Debates of Jan. 27th, 2021

Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Pursuant to order made on Monday, January 25, the House will now proceed to the taking of the deferred recorded division on the motion at second reading stage of Bill C-224, under Private Members' Business.

(The House divided on the motion, which was agreed to on the following division:)

Vote #42

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I declare the motion carried. Accordingly, the bill stands referred to the Standing Committee on Finance.

(Bill read the second time and referred to a committee)

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

It is my duty pursuant to Standing Order 38 to inform the House that the questions to be raised tonight at the time of adjournment are as follows: the hon. member for Bow River, Agriculture and Agri-Food; the hon. member for Edmonton Strathcona, Taxation; the hon. member for Nanaimo—Ladysmith, Canada Revenue Agency.

International Trade

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, Humber River—Black Creek, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the third report of the Standing Committee on International Trade, entitled “Good Friday Accord”.

Human Rights

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am here today to present petition e-2740 on Holocaust education, with 747 signatures, including those of former prime ministers Joe Clark and Paul Martin.

The petitioners are concerned about increasing anti-Semitism, and the fact that there are fewer survivors alive to tell the stories about the horrors of the Holocaust to young people. They are calling for increased investment in Holocaust education, research and remembrance, especially to reach young people, and also funding to preserve the testimony of survivors.

It is particularly fitting that I am presenting this petition today, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

[Kerry Diotte, Conservative, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to present a petition. It states:

We, the undersigned citizens of Canada, draw the attention of the House of Commons to the following:

Whereas, a new report published by the Associated Press has revealed that there has been an ongoing campaign of Uyghur birth suppression by the Chinese Communist Party which includes methods such as forced sterilization and abortion; and,

Whereas, in addition to the recent news of coordinated Uyghur birth suppression, there is also a body of mounting evidence showing that Uyghurs are being subject to political and anti-religious indoctrination, arbitrary detention, separation of children from families, invasive surveillance, destruction of cultural sites, forced labor, and even forced organ harvesting; moreover, it is estimated that up to three million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities have been detained in what have been described as concentration camps; and,

Whereas, evidence now makes clear that the Chinese Government's treatment of the Uyghurs meets most, if not all, of the criteria for genocide as outlined in the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide; and,

Whereas, Canada cannot remain silent in the face of this ongoing atrocity.

Therefore we, the undersigned, call on the House of Commons to take the following actions to address the situation:

1. Formally recognize that Uyghurs in China have been and are being subject to genocide.

2. Use the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act ("Magnitsky Act") and sanction those that are responsible for the heinous crimes being committed against the Uyghur people.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I remind hon. members to be as concise as humanly possible when they report on the petition they are presenting.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I think it is particularly important today, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, to be raising a petition about our collective failure to live up to the promise of “never again”. Despite the promise of “never again” after the Holocaust, there have since been many, many instances of genocides targeting minority communities. In particular right now, we have the ongoing genocide of the Uighur people.

This is a genocide that has been clearly identified by the Subcommittee on International Human Rights on an all-party basis. Petitioners, recognizing that, and recognizing various independent studies, reports, satellite imagery and so forth, are calling on the Government of Canada and Parliament to recognize clearly that what is happening in East Turkestan right now does constitute a genocide.

The evidence is there. The petitioners are calling on the government to recognize that and to recognize our responsibility to protect and respond through measures such as Magnitsky sanctions, which will hold perpetrators of this horrific violence accountable. We need Magnitsky sanctions targeting individuals involved in that violence, as well as measures to address problems in our supply chains, whereby we are importing products produced by slave labour.

Any measures that the government has announced up until now on this constitute window dressing and are totally ineffective at addressing the substantive issues. Petitioners are calling on the House and the government to act swiftly to recognize this genocide and seek justice for victims.

[Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

Madam Speaker, as a lawyer, a former judge on the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal and a lifelong advocate for human rights, I am distressed by the atrocities committed against the Uighur Muslims in China. Forced sterilizations, arbitrary detentions and anti-religious indoctrination are simply unacceptable. There is no place for this in our world.

That is why I present this petition today, which also calls on the Liberal government to formally recognize that Uighurs in China are being subjected to genocide and to impose Magnitsky sanctions on those responsible.

CERB Eligibility

[Paul Manly, Green, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Madam Speaker, it is a privilege to table e-petition 3066, which was signed by 7,312 Canadians.

The petitioners are concerned that 441,000 Canadians received letters stating that they may have to pay back the CERB because of ineligibility. They note that the government has admitted it was not clear about CERB eligibility for self-employed workers and that CRA agents provided incorrect information. Even government MPs did not know the rules. Many self-employed Canadians will have a great deal of difficulty repaying this emergency benefit, which they applied for in good faith.

The petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to retroactively allow self-employed Canadians to use their gross, pre-tax income before business expenses when determining their CERB eligibility.

Questions on the Order Paper

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada and to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Madam Speaker, I ask that all questions be allowed to stand.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

The House resumed from January 26 consideration of the motion that Bill C-14, an act to implement certain provisions of the economic statement tabled in Parliament on November 30, 2020 and other measures, be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2020

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

I wish to inform the House that because of the deferred recorded divisions, Government Orders will be extended by 89 minutes.

Resuming debate, the hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Northern Affairs.

[Yvonne Jones, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Northern Affairs]

Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to speak to this bill, and I would first like to give an update on what has been happening in my riding with regard to vaccines.

As members know, I represent an indigenous northern region of Canada. I am pleased to say that first nations communities have been vaccinated, and a number of our Inuit communities as well. All long-term care residents and the staff have received the vaccine, and other communities in the southern region of Labrador have been scheduled for vaccines. I am really pleased to see how this is rolling out and serving the people of Canada and the people I represent.

Canadians are very strong. I do not need to stand anywhere in this country to say that. We know that; we live that experience every day. We are known to care for each other. This pandemic is unprecedented, and it is something we have never seen or experienced before in this country. However, our response to it, by caring and supporting one another, is something we have become all too familiar with as Canadians.

When the government and Canadians were informed of the coronavirus pandemic and we learned what it would mean for the health of Canadians and the economics of our country, there was no blueprint or manual on how government should manage its way through it and keep Canadians safe during a time like this. It was very much uncharted territory for the Prime Minister, leading scientists and researchers, health organizations and institutions, and all of us as politicians and citizens. We knew it would require courage, outward thinking, strength and drawing upon Canada's very best in the scientific community, health care facilities and research institutions. Everyone stepped up.

Even the media stepped up. I saw the media reporting the facts and informing and education Canadians, not just editorializing everything that was happening. I think that is very important, because today in our country we often see that journalism is more about editorials as opposed to reporting facts and information. I think the media did well in this pandemic to inform Canadians.

People right across Canada are working from their kitchen tables to make masks to keep us safe. They are working from their home-based businesses, or doing their jobs from home. Students all across the country are using laptops to study and some finished up high school and university degrees. The adjustments that so many Canadians have had to make are remarkable.

When storefronts were closed down across Canada, and some continue to be closed down, businesses started to deliver. They were not going to see people stuck.

Everyone did their part. Everyone stepped up and they have continued to step up. They have not stopped. As a government, we also stepped up. We have not stopped and we will not stop. That is what this fiscal economic statement is about. It is about how we support Canadians at a time when they need it.

Not only the government but our Prime Minister had to enter uncharted waters. Ours was a world that came to a halt. Sometimes we fail to realize the huge significance of what this pandemic has meant to so many. However, not only did the world come to a halt, but Canada was vulnerable. For the first time in many generations, we were vulnerable, and protecting the health of people 24/7 and rising to that responsibility was left solely to the leadership of the government and Canadians.

The pandemic required the best of all of us, and it still requires the best of all of us. I am very proud of how the Government of Canada has stepped up for Canadians. I have seen first-hand in my riding the significance of government investments, government care and government outreach and how these have made the pandemic a little easier on a lot of people.

In the last few weeks, there has been a lot of banter back and forth by the opposition about the pandemic and the vaccine itself. I listened very carefully to what the Prime Minister had to say a few days ago, when he talked about the urgency of ensuring that Canadians had access to these life-saving vaccines as rapidly as possible, and that our government was operating with a sense of urgency every single day. Canadians know that and they understand that. With more than 1.1 million vaccines already distributed across the country to date, not only is Canada among the top five G20 nations for COVID-19 vaccines, we were also in the top two contributors to COVAX to ensure there would be equitable access to vaccines around the world, because that is what we do. We are Canada.

The Minister of Health, the Prime Minister and many others in the country, such as the people who have led behind the scenes to acquire those vaccines and do the work that had to be done, have all said, over and over, that even if no additional vaccines are approved by Health Canada, we remain on track to receive six million vaccines by the end of March, 20 million between April and June and a total of over 70 million doses by the end of September. Our government has been on top of this. Holding government accountable is a good thing, but focusing on politics for the sake of politics on issues such as what is happening around the vaccine does a disservice to all Canadians. It creates fear where there should be none.

Every day I hear the opposition talk about how the government has invested in people through this vaccine and that we are spending too much money. One day they tell us we are not spending enough, and the next day they tell us we are spending too much. I would like to review a couple of things.

I live in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Today, without the assistance of the federal government, communities would be experiencing tremendous challenges. People would be left behind without the supports the federal government stepped up to provide across the country and across Newfoundland and Labrador. I have one of the most rural northern ridings in Canada. It has made a difference.

In this pandemic, through the Government of Canada, the Canada health transfer increased in my province by $13 million over the last year. It was necessary to support the health of the people who live here. Nearly $150 million has gone to Newfoundland and Labrador through the safe restart agreement. That agreement allowed the province to look at testing capacity, to do tracing, to look at public health data and at ways to fight this pandemic and to keep the people of my province safe. That was a priority. That is not a waste of Canadian taxpayers' money. That is about saving lives. That is why I am always so taken aback when I hear the Conservative Party, in particular, continuously harp at the government for how we have stepped up for Canadians.

I wish no lives had been lost, just like every single person in the House of Commons. Every step has been taken—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

I am sorry to inform the hon member, but we are out of time and we have to go to questions and comments.

The hon. member for Calgary Nose Hill.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Madam Speaker, Canada received 8% of the doses the Prime Minister promised for this period. My colleague said that there is fear where there should be none, and I actually agree with her. This week at the Roberta Place long-term care facility, over 40 people died of COVID-19. Health care workers who had a dose of vaccine do not know when they are getting their second one. Many do not have it at all. There is fear there. There is actual fear, and the fear is legitimate, and this week Canada got no doses of the vaccine.

I am wondering if the member can put aside everything she said for a moment. She said this is about how to support Canadians at a time when they need it. Canadians need vaccines, and we do not have them.

Does she think it is acceptable that those residents who died did not receive the vaccine because the Prime Minister could only deliver 8% of the doses of vaccines that he committed to just a month ago?

[Yvonne Jones, Liberal, Labrador, NL]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question, because there is a lot of fearmongering, and unfortunately a lot of it is unwarranted. We wish that every Canadian from day one could have accessed this vaccine. We wish that today every Canadian in this country could access this vaccine, and every Canadian around the world, but the government has stepped up. The government, the team of people within Health Canada, the people within procurement and the leading people who have been a part of this pandemic have done what has been necessary to secure those vaccines, and the member opposite knows that we are on schedule. It has been said, over and over again, that we are on schedule to ensure that the vaccines that have been procured for Canadians will be received by Canadians during the target dates that were projected.

To do anything outside of that is purely political, and the member knows that.

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Madam Speaker, I would agree with the member for Labrador to the extent that we did what we had to do. We provided financial supports to the millions of Canadian workers and the millions of small businesses that were really struggling or in desperate straits because of COVID. However, now I am hearing concerns from a lot of my constituents about how we will pay for this. The NDP says that the people who did very well during COVID should be the ones who pay: the ultra-rich.

I am wondering if she would agree with the NDP that we need a wealth tax on super-wealthy Canadians, who have more than $20 million in assets, to pay for the amount that we have spent to make sure that no Canadians were left behind.

[Yvonne Jones, Liberal, Labrador, NL]

Madam Speaker, when it comes to the investments that we have made into Canadians, all of those investments were necessary, whether it was the Canada child care benefit, which increased payments to families; whether it was the bonus, or the small grants, that we gave out to seniors across the country; whether it was the money we invested with businesses, so that they did not all go bankrupt during this pandemic; or whether it was the supports we gave to workers that were necessary. I really believe in this country, and I believe that when we invest properly, we generate revenue on those investments.

In the Government of Canada, we are positioning ourselves not just for a safe restart, but for future economic growth and to work with businesses, with industry and with Canadians to ensure that we can create those new jobs, build that new revenue and generate that new economy we feel is within our grasp.

In terms of taxation in this country, we are the government that stepped up to increase taxes on Canada's wealthiest individuals. We have done that. We have a fair tax regime right now, and I am very proud that we were able to do that, but we have to be fair to those who are in need, as well: the most vulnerable. The money I have seen going into food banks, homeless shelters and women's centres made a huge difference in the lives of so many people.

I would never stand in this country—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

We have to resume debate.

The hon. member for Cowichan—Malahat—Langford.

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

Madam Speaker, seeing as this is my first speech in 2021, I want to start by wishing all of my colleagues a happy new year. I also wish a happy new year to my constituents of Cowichan—Malahat—Langford. I know we are all very hopeful that this is the year when we finally turn things around.

The experiences of this pandemic have shown that we are not, in fact, all in this together. What is closer to the truth is that we are in the same storm, but we are in different boats. Some of those boats have certainly been much better at weathering this storm than others. Indeed, many have sunk. We have people right across the country who are in extremely dire straits and, in the immediate future, things are not going to get better. We are still in a very rough patch.

All around my riding, I have been witness to people who have lost their jobs, to small business owners who have shuttered their doors forever, and to many who are very much struggling to stay afloat. It is an open question as to whether they will continue to be able to do so.

We are now dealing with an outbreak in a local first nation. Cowichan Tribes has seen an outbreak of COVID-19 that, unfortunately, has led to a strong rash of racist incidents, which I am joining other community leaders in my riding to condemn.

I also want to acknowledge that many people have stepped up to the plate to support those who have been affected by the pandemic. I want to acknowledge the work of the local chambers of commerce. I have five chambers of commerce in my riding, and they have all been very strong advocates for their members and for the needs of small businesses throughout the region.

Families and workers continue to be concerned about the impacts of job losses and the worsening situation that we find ourselves in. When we come to actual measures that are going to provide assistance, while some parts of Bill C-14 are good, unfortunately it is a continuation of half measures. Given the magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic, including where we have been, where we are and where we are going for the foreseeable future, it is extremely important for us, as a House of Commons, to seize this opportunity to strengthen our social safety net by investing in programs that directly help people.

From the beginning, the goal of the NDP caucus has been to get more help to more people, more quickly. That has been our focus for the last 10 months. I believe that we were very successful in leveraging our position in a minority Parliament by working with the government and with our Conservative colleagues to make sure we could do things like increase the amount of the emergency response benefit. We managed to have that increased to $2,000 a month and we also managed to have it extended.

It was great to see our leader, the member for Burnaby South, join with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business and unions like UFCW, Unifor and the United Steelworkers to ask the government to increase the wage subsidy from the initial 10% to 75%.

We have consistently pushed for more and stronger payments for students, for seniors and for persons with disabilities.

We were able to secure Canada's very first paid sick leave. That is incredibly important in the middle of a health crisis, because we do not want to see workers making the impossible choice between their health and their ability to earn money. If we are going to get through this pandemic, we absolutely must give workers a way to stay home if they are feeling sick. It is a way to not put anyone else in danger of catching COVID-19.

I looked back at the speech that the finance minister delivered in November: the fall economic statement. Bill C-14, the bill we are discussing today, is meant to be the implementation act of that speech.

It is quite clear to all parliamentarians that we are not going to effectively get through this pandemic until we see a very strong rollout of Canada's vaccines. I know that the government has consistently come forward with the message of how much it has invested in vaccine agreements and how much it has secured in a domestic supply, but it has become clear, over the last number of weeks, that there are some holes.

Not to play politics about it, but it is really our job in the opposition to hold the government to account and ask these probing questions. Why is there a delay in the vaccine rollout? Why is Canada not receiving any doses in some weeks and going forward?

My colleague, the member for Vancouver Kingsway, in the emergency debate last night referenced the fact that this is the third time in two weeks that the federal government's delivery schedule has been revised downward. Canadians have questions about that, and I believe it is incumbent upon the federal government, the Liberals, to be up front and honest about where we are at and to provide answers to those very important questions.

When we look at Bill C-14, we see that it is proposing a series of measures, including allowances for young children, a suspension of interest on student loans and an increase in the borrowing limit. I know my Conservative colleagues have great concern over that aspect, but if we look at the desperate times we are in, we can see that we absolutely need to have the federal government step in and provide that important backstop. The alternative is to have more and more businesses falter, never to open their doors again, and recovering from the economic circumstances in which we find ourselves will take so much longer.

I will concentrate on one particular aspect of the bill that has great significance for my riding. It is the fact that $64.4 million is being allocated for mental health and substance use in the context of COVID-19. Here in the Cowichan Valley, as in many parts of the country, we are still suffering through an opioid epidemic. Indeed, British Columbia posted record numbers of deaths last year from opioid overdoses. We have consistently asked the federal government to step in to do more to address this crisis, to provide more financial resources to the provinces, to declare a national health emergency and to start finally treating this problem like the health issue it is. We have to seriously look at criminal justice reforms and at decriminalizing possession of small amounts of illicit substances so that people do not have to fear the criminality of their actions and can actually get the help they need.

There were some missed opportunities, as I alluded to earlier. If we are going to make those bold policy fixes that are truly going to help Canadians get out of this crisis, we need to see massive investments in child care. It is one thing to give parents a financial contribution, but they will not be able to make much use of it if child care spaces are not available. I know that in Langford, which is one of the most rapidly growing urban centres in all of Canada and is full of young families, the lack of good available child care spaces is a huge concern to so many young parents and families.

Similarly, on pharmacare, I am glad to see the member for New Westminster—Burnaby stepping up to the plate with his Bill C-213, which would actually put Liberal promises into NDP action. This would make a huge difference, along with dental care, in actually addressing some of the real costs that so many working families have on their budgets.

We also need to have a serious conversation on how we are going to finance all of this. We have to have a serious talk about implementing a wealth tax to make sure that those very wealthy individuals and corporations that benefited from this pandemic and made profits in the billions of dollars are contributing their fair share and that the payment does not fall on the shoulders of working families.

The Liberals also missed a golden opportunity to fix the wage subsidy, in that start-ups that did not have payroll accounts before March 15, 2020, still cannot qualify for the emergency wage subsidy. I have one business in particular, V2V Black Hops Brewing, an amazing social enterprise that does work in my riding for veterans, that cannot qualify for the wage subsidy because of the payroll account issue. I implore my Liberal colleagues to please fix that in legislation, and this bill was a missed opportunity.

I will conclude by saying that Canadians can no longer wait for half measures. We need bold, decisive action.

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

Madam Speaker, I apologize to my colleague. I was listening to his discussion toward the end about the wage subsidy and in particular what he thinks needs to be fixed in order to make it better.

Could he repeat and possibly elaborate on that point so that it is clear?