44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 7, 2021 10:00AM
- Dec/7/21 6:35:35 p.m.
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Madam Chair, our government very much believes that human rights need to be an important part of all foreign policy decisions. We are very concerned about the situation in Hong Kong and the situation the member opposite mentioned. These concerns are at the heart of our commitment to human rights around the world and we will take them into consideration.
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- Dec/7/21 7:02:40 p.m.
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Madam Chair, as my colleague knows, I once served as parliamentary secretary to the minister of Canadian Heritage. Workers in the cultural sector, which is included in the tourism sector, are very important to us.
It is clear that the Canadian economy will not recover without the tourism sector, and we will do everything we can for all workers in the tourism sector, including those in the cultural sector.
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- Dec/7/21 7:09:11 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I thank my hon. colleague for giving me the opportunity to lay out the real facts about everything that has happened in our economy since the pandemic hit.
I want to emphasize that the Canadian economy has almost fully recovered. We have recovered 106% of the jobs lost at the height of the pandemic. Earlier this week, we learned that 154,000 jobs had been added to our economy. That points to one very important fact I want to stress this evening: We rebuilt our economy rapidly after the recession. This is the shortest economic recovery in Canadian history. I think it is very important to point out how entrepreneurs across the country and our government set the stage for such a strong and powerful economic recovery.
To answer my hon. colleague's question, we know how difficult the pandemic is for seniors. I have spoken about this with my constituents. I spoke to people who voted for me, for us, and they are asking for our help. That is why we worked very hard during the campaign. We stated very clearly in our platform that we are here to improve seniors' lives, and that is why we worked hard to improve seniors' income security, including the guaranteed income supplement, or GIS. We created the CERB to help people at the height of the pandemic, and we know that some seniors who usually receive the GIS are facing certain challenges today because they received the CERB. Resolving this problem is a complex task, but we will do it because we are up to the challenge. We are making a solemn promise to seniors across Canada.
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- Dec/7/21 7:17:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I have said before, and as the Minister of Seniors has said, this is a complex issue. We are working this issue. We understand the situation seniors are facing with a clawback from their GIS for those who received CERB.
It is an important question. We are going to continue to work on this question. We have heard from seniors. The Minister of Seniors and our whole government are working on this issue. We will get it done.
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- Dec/7/21 7:18:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I stated, and as I will continue to state in answer to the same question, this is a matter that we are taking very seriously. We have heard from seniors. It is a question that is active inside our government. The Minister of Seniors and the whole of government is working on this very important issue.
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- Dec/7/21 7:18:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I think our government has proven its mettle in the face of the worst global pandemic in 100 years. This is a progressive government full of compassion. We invested over $380 billion into the livelihoods and lives of Canadians, businesses, seniors and people of all ages. We will continue to do the right thing by Canadians.
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- Dec/7/21 7:19:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let me be very clear that the investments this government made in Canadians are exactly that: investments. We are not making any calculations that would even in anybody's wildest dreams be called “savings”. These are investments in Canadians, and we will continue to make them.
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- Dec/7/21 7:20:38 p.m.
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- Re: Bill C-2
Mr. Speaker, our record speaks for itself. We supported millions of Canadians during the pandemic. We are continuing to support Canadians in the hardest-hit sectors as we come through this recovery period. I might say to my hon. colleague that if he wants to make sure some of the most vulnerable people are supported, I encourage him and his caucus members to support Bill C-2.
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- Dec/7/21 7:21:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this is a government that has always supported people. It has been very clear that, as we get into what we hope are the final stages of this global pandemic, now is the time to pull back on some of the more generous benefits, because these once-in-a-hundred-year investments in our economy were always intended to be and always translated as exceptional measures for an exceptional time. Now that we are coming out of that time, we are making these adjustments. We will always be there for people. The proof is in our investments in Canadians, and that is what we will continue to do.
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- Dec/7/21 7:22:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are talking about making sure short-term measures are in place, like the lockdown, and should a jurisdiction in the country go into lockdown, Canadians will be able to access benefits.
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- Dec/7/21 7:23:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our government has proven itself, not only with investments during the pandemic, but also with retooling and reorganizing the entire way we fund skills development in this country. The minister has been very clear on that and so has our government.
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- Dec/7/21 7:23:58 p.m.
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- Re: Bill C-2
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the hon. member's focusing on the issue of labour, because it allows me to remind all members that we have before this House a crucially important piece of legislation, Bill C-2. I would remind colleagues that Bill C-2 would extend the Canada recovery hiring program until May 7, 2022 for eligible employers and increase the subsidy rate to 50%. In short, this benefit will be good for Canadians. We hope the opposition will support it.
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- Dec/7/21 7:24:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let me just say that 106% of jobs lost during COVID have been recovered. The economy is coming back, the fastest rebound of an economy after recession in Canada's history. The recovery is uneven. I know that from my file of tourism, but 106% of jobs recovered since the worst time of COVID says that people are getting back to work.
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- Dec/7/21 7:25:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what is important to know about this matter is that we will be working with our provincial colleagues to clarify the matter. The supports are there. The programs are in place. All Canadians will have access.
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- Dec/7/21 7:26:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we continue to have those discussions with provinces.
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- Dec/7/21 7:29:56 p.m.
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- Re: Bill C-2
Mr. Speaker, since the beginning of the pandemic, Canadians have been called upon to take extraordinary measures to ensure the safety of all. We have been in an emergency situation that has required large‑scale lockdowns and closures, which have threatened the ability of millions of Canadians to work and thousands of businesses to continue operating.
In response to this extraordinary situation, our government has taken unprecedented action thanks to the collective effort of so many people working tirelessly to help their fellow citizens. We have put in place a comprehensive package of measures to help workers and businesses across the country meet these challenges.
We saw neighbours helping neighbours, frontline workers who did double and triple shifts to keep our communities safe, and people who retooled their entire business lines to produce protective equipment for frontline workers and Canadians in need. In this time of historic commitment to helping others, our government was there to ensure that Canadians, their families, their businesses and their communities would be supported through the worst.
Our income and wage support programs, along with rent subsidies, made it possible for households to support their families. Those programs also enabled millions of Canadians to keep their jobs and hundreds of thousands of Canadian businesses to keep operating during the darkest days of the pandemic.
Thanks to robust public health measures, vaccination rates are high and the child vaccination campaign is moving along quickly. Grandparents and others who need it are receiving their third dose, the booster dose. Our health care system is finding better and better ways of dealing with the virus.
While the recent emergence of the omicron variant of COVID-19 is cause for concern, there is still reason for cautious optimism that we are turning the corner in the fight against this virus and seeing better days. Thanks to the hard work of Canadians, we are approaching the last mile of this long and difficult journey.
On the economic front, the recent OECD December 2021 economic outlook confirmed that Canada is still expected to have a strong recovery relative to pre-pandemic levels of GDP, ranking the second-fastest among G7 economies by 2023. Of the three million jobs that were lost at the peak of the crisis, all have now been recouped, faster than after any other recession. This has been possible because of the supports we provided. They prevented unnecessary increases in insolvencies and kept Canadians and Canadian businesses largely intact. They limited economic scarring and laid the foundation for a strong recovery.
In my riding of Edmonton Centre, I spoke with the now third-generation owners of Kunitz Shoes. The owners live in my riding. It is a third-generation shoe store on Jasper Avenue. It was going to go under, but because of collaboration with other business leaders in the community and due to the supports that we had in place, Kunitz Shoes is now thriving and back on its feet, if members will excuse the pun. The owners told me that they paid taxes, in their case for over 60 years, with the expectation that when they needed it, the government would be there for them. They said it had never happened in the history of the company, but it happened in the past year. The government was there for them, and they thanked me and my colleagues for that.
In short, the government took action and it worked. Canadians and most parliamentarians supported this unprecedented spending because they understood that it was not only the compassionate thing to do, but also the economically smart thing to do. Our government strongly respects that Parliament plays a key role in enforcing this accountability, and I would like to recognize all members participating in the committee of the whole tonight for their role in this regard.
The Department of Finance has also played a key role in enforcing this accountability through its budgets, fiscal updates and reports to Parliament, and it will continue to do so. Further to this goal, as the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance has announced, the government will be providing an economic fiscal update on December 14.
Through these supplementary estimates, the government is seeking parliamentary approval for $8.7 billion in new voted spending. These planned expenditures would support Canadian priorities with infrastructure and services to address the specific needs of indigenous communities, the government's ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and supporting access to COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics in developing countries.
In fact, approximately $1.2 billion of the proposed voted spending in supplementary estimates (B) is for the government's ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic. I do not think it would be an exaggeration to say that Canadians are counting on this funding to protect their health and well-being.
However, Canadians are not just counting on us to invest in their health and well-being. Canadians need and want good jobs with fair wages and clear rules. Therefore, we need to make sure that businesses, especially small businesses, have the support they need. That is why we have introduced Bill C-2 in Parliament.
Among other things, the bill would extend the Canada recovery hiring program until May 2022 at an increased 50% subsidy rate. This would encourage businesses to continue to rehire workers, increase their hours and create additional jobs that Canada needs for a full recovery from the COVID-19 recession.
That said, the government is also aware that some businesses are unable to resume all their activities and create those jobs because of the public health measures that, as I said, are necessary to protect Canadians. We are therefore proposing in Bill C-2 two new support programs targeting specific types of businesses in order to promote economic recovery. In both cases, the businesses must show that they experienced significant revenue declines during the first 12 months of the pandemic as well as the current month.
I will start with the tourism and hospitality recovery program, which will help hotels, restaurants and travel agencies, which are still grappling with public health restrictions and the fact that people are travelling less because of the measures in place.
The Canada emergency wage subsidy and Canada emergency rent subsidy rate for these businesses will be 40% for those with a current-month revenue loss of 40%. The rate would increase in proportion to this revenue loss up to a maximum of 75%.
This legislation is key to getting us to the end of this pandemic and it is unfortunate that our colleagues in the Conservative Party and the NDP are voting against it. Make no mistake: This support will be crucial to getting our tourism sector back on its feet. I spoke with many leading tourism operators and businesses at the Tourism Industry Association of Canada's conference here last week and I can say that they are emphatically asking and demanding that everyone in the chamber support Bill C-2.
Since taking on the role of Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance, I have been moved by the passion of those in the tourism sector for the work that they do. These are the people who tell our story to the world and they are the people who are going to inspire people from around the world to come and fall in love with Canada.
At this moment, this industry is reeling from the body blow of this pandemic. Revenue has declined almost 50% from 2019 levels. Jobs directly attributable to tourism decreased 41% from 692,000 to 409,000 in the same period.
However, even with these challenges, Canada’s tourism sector is moving forward, and our government recognizes the vital role that tourism plays in providing employment and opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses and further fuelling economic growth. In short, our economy will not fully recover until the tourism sector recovers. With government support, businesses in this sector are starting to get ready to welcome Canadians back to experience the great places and activities this country has to offer.
This support includes the measures introduced in budget 2021 to support the tourism sector, totalling $1 billion over three years. This includes $500 million over two years flowing through regional development agencies to help our hard-hit tourism businesses adapt their products and services and invest in future growth.
This also includes $200 million through the regional development agencies to support them and help ensure that Canada continues to draw millions of visitors from all over the world to our large arts and cultural festivals and major events.
I have to thank the former tourism minister, who is now the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the entire government for their foresight and for including all of these measures in budget 2021.
Our government will continue to ensure that Canadians are informed of the details of not just our spending, but of all the investments that we have made to protect and support Canadians in the fight against COVID-19. A full recovery will take time, but we are committed to doing what it takes to finish the fight against COVID-19, to speed up the recovery, and to lay the foundation for years of strong, sustained growth.
As we continue to gain ground in this fight, our support for Canadians is becoming more targeted, ensuring that help is being focused on those who need it the most.
Help is here and hope is on the horizon.
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- Dec/7/21 7:41:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I think it is important to share with my hon. colleague that we have to put some numbers on this. My hon. colleague is right to say that we want to support Hollywood north and all of the sectors of tourism excellence in our country.
Fifteen billion dollars is the support that we have given Canada's tourism sector since the start of the pandemic. The regional relief and recovery fund alone has supported more than 180,000 workers across the country. Add to that the Canada emergency wage subsidy and more than $1 billion in budget 2021, and we are well on our way to seeing the tourism sector come back. In the cultural sector, support for artists is important for us. I am thinking about people in the cultural industry, the technicians, actors and musicians. These are the people who make the films, the movies, the plays and the video games that we and people around the world want to see.
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- Dec/7/21 7:44:23 p.m.
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- Re: Bill C-2
Mr. Speaker, I have to thank my hon. colleague for his exuberance and his perspicacity.
We are here for workers in the cultural sector. We are here for workers in the tourism sector. Bill C-2 is the bridge the tourism sector needs to get through this last winter to the end of the pandemic, well into the third quarter of 2022, when we can welcome Canadians from coast to coast to coast and travellers from around the world to come to Canada to see Folklorama, the Edmonton Folk Music Festival and all the other great festivals and tourism attractions in Canada from coast to coast to coast.
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- Dec/7/21 7:50:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we will take the member's question under advisement and get back to him.
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- Dec/7/21 7:51:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, transportation and shipping are key elements of recovering from the pandemic. We take this issue seriously. We are working with our trading partners, and shippers and providers of transportation services in the country to get this matter sorted.
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