Debates of Jan. 25th, 2021

Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2020

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the main difference between what he believes and what is reality is that there are families who are hurting because of the restrictions put on their abilities to provide for their families. I do not think there is a parliamentarian who would not agree with the statement that governments do have a role in helping those people.

I believe some of the measures the Liberals rushed out the door with very little protection against abuse were in fact abused. No one is disparaging any family that needed an extra hand to keep that roof over their head and a jug of milk in the fridge, but supports rolled out without any means to test if there was actual employment are just ripe for abuse. It is concerning.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Questions and comments, the hon. member for La Pointe-de-l'Île.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in the 1970s, the federal government used to cover about 50% of health care spending. Today, it covers about 22%. On the one hand, the federal government is stifling the health care system in Quebec and the provinces, and on the other, it is interfering in areas of provincial jurisdiction, such as long-term care and lots of other sectors.

What does the hon. member think? Does he agree that health transfers to Quebec and the provinces should be increased? This is a unanimous request from the premiers.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is correct that the federal government has mismanaged the health file from day one. The major issue right now is the lack of vaccines across Canada, and that is squarely on the federal government, which has not done its work. It brags about how many vaccines it has secured, but it never released the time periods. We are talking two-plus years.

We have shortages across Canada. Right now in Saskatchewan, 102% of the vaccines delivered are in people's arms. That is where the failure of the federal Liberal government is. It is in not securing enough vaccines for Canada.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I cannot understand where this member is coming from. Just about every measure he is talking about in criticizing the spending was done through unanimous consent of this House. The members on the other side, including all the Conservative members, voted in favour of all this spending.

Why did the member who is so critical of this spending vote in favour of it?

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

Mr. Speaker, if members remember back, last year we had the one bill. It was $60 billion, and we had six hours of debate. This was before government prorogued Parliament. A lot of the problems with the Liberal government come from going back, and that is why the do-over bill of Bill C-14 is meant to fix some of the errors.

I wonder what the outcome would be if we actually had proper debate on these outstanding numbers we have been racking up.

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to speak today on Bill C-14, which, among other things, increases the ceiling for the government's borrowing authority from $1.1 trillion to $1.8 trillion. This would enable the government to drive the country an additional $700 billion into debt.

Even prior to the pandemic, the government's finances were already like a ship lost at sea with no fiscal anchors. For context, between 1867 and 2020, the accumulated federal debt was just over $700 billion. Over the past year, it has exceeded $1.1 trillion, or 50% over our accumulated debt since Confederation. This is a staggering number never seen before.

Canadians desperately need the government to have a plan to get Canada’s fiscal house back in order when the COVID crisis subsides. It goes without saying that the government would have been in a far stronger position to weather this storm if it simply had not broken its promise in 2015 to balance the budget by 2019.

With respect to interest rates, I recall vividly a time when interest rates were very high. In fact, my first home mortgage in 1989 had an interest rate of 12.75%. That was a good rate at the time. The former governor of the Bank Canada and the Parliamentary Budget Officer both confirmed in finance committee testimony that interest rates will inevitably go up. Interest rate increases are an existential threat to the federal government’s ability to fund programs, like the COVID programs and others, into the future.

If interest rates go up by even one percentage point, that will cost $11 billion; a 5% interest rate rise would cost $55 billion. I say to the Minister of Finance, please heed these warnings. We must be ready. We do not want to be in the same position as Paul Martin and Jean Chrétien were in the mid-90s, when they had to slash health care transfers.

Our economy cannot recover without small businesses being successful, and right now across the country they are hurting, including in my home province of Manitoba. According to the CFIB, 2.4 million jobs are at risk nationally and 181,000 businesses are at risk of closing their doors forever. In Manitoba it estimates that there are an estimated 5,601 businesses at risk, which represents over 102,000 jobs in Manitoba out of a population of 1.3 million people, and 16% of Manitoba businesses are actively considering winding down or declaring bankruptcy. These job losses are from across all sectors.

While public health restrictions have been necessary to slow the spread of COVID-19, they came with a massive price. This recent data shows the devastating impacts they have had on small businesses and the families they support. If these businesses do not survive, Canada’s economic recovery will be much more difficult.

In saying this, I am not arguing against the need for extraordinary measures, but rather to highlight the desperate need for a recovery plan as soon as possible. Not only have small businesses been devastated, but so have charities. Canadian charities need to be an effective partner in any recovery plan. My bill, the supporting Canadian charities act, would give the charitable sector the boost it needs by making the proceeds of sale of private shares and real estate exempt from the capital gains tax if donated to a qualified charity within 30 days.

This common sense measure could have been in place six years ago, but the Liberals tossed it aside from the 2015 budget when they formed government. If this measure had been in place, charities would have received hundreds of millions of dollars more and would have been better positioned to respond to the pandemic and be prepared for the recovery.

With regard to vaccines, they are critical to reopening the economy. Acquiring vaccines and getting them to provinces must be the federal government’s top priority. Only 1.46% of Canadians have been vaccinated. In contrast, Israel has vaccinated 22.34% of its citizens; the UAE is at 14.1%; and the U.K. is at 4.19%. Canada ranks at least a distant number 11 in the world for per capita vaccinations. The government has put Canadians at the back of pack with their mismanagement of the rollout.

Canada will receive zero doses of the Pfizer vaccine this week. How can provinces come up with vaccination plans without certainty of delivery? Why did the Prime Minister wait until last week to even pick up the phone and speak to the CEO of Pfizer? We cannot secure jobs, our economy, and our future without vaccines. Where is the plan?

With respect to the aviation industry, it is critical national infrastructure. This debate is not just about regional routes; it is about all routes and all jobs. It is about positioning our economy for a full and robust recovery and securing our future.

On Saturday, I spoke with Joseph. Joseph is a 31-year-old pilot. He and his partner live in my riding and have a two-year-old son, who was playing with Lego when I called. After several years of flying, he got his dream job last February flying 737s for WestJet. On May 4, he was grounded because of the pandemic. He fears he may never get back to the work he loves and just cannot make ends meet on available government assistance.

Joseph and his family and thousands of aviation workers in his situation are counting on us to get this right. The government has said that the purpose of this bill is to “provide assistance to families with young children, support students, and invest in resources to protect the health and safety of Canadians.” I cannot think of a better way to do this than to provide aviation workers, many of whom have young families, just like Joseph, with a plan to protect their livelihoods.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, travel and aviation workers have been dramatically impacted in such a negative way. With international travel being shut down and domestic travel slowing to a snail's pace, aviation workers and their livelihoods have been grounded. They were assured for months by the government that help was coming. They were assured that talks with airlines and other industry stakeholders were ongoing to develop a plan. They were told to just wait and be patient. Even after hundreds of aviation workers demonstrated on the Hill in October, pleading for help, all they have heard are crickets from the government.

With the situation in the aviation industry getting worse by the day, aviation workers and their families cannot wait any longer. Where is the plan? Where are the assurances that these jobs will not be eliminated and that travel adviser commissions will be protected? Where are the assurances for travellers to get full refunds on tickets which were cancelled due to COVID-19? Why is rapid testing not in place at airports? Pilots, flight attendants, baggage personnel, mechanics, independent travel advisers and many others are still waiting for this long-promised plan. Let us not forget it is aviation workers who continue to play crucial roles in the distribution of vaccines and PPE across the country. They are there for us, but the government is simply not there for them.

While emergency measures in this bill are worthy of consideration, what I do not support is rubber-stamping continued runaway deficits. Combining a $700 billion increase in borrowing authority with these measures into one bill is just simply bad governance. An increase of the debt limit sufficiently to allow for the government to fund the COVID emergency spending through to the end of the next fiscal year would make sense. However, anything further must be contingent on a fiscal anchor and must have parliamentary and committee scrutiny. Such a vast spending authority needs to be considered separate and apart from these important supports.

To put this in perspective, the $700 billion increase in spending authority being requested over the next three years is equivalent to the total $700 billion debt of Canada accumulated between 1867 and 2020. It is a staggering amount as I have said. The government's borrowing authority should be debated in a separate bill to ensure there is appropriate parliamentary oversight and scrutiny. We should not be providing the government carte blanche to spend as it sees fit, without end and in the absence of such oversight.

On this side of the House, the Conservatives are focused on taking actions to get as many people back to work in every part of Canada and every sector as quickly as possible. We are ready to do whatever it takes to get Canada working again, but we must ensure that taxpayer dollars are treated with respect.

As the official opposition, we are committed to ensuring the government's spending supports Canadians when they need it the most while being focused on responsible fiscal management for the years to come. We need to secure the future for all Canadians.

[Kody Blois, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Mr. Speaker, at the start of my hon. colleague's speech, he mentioned the former Bank of Canada governor talking about interest rates. As I understand it, the former governor of the Bank of Canada was more concerned about deflation and the impact on jobs.

Certainly the member had talked a lot about the debt being at formerly $700 billion and now $1.1 trillion. However, in the same breath, he also talked about businesses and the need to protect workers and employees. Would he not agree that the $400 billion that has been added to that debt has been focused on supporting Canadians to avoid the economic scarring of the economy? Will he admit that this is certainly what the government's focus has been since day one?

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

Mr. Speaker, first, I spoke to the former governor in the finance committee. I asked him if and when interest rates would go up. Although he did say that we were in a deep hole, he said that as we came out of the recovery, interest rates would certainly go up. It is in Hansard, it is on the record, and the member can read it for himself. They can go up. I have experienced it myself. The government will have huge difficulty managing when that happens.

In terms of protecting businesses, the Conservatives, by and large, have supported the emergency programs that have been rolled out, and certainly they have been very valuable. The sad part about the emergency programs is that they could have been far better, far more effective and, frankly, more timely if the Liberal government had simply let us examine them with proper scrutiny through committee meetings, but that was not the case. These bills were brought forward and basically rammed through Parliament, which is unfortunate. It led to many mistakes, one of which, by the way, Bill C-14 would correct by announcing that people do not have to pay their rent before they can claim the rent subsidy. That could have been fixed months ago if we had just had some reasonable opportunity for oversight.

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member of Parliament for Vaughan—Woodbridge.

It is a pleasure to be virtually in the House, from my home in Surrey, British Columbia, to speak to Bill C-14, an act to implement certain provisions of the fall economic statement. It contains so many incredible and important initiatives, everything from COVID recovery for Canadians and Canadian businesses to social equality to climate change. The thread that joins all these issues together is that we all make a positive impact in the lives of Canadians from coast to coast to coast now and into the future.

I would like to take this opportunity to talk about some of the many important aspects of the economic update that are of particular interest to my riding of Surrey Centre. I will address some of these areas where individuals and businesses continue to struggle: support for Canadians and businesses as we continue to face the pandemic; creating opportunities and support for youth; and economic development in British Columbia.

Continued support for individuals and businesses throughout the COVID-19 pandemic will be vital for Canadians as we face what will likely be some challenging months ahead. With cases continuing to rise across the country and provinces and territories taking steps to reduce the spread, we continue to see limits on gatherings and restrictions on some businesses in their operations. Support like the Canada recovery benefit and the Canada child benefit, the extension of the Canada emergency wage subsidy and emergency business accounts remain as important as ever.

I continue to hear from constituents in Surrey Centre who need these benefits. They support our government in whatever it takes to ensure that Canadians have the support they need to get through these challenging times. From Surrey Centre restaurants like Bozzini's to the AP Group sawmill that employ over 80 employees, these businesses were able to survive and continue to employ their workers despite the challenges faced by COVID-19, all due to the federal support measures like the Canada emergency wage subsidy and the Canada emergency rent subsidy, to name a few.

Creating opportunities for youth is a topic that is deeply important to the Surrey Centre Constituency Youth Council. The youth involved in my council and youth across the country are very concerned about the impact of COVID-19 and their futures. Many feel they have missed out on chances for learning in the classroom, connecting with peers and lost opportunities for employment. Those who have just entered the job market have had a particularly challenging time to find meaningful work.

While not part of the bill, I want to take the opportunity to highlight the Canada summer jobs program and the impact it has in our communities. The funding delivered by Canada summer jobs is highly desired by organizations and businesses in Surrey Centre to help them create positions for youth that they would otherwise not have the means to provide. Just as important, youth across Canada also rely on these positions each year, including some members of my office's youth council.

The proposed increase of 40,000 jobs for Canada summer jobs across the country for 2021-22 is very welcome news. This means that 120,000 youth will have access to positions created just for them.

In addition to the Canada summer jobs, the fall economic statement also proposes 45,300 job placements for young people through the youth employment skills strategy. Together these initiatives will provide more than 160,000 employment opportunities for Canadian youth, positions that will help them gain valuable experience and develop their skills for future employment opportunities as they enter the job market.

However, while we wait for the additional Canada summer jobs and opportunities, the bill would bring some debt relief to millions of student loan borrowers who have struggled to pay their bills this year, some as a result of entering the job market during COVID, job loss or reduction in hours due to the pandemic. We will achieve this through eliminating the federal interest on Canada student loans and Canada apprentice loans for 2021-22. This will mean $329 million of relief to Canadian student loan borrowers.

Finally, I would like to highlight the regional development agencies across the country. So far these agencies have made $1.5 billion in support available to businesses through the regional relief and recovery fund. Introduced in April, the regional relief fund is providing significant support through Canada's regional development agencies to small businesses that are unable to access other pandemic support programs.

The regional relief and recovery fund has supported 14,700 businesses and protected more than 100,000 jobs so far.

The additional $500 million proposed for the regional development agencies will bring the total support available to more than $2 billion for businesses and entrepreneurs in need of assistance.

Western Economic Diversification Canada, which has served all of the western provinces from Manitoba to B.C. for the last 30 years, has been providing support for businesses, innovators and non-profits by promoting the development and diversification of western Canada's economy and advancing the interests of the west in national economic policy, programs and projects.

We know, however, that western Canada is not a homogeneous region. British Columbia and the Prairies have different economic needs. The proposed new regional development agency for British Columbia has caught the attention of small and medium-sized businesses in Surrey. They know the value of the regional development agencies, and specifically the important support provided by the regional relief and recovery fund. This new RDA would tailor support even further to the specific needs of British Columbia businesses, and allow Western Economic Diversification to do the same and focus on the specific needs of the Prairies. This would help programs like the regional relief and recovery fund create even more impact in the regions they serve.

A new B.C. development agency would help diversify businesses in Surrey that are in the clean tech, health science, forest product, agri-tech and logistics sectors that fuel the economy in B.C. This new RDA would be able to see what is imperative to our local economy and help increase productivity and create more jobs.

These, and many of the other proposed initiatives in the fall economic statement, would be of great help to the millions of Canadians who have been struggling. The quicker we get these programs in place, the quicker they will benefit the Canadians who need them most.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I listened intently to the member's comments. A couple of Liberal colleagues have talked about how important small businesses are to the Canadian economy. However, I remember that in 2017, before the pandemic, there was a lot of talk about the Liberals bringing forward tax increases on small businesses across the country. I believe they were even called tax havens for some people.

I want to ask the member this. Going forward, can we ensure that we will make the economy stronger and that we will secure our future recovery by ensuring small businesses have every ability to succeed and hire more people after the recovery instead of labelling them as tax cheats and raising taxes on them?

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the member has not read or seen the facts. Since the Liberal government came into power in 2015, we have lowered the small and medium-sized business tax rate by almost 3%. We probably have the lowest tax rate in North America, but definitely the lowest this country has ever seen. It went from almost 12% down to 9% during this time, all to support and help small businesses.

During this pandemic, small businesses were given $40,000 interest free, then an additional $20,000 interest free, of which $20,000 is forgivable after two-plus years once it is paid back. I would say this has saved hundreds of thousands of businesses from some of the pains of the pandemic.

In addition, we have given them a wage subsidy so they can continue their support. I recall that, at the beginning of the pandemic, employers said they did not want to lay off their employees. Their business was down, but they had good employees they wanted to support themselves. We gave them that opportunity. This government will always be there for small businesses and the—

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Questions and comments, the hon. member for Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to my colleague's speech. He praised the merits of some of these programs, which are not under federal jurisdiction, but we know the story well. I would like him to answer a simple question about a program he must be familiar with, because it was his government that decided to set it up. We are still waiting for that to happen. I am talking about the credit program for the hardest-hit sectors, which was announced in the economic update on November 30. There is still nothing to this day. Normally, when an economic update is released, it is because there is a plan. There is currently no program.

When will there be a plan to support the industries that are currently being hit hard, particularly tourism, aerospace, arts and culture?

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

Mr. Speaker, our government has been front and centre, and our ministers responsible for these areas have been taking a very active look and taking feedback from all sectors.

We completely recognize that the hospitality and tourism sectors have been probably hit the hardest in this country, and a lot needs to be done to help and support them during this time. Many of the businesses are taking advantage of the wage subsidy, the emergency rent subsidy and small business loan programs, but more needs to be done. Our government is committed to that. In the days and weeks ahead, our government will hopefully be announcing and enacting some of those relief methods so that we can support our tourism and hospitality sectors, and most of all support the workers and the people who are behind them.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the member about one thing that I was surprised to see missing from Bill C-14.

As the member knows, in order for a small business to qualify for the Canada emergency wage subsidy, it had to have a payroll account in place before March 15 of last year. More than 10 months later, many start-ups still cannot qualify for that important wage subsidy. I am sure he has small businesses in his riding that are going through similar problems.

Why have the Liberals so far neglected to pay attention to start-ups so that they can qualify for the wage subsidy, given that we are now 10 months into this pandemic with no end in sight in the immediate future?

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

Mr. Speaker, as my colleague has stated, we have been helping small businesses. We have been giving them wage subsidies and support, but these are businesses that were already established and had people working for them. Therefore, the benchmark is from what they were earning before they took a reduction in revenue or sales. It is based on that.

I am well aware that some restaurants started operations post-pandemic, and they are facing challenging times. I will urge the Minister of Finance and other ministers to find ways to support them so that they can also survive this difficult time.

I thank the member for his question. I will take it to heart and make sure that we can do something about that.

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to speak on Bill C-14, which aims to ensure that Canadian families, workers and businesses that continue to be impacted by COVID-19 receive the assistance they need via some of the measures our government detailed in the 2020 fall economic statement.

I know all parliamentarians, my colleagues, will continue to ensure we have the backs of Canadian families by providing them with the support they need as we all deal with COVID-19.

I wish to take a moment to thank the residents of my riding of Vaughan—Woodbridge and the City of Vaughan, who have heeded the requests from public health officials over the past year to do what is right: wear a mask, socially distance and now stay home. Together we will get through the pandemic. On behalf of all citizens, I wish to express our gratitude to the essential and front-line workers who have our backs. I thank them for what they do day in and day out.

As an economist by profession and a participant in the global financial markets for over 20 years, and who worked through the tech bubble and the global financial crisis, I was frankly not surprised by the magnitude of the impact of COVID-19. It was an exogenous shock that, as referred to in economic terms, froze the Canadian and global economy for a period of time.

With that, since day one, our government has been laser focused and will continue to be there for Canadian workers, entrepreneurs, families and students. Measures such as the Canada emergency response benefit assisted nearly nine million Canadians who one day were gainfully employed, providing for their families and building their futures, and the next day had their workplaces shut down, or even worse, found their jobs gone.

Our focus remains to help and support these Canadians. The CEBA and the Canada emergency wage subsidy have helped hundreds of thousands of businesses, including hundreds of businesses in my riding of Vaughan—Woodbridge. The wage subsidy, in one month alone, supported nearly 4.5 million Canadian workers. It has been remarked upon as the key mechanism to maintain attachment between employers and their employees so we can ensure a faster recovery for our economy. We know for a fact that the Canadian labour market is recovering faster from COVID-19 than that of the United States. We do not want permanent scarring to occur in the Canadian labour market, and the CEWS is such an important program to ensure recovery in employment levels as we move into recovery from the pandemic.

In April 2020, according to Statistics Canada, the initial widespread COVID-19 economic shutdown directly affected 5.5 million Canadian workers, including three million who lost their jobs and 2.5 million who were employed but experienced COVID-related absences.

We are seeing a recovery. We know we have much work to do. December 2020's Labour Force Survey recorded 1.1 million Canadian workers who remain impacted by COVID, including 636,000 who lost their jobs due to the impact of COVID. This level of lost jobs is much greater than what was experienced during the financial crisis. Again, we know much work must be done to get our economy back to full employment and all Canadians working again.

As stated in the Speech from the Throne, our government has committed to create over one million jobs, restoring employment to pre-COVID levels. As parliamentarians, in the interim we must again ensure that Canadian workers and families continue to have the support they need. The recovery benefits, including the Canada recovery benefit, the sickness benefit and the caregiving benefit, along with enhanced flexibility in the employment insurance system, are ensuring that Canadian families do not have to choose between putting food on their tables or paying rent. We will have their backs.

Bill C-14 will provide for the implementation of a number of measures from the fall economic statement that will assist Canadian families and students and ensure help for Canadian businesses through the Canada emergency rent subsidy. I know from my friends across the aisle in the official opposition that support for families with children is also a priority.

In 2015, our government promised we would strengthen the middle class and those working hard to join it. The Canada child benefit was at the centre of this promise. This measure has lifted hundreds of thousands of children and their families out of poverty and continues to provide tax-free monthly material assistance to those families in Canada who need it most. In my riding alone, over 15,000 children receive the CCB every month. Nearly $60 million annually in tax-free assistance is being delivered to Vaughan—Woodbridge families.

Bill C-14 will provide for immediate and temporary relief for families we know are impacted by COVID-19, with up to $1,200 in 2021 for each child under the age of six for low- and middle-income families entitled to the Canada child benefit. This would apply to families with net incomes below $120,000. For those above, the payment would be $600.

This measure is anticipated to benefit 1.6 million families and, with that, 2.1 million children. I ask my colleagues from all parties to join in ensuring that the assistance to these families and children occurs in a timely manner.

Bill C-14 also includes direct measures to ensure we assist small business owners impacted by COVID-19, with direct and timely payments to cover rent and associated expenses. The measures will ensure that small business owners are able to receive assistance on a timely basis ex ante to help them cover the rent payable.

We know that the Canada emergency rent subsidy is assisting hard-hit businesses to pay for rent and related expenses. The CERS provides direct and easy access to rent and mortgage support from September 27, 2020, until June 2021 for qualifying organizations. The program is revamped. We consulted and listened, and provide payments directly to renters rather than having them go through their landlords. For small businesses shut down by a public health order, the rent subsidy will cover up to 90% or up to $75,000 in monthly expenses. Bill C-14 would formalize the current administration of the rent subsidy, which includes, again, rent payable. This is very important.

To date, total approved applications are nearly 240,000, with a value of funds distributed to hard-working entrepreneurs across this country of nearly $1 billion.

We know that young people continue to suffer disproportionately from the economic impacts of COVID-19, particularly on the unemployment front. Bill C-14 would assist students by easing the financial burden of student debt during the recovery and, with that, eliminating the interest repayment on the federal portion of Canada's student loans and the Canada's apprenticeship loans for 2021-22. The measure would help 1.4 million Canadians, providing over $300 million in savings to students.

We have students' backs, and I am glad to say that we are vastly expanding the Canada summer jobs program, with approximately 120,000 job opportunities this year versus 80,000 in a prior year. This is great news for youth in my riding of Vaughan—Woodbridge and across Canada as we continue to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before I finish up my remarks today on Bill C-14, which I hope moves through the House quickly to assist families and businesses throughout our country, I note that much has been written about where our economy and our future are going, not only in Canada but also around the world. I read something over the holidays and it continues to strike me as something very important. It is from an International Monetary Fund series written by very well-known economists, authors and thinkers. We want to rebuild. We want to build a more inclusive society and we want to strengthen our social fabric. I will read a quote from an article I read that struck me as being at the core of this. It is from Ian Goldin, entitled “Rethinking Global Resilience”:

The devastation caused by COVID-19 compels us to redouble our efforts to create a fairer and more inclusive world. This requires that we address the threats that endanger our lives and exacerbate inequality, poverty, and climate change. Building a resilient and sustainable future requires action by all of us, from the individual level up to the global level. International cooperation is vital not only between governments, but through civil society, business, and professional collaboration. The networked problems of our time are amenable to networked solutions. We must use this crisis to build new and stronger bonds, in our communities, in our countries, and globally.

It is obviously great to be back here in Parliament, but we must continue to assist Canadians impacted by COVID-19. We must continue to have their backs.

The federal government is working with and listening to many stakeholders, some here in my riding. I have spoken to many small business owners, and I know how grateful they are for the Canada emergency business account. I know how much the Canada emergency response benefit made a difference in the lives of many citizens, particularly the many people who lost their jobs for no other reason than COVID-19.

This was not an economic recession caused by the capitalist or market system. This was caused by an exogenous event, and our government reacted strongly and continues to provide the help that Canadians from coast to coast to coast need. We have sectors that are in rough shape, including hospitality and tourism. We need to assist those sectors. They will gradually be assisted as the economy opens up, with the rollout of the vaccine.

I am going to end there. Again, it is great to be back, and I look forward to answering questions from my hon. colleagues.

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

Mr. Speaker, unfortunately I think my colleague is missing a key point here. I agree that what was done needed to be done, and I am sending out a householder talking about all the ways that those on this side of the floor helped make those programs significantly better than they were and helped get them out the door much faster than they were coming out the door.

The unfortunate thing my colleagues does not seem to understand is that small businesses can only carry on under this kind of an environment for so long before they no longer exist. We are hitting a key point in time for our country when the government needs to be stimulating the economy, not just keeping people breathing in the midst of things. They want to go back to work.

Why are the Liberals choosing to ignore our biggest resource in this country at a time when even Jerry Dias says that we will need oil in this world for at least another 40 years? We are the ones with the best product and the best environmental standards in the world, so why are we choosing to sit down and give this opportunity to the rest of the world, killing the wealth and prosperity in this nation?

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Mr. Speaker, as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Revenue, I was very glad to see how quickly we were able to get funds to Canadians who had lost their jobs because of COVID-19. Within two to three business days, Canadians received the Canada emergency response benefit, and firms having business accounts received the CEWS.

In the city I live in and the riding I represent, we have over 13,000 SMEs. I work with and know so many of them, and I listen to their concerns. Believe me, their concerns are always brought to individuals I work with within our party and within the minister's offices to improve and strengthen programs. That is what Canadians expect. Canadians expect us to co-operate. They expect all levels of government to work together, because we know we are all in this together and we are only going to get out of this together.

I thank the hon. member for her comments, but I would say our government has acted swiftly and very prudently. We will continue to have the backs of Canadian workers and businesses as they continue to be impacted by COVID-19.

[Louise Charbonneau, Bloc, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to my hon. colleague, the parliamentary secretary. I thank him for thinking of the health care providers who are taking care of people with COVID-19.

I want to talk about self-employed workers and small businesses in particular. There are programs out there right now. However, Karine Dufour, one of my constituents, told me today that it takes a very long time to get a response to a grant application and that the CRA's checks are onerous.

What does my colleague think about that?

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is always imperative to assist Canadians as quickly and as efficiently as possible via the Canada Revenue Agency. I know the public servants of the Canada Revenue Agency have been working day and night, since the pandemic began, to assist Canadians in this very unique and extraordinary period of time globally.

The call agents strive to do their best with the information they are provided. If there is a specific case the member wishes to bring up that needs assistance, she can please send it over to the minister's office and to my office. We will be more than happy to assist.

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we have heard the member in the past speak at length about the government's ability to put $100 billion out the door for workers, but what he has not talked about is the $750 billion in liquidity supports it gave to big banks and Bay Street.

When we proposed a wealth tax, why did the hon. member bend over backwards and contort himself to defend big corporations against having this debt placed on the backs and burdens of households here in Canada?

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the city of Vaughan is home to over 13,000 businesses, and I know how hard these entrepreneurs work to create jobs, whether they employ a hundred people or thousands of people. I understand how important they are and how much risk-taking they do, day in and day out, to ensure we have a strong economy and remain competitive.

I will always stand on the side of job creators and will always stand on the side of workers. I am glad to see the investment that General Motors is making in our country in Oshawa and the recent announcement with Unifor. In Ingersoll, we will always stand with job creators and will always stand with the workers developing great products and services.

[Tamara Jansen, Conservative, Cloverdale—Langley City, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Edmonton Centre.

Canadians can be forgiven for thinking that this government has been developing a way of protecting Canadians from the virus from scratch. We are constantly being told that this is an unprecedented situation, a one-of-a-kind happening and no one could have planned for this. We are being told how hard this government has worked night and day to keep us safe during this never-before-seen viral contagion sweeping the globe.

Our Minister of Health has regularly changed recommendations and restrictions, causing confusion and frustration for Canadians everywhere. She said that it could not be helped, and that we learn something new every day. In actual fact, quoting King Solomon from the Book of Ecclesiastes, “there is nothing new under the sun.”

I contest that farmers have been tackling the challenge of deadly viruses in their crops and herds for a millennia. I myself have dealt with viral outbreaks on the farm. As a matter of fact, one of the very first big challenges we faced in business was a viral infection in flowers. As with COVID-19, there was no cure, and we were forced to cull the crop and start over. This early tragedy informed my understanding and, quite frankly, the understanding of industry and government on how to best tackle and control viral outbreaks.

Let me give a concrete example, which has been happening in every province across our great country for years in response to what science has told us about viral outbreaks.

Every greenhouse vegetable grower has protocols in place to ensure that viruses are not transported into their facility. They know the danger they face once a virus gets inside. There are devastating economic consequences, so when one enters the facility, one is first asked to simply sign in, just like we are doing now in restaurants. It is an easy but effective way to quickly track a source of infection when it happens. One is then given a gown to wear over one's clothes so that a pathogen is not brought in that way. At every door, there are foot baths to ensure that a pathogen is not brought in on one's shoes. Hand sanitizer stations are everywhere.

After that, years ago, the federal government mandated floral growers to install complicated tracking and tracing systems for all plant cuttings. These cuttings originate from places around the globe and arrive in Canada on airplanes by the millions daily. The system enables a farmer to pinpoint where in the greenhouse a cutting came from, where it is at any given time during production and even tracks which customer it is eventually sold to.

Every step of the way is tracked so that, should a virus outbreak occur, farmers and government can go back and find the source, and work to isolate and eradicate the problem. These are tried, tested and effective methods that farmers have been using for years to ensure the safety of their own crops and those of neighbouring farmers.

This is the science that our government is well aware of. In fact, it has regulated farmers for many decades to ensure that they maintain a robust monitoring system that protects the crops of Canadian farmers day after day and year after year. However, with this enormous body of scientific knowledge at our fingertips, and systems and processes that have been functioning very well in the agriculture sector for years, we find ourselves watching our economy being burned to the ground because this government chose to politicize the entire pandemic response procedure rather than follow the science.

Where a farmer will lock his doors to uninvited visitors during an outbreak, our health officials said that it would be racist to restrict entry into the country. Where a farmer keeps gallons of hand sanitizer in stock at all times, our national emergency stockpile cupboards were bare. Where a farmer tracks and traces millions upon millions of plants arriving per year, our health officials have no live health data tracking system in place. Where a farmer tests water, tissue and soil samples on the spot, our finance minister declared rapid tests no better than snake oil.

It is clear that the real science was ignored and politics took priority when it came to our COVID response, which has cost regular, hard-working Canadians their jobs, their mental health, their businesses, their retirement savings and their lives.

Here we are today to debate the new measures for more COVID support. These measures were only necessary because this government dawdled on rapid tests and vaccines. Because of its failures, Canadians will be among the last on the globe to be able to return to normal. My question is this: Is it reasonable for us to believe that these new measures will do what they say they will?

We keep hearing that we are all in this together, which is clearly not the case. As a matter of fact, there are a lot of jobs that were not affected, such as those in the public sector, which represents a whopping 35% of Canadians.

Elite politicians are the ones who are least impacted financially, yet they continue to fail those who are most impacted. The bulk of the damage is being shouldered by small business entrepreneurs and those with the least amount of wealth in the community. This bill still does not begin to recognize that fact. These new spending authorities request $700 billion in additional borrowing limits, as well as a $100-billion slush fund. As opposed to helping those most impacted, these dollars appear to be earmarked for special pet projects of the ideologically obsessed Liberal government.

Thousands of women in the travel sales industry have been without an income since March. The highly affected sector support program, which the Liberals announced with great fanfare many months ago, is nowhere to be seen. Single mothers, many primary breadwinners for the family, cannot buy groceries to put on the dinner table. They cannot wait any longer. Where is that support?

I am seeing small business owners in my riding hanging on by a thread. They did not qualify for the first disastrous rent relief program because, let us face it, it was fixed to help a Liberal insider get in on the action.

I am going to hazard a guess that the elite politicians who are crafting these policies have never started a small business. They have never had to borrow from family to make payroll. They have never worked a second job so they could afford the plexiglass dividers they need to be able to open or reopen their restaurant during a pandemic.

The Prime Minister and the finance minister are lessons in Canadian political elitism. They constantly assure us that transparency, and science-based and best-practice approaches are the only way they do business. Do they think we do not see that there has been no budget tabled and that they have cancelled audits for themselves, but are pushing hard for auditing the books of small businesses? What sort of due diligence was done in hiring the governor general? Did no one even make a call to check her references?

In this bill, the Liberals are proposing COVID supports that will give them further opportunity to spend without oversight, because they say that during a pandemic they need to have the ability to act fast and save our citizens. However, there is nothing in this bill to suggest they will do anything differently than they have done up to now.

Canadians are ready to be the solution. Many households have been saving up throughout this pandemic. They are excited to get back to travelling, working and doing business without government handouts.

Canada has been the best place in the world to live. It has always been a land of opportunity like no other. We will need to leverage our assets to the maximum and make sure our economy is firing on all cylinders if we are going to weather this storm. The government should have had all the tools and expertise it needed right from the beginning. What went wrong when, rather than those of flowers or animals, it was human lives at stake? The Liberal government is so ideologically possessed that science and common sense took and continue to take a back seat.

We have been plagued by this pandemic for a year. Clearly, what we are doing is not working. Our economy has ground to a halt and cases continue to rise. The government has failed to provide the provinces with viable alternatives to lockdowns. It has failed to create an effective national tracking and tracing program. It has failed to procure enough rapid tests to allow businesses to open confidently. It has gone all in on playing the waiting game until everyone is vaccinated, and it could not even get that right.

Now the government is using this opportunity to force its ideology down Canada's throat, requesting that Parliament allow it to borrow hundreds of billions of dollars to experiment with a reimagined economy. Canadians are tired of this credit card economy. They want a paycheque and the dignity that comes with providing for their own family. Canadians need leadership that is focused on Canadian resources, productivity and ingenuity, not a brave new world.