Gord Johns

[Small Businesses, December 8th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, when the pandemic hit and front-line workers and hospitals were short on PPE and sanitizer, Canadian small business owners stepped up. Distillers and brewers started making hand sanitizer. They saved lives and many did it all for free. However, when it came time for the government to order sanitizer, instead of giving these Canadian small businesses a chance to fill some orders, the Liberals sent over half a billion dollars to multinational corporations.

Could the minister responsible explain what Canadian small businesses need to do to get the support they deserve from the government?

[Indigenous Affairs, December 7th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for taking the time to be here tonight to listen to this important issue. Clearly, this is a human rights issue. We are losing young people unnecessarily.

I want to thank him for acknowledging the loss that he talked about tonight, and also for acknowledging the importance of all levels of government working collectively. We have great non-profits doing incredible work at the grassroots level and saving lives, but they need help. We have a great mayor in Port Alberni, Sharie Minions, who is working around the clock trying to find solutions; a new MLA, Minister Josie Osborne, who said it is her first and number one task; and we have a provincial government that is building half of the non-market housing in Canada; however, we need a federal partner.

I would look to the parliamentary secretary to help deliver on this project. It will save lives. Let us stop the unnecessary loss of lives.

[Indigenous Affairs, December 7th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, thank you very much for being here so late tonight. I know it is close to midnight, and I want to thank you for the work that you are doing tonight by staying so late and overseeing the House of Commons.

The reason I am here is in relation to a question I had regarding the homelessness tragedy that is taking place across Canada. In particular, my question was related to what is happening in Port Alberni, in my riding and on the streets of Port Alberni where we are losing lives. People are losing hope.

We have an overrepresentation of indigenous people living on the streets, and that is what I want to speak to tonight. Over two-thirds of the people living on the streets of Port Alberni are indigenous. The Liberal government's promise to allocate and build 3,000 beds to deal with the homelessness crisis across Canada is not nearly enough. People are living without shelter. They are living in makeshift tents. They are living in public parks.

They are trying to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. There is an opioid crisis that is taking place, a public health emergency here in British Columbia. The mental health implications are dire for this population. Their spirits are often simply broken. Many of them are suffering from systemic racism from public institutions, and are often struggling to overcome multi-generational trauma caused by colonial policies, like the Indian residential schools that have had a huge impact.

People are desperate. Sadly, too many are turning to suicide, to violence against others, or to substance misuse. It is shameful that these conditions persist in urban communities across our country, whether it is in small rural communities or in large cities. This is not the Canada that we want it to be. We must address these very serious and important issues. It should not be the future of our children.

The 3,000 beds I cited earlier, which the Liberal government has committed to, deal with the hard to house, those who are at the lowest barriers, and who need assistance and support services. We need these investments critically in our community. We need this massive investment, along with reforms for federal drug policies, which create stigma and a fear of ending up in the criminal justice system rather than in the health and social support system, where care and help could be provided.

We are looking at proposals to help deal with these issues, but in the meantime lives are being lost to the COVID-19 pandemic, to the opioid public health emergency, to death by suicide, to violence against women and girls, and to an endless cycle of urban indigenous poverty that has to be broken.

We are calling on the government to take action. We ask ourselves, “Where do we start?” There is no question in my mind that we need to start by implementing the calls to action from the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls inquiry, implementing the calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, creating and resourcing an indigenous-led housing program, creating and resourcing an indigenous-led board to investigate violence against indigenous people by the criminal justice system, and ensuring shared decision-making related to policies affecting the rights of indigenous people in their communities.

As I stated, in my riding, I have been working, supporting and advocating for funding under the rapid housing initiative. I have been writing letters and speaking to ministers whenever I have the opportunity, including the parliamentary secretary tonight. I really appreciate him taking the time to talk to me about an application that is going in, that I will not get into the details of. However, the importance of—

[Business of Supply, December 7th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague talked about the CPP contributions being a tax. I and the people in my riding see it as an investment in retirement security and how important that is. We see seniors right now who cannot make ends meet and are struggling on the current CPP they are getting. I have not had a single call to my office with someone concerned about the CPP rate going up in the new year. Rather, I have heard more about the broken designs of government programs, including the commercial rent program, which the government will not backdate to April 1 for those whose landlord would not apply. I do not understand why the Conservatives have not joined the NDP in calling on the government to backdate the program so that those who were denied access to that important program, good business owners and taxpayers, can keep their businesses afloat.

Why are the Conservatives not getting behind backdating that program?

[Business of Supply, December 7th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, the member always fights hard for small business and I appreciate her strong conviction. She understands the importance of job creators in our communities.

There are huge gaps. We have seen design flaws in every one of the government's program rollouts which have left people out. For example, start-ups have not received any support. They are left out of almost every program that the government has rolled out. It did not backdate the commercial rent assistance program. Those businesses are carrying that debt forward. They are steeped in debt or are in arrears with their landlords and this injustice is unacceptable.

We need to do everything we can to fix the existing programs and ensure businesses that have been left out get access to those programs. The government needs to look at ways it can support those businesses that might not check one of the boxes in their applications. They closed their doors to protect public health. They are the unsung heroes in our country. We need to do everything we can to support them.

[Business of Supply, December 7th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, we also wonder about that. These are investments in retirement security. Everybody deserves to retire with dignity, and we do not see that right now. Seniors are falling through the cracks.

The Liberal government failed to deliver. Its one-time payment to seniors falls far short of what is needed. Housing has skyrocketed, the cost of goods has gone up throughout this crisis and the government has failed to invest adequately in seniors to give them the support they need through this crisis.

In terms of climate action, we need to make these critical investments. They create jobs, take action and save future generations from shouldering huge debts that will be incurred due to the huge impacts from climate change and challenges we will face in the future.

[Business of Supply, December 7th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague has been a real trooper in standing up for wild Pacific salmon. I appreciate him joining us in the incredible challenge we are facing with the salmon emergency in B.C.

As the member stated, we do not know who is getting a lot of the money that has been rolling out the door and there needs to be transparency. There is huge concern from Canadian taxpayers that some of the beneficiaries are companies that are making huge profits off the back of this crisis.

He talked about Kevin Page, the former parliamentary budget officer. One thing the current Parliamentary Budget Officer noted last month was that the CPP was in huge trouble and there was a huge vulnerability for future generations. The importance of us continuing to increase investments in the CPP is critical right now. The PBO has identified this.

We agree with him that we need more transparency and that is something for which the New Democrats support and call.

[Business of Supply, December 7th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, it is a huge honour to participate in today's debate. First, I will be sharing my time with the member for Hamilton Mountain.

Today's debate is a very important debate, because we are obviously talking about issues related to the economy, around the pandemic and small business. It could not be more appropriate timing, as many small businesses are on the cusp of going out of business given that they have closed their doors to protect public health. In fact, small businesses truly are the unsung heroes in this pandemic, and we need to do everything we can to support them in this crisis.

There are many things in today's motion that we agree with. The Conservatives put forward a motion today with a couple of poison pills. I do not believe they actually want this motion to pass today, which is really disappointing. We have been waiting for the Conservatives, the official opposition to come forward with new ideas that could help support small business in the middle of a pandemic. One would expect that the Conservatives would come forward with ways to help support small business in a way that would make a meaningful difference. Instead, they are coming forward with old items that were on their agenda prior to the pandemic.

Sadly, I would say that the Conservatives are using the pandemic to leverage their political platform to attack workers' pensions, to slow down action when it comes to tackling climate change and doing our part, and it is extremely disappointing. They cite that 46% of Canadian businesses are concerned they are not going to survive. I do not doubt that.

The Liberals have rolled out program after program that have design flaws, and have left many people out, including the commercial rent assistance program. The NDP brought forward the concept of a commercial rent assistance program, and the last thing we thought was that it would be a landlord-driven program. We are glad to see the government finally fix that, but are disappointed that it will not backdate it to April 1. We do not understand why the Conservatives have sat idle, and have not joined us in calling on the government to backdate that program for the many businesses that were left out.

The Conservatives are talking about businesses that are concerned and are wondering how they are going to survive. We want them to join the New Democrats in calling on the government for what I think is really an injustice, by leaving out all of those tenants who were left out to dry. I am disappointed that that is not in this motion, calling on those who are benefiting and profiting from the pandemic the most, including the big banks and the biggest corporations, to pay their fair share. They are getting a free ride.

The Conservatives have put forward a motion calling for the postponing of the increase of the Canada pension plan and payroll taxes. It is like we are in one crisis and we are putting off a future crisis for seniors. We know that many of them were in crisis heading into this pandemic, without adequate supports and adequate safety and security in place, or retirement savings to get them through even the best of times.

We are seeing housing prices skyrocket in the middle of this pandemic. For a decade, we saw the Conservatives refuse to increase contributions to the CPP, which is really leaving seniors vulnerable today. Now they want to leave young people who are going to be the victims, carrying the debt load and the consequences of the pandemic and what it is going to do to the Canadian economy in the long run, to not have to contribute now, when we know that they deserve to have a retirement in the future, where they can retire with dignity.

Again, Conservatives are back on their track record of continuing to attack workers and seniors. We saw, under their regime, that they attempted to raise the retirement age from 65 to 67, and they refused to invest appropriately in the OAS. So the Conservative track record when it comes to pensions is pretty clear. What we do not want to do is use one pandemic as an excuse to have another crisis in the future, when it comes to seniors and retirement income.

The Conservatives are even calling it taxes. This is not taxes. This is about critical investments in people's retirement security. It is disappointing to hear the Conservatives say that they now support labour and workers, and they are changing direction. However, the Conservatives are now using words like “taxes” when it comes to increasing supports for income security for people in their retirement.

The other part that I am deeply concerned about is the carbon tax. I have to give credit to the B.C. Liberals for continuing to move forward with the carbon tax in B.C., despite the economic crisis we were in 2008, with the understanding that if we did not do our part when it came to taking climate action, we would inevitably be in another crisis down the road that would cost us much more, whether it be in forest fires or flooding. We see the impact that it is having on our warming oceans and our salmon.

Right now is the time to ensure we follow through with climate action. Right now we are still lagging behind jurisdictions such as British Columbia on a federal landscape. We see the new administration from the U.S., in its mandate, committing to taking on the issue of climate change. It is not backing down.

We are seeing leadership. Maybe the Conservatives need to look at other leadership around the world or other Conservative governments, such as in Britain, Japan or Germany. We are seeing right-leaning governments understand that it is good economics to invest in climate action and clean energy, and that it is a huge economic cost to leave to future generations. They talk about the Liberals and their deficits, but really they keep neglecting the huge economic deficit they are looking at passing on to future generations.

I have huge concerns about the motion. I am disappointed that the Conservatives threw in the poison pill. We would have liked to have support it. Part of this motion is about ensuring there is more credit availability, which is very important in my riding, especially to the tourism sector. Resorts in my riding have had an incredibly difficult time. Many of them did not get access to the BCAP program. It was very challenging to do that.

I worry that when looking at the LEEFF program, the Conservatives are really trying to erode the important mechanisms that are in place, so we do not see CEOs and shareholders benefiting from government financing and supports during the pandemic, as we saw in 2008 under the Conservative government when it was in charge of the oversight of the economic downturn from the recession then.

These are some of the things that we have identified about which we are deeply concerned. We will continue to work with all parties to ensure there are improvements and supports for small businesses. We want to see the Liberal government follow through with its commitment when it comes to accessible, affordable and universal child care, so everybody has a chance to have early childhood education and be able to go back to the workforce.

I am disappointed to see that the Conservatives are not supporting these important investments. In Quebec, 70,000 women went back to work and the GDP grow 2% as a result of an investment in early childhood education. We have seen how important the CERB has been to support those workers and business owners who have been left out, such as musicians or artists whose businesses are gone. We would have loved to have seen the Conservatives bring forward a motion to invest in training, retraining or guaranteed liveable income to ensure that nobody would fall through the cracks in the future.

We understand that small businesses are under distress, that they need access to financing. We fought really hard to support the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada and get important economic supports and loans early on in the pandemic. We would like to see the government roll out a recovery plan to support those most vulnerable businesses, whether it be in the tourism sector or the whole economy. We have not seen the government come forward with a true recovery plan.

Therefore, we join the Conservatives in wanting to see what the plan is when it comes to rapid testing and a vaccination rollout, but also the economic recovery plan, which is critical.

Again, back to the importance of supporting small business, we need to be working together in a collective spirit and we need to be careful. I do not think it is the time for partisan approaches to putting a tax on really important supports for people. This is the time for us to recognize how inadequate the supports are for people and how sad our commitment to climate change is. We saw that in Bill C-12, which the government just tabled. There is a lack of priority by government when it comes to tackling climate change.

The New Democrats support some things in the motion, but we are deeply disappointed that the Conservatives had to throw a bunch of poison pills in it and really push what is a crisis now to future generations. We hope our colleagues will—

[Business of Supply, December 7th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, in this motion there are many good things, but the Conservatives have to put in their poison pill, where they continue their attack and predatory approach on seniors' and workers' benefits and retirement security. We have watched seniors struggle to pay their bills and not make ends meet throughout this crisis. Conservatives continue to look at these investments as taxes. They are not taxes. These are investments in workers' retirement security.

When will the Conservatives stop their attack on workers' pensions? This is not a time to cut back. We heard from the PBO that CPP is vulnerable and that these strategic investments are needed. This is not a time for the Conservatives to prey on a crisis like this that is going to impact seniors and retirement security in the future.

[Business of Supply, December 3rd, 2020]

Madam Speaker, there is a tremendous amount of anxiety and concern about when and who is going to get the vaccine. I just met with Port Alberni firefighters here in the city of Port Alberni and they were saying that during the height of the H1N1 pandemic in 2009 they were excluded from being prioritized in sequencing for getting the vaccine. Health care workers were categorized ahead of them, and certainly they should be a priority, but firefighters were categorized as tier two, which is the same as the general public.

Right now, they are on the front lines dealing with this, and 65% of the calls in my city are first responder calls. I want to make sure we get information out and prioritize firefighters, who are on the front lines, especially with the opioid crisis. I want to ensure they are sequenced with medical health officials and seen as priority essential workers on the front lines of this pandemic.