House of Commons Hansard #44 of the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was pandemic.

Topics

Supplementary Estimates (B), 2020-21Government Orders

11:25 p.m.

NDP

Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC

Mr. Speaker, the NDP agree to apply and will be voting in favour.

Supplementary Estimates (B), 2020-21Government Orders

11:25 p.m.

Green

Elizabeth May Green Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC

Mr. Speaker, the Green Party agrees to apply and will be voting in favour.

Supplementary Estimates (B), 2020-21Government Orders

11:25 p.m.

Independent

Yasmin Ratansi Independent Don Valley East, ON

Mr. Speaker, I agree to apply and will be voting yes.

Supplementary Estimates (B), 2020-21Government Orders

11:25 p.m.

Liberal

Marwan Tabbara Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON

Mr. Speaker, I agree to apply the vote and will be voting in favour.

Supplementary Estimates (B), 2020-21Government Orders

11:25 p.m.

Independent

Jody Wilson-Raybould Independent Vancouver Granville, BC

Mr. Speaker, I agree to apply and will be voting in favour.

(The House divided on the motion, which was agreed to on the following division:)

Vote #38

Supplementary Estimates (B), 2020-21Government Orders

11:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Deputy Speaker Conservative Bruce Stanton

I declare the motion carried.

(Bill read the third time and passed)

A motion to adjourn the House under Standing Order 38 deemed to have been moved.

Small BusinessAdjournment Proceedings

11:30 p.m.

Conservative

Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB

Mr. Speaker, I know the hour is late, but I am sure the government spent considerable energy preparing a response to a question I put to the government on November 19, for which I received an unsatisfactory answer, so here we are for a late show, and putting the “late” in late show tonight.

I asked the Minister of Small Business to stand up for small business and instruct her government to respect the will of Parliament and postpone the wage subsidy audits on small businesses. The answer that came that day did not come from the Minister of Small Business, to whom I put the question, it came from the Minister of National Revenue, who I am not sure listened to the question because her response did not really address it and was wholly unsatisfactory.

I hope the government, and particularly the Minister of Small Business, shares my concern about small businesses and understands they really are the lifeblood of our economy. They employ people in our communities. They have had to make heartbreaking choices as they cope with the pandemic. I know every MP in this chamber has had to deal with businesses in their ridings and the things they are going through.

In September, some small businesses received a letter from the CRA that contained a checklist of documents that was about six pages long. This came at a time when small businesses did not even know if the support programs that were expiring in September were going to be continued, or what the details of any continuation of these programs might be, yet they were being told to drop everything and put together these complicated lists of items within 10 days.

Small businesses are in survival mode. An enormous proportion of our small businesses do not know if they are going to make it through Christmas or what next year is going to look like, so our motion was really a common-sense motion in support of our small businesses. It was supported by the Bloc, the NDP, the Green Party and even two out of the three ex-Liberals who are now sitting as independents supported this motion, so only the governing party did not support the motion. At this point, having had the experience of that vote, it is no longer about just the substance of that motion, but respecting the will of Parliament.

Parliament has spoken. The members who were elected by Canadians have spoken and instructed the government to postpone the audits until at least after the tax season. The government has still given no indication that it will respect the will of Parliament; in fact, it has given a contrary view on this. Therefore, we continue to call upon the government to at least accept the will of Parliament and publicly show some level of support for small businesses, if not the merit of the motion itself. The government has a very difficult relationship with small businesses now. We all know about the draconian tax changes it proposed in 2017. We know about the comments that the leading members of the government made.

I see my time is up. I will let the government respond from there.

Small BusinessAdjournment Proceedings

11:30 p.m.

Vaughan—Woodbridge Ontario

Liberal

Francesco Sorbara LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Revenue

Madam Speaker, I am very happy to respond to the question from the member for Calgary Rocky Ridge regarding the Canada emergency wage subsidy and its effect on small businesses.

The Canada Revenue Agency recognizes that businesses and organizations of all sizes have been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and is making it a priority to deliver CEWS and the new Canada emergency rent subsidy payments as quickly as possible.

Since the start of the pandemic, the Government of Canada has worked closely with businesses to understand their needs and provide them with support that will help them quickly rehire workers laid off due to COVID-19. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the CRA has time and again mobilized in a concerted and nimble way to develop and implement, in record time, the numerous programs and systems needed to quickly deliver funds to businesses and individuals during this very difficult time.

In the case of the Canada emergency wage subsidy, 1.6 million claims were processed, representing almost $50-billion worth of support delivered to employers. This is an outstanding accomplishment.

The CRA is committed to maintaining a balance between making emergency funds accessible to businesses that urgently need this support, while preserving the fairness and integrity of our tax system and administering the laws adopted by Parliament.

Conducting verifications is one of the ways the CRA can protect the integrity of its programs that provide needed support for businesses and communities using tax dollars. The initial CEWS verifications included a limited sample and covered a wide range of businesses. In fact, CEWS's post-payment verifications impact less than 0.1% of CEWS recipients. Small businesses were not being unfairly included. There have been fewer than 90 verifications involving small businesses. This is in spite of the fact that small businesses, which have been hit the hardest by the pandemic, have accounted for over 70% of applications in each period of the CEWS.

It is plain for any reasonable person to see that small businesses have, in fact, not been unfairly included as part of these necessary and useful verifications. The CRA must do its due diligence and ensure those receiving emergency response benefits are entitled to them. Canadians can have confidence that the CRA will protect the integrity of programs that provide needed support for businesses using their tax dollars.

The preliminary results from post-payment verifications will inform the CRA not only on the level of compliance with respect to this benefit program, but also on conducting compliance activities during the COVID-19 pandemic and, by extension, other global crises. Given the size of the CEWS, the CRA needs to administer it fairly for all employers. Preliminary CEWS verifications selected a limited sample, and they are in many business ranges.

I would mention in closing that we respect and acknowledge the House's formal opinion on this important matter, as articulated in a resolution of the House adopted on November 4. I can assure Canadians that the CRA is committed to maintaining a balance between making emergency funds accessible to businesses that urgently need this support, while preserving the fairness and the integrity of our tax system in administering the legislation as adopted by Parliament.

Small BusinessAdjournment Proceedings

11:35 p.m.

Conservative

Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB

Madam Speaker, the government cannot have it both ways. It cannot say it respects the will of Parliament while it ignores the will of Parliament. Parliament voted on November 4, and the government should simply do what Parliament asked of it and declare that it will hold off until June. That is what Parliament asked the government to do.

The parliamentary secretary, as recently as earlier this evening, heard at the Standing Committee on Finance just how onerous these audits are. It heard how complicated the application processes are, and heard some of the difficulties and challenges around small business. It is time for the government to show small businesses a little more respect than it has since it was elected in 2015.

Small BusinessAdjournment Proceedings

11:35 p.m.

Liberal

Francesco Sorbara Liberal Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON

Madam Speaker, the government's investment in Canadian businesses via the CEWS means that hundreds of thousands of Canadian businesses and millions of employees will be able to keep their staff on the payroll and their doors open.

As I previously stated, the CRA is committed to maintaining a balance between making emergency funds accessible to businesses that urgently need the support while preserving the fairness and integrity of our tax system and administering the laws as adopted by Parliament.

To date, almost $50 billion has been paid to 1.6 million claimants who have applied for the CEWS. The CRA recognizes the economic challenges that have resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact that the audit process can have on businesses. For this reason, the CRA has proceeded carefully in order to protect both businesses and the broader economy, which remains vulnerable due to the pandemic.

The CRA wants to reassure business owners across Canada that it will be as flexible as possible with deadlines for information requests given the hardships of the ongoing pandemic, in line with our people first approach—

Small BusinessAdjournment Proceedings

11:40 p.m.

NDP

The Assistant Deputy Speaker NDP Carol Hughes

Unfortunately, the time is up.

The hon. member for Courtenay—Alberni.

Indigenous AffairsAdjournment Proceedings

11:40 p.m.

NDP

Gord Johns NDP Courtenay—Alberni, BC

Madam Speaker, thank you very much for being here so late tonight. I know it is close to midnight, and I want to thank you for the work that you are doing tonight by staying so late and overseeing the House of Commons.

The reason I am here is in relation to a question I had regarding the homelessness tragedy that is taking place across Canada. In particular, my question was related to what is happening in Port Alberni, in my riding and on the streets of Port Alberni where we are losing lives. People are losing hope.

We have an overrepresentation of indigenous people living on the streets, and that is what I want to speak to tonight. Over two-thirds of the people living on the streets of Port Alberni are indigenous. The Liberal government's promise to allocate and build 3,000 beds to deal with the homelessness crisis across Canada is not nearly enough. People are living without shelter. They are living in makeshift tents. They are living in public parks.

They are trying to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. There is an opioid crisis that is taking place, a public health emergency here in British Columbia. The mental health implications are dire for this population. Their spirits are often simply broken. Many of them are suffering from systemic racism from public institutions, and are often struggling to overcome multi-generational trauma caused by colonial policies, like the Indian residential schools that have had a huge impact.

People are desperate. Sadly, too many are turning to suicide, to violence against others, or to substance misuse. It is shameful that these conditions persist in urban communities across our country, whether it is in small rural communities or in large cities. This is not the Canada that we want it to be. We must address these very serious and important issues. It should not be the future of our children.

The 3,000 beds I cited earlier, which the Liberal government has committed to, deal with the hard to house, those who are at the lowest barriers, and who need assistance and support services. We need these investments critically in our community. We need this massive investment, along with reforms for federal drug policies, which create stigma and a fear of ending up in the criminal justice system rather than in the health and social support system, where care and help could be provided.

We are looking at proposals to help deal with these issues, but in the meantime lives are being lost to the COVID-19 pandemic, to the opioid public health emergency, to death by suicide, to violence against women and girls, and to an endless cycle of urban indigenous poverty that has to be broken.

We are calling on the government to take action. We ask ourselves, “Where do we start?” There is no question in my mind that we need to start by implementing the calls to action from the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls inquiry, implementing the calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, creating and resourcing an indigenous-led housing program, creating and resourcing an indigenous-led board to investigate violence against indigenous people by the criminal justice system, and ensuring shared decision-making related to policies affecting the rights of indigenous people in their communities.

As I stated, in my riding, I have been working, supporting and advocating for funding under the rapid housing initiative. I have been writing letters and speaking to ministers whenever I have the opportunity, including the parliamentary secretary tonight. I really appreciate him taking the time to talk to me about an application that is going in, that I will not get into the details of. However, the importance of—

Indigenous AffairsAdjournment Proceedings

11:40 p.m.

NDP

The Assistant Deputy Speaker NDP Carol Hughes

Unfortunately, the hon. member's time is up. The hon. parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development.

Indigenous AffairsAdjournment Proceedings

11:40 p.m.

Spadina—Fort York Ontario

Liberal

Adam Vaughan LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Families

Madam Speaker, I too, would like to thank House staff for staying late and supporting us, not just through the evening tonight, but also in the difficult period of COVID. I hope all are safe.

The member opposite lists a number of initiatives we have committed to that I think are incredibly important as we move to address and end chronic homelessness in this country, and it cannot happen without an indigenous-led urban, rural and northern housing strategy. Leaving it to the three NIOs and investing into the existing streams of housing has not done the job. We need to make sure that communities right across the country, whether in large cities, in the western or eastern part of the country or in the northern territories, require us to respond in different ways.

I want to assure the member opposite that the rapid housing initiative is a billion dollar program that was rolled out on very short notice to deal with the chronic and very dangerous situation facing people without shelter. It is the first instalment of the campaign to end chronic homelessness in this country and is certainly not the last investment. I want to thank him for forwarding and bringing to our attention the project in his riding. It is a good project. I will bring it to the minister's and CMHC's attention on the member's behalf to make sure that he gets a quick response, because his community needs help.

To further talk about the situation facing us as a country, as we take a look at some of the deep cracks or gaps in our social safety net, COVID has shown us why it is essential to address these with urgency and with large investments, and also to make sure those investments land on the ground and are directly invested into communities that are leading the campaign to end chronic homelessness. Cities, towns and communities know best how to spend those dollars. That is why we are very proud to work with the Canadian Federation of Municipalities to deliver these dollars.

I agree that 3,000 units of housing will not solve the problem. That is why we have also committed to the indigenous-led urban, rural and northern housing program. It is why we have also committed to reinvesting dollars into the co-investment fund. It is also why, in the recent fall statement, we put additional dollars into the rental housing fund to build more purpose-built housing. It is also why, in the same fall economic statement, a commitment was made by this government to build 38 shelters for indigenous women on and off reserves, as well as 50 supportive housing units in the coming year as part of the buildup to the response to the missing and murdered indigenous women.

At the end of the day, it is going to take all orders of government working together: indigenous governments, municipal governments, provincial governments and federal governments. There is obviously a housing component to it. There are also mental health and addiction issues that have to be addressed through supportive housing. We need provincial health authorities to make sure the federal funds that flow to the health authorities are spent in these residential settings.

We have a plan. We have a good strong plan. We have a good study coming out of the human resources committee in Parliament right now. We have ministers who are committed. We have a government that is committed and, for the first time in perhaps 30 years, we have all governments pointed in the same direction to achieve the same good things for people right across the country.

I will agree with the member opposite on one final point. If we do not create the indigenous-led urban, rural and northern housing strategy, we will never end chronic homelessness. On the west coast in particular, in B.C. where the homeless counts and point-in-time counts show the massive overrepresentation of indigenous people, this program is so critically needed. It was needed years ago. The good news is that it is on the way, and that we have parties on the other side of House that are willing to support it in a minority Parliament because together we can get this done.

I will say one last thing to my colleagues from British Columbia. This was a very tough weekend in British Columbia for a whole lot of reasons, but we also lost Katherine McParland from Kamloops. She was on our advisory committee as we reprofiled homelessness programs with Reaching Home. She also co-chaired the B.C. government's panel on ending chronic homelessness in B.C. She died very tragically this weekend. We have lost a strong voice of lived experience. She is a young woman who came out of the foster care system, a young woman who struggled and unfortunately is not going to be around to see the fruits of her labour pay off for thousands of other kids. My thoughts are with her family and friends today.

Indigenous AffairsAdjournment Proceedings

11:45 p.m.

NDP

Gord Johns NDP Courtenay—Alberni, BC

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for taking the time to be here tonight to listen to this important issue. Clearly, this is a human rights issue. We are losing young people unnecessarily.

I want to thank him for acknowledging the loss that he talked about tonight, and also for acknowledging the importance of all levels of government working collectively. We have great non-profits doing incredible work at the grassroots level and saving lives, but they need help. We have a great mayor in Port Alberni, Sharie Minions, who is working around the clock trying to find solutions; a new MLA, Minister Josie Osborne, who said it is her first and number one task; and we have a provincial government that is building half of the non-market housing in Canada; however, we need a federal partner.

I would look to the parliamentary secretary to help deliver on this project. It will save lives. Let us stop the unnecessary loss of lives.

Indigenous AffairsAdjournment Proceedings

11:50 p.m.

Liberal

Adam Vaughan Liberal Spadina—Fort York, ON

Madam Speaker, I had a great conversation with the new minister of housing from British Columbia after he was sworn in about the shared responsibility all orders of the government have, and I think this is the only way we are going to solve homelessness.

While we take steps to exit people from the situations they face whether in shelters, on the streets or in precarious housing and we take steps to address the issues right in front of us that need addressing, including the opioid crisis, which the member opposite has also spoken about, we must also recognize the prevention of homelessness as just as crucial.

That is why income support programs, dealing with child welfare systems and returning indigenous children in particular to indigenous communities and family are just as much a part of ending chronic homelessness as some of the issues he mentioned as well. We cannot do it with one order of government, and we are not going to do it with bricks and mortars alone. We need to realize this is a health crisis, and treat it as a health crisis and we need to respond to it when the same urgency as the COVID response.

I am very proud to be part of a government with a Prime Minister who has declared an end to chronic homelessness. I look forward to working with the member opposite to deliver on that commitment.

Indigenous AffairsAdjournment Proceedings

11:50 p.m.

NDP

The Assistant Deputy Speaker NDP Carol Hughes

The hon. member for Edmonton West is not present to raise the matter for which adjournment notice has been given. Accordingly, the notice is deemed withdrawn.

The motion that the House do now adjourn is deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly, the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m. pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 11:51 p.m.)