesterday, this government voted against our opposition day motion to delay audits for small businesses receiving the wage subsidy program. I fully believe in accountability and transparency, but why did this government choose to vote against it?

[Diane Lebouthillier, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue]

Madam Chair, in June, my Conservative colleagues were clamouring for more audits of the emergency response programs.

Now they want fewer audits of a program that has paid out $45 billion to 1.4 million applicants. The Conservatives need to make up their minds.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Madam Chair, I am really not sure where we are going with this. I am just asking why they did not support the motion. That is one of the greatest concerns.

We know that small businesses are being kicked right now when they are down. Why is the government asking for this documentation at a time that is very difficult, as many small business owners are working additional hours filling in all of these gaps? Why is the government not giving them a break right now?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

Madam Chair, that is what the legislation is about. It is about keeping the work, continuing the work and building on what we need to do to help businesses with those fixed costs and help them with the wage subsidy. When I see some of these businesses that are so resilient, they have pivoted because of being able to get a—

[The Deputy Chair, NDP, Carol Hughes]

The hon. member.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Madam Chair, right now, I am talking to small business owners, restaurant owners, who are working 12 to 14 hours a day. They have to go home now and get all of this documentation, and it is expected within two weeks. Why is the government asking for this documentation right now with such a short turnaround?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

Madam Chair, as someone who grew up in a family business, I know what working those very long hours are all about. That is exactly how we put these programs together. These programs are specifically to help those hard-hit businesses.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Madam Chair, I am going to pivot here, because we are talking about documentation at a very busy time, but we have heard the exact same excuse when we ask for documents regarding WE and these other programs. Why is it okay for small businesses that are extremely busy at this time, closing their businesses and losing employees, all of those great things? Why is it okay for the government to ask for documents, but the government will not give documents?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board]

Madam Chair, I fully support the importance of transparency and providing information and I do, indeed, want to assure the MP that we are doing precisely that. The open government portal is providing over 300 different files with all sorts of documentation related strictly to COVID-19 and the—

[The Deputy Chair, NDP, Carol Hughes]

The hon. member.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Madam Chair, I very much appreciate that Liberals want to be accountable, but I just heard from the Conservative finance critic that back in 2019, they did not bring a long-term fiscal update and we are looking at accountability for that.

The finance minister is saying that this fall she is going to be bringing forward a fiscal update. I am wondering what “this fall” means. Does it actually mean December 21, the last day of fall, just like the Liberals did with the fiscal update in 2018, or does it mean that they are going to bring it in the next two months?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Québec, QC]

Madam Chair, because the time that we have to discuss these important issues is always limited, I was going to add that the GC InfoBase provides hundreds of pages of detailed information on various budgetary estimates in support of the crisis.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Yes, Madam Chair, they are up to date until July, I guess. Are these redacted documents or are these actually for all of us to see?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Québec, QC]

Madam Chair, I am delighted to say that these pieces of information are on the Internet. If people click on it, they see them immediately.

[Tako Van Popta, Conservative, Langley—Aldergrove, BC]

Madam Chair, the government's rent subsidy program failed so many Canadians because the application was too complicated and it relied on landlords making the application. A number of worthy businesses in my riding that really needed the help just did not qualify, but I am so happy to see that the government, in Bill C-9, has picked up on some of the suggestions from the Conservative Party.

My question is about another group of Canadian businesses that the government has left behind, and that is businesses that do not rent but own the buildings where they do business. For example, Jasmine in my riding runs a very successful retail business in beautiful historic Fort Langley. She has worked hard all of her life. Her savings went into buying the building where her business is. The irony is that she would qualify for the rent subsidy, but she owns the building. Her mortgage company has just recently called and threatened foreclosure.

Is there help for Jasmine?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Madam Chair, obviously, to answer categorically, one would need to know the specific details, but this rent support also covers interest payments. It is not only for rent. If someone has an interest payment on a building, that is covered too.

[Tako Van Popta, Conservative, Langley—Aldergrove, BC]

Madam Chair, that is good. When is help going to be on the way? Is this a program that is going to be implemented as soon as the bill is passed?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

Madam Chair, let us get it passed in the House, let us get it through the Senate and then we can get it out to Canadians.

[Tako Van Popta, Conservative, Langley—Aldergrove, BC]

Madam Chair, I have a question about the wage subsidy program, which has been a very important program to keep businesses afloat, but it of course required businesses have employees. I have spoken to a lot of businesses that wanted to hire people, but they felt they were competing with the government CERB program.

For example, Gordon in my riding runs a very successful landscaping business. He had the opportunity to expand that business to build cedar fences, but he could not get people to work for him because people were at home collecting CERB. People like Gordon are competing with the government for good employees.