Madam Speaker, it is always a privilege to rise in the House, even if it is virtually, to bring remarks on behalf of the good people of Kings—Hants. I will be splitting my time today with my hon. colleague from Vaughan—Woodbridge.
It is a privilege to speak to the opposition motion brought forward from the member of Parliament for Abbotsford. For those who are listening from home and might be tuning in, I think it is beneficial to read the different provisions of the text. I can certainly speak to why I was excited to have the chance to speak here today.
The motion indicates the need to, in part (a), introduce sector-specific measures to support the highly impacted sectors such as hospitality, tourism and charitable sectors; in part (b), provide repayable loans to the airlines with the condition that it includes consumer refunds, job guarantees, restrictions to executive compensation and the maintaining of regional routes; and finally, in part (c), to improve support programs, notably lending supports to small businesses within 30 days of the motion being adopted, presumably as part of the budget process.
The reason I jumped at the opportunity to speak here today is that I agree with the elements of the motion. These are priorities I have heard from my constituents in, for example, sectors like tourism. I am the member of Parliament for Kings—Hants in the Annapolis Valley where tourism is extremely important to our economy. We have an emerging wine sector that draws people from around the world, and indeed from around the country, to visit our shores. That is a sector that has been obviously impacted because of the pandemic.
I will quickly go on record also talking about the importance of an excise replacement program for the wine sector. I hope that it is something we will see in the budget because it is extremely important for our Canadian wine producers.
I live in an area in East Hants which is about 40 minutes outside of Halifax. It is only about 10 minutes away from the Halifax International Airport. We have almost 5,000 direct jobs in the community that I live in that are tied to the aviation sector. We know the challenges that sector has gone through. Those jobs and that industry remain important not only to my constituents, but also to many of my colleagues' and indeed the whole country moving forward.
The last would be small business. We would be hard pressed to find a member in the House who does not believe in the importance of small business, what it means to the economy, particularly rural economies. Before I was a member of Parliament, I was a lawyer, but I was heavily involved in my community through a lot of non-profit initiatives. It was small businesses and their contributions to the community that helped ensure a lot of the community events that went on were possible. Whether it is employment or their contributions to communities, our small business owners are the backbone of the economy across the country and in my riding.
While I agree on the principles of the motion, what concerns me is the fact that the motion really does not give any credence to some of the work that has gone on. With due respect to my esteemed colleague from Abbotsford, it is almost as though when he tabled the motion he had not been watching some of the work the government had been doing since the start of the pandemic to support Canadian businesses and individuals. A lot of the those different elements are included in the text of the motion.
I will take the rest of my time to talk about some of those programs that have come in place. We know that there remain challenges. I do not think anyone is going to suggest that everything the government has done indemnifies the challenges that people are facing across the country, but we have certainly done our best to put a robust suite of programs in place to support Canadian businesses and individuals.
I will start with how this relates to the tourism industry and some of those most highly impacted sectors, really speak to part (a) of the motion. The member for Abbotsford could have been writing about the program we have already announced, which is HASCAP, the highly affected sectors credit availability program. This program insures government-backed loans up to $1 million for businesses, particularly in those sectors that have been hardest impacted.
That has been in place for a couple of months as part of what the government has rolled out. That is in addition to the measures that began at the beginning of the pandemic, which include the wage subsidy. Almost five million Canadians have been able to have their jobs maintained with businesses that are going through challenges as a result of the pandemic because of the wage subsidy.
We can look at the regional relief and recovery fund. As a member of Parliament from a rural area, the monies that were put out through this program, through the regional development agencies, but specifically through some of the local community business development organizations, have been extremely important to provide liquidity to small businesses, notably those in our tourism sector. I know there are businesses in my own riding that have been able to take advantage of those programs.
We talk about the emergency response benefit from the start of the pandemic. I talked to many micro-business owners who might not necessarily have a big staffing complement, such as those in small B & Bs that just have a couple individuals, maybe family members, who help operate them. That was an extremely important program, as is the response benefit since then, to make sure these individuals are able to continue to operate their businesses, move forward in good faith, and have that backstop to support them in the short term.
I will also talk about the emergency business account, the $40,000 loan that was originally extended to businesses, $10,000 of which is non-repayable if the remaining $30,000 can be returned within two years' time. We have, of course, extended that up to $60,000 and included another $10,000 as part of the non-repayable amount.
These are all investments the government has taken on. I would agree with my colleagues that it does not necessarily indemnify all businesses. It does not necessarily ensure that every business is successful. However, it is a robust suite of programs that is meant to try to support individuals and businesses through some of the challenging times we have seen in this pandemic.
I will talk about the airlines and aviation sector. As I mentioned, there are almost 5,000 direct jobs in my community tied to the Halifax Stanfield International Airport. We know that the government, since day one, has been sitting down with airlines and having discussions about how best to move forward. It is really important that, when we are dealing with public funding, to ensure we get it right. It cannot be a blank cheque to the airlines.
I think we all agree as parliamentarians that we need to support our airlines, and the government is committed to that and will do so. It is also committed to ensuring that consumers are able to get their refunds. That has already been publicly announced by our government on multiple occasions. At the end of the day, that negotiation that is going on between the department of finance and airlines has to accomplish some of these measures that are in the Conservative motion right now.
This is something we are already working on. This is something we are going to achieve. There has been almost $2 billion in wage subsidies provided to the sector. There was $1 billion provided under the fall economic statement to support airports and regional airports, which is extremely important for some of my colleagues from smaller communities.
When I look at the text of this motion, it seems devoid of some of the measures that the government has taken on. I am sure some of the Conservative members, or members in this House who take pride in being fiscal conservatives, would not suggest that the government should just simply open a line of credit and provide that liquidity without some assurances that some of these objectives that are indeed in the text of their motion should be met. We are not at the table. That is going on right now. I am confident that our government is going to be able to meet those objectives.
The final piece that I will say is on small business. I just listed a litany of different programs, showing how we have worked to support small businesses. I have heard stories in my community about how these programs have helped. I did not even mention the rent subsidy, for example. It is a significant amount of money that we have put on the table to support businesses through these challenges.
What I find interesting and what troubles me the most is that in one breath the opposition party will say that we have done too much and spent too much, and that they are worried about deficits and too much spending. I will be honest, my own ideology as a parliamentarian is that I think we need to be fiscally prudent. I appreciated the Minister of Finance's speech before Christmas, in the fall economic statement, about making sure that we have fiscal anchors and are being mindful of how we spend in the days ahead. That is certainly appreciated.
However, they cannot talk out of both sides of their mouths. They cannot say we are spending too much money, and then have motions before this House that say we are not doing enough. Canadians, certainly the constituents I talk to, recognize that in one sense Conservatives are saying we are not doing enough, but in another sense saying, perhaps as an example the member for Carleton, we are spending far too much.
This is part of the challenge. I think it is something that needs to be noted. I would be interested in hearing my colleagues' perspective. I am happy to take any questions.
