Finance committee  I can provide some quick comments on part 1 of the bill, before turning it over to my colleague for comments on part 2. The Department of Finance has, since the inception of the wage and, later, rent subsidy rules, worked with the Canada Revenue Agency to help prevent fraud and

Finance committee  I just want to confirm that it relates to the Canada recovery benefit and the lockdown support in part 2 of the bill more so than the emergency wage subsidy and rent subsidy in part 1. I'd be happy to discuss the safeguards against fraud and abuse in those subsidies, but I unders

Finance committee  Thank you, Yves. I just wanted to build upon the question and get at one of the points about how the hospitality program is intended to help businesses in the sector, and the approach to defining the sector in the regulations. You'll see in the draft regulations a fairly extensi

Finance committee  I can certainly speak to the supports in part 1 of the bill. The answer is, yes, they're based on the same platform as the wage subsidy and the rent subsidy in section 125.7 of the act. They have the same applications, the same attestation requirements and the same requirements f

Finance committee  That's right. The requirement in the wage subsidy that an employer must have had a payroll number on March 15, 2020, has been maintained. That provides an important safeguard against fraud in the system, ensuring that applicants were in the CRA system as having employees at the

Finance committee  I would note that, in budget 2021, and as enacted in Bill C-30 of the last Parliament, the government introduced rules that would require repayment of the Canada emergency wage subsidy for public companies that have increased their top executive compensation between two reference

Finance committee  I would say, and perhaps Max can provide an update on it, that I believe that the June committee hearing resulted in an amendment to Bill C-30 that would require the tabling of a report in Parliament, rather than simply a recommendation. This is certainly something that we have b

Finance committee  Thank you. I would be happy to clarify. I apologize, but since it's a technical response, I will provide it in English. The changes could be made by regulation, which would be done by the Governor in Council, generally on the recommendation of cabinet. The changes could be made

Finance committee  I can see if I understand the question, but then I would ask my economist colleagues to jump in. Is it the relationship between the COVID subsidies in part 1 of the bill, at least, and rising wages and inflation?

Finance committee  Certainly I'd have to defer to my economist colleagues on the inflationary point, but of course, one of the central goals from the inception of the wage subsidy, for example, was to try to retain the employee-employer relationship so that people kept their jobs and were retained

Finance committee  I would need to turn to some of my colleagues who have been working on the CRB and Canada worker lockdown benefit in part 2 of the bill. I can really only speak to part 1.

Finance committee  I can provide a quick technical answer. The amounts being paid—certainly under part 1 of the act for the various COVID subsidies—are coming out of the consolidated revenue fund. That's the technical answer for where the refundable tax credit payments are coming from. Of course,

Finance committee  Payments are coming out of the consolidated revenue fund. I would turn to some of my economist colleagues to talk about the deficit, rather than the legal mechanism. The other thing to note on the second part of the question is that any recommendations or advice made by official

Finance committee  I'm afraid that the government financing questions are well beyond my area of expertise. I'm not certain if we have anybody on the call who could answer the question, although we could look into whether or not a follow-up is possible. It's just beyond my area.

Finance committee  Thank you for the question. I can provide some information on the general policy background and how the rules in part 1 of the bill relating to the COVID subsidies work. Then if my colleague Max would like to jump in on the more policy-analysis side, he could do so. I think the