Debates of Aug. 12th, 2020

COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Matters

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the agriculture minister's own department's stats have shown that 10,000 AgriInvest accounts have an account balance of zero and that 73,000 AgriInvest accounts have less than $10,000, yet during this pandemic she is telling Canadian farmers to empty accounts of money that they do not have before she is willing to lift a finger.

When is the agriculture minister going to start doing her job and develop a program specifically for Canadian farm families to help them through this pandemic and protect a vital pillar of our food supply chain?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my colleague of everything we have done for the agricultural sector since the beginning.

We have changed the eligibility for the Canada emergency business account to allow a greater number of farmers to apply, which could mean up to $670 million for the forgivable portion only. Very recently, $58.3 million has been announced to boost the temporary foreign workers program, as well as $125 million through AgriRecovery and the launch of the emergency processing fund of $77.5 million. I could go on.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I am happy that the minister brought up the Canadian emergency business account. Actually, the Liberals have managed to give more money to their friends at WE in two weeks than they have to an entire industry of agriculture.

The minister knows that she keeps telling farmers to use the CEBA and that is all they are going to need. She knows most farmers do not qualify for that program because they use personal business accounts and most of their expenses do not qualify for the CEBA program.

When is the minister going to stop making excuses, stop finding every way possible not to help Canadian farmers, and expand the eligibility criteria for CEBA so that these farmers can access this program?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we have made significant changes to different programs. We have changed the eligibility criteria to include a greater number of farmers. We are working very hard with the provinces right now to see how we can improve different business risk management programs. Let me remind him that these business risk management programs allow the farmers to get at least an average of $1.6 billion a year, and it might be closer to $2 billion this year, in addition to all the other investments we have made.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the student grant program was originally supposed to cost $19 million to administer. However, now it is going to cost $43 million, which will be paid to WE Charity. Why?

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth]

Mr. Speaker, the members of the Standing Committee on Finance asked me to testify, and I was there to answer their questions. They asked me—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Can I ask the minister to begin her answer again? We will restart the clock.

The hon. minister.

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Waterloo, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the details of the contribution agreement were shared with the Standing Committee on Finance as requested. We shared with them all of the information they need to have.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the program was originally supposed to cost $300 million. Then the government talked about $900 million. The bottom line is that the contract is for $500 million. Why all the red herrings?

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Waterloo, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is important that this information be out there. The way the contribution agreement is written is that there is cohort 1, a supplemental cohort, and a cohort 2.

The way contribution agreements work is that performance measures are in place to—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The hon. member for Rivière-du-Nord.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we were told that the government was dealing with WE Charity. However, the contract was to be signed by the WE Charity Foundation. Why this charade?

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Waterloo, ON]

Mr. Speaker, once again, the Standing Committee on Finance asked me to testify, and I did. Yesterday, I also appeared before the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics to answer these questions.

In addition, to ensure that all the information was available, we shared the agreement.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the government told us that WE Charity was the only organization capable of administering the student service grant, because it had a Canada-wide network.

Now we have learned that it did not have a network in Quebec or in francophone communities and had to subcontract that part of the program.

Why this betrayal of trust?

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Waterloo, ON]

On the contrary, Mr. Speaker, we said that the public service told us it was the only organization that could administer this program within the deadline. We asked for all provinces and territories to be included, for both official languages—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The hon. member for Rivière-du-Nord.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, at the same time it was creating the program to help WE Charity and the Trudeau and Morneau families, this government also created a so-called wage subsidy program, this time to support the Liberal family, which has scooped up $800,000 so far. This program has now been extended to next December.

Why?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I know this is very important. The wage subsidy and the extension of this program will be offered to every company in the country that is seeing a drop in revenue.

This way, we will have more work and more workers right across the country. This is an important approach during a pandemic.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, not content with sticking its hand in the cookie jar, this government also seized the opportunity to award an $83-million contract to a company whose vice-president is the husband of the Prime Minister's chief of staff.

Why? I ask again, why?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation is an arm's-length Crown corporation that is responsible for its own operations. It made the independent decision to have MCAP as the administrator for CECRA.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, after the scandals and apologies for his vacation to the Aga Khan's island, the SNC-Lavalin scandal, the WE scandal and the new scandal over wage subsidy money being diverted to the Liberal family, the assistance for the Trudeau and Morneau families is now being extended to the family of the Prime Minister's chief of staff.

Why?

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

Mr. Speaker, CMHC is an arm's-length crown corporation that is responsible for its own operations. It made the independent decision to have MCAP administer the Canada emergency commercial rent assistance program.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, as we try to unravel and get to the bottom of these scandals and figure out what happened—after all, we are talking about hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars, not Monopoly money—why is the Prime Minister not here in Parliament this week? Why the contempt?

Quebeckers and taxpayers are being taken for fools.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I would remind members that it is inappropriate to refer to any member's absence in the House.

The hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs.