Debates of Feb. 1st, 2021

Employment

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment]

Madam Speaker, I thank the member for South Okanagan—West Kootenay for his question. His constituents are well served by his advocacy.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have been there for Canadian workers and continue to be there for them. Of all the programs and benefits, the CERB was the main support piece. We listened to Canadians. It helped nearly nine million workers and their families to avoid hardship.

When businesses were first shuttered last spring, our aim was to get income support into the hands of workers, including the self-employed, as quickly as possible. From the start, we used the same definition of self-employment income that we use for entitlement to every Government of Canada benefit, that is people look at their revenue and take off their expenses, which gives them their net pre-tax income. However, as the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion stated, we know that some people misunderstood the definition.

Before I go on, I would like to recognize the work of the call centre employees from CRA and Service Canada. They have done an outstanding job of supporting Canadians through this ongoing pandemic, and they deserve our praise.

We also know that in the initial weeks after the CERB was launched, some of the information provided was at times unclear. We are actively looking at options to respond to the concerns raised by some self-employed Canadians about the eligibility criteria and the information they received. We know very well that for some individuals, repaying the CERB could represent significant financial hardship. I again want to be very clear about the fact that no one is being asked to make a repayment at this time.

First things first: What we need to do is confirm people's eligibility for the CERB. Of the nearly nine million people who got the CERB, we reached out to about 5% of applicants with our education letters. If an individual chooses to restart repaying amounts for which they were not eligible, flexible repayment options are available based on their individual financial situation. We know that for some this could be difficult. That is why there is going to be a compassionate case-by-case approach to repayment.

We are still in a pandemic crisis. That is the reality. During this difficult time, we will continue to stand by Canadian workers and their families.

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

Madam Speaker, these hard-working Canadians are not asking for more time to pay back these benefits. They did nothing wrong. For them, the CERB payments did exactly what they were designed to do. They allowed them to keep living in dignity while working as much as they could under the circumstances.

On the other side of the coin, many large corporations received millions in wage subsidies to keep workers on the payroll. That is exactly what the wage subsidies were meant to do. What they were not meant to do was enrich shareholders with generous dividends. Unfortunately, at least 68 companies did just that. Imperial Oil, for instance, received $120 million in government wage subsidies while paying out $324 million in dividends. There is very clearly a double standard here.

The government is demanding that low-income workers who struggled through the pandemic repay the money they received even though they followed all the rules. It is not, however, asking the same of big corporations that used taxpayers' money to pay massive dividends to their shareholders.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Madam Speaker, as the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion said, it is unfair to say that we are going after workers. The entire intention of the CERB was to protect people from potentially catastrophic income loss, and it worked.

I want to reassure Canadians who got a letter from the CRA that it does not mean they were ineligible for the CERB. It just means that the CRA needs more information from them. One way to provide the information the CRA needs is for Canadians to file their tax returns for both 2019 and 2020. It is too soon to talk about repayment. Repayment plans, if needed, will be worked out on a case-by-case basis.

I would like to thank the member once again for his advocacy on behalf of his constituents.

Natural Resources

[Greg McLean, Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Madam Speaker, I am pleased that the government has allowed this reduced version of democracy to continue in these difficult times. Many of my constituents believe that our work here is fundamental, even in these times, to ensuring that our democratic traditions of responsible government and accountability in this House are upheld.

As with so many matters, much water has passed under the bridge in these past months, particularly with respect to Canadian energy and pipeline infrastructure. Keystone XL was cancelled with the stroke of a new U.S. president's pen, with barely a shrug of the shoulders from Canada's Prime Minister. “Disappointment” was the official response from the Prime Minister's Office. “Disappointment” represented the weakest response available from a multiple-choice list and barely registers in comparison to the shock and anger felt throughout Canada's resource industry.

Keystone XL was a piece of vital energy infrastructure that would have linked a world-class resource with a market that needs it and values it highly. Its sudden cancellation merits more than a shrug of the shoulders and a desire to just move on.

We know the government's focus by where it spends its time and its efforts. It is evidently not on world-leading net-zero infrastructure that would have reduced the environmental footprint of the final product by 20%, so the government's focus is not on real environmental outcomes. It is not on going to bat for infrastructure in which five first nations held an equity stake, so it is not on indigenous reconciliation. It is not for the thousands of workers dismissed from their jobs, so it is not on workers. It is not on the economic benefits built into this world-class Canadian project, which was projected to be assessed for $30 billion in taxes that would be paid to government over its life; so it is not for Canadian services and benefits, a social safety net and health care, or all the government services that we enjoy. This is a government unconcerned about the ability to provide care for Canadians in the next several years.

Let us call it what it is. It is an absolute failure on energy in every area that matters to Canadians: environmental advancement, fail; indigenous reconciliation, fail; Canadian jobs, fail; economic benefits, fail; continued ability to deliver government services, fail.

I hear the protests of the Minister of Natural Resources about how hard he tried. I have to remind him here that this trying and failing is becoming repetitive with his cabinet colleagues. His cheerleading is falling on deaf ears with his leadership, who are all saying once again, just as on Teck Frontier's withdrawal, “Let's move on.”

Regarding Enbridge Line 5, I have heard the minister, the Prime Minister and their proxies neglect to respond to the real issue facing the potential closure of Line 5. Supplying 540,000 barrels of oil per day to refineries in Ontario and Quebec, this has been an essential part of our national infrastructure since 1953. It is a link between Canada and the United States that has provided much to our shared prosperity, and its importance was recognized by the signing of the transit pipelines treaty in 1977, supported at that time by Senator Joe Biden.

There is a deadline to respond to this threat of closure from the governor of Michigan—

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

The hon. parliamentary secretary.

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources]

Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Calgary Centre for allowing me to speak to this important issue.

I will begin by reminding the House that our government has always supported Canada's energy industry and that it will continue to support the industry, its workers and the communities that benefit from it. We are doing that while making health, safety and environmental protection the top priority in every aspect of the energy industry, and while respecting indigenous rights and promoting reconciliation.

Every Canadian can be proud of that, especially with the current challenges, including a global drop in the price of oil and the economic repercussions of a once-in-a-century pandemic.

In that context, the government has taken measures to support the industry in several ways.

In the spring, as part of a suite of business support measures, the government launched the business credit availability program. This initiative meets the immediate cash flow needs needs of businesses in Alberta and across Canada. We also brought in the Canada emergency wage subsidy to help employers affected by COVID-19 rehire their employees and to prevent further job losses.

The government has also provided nearly $2.8 billion to support Canada's energy industry. This includes $750 million for the new emissions reduction fund, as well as a $1.7-billion investment for the remediation of inactive and abandoned wells.

In addition, our government has announced $320 million in federal support for Newfoundland and Labrador offshore industry and workers.

Taken together, our government has brought forward a comprehensive set of supports. All of this in addition to our government's proven track record of approval of and support for major oil and gas projects, including TMX, LNG Canada, the Nova Gas expansion and Line 3 extension, which we know will create thousands of jobs and drive billions in investments, and complement our initiatives to reach our Paris climate commitments.

We also vigorously supported the KXL project at the highest levels. Like our government of Alberta partners, with whom we worked closely, we were disappointed in the President's decision. We have been clear that we will help the affected Canadian workers. However, we must also focus on our relationship with Canada's number one energy customer in areas of mutual Canada-U.S. interest, such as firm climate action, enhanced North American energy security and co-operation to rebuild our economies.

Canada's energy sector will be a big part of the North American recovery. It is a source of good, well-paying jobs in Canada, and our government will continue to stand with the sector and the thousands of hard-working Canadians it employs.

[Greg McLean, Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Madam Speaker, I have heard, in several responses, about how much the government has done for the energy industry over the pandemic period and the price we received from our other oil suppliers around the world. Nevertheless, going forward we keep failing on all of these energy files. We have talked about Keystone XL. We have talked about the Teck Frontier project. We are now talking about Enbridge Line 5. We are failing to deliver success on every one of these files. Looking back and saying that we will take care of the workers, who are bleeding off through this industry because of inaction from the government, is not a response. We need to build this country going forward, including with world-leading infrastructure.

However, with Line 5, we also have to make sure world-leading infrastructure is not destroyed in the process. Undoing that piece of infrastructure, as the governor of Michigan is proposing to do at this point in time, will end what has been a 60-year benefit to both our nations as far as providing prosperity goes. The government needs to elevate the urgency of this file now.

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

Madam Speaker, as I said, our government's record is clear and self-evident. We are approving major projects and providing support to the oil and gas sector when and where it is needed.

We have been and will continue to be there to support the energy industry during the worst times of this pandemic.

Every step of the way, we will always do the hard work necessary to ensure that good and sustainable projects go forward with the full confidence of Canadians.

Our government remains confident that we can move forward simultaneously on economic prosperity and our climate commitments, as Canada fights for a low-carbon future.

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

The motion that the House do now adjourn is deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m. pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 6:57 p.m.)