Mary Ng

[COVID-19 Pandemic, April 20th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, the work is not done and nothing is off the table. We continue to listen to businesses, particularly small businesses with a range of circumstances, to make sure that we are providing support and continue to provide support, so that they can weather through this difficult period of COVID-19. That work will continue.

With respect to the wage subsidy, the program right now provides 75% wage subsidy support for employers for April, May and June, and we have been very focused in ensuring that we are providing that support, whether it is cash flow or paying employees for those employers during this time. We wanted to make sure that support got out quickly. I want to remind everyone that this is the largest economic measures package that our country has seen, and we are going to continue to work with businesses across the country to make sure they are supported through this period.

[COVID-19 Pandemic, April 20th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by joining my colleagues in offering my condolences to all of those touched by the senseless act of violence in Nova Scotia yesterday. I thank Constable Heidi Stevenson for her bravery and dedication in serving her community and country so well, as well as all of the first responders who are on the front lines every day to keep us safe. We join the people of Nova Scotia in mourning this devastating loss, finding strength in each other and offering our support together as we all heal from this tragedy.

I also want to take an opportunity to pay tribute to a wonderful Canadian and a former member of Parliament who sadly passed away this weekend, the Hon. Aileen Carroll. I had the pleasure of knowing Aileen and always greatly admired her dedication to public service. She represented the people of Barrie with tremendous energy and was deeply committed to contributing to the local community, having started her career as a small business owner and a city councillor.

Aileen went on to win three successive elections and served as MP for nine years, including as parliamentary secretary to the minister of foreign affairs and then as minister of international co-operation, representing Canada on the world stage. In 2011, Aileen resigned from public life and dedicated herself to focusing on her family, grandchildren and friends, but she remained committed to serving her community through charitable causes. We are grateful for her many years of public service. Her impact will extend right across the country and her legacy will live on. Our thoughts are with her family, her friends and all her colleagues through this difficult time while they mourn.

I would like to acknowledge the contributions made by all the businesses and community leaders who have helped us flatten the curve by staying home and, in many cases, temporarily closing their doors.

I know that Canadian business owners and entrepreneurs are worried. They have worked hard to develop their ideas into prosperous businesses that are the heart of communities across the country and the backbone of Canada's economy.

They have worked hard to turn their ideas into successful businesses at the heart of communities across the country and the backbone of our national economy. To all of them, let me be clear: We will do whatever it takes to support them through this. Our goal is to save jobs and to save businesses. We are taking immediate, significant and decisive action to help Canadians facing hardship as a result of COVID-19.

Through the Canada emergency wage subsidy, we will keep more Canadians employed in businesses of any sizes and in any sector, covering 75% of their wages. We are helping businesses keep their costs low by allowing businesses to defer GST, HST and customs duties payments while also extending the tax filing deadline to June 1 and allowing businesses to defer any payments owing until August 31. This measure will help over 3.2 million businesses and self-employed Canadians.

We are also helping businesses keep up with their operating costs and cash flow through the Canada emergency business account, an interest-free $40,000 loan guaranteed by the Government of Canada with up to $10,000 forgivable if it is paid back before the end of 2022. These loans are available through one's bank or credit union now.

When we heard that many small businesses were not able to access the emergency business account because of the requirement that they have a payroll of at least $50,000, we lowered that threshold to $20,000. Nearly a quarter of a million businesses have already had their loans approved, and our government's recent announcement to expand the eligibility criteria for this program means that even more businesses will qualify.

This means a small furniture store that usually relies on foot traffic to stay afloat can continue paying the costs of upkeeping its warehouse space. This means that a physiotherapist practice can access the funds to rehire its employees even while it has seen its revenue drop and everyone is working from home.

For businesses with larger operational needs, we have made loans of up to $12.5 million available. These are also available through one's local bank or credit union.

We have also heard from businesses that they need help paying their rent, and that is exactly what we intend to do. As the Prime Minister announced last week, we will introduce a Canada emergency rent assistance program for small businesses. This program will seek to provide loans and forgivable loans to commercial property owners who in turn will lower the rent for small businesses. Rent is an issue that falls under the jurisdiction of provinces and territories. We will continue to work closely with them on this important issue, and we will have more details to share soon.

Our government also recognizes that businesses in different parts of the country may face unique realities and challenges in the face of COVID-19. In order to give equivalent financial support to these small and medium-sized businesses, our government is investing $675 million in Canada's regional development agencies. At the same time, we will ensure that rural businesses and communities have access to much-needed capital by investing $287 million in the community futures network to support small businesses in rural communities. This new financing will help support businesses and their communities so that they can be strong through this crisis.

Together, these measure alleviate enormous expenses and pressures on businesses and on business owners, and will help prime them for recovery, when it is safe to do so, to ensure that they can regain ground much more quickly.

Everything we have done to date is to respond to what we have heard directly from businesses across the country, from helping them keep their employees on staff and supporting them with the funds and cash flow to operate and pay their bills, to keeping their costs low. Our government will remain unwavering in our support for Canadians, our health care system and our economy, and our work is not yet done. No measure is off the table.

Canadians are innovative, strong and resilient. In the face of COVID-19, our government recognizes the need to help innovative early-stage companies and young entrepreneurs. To better support these businesses and entrepreneurs, we are investing $250 million through the National Research Council of Canada's industrial research assistance program, also known as IRAP, and $20 million for Futurpreneur Canada to continue to support young entrepreneurs across Canada who are facing challenges due to COVID-19.

Through this crisis, it has been so inspiring to see Canadians come together in new and amazing ways. In fact, since the Prime Minister announced Canada's plan to mobilize industry to fight COVID-19 a couple of weeks ago, about 5,000 innovative Canadian businesses have answered our call, working to provide our front-line workers with the gear that they are going to need to fight this pandemic together.

These are unprecedented times and I know that Canadian business owners and entrepreneurs are worried. However, we are all in this together and we are all helping each other as team Canada. This is who we are as Canadians and we can all take pride in that.

[COVID-19 Pandemic, April 20th, 2020]

Mr. Chair, I thank the member for his advocacy and what he highlights to me directly about how our programs are helping businesses and where more needs to be done. I really thank the hon. member for his tireless work, just like the examples he has shared with us now.

I assure the member that we are listening and will continue to take his feedback and that of many businesses across the country so that we do not see businesses falling behind and that we, indeed, are supporting them through the many measures we have put in place. However, the work is not done yet and we will continue to work together to help our businesses across the country, particularly those very small businesses.

[COVID-19 Pandemic, April 20th, 2020]

Madam Chair, the issue raised by the hon. member is exactly what we are trying to do here during the COVID-19 period, which is to help save our businesses and provide them with the liquidity support that is needed during this difficult time. It is why the Government of Canada has provided the guarantees to the financial institutions. In fact, the decision-maker on the loan will be that financial institution, the bank or the credit union, to the customers. I would encourage businesses to go to their financial institution to see if they are able to get that support.

[COVID-19 Pandemic, April 20th, 2020]

Madam Chair, for COVID-19, there has been a vast liquidity put out into the marketplace, and those loans can be available through financial institutions. The larger loans that are not the $40,000 interest-free loans are available at commercial rates. The purpose here is that the companies themselves have a working relationship with their financial institutions, and those financial institutions are best capable of serving their clients to provide them with that lending support. That lending support is significantly guaranteed by the Government of Canada, which makes it more available.

[COVID-19 Pandemic, April 20th, 2020]

Madam Chair, I will have to commit to returning with more details. What I can say is this. As part of COVID-19, the billions of dollars that we have unleashed in capital, while guaranteed by BDC and EDC, are actually provided directly through financial institutions, such as the banks and credit unions, because they exist all across the country. The speed with which that vast network can get money out to our businesses was essential, so the role for BDC and EDC during COVID-19 is to provide those guarantees, but the delivery of the loans themselves is through the financial institutions.

[COVID-19 Pandemic, April 20th, 2020]

Madam Chair, that is a really important question. The member is absolutely right. Small and medium-sized businesses are the heart of our communities. One of the most significant expenses that they take on is their rent.

We have announced that we are going to provide assistance. However, this is an area of responsibility of our territorial and provincial partners. We are in active discussions and we want to make sure that this important support goes out to small businesses across the country.

[COVID-19 Pandemic, April 20th, 2020]

Madam Chair, I appreciate that very good question. Know that, for those businesses, we are listening to them and we are working our way through it. We want to see all of our businesses, particularly those ones that the member just described, be supported through this very difficult time because they are at the very heart of our communities and it is important that we support them during COVID-19.

[COVID-19 Pandemic, April 20th, 2020]

Madam Chair, my department does a call every day with literally over 1,000 businesses and associations, and very specific questions like this are coming up. I would like to follow up with the hon. member and provide him with information to help him with the businesses in his area.

[COVID-19 Pandemic, April 20th, 2020]

Madam Chair, in fact, one of the examples I have shared recently is an example like the one the member just provided, which is of a company that has been able to take advantage of the wage subsidy to keep its employees on staff. It has been able to take advantage of the loan because it qualifies, but that employer's paycheque is now gone and because of that it has been able to take advantage of the CERB.