Debates of Dec. 7th, 2021

Supplementary Estimates (B), 2021-22

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, let me just say that 106% of jobs lost during COVID have been recovered. The economy is coming back, the fastest rebound of an economy after recession in Canada's history. The recovery is uneven. I know that from my file of tourism, but 106% of jobs recovered since the worst time of COVID says that people are getting back to work.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I see the government is reporting an increased expenditure for the caregiving benefit and the sickness benefit, to the tune of about $2 billion. One of the things we heard at finance committee today was that the government is not aware of which provinces have legislative plans to extend leave provisions in their provincial legislation so that workers under their jurisdiction can benefit from these extended programs. I am wondering if the numbers here in the estimates reflect lapsed funding from delays in provincial leave extensions.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, what is important to know about this matter is that we will be working with our provincial colleagues to clarify the matter. The supports are there. The programs are in place. All Canadians will have access.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Speaker, can the minister name the provinces he has secured commitments from to take urgent legislative action to extend the leave provisions in their jurisdictions?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, we continue to have those discussions with provinces.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I heard that as a “no”.

While I have the opportunity, I want to ask the President of the Treasury Board about reforming the estimates process. We are here tonight talking about the estimates process. It is obviously one of the pillars of the Westminster parliamentary system, this oversight by Parliament of government spending. There were some experiments in the Liberals' first years in government that led to quite a row in the House over a centralized vote, and I am wondering if the President of the Treasury Board has any plans to improve the process, which is now what it was prior to 2015. I think there was widespread agreement among the parties and the pundits and others that it was a system that did not lend itself to proper financial oversight.

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, as I am the new President of the Treasury Board, I am currently working with the process that we have and I am always looking for possibilities for improvement. Maybe through a conversation with all of my colleagues we can make sure we have the best process for our government.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Speaker, when we had some discussions about estimates reform in the 42nd Parliament, one of the ideas on the table was moving toward a fixed budget date. There seemed to be some interest from then minister Brison. I am wondering if the minister would now consider moving toward having a fixed budget date.

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Mr. Speaker, as we know, we just went through a very difficult pandemic. We need to look at how we will continue to support Canadians and how we are going to continue to bring our investments forward for Canadians. We will look at the process of our budget cycle as we go along.

At this time, as my hon. colleague probably knows, we have the fall economic statement next week, on December 14, and after that we will know what the next steps will be.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Speaker, when listening to the government, one sometimes wonders whether we are getting past the pandemic or not. What we saw here was an all-party willingness to suspend some of the normal financial procedures while we were in the thick of the crisis. Liberals are telling people who are on CRB that it is too bad; it is done and they should get back to work, whether they qualify for the positions or not, or whether there is government assistance to help them get the training they need or not.

It is time for the government to get back to work and to experience accountability to Parliament. One way to do that would be to improve the estimates process, and one of the signature ways of doing that would be to commit to a fixed budget date. We saw suspension of some of the rules around the estimates that were mandated in a time of crisis. Surely Parliament would be willing to do that in respect to the budget. However, in the meantime, Canadians have a right to expect regular reporting from their government on the budget. Therefore, will the minister support a fixed budget date?

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Mr. Speaker, again I thank my hon. colleague for bringing forward an idea. We always want to improve our system and at this time we will have next week, on December 14, the economic outlook of our country. We will look at the next steps for investments for Canadians and our accountability and transparency as we continue to support them through the pandemic, which we are still in at this time.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, since the beginning of the pandemic, Canadians have been called upon to take extraordinary measures to ensure the safety of all. We have been in an emergency situation that has required large-scale lockdowns and closures, which have threatened the ability of millions of Canadians to work and thousands of businesses to continue operating.

In response to this extraordinary situation, our government has taken unprecedented action thanks to the collective effort of so many people working tirelessly to help their fellow citizens. We have put in place a comprehensive package of measures to help workers and businesses across the country meet these challenges.

We saw neighbours helping neighbours, frontline workers who did double and triple shifts to keep our communities safe, and people who retooled their entire business lines to produce protective equipment for frontline workers and Canadians in need. In this time of historic commitment to helping others, our government was there to ensure that Canadians, their families, their businesses and their communities would be supported through the worst.

Our income and wage support programs, along with rent subsidies, made it possible for households to support their families. Those programs also enabled millions of Canadians to keep their jobs and hundreds of thousands of Canadian businesses to keep operating during the darkest days of the pandemic.

Thanks to robust public health measures, vaccination rates are high and the child vaccination campaign is moving along quickly. Grandparents and others who need it are receiving their third dose, the booster dose. Our health care system is finding better and better ways of dealing with the virus.

While the recent emergence of the omicron variant of COVID-19 is cause for concern, there is still reason for cautious optimism that we are turning the corner in the fight against this virus and seeing better days. Thanks to the hard work of Canadians, we are approaching the last mile of this long and difficult journey.

On the economic front, the recent OECD December 2021 economic outlook confirmed that Canada is still expected to have a strong recovery relative to pre-pandemic levels of GDP, ranking the second-fastest among G7 economies by 2023. Of the three million jobs that were lost at the peak of the crisis, all have now been recouped, faster than after any other recession. This has been possible because of the supports we provided. They prevented unnecessary increases in insolvencies and kept Canadians and Canadian businesses largely intact. They limited economic scarring and laid the foundation for a strong recovery.

In my riding of Edmonton Centre, I spoke with the now third-generation owners of Kunitz Shoes. The owners live in my riding. It is a third-generation shoe store on Jasper Avenue. It was going to go under, but because of collaboration with other business leaders in the community and due to the supports that we had in place, Kunitz Shoes is now thriving and back on its feet, if members will excuse the pun. The owners told me that they paid taxes, in their case for over 60 years, with the expectation that when they needed it, the government would be there for them. They said it had never happened in the history of the company, but it happened in the past year. The government was there for them, and they thanked me and my colleagues for that.

In short, the government took action and it worked. Canadians and most parliamentarians supported this unprecedented spending because they understood that it was not only the compassionate thing to do, but also the economically smart thing to do. Our government strongly respects that Parliament plays a key role in enforcing this accountability, and I would like to recognize all members participating in the committee of the whole tonight for their role in this regard.

The Department of Finance has also played a key role in enforcing this accountability through its budgets, fiscal updates and reports to Parliament, and it will continue to do so. Further to this goal, as the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance has announced, the government will be providing an economic fiscal update on December 14.

Through these supplementary estimates, the government is seeking parliamentary approval for $8.7 billion in new voted spending. These planned expenditures would support Canadian priorities with infrastructure and services to address the specific needs of indigenous communities, the government's ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and supporting access to COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics in developing countries.

In fact, approximately $1.2 billion of the proposed voted spending in supplementary estimates (B) is for the government's ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic. I do not think it would be an exaggeration to say that Canadians are counting on this funding to protect their health and well-being.

However, Canadians are not just counting on us to invest in their health and well-being. Canadians need and want good jobs with fair wages and clear rules. Therefore, we need to make sure that businesses, especially small businesses, have the support they need. That is why we have introduced Bill C-2 in Parliament.

Among other things, the bill would extend the Canada recovery hiring program until May 2022 at an increased 50% subsidy rate. This would encourage businesses to continue to rehire workers, increase their hours and create additional jobs that Canada needs for a full recovery from the COVID-19 recession.

That said, the government is also aware that some businesses are unable to resume all their activities and create those jobs because of the public health measures that, as I said, are necessary to protect Canadians. We are therefore proposing in Bill C-2 two new support programs targeting specific types of businesses in order to promote economic recovery. In both cases, the businesses must show that they experienced significant revenue declines during the first 12 months of the pandemic as well as the current month.

I will start with the tourism and hospitality recovery program, which will help hotels, restaurants and travel agencies, which are still grappling with public health restrictions and the fact that people are travelling less because of the measures in place.

The Canada emergency wage subsidy and Canada emergency rent subsidy rate for these businesses will be 40% for those with a current-month revenue loss of 40%. The rate would increase in proportion to this revenue loss up to a maximum of 75%.

This legislation is key to getting us to the end of this pandemic and it is unfortunate that our colleagues in the Conservative Party and the NDP are voting against it. Make no mistake: This support will be crucial to getting our tourism sector back on its feet. I spoke with many leading tourism operators and businesses at the Tourism Industry Association of Canada's conference here last week and I can say that they are emphatically asking and demanding that everyone in the chamber support Bill C-2.

Since taking on the role of Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance, I have been moved by the passion of those in the tourism sector for the work that they do. These are the people who tell our story to the world and they are the people who are going to inspire people from around the world to come and fall in love with Canada.

At this moment, this industry is reeling from the body blow of this pandemic. Revenue has declined almost 50% from 2019 levels. Jobs directly attributable to tourism decreased 41% from 692,000 to 409,000 in the same period.

However, even with these challenges, Canada’s tourism sector is moving forward, and our government recognizes the vital role that tourism plays in providing employment and opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses and further fuelling economic growth. In short, our economy will not fully recover until the tourism sector recovers. With government support, businesses in this sector are starting to get ready to welcome Canadians back to experience the great places and activities this country has to offer.

This support includes the measures introduced in budget 2021 to support the tourism sector, totalling $1 billion over three years. This includes $500 million over two years flowing through regional development agencies to help our hard-hit tourism businesses adapt their products and services and invest in future growth.

This also includes $200 million through the regional development agencies to support them and help ensure that Canada continues to draw millions of visitors from all over the world to our large arts and cultural festivals and major events.

I have to thank the former tourism minister, who is now the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the entire government for their foresight and for including all of these measures in budget 2021.

Our government will continue to ensure that Canadians are informed of the details of not just our spending, but of all the investments that we have made to protect and support Canadians in the fight against COVID-19. A full recovery will take time, but we are committed to doing what it takes to finish the fight against COVID-19, to speed up the recovery, and to lay the foundation for years of strong, sustained growth.

As we continue to gain ground in this fight, our support for Canadians is becoming more targeted, ensuring that help is being focused on those who need it the most.

Help is here and hope is on the horizon.

[Bryan May, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, my riding of Cambridge is very quickly becoming Hollywood north. We are a destination for a lot of films and TV shows, including Murdoch Mysteries, The Queen's Gambit and The Handmaid's Tale, to name just a few. One of the interesting spinoffs of this is tourism associated with the fans of those TV shows.

I am wondering if the minister could quickly explain what the government plans to do to help communities like mine bounce back in the tourism industry.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I think it is important to share with my hon. colleague that we have to put some numbers on this. My hon. colleague is right to say that we want to support Hollywood north and all of the sectors of tourism excellence in our country.

Fifteen billion dollars is the support that we have given Canada's tourism sector since the start of the pandemic. The regional relief and recovery fund alone has supported more than 180,000 workers across the country. Add to that the Canada emergency wage subsidy and more than $1 billion in budget 2021, and we are well on our way to seeing the tourism sector come back. In the cultural sector, support for artists is important for us. I am thinking about people in the cultural industry, the technicians, actors and musicians. These are the people who make the films, the movies, the plays and the video games that we and people around the world want to see.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, my friend the minister has been a very strong advocate for tourism since long before he was appointed Minister of Tourism. I

In Winnipeg, we have this wonderful thing called Folklorama. It is a two-week extravaganza of Canada's diversity. We can visit the Philippines, the Punjab, India, Ukraine and all over the world during those two weeks. The cultural diversity is simply amazing. We can participate in things such as dance, food and phenomenal entertainment.

The Prime Minister had the opportunity to meet with the Folk Arts Council. The Folk Arts Council said that the wage subsidy program enabled them to keep their doors open. This is not a new organization. It has been there for over 50 years. The point is that through programs, the government has been able to keep our arts and cultural communities, among others within our tourism industry, active and around to be able to survive the pandemic, in many ways.

The NDP and Conservative coalition voted against Bill C-2. This was going to extend the benefits for many of those businesses, communities and arts and cultural organizations. I am wondering if the minister can express why he believes Bill C-2 is so important for businesses and Canadians as a whole.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I have to thank my hon. colleague for his exuberance and his perspicacity.

We are here for workers in the cultural sector. We are here for workers in the tourism sector. Bill C-2 is the bridge the tourism sector needs to get through this last winter to the end of the pandemic, well into the third quarter of 2022, when we can welcome Canadians from coast to coast to coast and travellers from around the world to come to Canada to see Folklorama, the Edmonton Folk Music Festival and all the other great festivals and tourism attractions in Canada from coast to coast to coast.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Prince Albert.

I am going to be focusing my questions mainly on the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The Prime Minister has admitted that his self-imposed export ban on Prince Edward Island potatoes to the United States is not based on science but based on politics. Since his decision is not science-based, when will the Liberal government lift this export ban on P.E.I. potatoes to the United States?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I share my colleague's concern regarding potatoes in P.E.I. We know it is a very important industry. That is why I have been in contact with the premier on this very question. Also, the Prime Minister raised it with President Biden when we were in the Oval Office two weeks ago.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, why are the Liberals outsourcing our foreign affairs and trade policies to the United States?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I refuse to accept the premise of the question. Of course we have an independent foreign policy and are very proud of it.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government did it under CUSMA with our dairy processing and dairy products in that we have to have permission from the United States if we want to export those products. Now it has done it again with P.E.I. potatoes, taking the lead from the United States to put a self-imposed export ban on a Canadian product.

I would ask the minister once again, why has Canada outsourced its foreign affairs and trade issues to the United States?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we will not take any lessons from the Conservatives when it comes to trade with the U.S. The member should talk to the Leader of the Opposition, his boss, regarding the fact that during the CUSMA negotiations, he himself wanted to capitulate. We were there and we fought strongly for our own national interests and our industries and we were able to make a good deal for Canadians.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, does the minister agree with the agriculture minister and the member from P.E.I. that the decision to ban P.E.I. potato exports to the United States was not based on science but was based on politics, yes or no?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I know my colleague the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food has been on this. It is important that we work with farmers in P.E.I., and that is what she has been doing. We are working right now on many solutions, but we will always fight for our farmers in P.E.I. We know that the potato industry is important and we have the industry's back.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, fighting for farmers in other provinces has put their livelihood at risk by a political decision by the government.

Does the government also understand that there are other industries at risk? What is the government's position on COOL?