Debates of June 17th, 2020

Business of Supply

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Pursuant to order made on Tuesday, May 26, the House will now resolve itself into committee of the whole to study all votes in the supplementary estimates (A) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021.

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

Comments by the Member for Burnaby South

[The Acting Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

The hon. member for Salaberry—Suroît on a point of order.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Salaberry—Suroît, QC]

Madam Speaker, I hope you will restore order to the House because the NDP leader insulted a member of my party.

[The Acting Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

Could you please repeat what you just said? We did not understand what you said.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Salaberry—Suroît, QC]

Madam Speaker, we are gathered here as parliamentarians in the House of Commons. Every member has a right to their opinion. However, I do not believe a party leader is entitled to call another member of the House racist simply because that member does not agree with the motion we just discussed.

The NDP leader shamelessly called the member for La Prairie racist. That is unacceptable in the House.

[The Acting Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

I did not personally hear that comment.

We will listen to the recording and then discuss it.

Does the NDP leader wish to comment?

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Madam Speaker, yes, I did call him a racist, and I do believe he is.

[The Acting Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

I would ask the member for Burnaby South to apologize for his remarks.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Madam Speaker, I will not.

[The Acting Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

The hon. member for Salaberry—Suroît.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Salaberry—Suroît, QC]

Madam Speaker, what we are seeing today is unacceptable.

You asked the member to apologize, and he needs to do so. He cannot refuse to apologize, since what he did was completely unacceptable and unparliamentary.

[The Acting Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

I have noted your comments. I asked the member to apologize. I will take this under advisement and return to the House shortly.

Does the hon. member wish to rise again?

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Salaberry—Suroît, QC]

Yes, Madam Speaker, I have one last thing to say.

I am completely shocked that this member has so openly and publicly attacked your authority as Chair. I would like him to leave the chamber immediately.

[The Acting Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

I have asked the member to apologize. Until he does, he will be unable to address the House.

The Speaker will deliberate on the question and will comment on it as soon as possible.

We will now go into committee of the whole.

(Consideration in committee of the whole of all votes in the supplementary estimates (A), Mrs. Carol Hughes in the chair)

Supplementary Estimates (A), 2020-21

[The Deputy Chair, NDP, Carol Hughes]

We will now consider all votes in the supplementary estimates (A) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021. Time can be shared.

Today's debate is a general one on all votes tabled before the House on Tuesday, June 2, 2020. Pursuant to the provisions in the motion adopted on Tuesday, May 26, 2020, the total length of time for debate will not exceed four hours, during which time no quorum calls or dilatory motions shall be received by the Chair.

The first round will begin with the official opposition, followed by the government, the Bloc Québécois and the New Democratic Party. After that, we will follow the agreed-upon rotation.

Each member will be allocated 15 minutes at a time. Members may split their time with one or more members by so indicating to the Chair. This time may be used for both debate or for posing questions. Members wishing to use this time to make a speech have a maximum of 10 minutes, which leaves at least 5 minutes for questions to the minister.

When a member is recognized, he or she must indicate to the Chair how the 15-minute period will be used, meaning how much time will be spent on the speech and how much time will be used for questions and answers.

Members should also note that they will need unanimous consent if they wish to split their 15 minutes with other members. When the time is to be used for questions and comments, the minister's response should reflect approximately the time taken to pose the question, as that time counts toward the member's allotted time.

I also wish to indicate that in committee of the whole, comments should be addressed to the Chair. I ask for everyone's co-operation in upholding all established standards of decorum, parliamentary language and behaviour. In addition, please note that we will suspend the sitting every 45 minutes, if needed, for a short period to allow employees who provide support for the sitting to substitute with each other safely.

We will now begin today's session. The House is in committee of the whole, pursuant to the order made Tuesday, May 26, 2020, for consideration of all votes in the supplementary estimates (A) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021.

The hon. Leader of the Opposition.

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Madam Chair, I would like to indicate that I am sharing my time with the hon. member for Richmond—Arthabaska.

The government would have us believe that it is doing its best during this difficult time, yet despite calling for a team Canada approach in the early days of this pandemic, the government has ignored many of the reasonable, common-sense proposals that the opposition has put forward to make the programs better and to ensure that Canadians do not fall through the cracks. Unfortunately, the government has let people down from the beginning of the health crisis, and this continues, even though the economic effects of the lockdown have caused so much hardship and misery to Canadians.

For example, when other countries were closing down their borders, the government refused to do so, which allowed more people who had the virus to enter the country, obviously leading to more Canadians acquiring it. As the pandemic continued, the government was slow to act, giving PPE away to other countries and dumping stockpiles here at home just months before the coronavirus hit Canada.

As I mentioned, we have proposed common-sense solutions to help more Canadians during this crisis, and the government has refused to act. We are now on the last sitting day of the House before the summer break.

On April 20, we first raised, with the Minister of Finance, an issue relating to companies that have acquired the assets of another company. They are unable to show a significant enough loss to qualify for the wage subsidy. As a result, thousands of Canadians across the country are losing their jobs.

We proposed a solution to the government. Actually, the Minister of Finance's officials came up with a solution: applying an existing provision under the Excise Tax Act to the wage subsidy.

I have a very simple question. Will the government make this change to allow more Canadians to keep their jobs?

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

Madam Chair, taking a team Canada approach is exactly what we have done in the last few weeks. We have engaged with the provinces and territories, with municipalities, with communities and with people across Canada. This has included the businesses that needed our help.

In many cases, the measures were not only debated by the opposition but supported by the opposition. There was unanimous support from the House when it came to providing the Canada emergency response benefit, which is helping and has helped millions of Canadians, and the emergency loans of $40,000 that are helping almost 700,000 small businesses.

We are grateful to opposition members for their help and support in this crisis.

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

Madam Chair, will the government make the change to the wage subsidy program to allow companies that have acquired another company to receive the subsidy so we can keep more Canadians working, yes or no?

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

Madam Chair, the opposition leader is again very right in insisting on the value of the wage subsidy. We are pleased to see that millions of Canadians have been supported by it. Almost 300,000 businesses have applied for it.

We look forward to continuing to support the wages of millions of Canadians.

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

Madam Chair, the Liberals still cannot answer a yes-or-no question.

The government has racked up unprecedented debt in the last few months. Before the coronavirus hit, the Bank of Canada had approximately $120 billion on its asset sheet. It now has over $500 billion. In other words, it has purchased almost 400 billion dollars' worth of additional debt.

Could the minister tell Canadians where the Bank of Canada got the money to buy that debt?

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

Madam Chair, the member is correct in highlighting that we have provided different types of support, including liquidity support to businesses and Canadians across Canada. Liquidity is rare in these sorts of crises, and it makes a big difference when it comes to helping Canadians make ends meet.

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

Madam Chair, the Bank of Canada is buying up to $5 billion a week in bonds. Where is the Bank of Canada getting the money to buy those bonds?

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

Madam Chair, let me take advantage of this important question to highlight the fact that we started from a very strong position, including a very strong financial institution position, in Canada before the crisis that made all sorts of institutions, including the Bank of Canada—

[The Deputy Chair, NDP, Carol Hughes]

The hon. Leader of the Opposition.