COVID-19 Pandemic  Mr. Chair, I am sure the member knows that the wage subsidy we are putting forward today, and looking for unanimous consent, is critically important for the energy sector. In many energy sector projects, there is no ability to take people off jobs, which means those businesses we

COVID-19 Pandemic  Mr. Chair, we continue to go through the appropriate processes to consider projects. As we go through those, we will be providing transparency to the House and to Canadians.

COVID-19 Pandemic  Mr. Chair, I would like to begin by thanking the member for his contribution to our consultations. He has been a great help. We changed our approach to ensure that companies that operate on a seasonal basis could look at their income for this year after two months, to see whethe

COVID-19 Pandemic  Mr. Chair, we are working to make sure that we support Canadians through this challenging time. Of course we are trying to do that in a way that is appropriate to each situation. We chose the Canada emergency business account to be available, $40,000 in credit for small busines

COVID-19 Pandemic  Mr. Chair, maybe I can explain where I see this right now. If the business does in fact have a 30% revenue drop or more, it will be able to, with the legislation that we are passing today, have a wage subsidy for up to 75% of its workers' earnings. That is critically important.

COVID-19 Pandemic  Mr. Chair, this is a dynamic challenge, one in which we are trying to make sure that we are supporting Canadians who are going through very difficult times. We recognize there are people whom we still need to consider how we can support. We believe that the supports we have put i

COVID-19 Pandemic  Mr. Chair, the answer to that is unequivocally no. What we are seeing today, first of all, is that there is enormous support right now, today in this legislation, that would go to all sectors of the economy, including the energy sector. It is a $73-billion package that would prov

COVID-19 Pandemic  Mr. Chair, we recognize that businesses across the country are impacted in many ways as a result of COVID-19. Specifically, producers in the agricultural sector have real challenges. That is the reason we are providing credit support to them, and that is the reason we continue to

COVID-19 Pandemic  Mr. Chair, what the member points out very correctly is that we are seeing businesses in many different sectors with significant challenges. That is why we have put in place credit opportunities for the very smallest of businesses, as well as credit opportunities for businesses t

COVID-19 Pandemic  Mr. Chair, it is very important that we focus on the urgent and important things that we need to do for Canadians. That's why with the emergency response benefit it was so important to get money out to Canadians immediately. That's why this wage subsidy is so important, as it wil

COVID-19 Pandemic  Mr. Chair, we know how important the farm sector, the agricultural sector, broadly, is not only to our economy but especially to Canadians at a time like this. It is for that reason we have done a number of things. Most importantly, we have taken off the previous limit on Farm Cr

COVID-19 Pandemic  Mr. Chair, the program and the approach we have taken are focused on people and ensuring that we get funds into their hands as rapidly as possible. We saw millions of Canadians, in excess of three million people, come onto the Canada emergency response benefit this past week. We

COVID-19 Pandemic  Mr. Chair, we are obviously working as hard as we can to make sure that the wage subsidy gets into people's hands as rapidly as possible. With the passing of this legislation, organizations will be able to go to their banks to make it even faster. My expectation is that, within t

COVID-19 Emergency Response Act  moved that Bill C-13, an act respecting certain measures in response to COVID-19, be read the second time and referred to a committee of the whole.

COVID-19 Emergency Response Act  Mr. Speaker, first and foremost the message I want to get out to Canadian businesses is that we have a strong and resilient country. We have a tremendous starting point: Our health system is strong, our financial situation is strong and we have a banking system that is literally