Debates of April 11th, 2020

Statements Regarding COVID-19

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by extending a respectful greeting to all my colleagues in the House and, above all, my most compassionate regards to seniors.

I cannot imagine the day-to-day life of elderly people living in one of the many types of residences in Quebec and Canada. They cannot be with their loved ones, and they are exposed to a disease that could very well claim their lives before they have a chance to see their children and grandchildren one last time. That is indescribably sad.

I am also thinking of other seniors, those who are not directly exposed or not frequently exposed, but whose retirement accounts are declining in value, who are feeling isolated, who live in remote areas, and whose family members live far away and cannot visit them. I am thinking of those people.

This is a little off-topic, by I have also sent the Prime Minister some recommendations and suggestions to help those people as much as possible.

I am thinking of workers who cannot work. Helping them is the reason we are gathered here today.

This may seem odd, but I am thinking of our young people. Youth is the most sociable time of life. We are locking our young people in the basement, making them feel like they cannot see their friends except on their phones, with limited exceptions. I am also thinking of the parents who have to deal with kids expressing their impatience as only kids can.

I am thinking of the health care workers who could theoretically choose not to go to work, but who are showing up day after day, answering the call of duty. Health care workers are exposed beyond all reasonable bounds. I have the greatest respect for the. Unlike us, they cannot work two or three metres apart.

I am thinking of workers in the transportation sector, who are working insane hours under uncertain conditions. Many of them are being denied access to basic facilities along the way, like showers and food, and their determination warrants more respect than they are getting. I also salute agricultural workers, who are dealing with unique challenges. In addition, I salute my colleagues for working together, even though I may seem like an awkward fit on Team Canada.

The past few weeks have proven that collaboration can fuel success. This is really important to me. From the beginning of this crisis, we have overcome the temptation to score points and instead offered our fullest and most sincere collaboration.

Today we are going to pass legislation. Of course, there are some people in this House who would say that, when summer comes, it will be thanks to them. I think that we need to set all that aside today. We need to say that it will be thanks to “us”, an “us” made up of 338 people chosen by 36 million Canadians, including 78 people chosen by 8.5 million Quebeckers.

Our SMEs, which are the backbone of Quebec's economy, will find a crucial tool in this bill. However, I am looking at it through the eyes of the workers, primarily because this bill will protect purchasing power to benefit workers beyond what EI would do.

That is, in itself, a way to support the economy. In essence, the billions of dollars the Canadian government is investing in people and businesses will serve to protect its own future revenues, its tax revenues.

It is wise and necessary to do so and I would point out, and everyone can make of this what they will, that this is a demonstration that history will not soon forget of the government's crucial and essential role in the economy, of the legitimacy of government intervention in the economy and the fact that less government is far from the best solution.

The families of these workers will have a sense of security. The parents of these workers will have a sense of security. Research and science will find a remedy for the virus, but a sense of security is the remedy for anxiety, anguish, concern and fear for the future. It is one of the fundamental roles of this legislation.

There have been some collaborative efforts that we are pleased to have participated in. I will not go so far as to say that we want credit for any measure in particular, but I will say that it might not have existed without our contribution. We want to retain a little modesty.

With respect to start-ups, the Minister of Finance was willing to take them into consideration. Several people raised this issue. High-growth businesses were facing a particular risk; that was addressed. Social economy enterprises, which I am especially fond of, have been recognized within some of the programs. A lot has been done—and I am glad this aspect was included in the motion—to ensure that small and medium-sized businesses would not have to replace the entirety of their lost income, which they will not get back, with debt. Such debt would add to the burden of those businesses when they are trying to get up and running again.

It was especially important to me that the government bring in a measure to provide small and medium-sized businesses across Canada and Quebec with non-repayable support. I truly do appreciate that the government was willing to consider such measures. I think that is how we will make progress.

I have been calling this “vigilant collaboration”. I think Quebeckers and Canadians expect us to work in their best interests. Of course, we live in a democracy where, particularly since the last election, Canadians and Quebeckers are keeping an eye on us. That is entirely appropriate. We must have the tools to do so, and I know that has been part of the thinking. I therefore see some good points in this.

There is one aspect that has been lacking. I want to come back to it now, so we can begin thinking about it right away. We will defeat this virus, as others before us have and perhaps more after us will, by paying attention to science and research. Some research centres do not qualify for the various measures at this time, so their staff are being recruited elsewhere because the centres cannot offer the same appeal in order to hang on to their employees.

We need to work on research. Every time we read a great newspaper article, we need to have the intellectual honesty to read a scientific article, to learn about how it works, what is going on and what has been done elsewhere. I spoke to some Quebec scientists this week, and we need to make sure that scientists and researchers are well supported.

I would like to say a few words about the Canada emergency response benefit. This initiative is somewhat a victim of its own popularity, although less so than we had feared. We are very happy that the proverbial shortcomings were addressed for volunteer firefighters, artist copyrights and small business owners who pay themselves dividends.

These improvements were made after calls, not from a political party or from the best or nicest member, but from real Quebeckers and Canadians who contacted us on social media and at our riding offices to ask what we were doing for them. Good discussions resulted in solutions.

We are also discussing the notion of a virtual Parliament, but a virtual one will not be any less real. We are not required to by physically seated on green velvet to engage in debate. Everyone can do so from their own home. We will come up with a process or something, but it can be done.

I understand that votes need to happen here. I understand that we will have to come up with a procedure, because our sacrosanct rules cannot just be changed so easily. However, we are in favour of this, since a long time ago we spoke about creating a virtual Parliament.

Unfortunately, it is not too late, and I am speaking in the spirit of openness.

Some time ago, we raised the issue of how to deal with people arriving at the borders of Canada and Quebec through various routes. I must say that I am deeply troubled about this issue. After everything we have said and done, and despite knowing what percentage of coronavirus cases have entered from abroad, I cannot understand how this is possible. Let me say that I have the utmost respect, affection and openness in my heart for these people. However, I am extremely worried about the fact that 159 Mexican workers got on a plane and landed in Dorval this morning without having been either tested for COVID-19 in Mexico or quarantined on arrival. They were not ordered to be tested for COVID-19 by Canadian customs, nor were they quarantined in any of the thousands of hotel rooms around the airport. They were handed over to an organization that took them deeper into Quebec, in this case to the regions north and south of Montreal.

Knowing the characteristics of this virus, knowing that statistics say that between one-quarter and half of carriers are asymptomatic, and knowing that testing someone who is not showing symptoms could be pointless, are we not running a risk that could easily have been contained?

We have contacted the government privately about this a number of times, and now I am doing it again. With all due respect for institutions and people, I would urge everyone to be open-minded. As I have said, if the government can invest tens of billions of dollars, as we have just seen, then it can invest a few tens of millions more in restoring a sense of safety for rural communities in Quebec and Canada by making sure that foreign workers coming in are quarantined and tested for COVID-19.

That is the best way to help those workers, their home countries and farmers, who do not have that expertise and cannot just bring foreign workers into their homes and put them in quarantine in the basement. That will not work. This is the state's solemn duty. It is the responsibility of Canada customs, which does not answer to Quebec and the other provinces.

Other than the 159 people who are already gone but who could be tested somehow or other, I would encourage the government to make an announcement very soon about measures to isolate people upon arrival and test them for COVID-19 so they can receive a proper welcome to Quebec and Canada and make a positive contribution to our economy.

As I said, our approach is one of vigilant collaboration. In this case, our collaboration is a given. I am not criticizing the government, but I am making this request because it is our duty to keep a close eye on each other and because we are constantly coming up with solutions to the new problems that arise on a daily basis.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, in the last month, our world has changed dramatically. On Thursday, we learned that a million Canadians have lost their jobs. This is not just a statistic; these are families that are now struggling to put food on the table, to pay rent and to make ends meet. The government has moved to respond to this crisis, but in many cases too slowly.

In early March, we had two suggestions: one, that the government should send direct financial assistance to all Canadians, and two, that we need a 75% wage subsidy, at a minimum, to ensure that people can keep their jobs and to support businesses in keeping workers on the payroll.

We have already supported the unanimous consent motion, and later today we will be supporting the legislation to make this wage subsidy a reality. However, I want to urge the government that, while we are here in Ottawa, we should not leave here without knowing and without guaranteeing that all Canadians who need help get that help.

The Canada emergency response benefit simply does not cover all Canadians who need this assistance. Too many people are at risk of falling through the cracks.

I think of some of the stories that I have heard over the past weeks about the people who desperately need help but are unable to access that help because they do not meet all the criteria.

I think about people working multiple jobs to make ends meet who have lost most of their hours of work and do not know how they are going to pay for groceries. They should be applying for help.

I think about the freelance and contract workers who have lost most of their income and are maxing out their credit cards to pay their bills. They should be applying for help.

I think about students who depend upon summer jobs to pay their rent, and some work to support their families. Now they have no jobs to apply for. They should be applying for help.

I think about the artists, the self-employed and people who are just on the margins. In fact, there are so many examples, and that's the problem.

For the last several days, New Democrats have been working with the government to fix the gaps, and that work is reflected in the motion that we have heard and in the work that will be done.

I want to thank the Prime Minister and other members of the government for the constructive way they have worked with us. However, we are not done yet. The current system discourages people who need help from applying, because they still have some income or they do not meet all the criteria.

Yesterday, the minister confirmed that everyone who applies for the CERB will get it, so I asked the Prime Minister today to announce that all the criteria will be dropped and to simply tell people, “If you need help, apply for it and you will get it.” Let us keep it simple. Let us make sure that all who need help know that they can apply for that help and that they will receive it.

The only way we can get through this crisis is if we take care of each other. We are all connected. We will not stop fighting until every Canadian gets the help he or she needs, period.

There have been heroes in this crisis in fighting COVID-19, and I also want to acknowledge those front-line workers who are keeping us fed, those who are keeping us healthy. It is saddening that they do not have the equipment they need to protect themselves and prevent the risk of infecting their families. I specifically want to mention health care workers, who are often sleeping in their cars or sleeping in tents to prevent the spread of infection or the risk of infection to their families. We have to do better. We have to ensure that all workers have the protective equipment they need to stay safe.

During this crisis, I also believe it is important to make it very clear that there is no room for companies profiting from the desperation of people. Credit card companies and others charging double-digit interest rates need to be stopped, and we need to use all of our powers at the federal level to make sure that happens. Banks are continuing to charge interest, leaving people worse off with the mortgage deferral. In effect, they are profiting from this crisis.

I know the Minister of Finance has spoken with the banks, but, clearly, speaking nicely has not worked. Banks are regulated expressly by the federal government. The Liberal government has to be prepared to use the powers we have to enforce pausing interest, putting a brake on that. In fact, we also need to put a pause on mortgages, so that we can work with provinces to put a pause on rent. This should also apply to commercial rent, which would significantly help out small and medium-sized businesses.

I know that in the coming weeks we are going to start talking about what a recovery would look like, how people will get back to work. As we designed this stimulus, I urged the Liberal government not to make the same mistakes as in the past. Every public dollar that we spend must go to workers, not to CEOs. Executive bonuses, share buybacks and protecting shareholder profits do not sustain or create jobs.

We can stimulate the economy and do the things that can transform our nation and fight climate change, such as building housing, investing in public transit, making it easier for Canadians to choose renewable energy sources, making our homes and buildings as energy-efficient as possible, and investing in child care services that all families can afford and that give our children the high-quality education they deserve.

I also want to talk about indigenous communities specifically.

Over the last month, I have spoken with leaders across the country. Indigenous community leaders have expressed grave concerns around the lack of capacity for their communities to deal with a COVID-19 outbreak. These are communities that, as a result of historical and ongoing injustice, are without basic infrastructure, where washing one's hands with clean water is not often possible, where overcrowding and the lack of quality housing means physically distancing is also not a reality, and where access to health care is severely limited, to the point where the nearest ventilator for many communities is a flight away.

I know the government has put some money on the table, but I have heard two specific concerns: that money is insufficient, and many indigenous communities are finding it difficult to access that money.

Historical neglect and racism have put indigenous lives at greater risk of this virus. We have to do better, particularly due to the fact that in the coming weeks many of these communities will face flooding and in the summer they will face forest fires, so we need a clear plan for the safe evacuation of these communities and a clear strategy to ensure that these communities have the resources they need to respond to COVID-19. Indigenous lives matter, and we need to make sure we are prepared.

I believe the decisions we make in the next weeks and months will be some of the most important of our lives, some of the most important that any Canadian government has been faced with.

We believe in solidarity. We believe in helping one another.

We hear a lot of people talking about when things will return to normal, but I believe we need to do far better than normal. Normal is workers not having paid sick leave. Normal is families struggling on a minimum wage. Normal is people who are essential to our health and safety not getting paid enough to live. Normal is a public health care system that has been starved of funding. Normal is a society that is neither fair nor resilient. We cannot ever go back to normal.

Canadians are showing their compassion. They are showing their desire to care for one another. We should demand that of our government as well. We should demand that the Liberal government embrace those same values.

Let us not return to the old normal; let us build a new normal, where we take better care of each other, where we have a strong social safety net that lifts us all up together. Let us build a Canada that is fair and resilient. Canadians are counting on us. They are counting on us to learn from this crisis to build a better Canada for all of us.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by acknowledging that we are gathered on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin people.

I thank them again for their hospitality and generosity. Meegwetch.

I want to thank all my colleagues for unanimously agreeing to give me a chance to speak on this momentous day. A thousand thanks to them.

It really means a lot to me that the Green Party is recognized in this place and allowed to speak as we gather in these entirely unprecedented times.

I was moved by the Prime Minister's remarks in reminding us of Vimy. I had not planned to speak about Vimy, but on April 9 this year, I noticed that my husband was very depressed and wandering about, and he said he was thinking of his grandfather, who was machine-gunned on Vimy on April 9, 1917. His grandfather survived; otherwise I would not be married to my husband, I suppose. His grandfather, John Owen Wilson, survived, got back to British Columbia and ended up as chief justice of the British Columbia Supreme Court, but the sacrifices of Vimy are not forgotten. The courage and solidarity of previous generations are not forgotten.

I have thought in recent times that, being a boomer, a 1954 baby, I'm one of the last of a generation that remembers that time of solidarity and sacrifice. Not that I lived through the war or the depression, but my parents did. The family stories become part of who we are; they are in our bones, the notion that government steps up and that government is on our side. I think that through years of neoliberalism, we have gotten this idea that government is kind of in our way, picking our pockets. I am really relieved that in some ways this social solidarity that we will have coming out of this pandemic will allow us to see that individuals are a part of their government, that their democracy works for them. I hope that can be a lasting lesson.

We are here together in a way that I want to acknowledge with deep gratitude. Parliament is working well, even when we are at a distance. I want to thank the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and so many different ministers for their openness to hearing opposition ideas and concerns.

I will share with Canadians what the last couple of weeks have felt like, working from home non-stop, 24-7. A lot of Canadians would not imagine that every single day at 1:30 B.C. time, 4:30 in Ottawa, every day, including Saturdays and Sundays, we have an opportunity to ask anything. In my mind, this is how the ideas have been working. It is quite true that a lot of the things we wanted were not in the first bill, Bill C-13. It is quite true that Greens, like others, said that it should not be a 10% wage subsidy; it should be 75%. We made that case, and individual examples came forward.

We have those daily question and answer sessions. I know that not all of us get our questions in every single day. Some of us do well. The member for Carleton does well, and I do pretty well. We push *1 and go for it. We do our best to get our questions out there, but in my head this is how it has been working. We raise a question and we ask something like, what happens right now, when Bishop McMenamie has just contacted me and the Anglican church on Vancouver Island has separate churches and they all have their own CRA number but there is only one employer, so the 30% reduction in revenue compared to some other reference period does not work at all in this circumstance? Then, today I looked at the most recent version of the bill. “Entity” is redefined, and it now covers that specific weird example of the Anglican diocese and an issue raised to me by Bishop McMenamie. There may have been many other MPs who asked a question that stumped the Finance Canada senior officials who were on the telephone with us every single day, but when I see that in the bill, I see that my question was not only a question, but it flagged an issue.

This is what I hear from ministers, to keep sending them the specific concerns that we see and to keep telling them where the gaps are, because the MPs on the ground, right across Canada, are the eyes and ears on the front line who are able to say that nothing that is in place right now, with all due respect, is working for small businesses.

I am terrified that a lot of very small businesses, seasonal businesses, restaurants and so on, are going to go under, even with the wage subsidy. However, in today's unanimous consent motion, which I saw before coming here, I was very relieved to see that it calls for the government to implement short-term support measures for small and medium-sized enterprises, “which will be partially non-refundable, with the primary objective of maintaining jobs and reducing debt related to fixed costs”. That is what I keep hearing from small businesses, that they cannot afford to pay their rent and that the wage subsidy does not help them.

Without being just a Pollyanna about our circumstances, I want to say that it means a lot to me that we have come forward as individual MPs, opposition and Liberals, to say, “What is happening does not work. There are too many people, such as students and people in the gig economy, who are not covered by CERB. What are we going to do?”

Today's unanimous consent motion says that we will implement measures without delay. I think “without delay” would actually meet what the member for Burnaby South said, and right now, today, we say that everybody can apply. That language suggests that the government is not saying, “We've gotten this perfect. Go away”. What I hear from minister after minister is, “We're learning. We're working as hard as we can.”

I want to say that the Minister of Foreign Affairs and his parliamentary secretary have been available to me pretty much 24-7 for the 50 or so constituents I have helped to get home so far. I still have about a dozen I am working on, and the parliamentary secretary knows well that I have someone stranded in Vanuatu.

There is a real sense of all hands on deck, and I want Canadians to know that. I want them to know that there is a spirit of non-partisanship, of “We are team Canada and we are all in it together”. Nothing exemplifies that for me more than the new-found best-friend relationship between the Premier of Ontario and the Deputy Prime Minister. I think this shows stepping up to a circumstance where we are all at risk. We are thinking about being surrounded by death. We are thinking about wearing our masks. I have Lysol wipes here, below my desk. We are constantly vigilant, but we are also working together because we are Canadians. This must not be a moment that divides us. We must remember this and work differently in the future.

Yes, I want to press for guaranteed livable income. We will keep doing that. Yes, I want to press that we will, in this place and before too long, see new climate targets that meet the imperative of a looming disaster far greater than COVID-19, which threatens to kill more people and wipe out civilization. It cannot be postponed.

However, right now I want to give my thanks for the spirit of collaboration. The Prime Minister spoke of the fact that this time, of course, is a season of many religious observances. It is Passover. I wish happy Passover to my Jewish friends and family. Vaisakhi is also coming up soon. In a few weeks, it will be Ramadan for my Islamic friends, a period of fasting and reflection. I am just finishing Lent, a period of fasting and reflection.

It speaks to the unprecedented nature of the crisis we are in that, as far as I have been able to determine through research from home and looking through every bit of constitutional and parliamentary history I can find, the Parliament of Canada has never before sat on Easter Saturday. Good Friday, particularly in previous generations, was held sacred. The idea of meeting on Easter weekend would have been impossible to imagine, but here we are and this is why.

Looking at the clock, I think that in about 10 hours it will be dawn in Jerusalem, and the first morning light of that sunrise will strike the walls of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It is built on the spot where we are told the original cave was in which the body of Jesus Christ was wrapped and placed in the tomb, with a rock rolled in front of it. Approximately 10 hours from now, at dawn, will be the remembrance of our stories, tradition and faith, the most significant day, the most profound and important day of the Christian calendar, the resurrection of Christ: that the stone was rolled back and that those who loved him, Mary and others, came and thought the body had been stolen, but the angels came to them, and then Jesus disguised as a gardener came to them and said, “No, He has risen.”

In this time, when we are surrounded by death and we are worried about our mortality and that of the people we love, we can think of the things that are most important. After this is over, we will recognize that we can survive, that we can break the bonds of death, that we can have faith in each other, that we can invest ourselves in love for each other and our communities, and that we can remember what really matters. Right now, as I watch my grandkids on Zoom family chats, what would I not give for a hug.

I would love to think about our lives as transformed by this in ways that are profound, as we recognize that, for the first time in our lives, governments all around the world have decided, without hesitation, that life is more important than money. We have deliberately and voluntarily shut down our economies to save lives. We have deliberately and voluntarily created for ourselves as lawmakers, as policy-makers, the challenge of economic recovery, because we did not hesitate to know that saving lives is more important than money.

When this is all over, I hope to God it is over with a minimum loss of life in Canada and around the world. I am particularly worried for those countries that lack basic health care. We must not forget our obligations to the poorest of the poor, just as we do not forget indigenous peoples in Canada, just as we do not forget those who are most marginalized and homeless. When we get through this together, let us remember that in this pandemic we discovered what really matters.

[The Speaker, Anthony Rota]

Pursuant to order made earlier today, the House will now resolve itself into a committee of the whole to consider matters related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before we begin debate, I would like to remind hon. members of how the proceedings will unfold over the next two hours.

Pursuant to an order made earlier today, during the proceedings of the committee no member will be recognized for more than five minutes, which may be used for posing questions to a minister of the Crown or a parliamentary secretary acting on behalf of the minister. Members are permitted to split their time with one or more members by so indicating to the Chair. The debate will end in two hours or when no members rise to speak.

I do now leave the chair for the House to go into committee of the whole.

(House in committee of the whole to consider matters related to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Bruce Stanton in the chair)

COVID-19 Pandemic

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Chair, on March 12, I asked if the government had secured a supplier to provide additional ventilators. The Deputy Prime Minister told the House, “We are already leading a bulk national procurement effort to ensure Canadians have the necessary medical equipment.”

Can the Prime Minister please update the House as to how many ventilators he has secured and on what date they will reach Canadian hospitals?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Chair, as we know, worldwide demand for personal protective equipment and ventilators is through the roof. Therefore, we have both reached out to suppliers of medical products that Canada has long worked with around the world, as well as seen unprecedented efforts by Canadian industry to deliver ventilators that will be made in Canada. I can assure people that the approach is working. We are seeing production of ventilators in Canada begin. It will be still a few weeks before they are able to arrive. In the meantime, we continue to work to procure them from around the world.

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

Mr. Chair, on March 25, the finance minister told the Senate that help for the energy sector was coming within hours or days, not weeks. It has now been two and a half weeks since that date, with no announcement. Reports are circulating that a proposal did in fact go to cabinet but that it was rejected.

Is it the Prime Minister's position that there will, in fact, be no help for Canada's energy sector and the tens of thousands of Canadians it employs?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Chair, we recognize the triple challenge faced by workers in the energy sector right now, which has been extraordinarily difficult for people in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador. The low oil prices have long been a challenge. On top of that, the COVID crisis in economic terms has led to a lowering of demand for oil, as people do not travel nearly as much as normally, and at the same time, the health crisis has led people into isolation and remaining home. Families across the country are suffering from this, particularly those in Alberta in the oil sector.

That is why we moved quickly on two measures to help as many people as we could across the country: the Canada emergency response benefit and the wage subsidy at 75%. There will be more coming for the oil sector as we develop sectoral solutions.

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

Mr. Chair, he left out the quadruple challenge, and that was his government's cancelling of projects. We remember that it was his finance minister who promised help was coming in days, not weeks. People who are suffering because of this crisis are suffering in real time and cannot afford to wait longer.

Documents now reveal that in early January military intelligence began producing detailed technical reports about the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus in Wuhan, China. This is a yes-or-no question. Did the Prime Minister see these reports, yes or no?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Chair, as a member of the Five Eyes, we were privy to significant military and intelligence reports on the status of things happening around the world. There were enough flags for us to convene an incident response group at the end of January. We also began increasing screening at major airports and limiting flights from Wuhan.

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

Mr. Chair, these are very simple yes-or-no questions.

Was this information from the military intelligence report shared with the Public Health Agency of Canada, yes or no?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Chair, from the beginning, we worked with all agencies to ensure that the relevant information was shared across departments. We needed to make the best possible decisions based on recommendations from scientists, health researchers and international allies. That is what we did.

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

Mr. Chair, the Prime Minister's wage subsidy, which we will be debating throughout the day today, is a lifeline to those companies that can still afford to pay any wages at all. There remain a significant number of businesses across the country that are receiving no revenue and are not able to pay any wages at all because they have had their doors closed for almost a month now.

The Conservatives have put forward the idea of rebating the GST to allow those small businesses that have no revenue at all to pay some of their bills and to pay their rent so they can reopen when this crisis is over. Will the Prime Minister consider this proposal to ensure that there are jobs for Canadians to go back to at the end of this pandemic?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Chair, as has been highlighted by a number of people in the House, we are extremely pleased with the level of collaboration and input from all parliamentarians and all parties as we look to ensure that we are helping Canadians as much as possible in this situation. We have moved forward on a wage subsidy; we have moved forward on the Canada emergency response benefit, and we have moved forward on low-interest loans, of which 25%, $10,000, will be forgivable for small businesses.

We recognize there is more to do, and we look forward to continuing to work with all parliamentarians to make sure we are helping Canadians in the right way.

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Chair, as I was saying earlier, we have concerns about the health, security and safety of people who are very welcome in Quebec, the temporary foreign workers. I think we owe the public, those workers and farm owners proper security.

In the next few hours and before the next contingent of workers arrives at Dorval airport, can we start bringing in measures to ensure that people who are sent to our territory by Canada border services officers are quarantined and tested for COVID-19, for everyone's sake?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Chair, we recognize that our primary obligation is to ensure the health and safety of all Canadians. Screening people who arrive in our country is essential.

We know how important it is to ensure food security and our food supply chains across the country. Temporary foreign workers have an important role to play in this regard. That is why we have introduced strict rules on quarantining. Foreign workers who arrive in Canada have to be properly isolated for 14 days to ensure that they are not carriers of COVID-19. We will continue to work with all parliamentarians and the various authorities to ensure that these rules are followed to the letter.

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Chair, it is possible that the rules are inadequate. Farming operations might not be able to ensure the kind of quarantine that is required, since that is really not their job. It is possible that symptoms might not be identified as effectively by farming operations as they could be if that duty were entrusted to public health experts. It is possible that the task of monitoring people released by Canadian border services is the responsibility of the Canadian government, not the Quebec government.

Given the full costs, I think we need to address this subject, and I propose that we do so proactively over the next few hours.

Can we have that conversation with the Prime Minister, and anyone else who wants to participate, in the next few hours?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Chair, I share many of the concerns expressed by the member for Beloeil—Chambly. We will work together to ensure that while we are meeting the needs of farmers and our supply chain, we have the capacity and assurance that we are keeping Canadians safe and limiting the potential spread of COVID-19.

I look forward to continuing to work with the provinces and the agricultural sector, and with other parliamentarians and opposition parties.

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Chair, on another note, some may be surprised to hear that I believe the Canadian government must play a part in restoring the oil sector jobs in Alberta and western Canada to what they once were. I do not think we should ask these people to sacrifice their entire economic model.

I do, however, think that any future projects or expansions in the energy sector should involve transitioning the financial resources that would have been allocated to these projects—Trans Mountain in particular—to renewable energy, especially in western Canada, which will have unique needs.

In the current context, can we restore the status quo ante for oil workers but refocus our efforts on renewable energy?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Chair, I thank the hon. member for his perspective, which is important, as I well know.

We must support the workers and families that are struggling in all sectors across the country, including the oil and gas sector. We also recognize that we are committed to climate action and that we must find ways to create good jobs for these people in Alberta and elsewhere that will last for years and for generations to come.

That is why we continue to discuss this issue with the Government of Alberta and with experts around the world to ensure that Canada and Alberta are part of this transition to a better future for everyone.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Chair, I just want to raise a concern again. We have heard stories that represent some of the millions of Canadians who are right now falling through the cracks and who cannot access the CERB. We have heard from people who have multiple jobs, who have lost a lot of work but still get some income: freelance and contract workers, artists and the self-employed.

While the government has committed to fixing those gaps, and I am encouraged by that, will the Prime Minister stand up today and say that people who need help should just apply right now, while the government is fixing the gaps in the system?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Chair, the immediate urgency in this situation was making sure that people across the country who were reliant on paycheques to be able to pay for their groceries and rent, paycheques that suddenly disappeared because of COVID-19, get money quickly. That is what we did with the Canada emergency response benefit.

I want to take a moment to thank the extraordinary public servants at the Canada Revenue Agency, but also across ministries and departments, who worked incredibly hard to create a model that would get money out quickly to millions of Canadians.

Of course, we recognize there are gaps, and we are working with all parliamentarians to fill those gaps, because people who need help should be getting it.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Chair, will the Prime Minister just say today really clearly that if people need help, they can apply right now for the CERB, while the government is fixing the gaps? Will the Prime Minister just say very clearly to all Canadians, “If you need help, apply now”, while the government is fixing the problems?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Chair, we created a program that is helping millions upon millions of Canadians who have lost their paycheques because of COVID-19. We have moved forward with another program, which we are debating here today, on wage subsidies for people so they can keep their jobs and keep their paycheques at 75% subsidy from the government. That will keep people linked to their employment.

However, we recognize there are other people in different situations who also need help, such as students, seniors, part-time workers and essential workers who need extra help keeping their jobs. That is what we are focused on right now, with tremendous collaboration from all parliamentarians.