Debates of April 20th, 2020

COVID-19 Pandemic

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Madam Chair, we have been in close contact with the banks to coordinate a response to COVID-19. They have committed to working with Canadians to find solutions, including up to a six-month mortgage deferral and a reduction in credit card rates for impacted customers.

The Minister of Finance will continue to engage with the banks. Our goal is to make sure the banks and Canadians have the flexibility needed to get through this time. We have seen leadership from the banks. We need to see more, but we are working with them to get that.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Madam Chair, with all due respect, we have significant federal powers, and asking nicely simply is not working. Will the Prime Minister commit to using the powers we have to force banks to stop charging exorbitant interest rates on credit cards and personal loans? Will the Prime Minister ensure that we use our powers federally to get a pause on mortgage payments so we can get a pause on rent and help families out?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Madam Chair, the big six banks announced that they would temporarily reduce credit card rates for Canadians in need. The Canadian Bankers Association said, “COVID-related mortgage deferral is available for an indefinite period and customers do not face a deadline for having to seek relief.”

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Madam Chair, not a day passes without hearing a tragic story about a Canadian who is unable to pay his rent or mortgage. Although some assistance is available, it is not enough for many Canadians. Last week, experts before the Standing Committee on Finance were very clear: The government must do more to help people pay their rent.

Will the Prime Minister commit to extending his rent assistance program to all Canadians in need?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Madam Chair, we have taken measures to help Canadians who lost their jobs, including through the Canada emergency response benefit. We are helping workers with the wage subsidy, which allows them to keep 75% of their salary for a maximum of $847 a month, and keep their job. These two measures are having a huge impact on our economy during this crisis.

However, we know that Canadians are facing other challenges, including paying their rent. In our party, we respect provincial jurisdictions. We know that housing is a provincial jurisdiction and that the provinces are taking the necessary steps. We will be there to help and encourage them, but we respect their jurisdiction.

[Leona Alleslev, Conservative, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Madam Chair, I would like to start by thanking the Minister of Foreign Affairs for all the work he has done in repatriating the Canadians who have been stranded abroad as a result of this crisis.

To that end, we know there are significant challenges in India with bringing people back. Violence is increasing and people are finding themselves in really dire situations, not only in the major cities but in the countryside as well. It has been a challenging situation to get those people back. I am wondering if the members opposite could provide some insight on what additional flights there will be and what kinds of things we can do to get those who are still stranded in India back as soon as possible.

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Madam Chair, as the member knows, this is the largest and most complex repatriation effort that Canada has undertaken in recent history. To date, working with all members of the House, because all of us have constituents who have been touched by this, we have facilitated the repatriation of over 19,000 Canadians, on 144 flights, from 72 countries. We continue to work with our international partners to get as many Canadians home as we can.

I want to emphasize one thing to all those Canadians who are able to come home, which is that everyone is subject to a mandatory quarantine order for 14 days upon the return home. We want those Canadians to come home. As Canadians, we all have a right to return to our country, but we have to be very careful that those returns do not compromise the health of Canadians.

[Leona Alleslev, Conservative, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Madam Chair, I wonder if the Deputy Prime Minister could speak directly to the increase in the number of flights that are on the priority list for India and how many people she thinks will be able to come back from India in the near term.

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

Madam Chair, I am not going to offer precise numbers of how many people will come back from India. As the member opposite knows, it is a very difficult situation in that country. It is difficult for Canadians; it is difficult for Indians. We are very aware of the situation of Canadians there and are working to safely return the people we can. I want to emphasize how important it is that anyone who comes back must obey quarantine orders.

[Leona Alleslev, Conservative, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Madam Chair, as the new cases of coronavirus are beginning to stabilize, Canadians are looking to the next step. The government has outlined that it does, in fact, need a national plan to outline what those reopening steps might be. I am wondering if the government could identify when that national plan will be coming forth.

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Madam Chair, we share the member opposite's vision of getting Canadians back to work, but we will say that it has to be done with the health and safety of all Canadians at the base and foundation of that work. Obviously, it is not a decision that the federal government makes alone. There are components of that plan that are within our jurisdiction, but it is important that we work with our provincial and territorial counterparts to make sure that, whatever the plan is, it ensures that we truly have safely passed this first wave of COVID-19 and that we have the foundation of safety available to manage future waves or future outbreaks.

[Leona Alleslev, Conservative, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Madam Chair, we recognize that we need to put many things in place, but we need to know when there will be a plan and what the criteria for that plan are. The sooner we understand what those criteria are and what the plan is, the higher success rate we will have.

When will there be a plan?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Madam Chair, “When will all this end?” is a question that I hear almost every day from multiple partners, constituents, friends and family. Certainly, we are working very diligently with our provincial and territorial counterparts to make sure that whatever plan we put in place, it is actionable and feasible, and that it has at its foundation the health and safety of all Canadians. Only then will we be able to ensure that our economy is strong and can survive future potential outbreaks of COVID-19.

[Leona Alleslev, Conservative, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Madam Chair, I asked when there will be a plan. Many other jurisdiction have a plan, and they are further behind the curve than we are. We are late in the need to have a plan. Will the plan include testing? As they say, we need more testing, so how will the government have more testing?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Madam Chair, absolutely, the plan will include ramping up of testing. As members know, Canada is one of the leading countries in terms of our testing per capita, but so much more needs to be done. We have been approving new testing options for provinces, territories and local governments, but it will also include future research on serology so that we understand this virus and we understand the questions around immunity that it poses.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Madam Chair, this afternoon during question period, the Prime Minister talked about the Canada summer jobs program in which there are apparently 70,000 new jobs.

How does the government explain that more jobs are being created in the Canada summer jobs program when, according to Service Canada documents that included a breakdown of the expenses, 50 jobs were lost?

I will give the government a hint. It is important to realize that they went from 50% to 100% of the jobs paid in the municipalities, but they have the same budget. They are supposedly handing out new money. They claim that many new jobs were created, but that is not so. I would like someone to explain that to me.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Madam Chair, we have made a number of changes to support students through the Canada summer jobs program at this time. We understand the difficulties they are facing with respect to the economic challenge of COVID-19, and we want to make sure that we support them adequately, which is why we have increased the wage subsidy through the Canada summer jobs program to enable students to access 100% wage subsidy while working for private businesses in the context of the Canada summer jobs program. We expect that, through this measure, the Canada summer jobs program will be taken up by more employers, and they will be able to honour their commitments to provide even more support for students at this time.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Madam Chair, I appreciate my colleague's response, but it did not answer my question. There are fewer, not more, jobs. It is the same envelope, unless we have last year's information because we are in the opposition.

Can my colleague tell us whether the Canada summer jobs program has more money and more jobs?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Madam Chair, again I want to thank the hon. member for his focus on this issue and his approach to students. I want to assure the hon. member that increasing the wage subsidy from 50% to 100% for employers would certainly ensure that more employers are able to take advantage of that opportunity to bring onto their employee list more summer students, and it would enable them to offer them employment in a way that is easier for them, as we are subsidizing those wages. We expect that through the measure of increasing that wage subsidy, more and more employers would look at that as a viable option and hire more students.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Madam Chair, I have other questions, so I will conclude that there are neither more jobs nor more money.

I have a question about the CERB. I know that this program was implemented quickly, because of the circumstances, but that has created some problems, in particular for garages in Quebec, who opened up last Wednesday to change tires. Gardening centres also opened. Construction started back up this morning. The problem is that many workers do not want to go work because of the CERB.

Does the government have a solution to help our businesses, which provide jobs? Unfortunately, low-wage workers are not motivated to work and contribute because of this program.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Madam Chair, that is another important question from the hon. member. I want to assure him that the Canada emergency response benefit was meant exactly to provide support to workers who were laid off, or even to workers who are not EI-eligible and who have seen their jobs literally disappear, to be able to find the support they need at this difficult time.

In addition to that, we have gotten feedback from Canadians who felt that they could not qualify for the CERB, either because their EI benefits ran out in January or because they were working but were actually making less than what they would make if they were on the CERB, and we responded. We said that we need to do more to include those folks, and we have. We have taken those steps, and we will continue to listen to Canadians and take that input.

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

Madam Chair, of the $305 million that was announced for the indigenous community support fund, $15 million, or less than 5%, was allocated to urban indigenous organizations. With over 60% of indigenous people in Canada living in urban centres, can the government explain this split?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Indigenous Services]

Madam Chair, indeed, $15 million of the community support fund was reserved for urban indigenous initiatives. The initial set of funding was intended to go out to first nations, Inuit and Métis in the most expeditious manner that we have at Indigenous Services Canada. We have therefore asked, in a call for submissions, for amounts to be put forth to our department so that we can do an immediate triage and attempt to push out as much money as we can to urban initiatives. Fifteen million dollars will not be enough, and we will be moving even more quickly to do a triage of the other initiatives in order to move quickly with further funding to those initiatives that have been put forward to our department.

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

Madam Chair, it is our understanding that funding for off-reserve and non-status indigenous groups has not been approved for release by Indigenous Services Canada. When will this money flow?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

Madam Chair, these are initiatives that are part of a number of ministries across our government. We are working, as part of the call for submissions for urban indigenous and off-reserve groups, to put forward those submissions. We work with them on a case-by-case basis, and we will be moving quite quickly to get those initiatives out. We will work specifically to prepare for and deal with the COVID outbreak, particularly in urban settings but also for off-reserve communities.

Again, they do not naturally fit into the funding models that we have within Indigenous Services Canada. I have asked my team to be flexible, because we are talking about dealing with an epidemic and it does not discriminate as to whether an indigenous group is on or off reserve.