SoVote

Mr. Richard Cannings (South Okanagan—West Kootenay, NDP)

Feb/14/22 6:37:01 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-10

Madam Speaker, we are in the fifth wave of this pandemic and Canadians are fed up with all the restrictions they have been facing. These restrictions are in place for good reason, but we have to support the businesses and workers who have been suffering. Many of these sectors have fallen through big cracks. I wonder if the member could comment on some of the sectors that everybody else and I have been lobbying for to get these changes that the government seems reluctant to make. I am talking about people like independent travel advisers, who are making nothing. I am talking about a lot of companies in the tourism industry that cannot apply for tourism supports because they are seasonal. Most tourism companies are. Could the member explain why the government seems so slow and so reluctant to respond to their questions?

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Context: House Hansard - 30 - Feb/14/22

Mr. Richard Cannings (South Okanagan—West Kootenay, NDP)

Feb/14/22 7:32:36 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-10

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for mentioning health care workers. As we all know, they have been at the forefront, the pointy end of the stick, as far as COVID goes in terms of both their physical health and mental health risks. Another sector that has really been impacted by COVID is tourism. Two years after COVID began, the government still is not getting the supports right for many tourism operators. Independent contractors of any sort, including independent travel advisers, are not able to access any supports. New businesses that started up just as COVID was starting up are still unable to access the supports that all of their competitors have. I am wondering this. Can the member comment on why the government seems to be blind to all of these needs?

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Context: House Hansard - 30 - Feb/14/22

Mr. Peter Fragiskatos

Feb/14/22 7:33:40 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-10

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his service. I do not know him that well, but I have always known him to be someone who cares very sincerely about the work and who has done a great deal for his constituents. On this matter, we will disagree a bit. If we look at what the federal government has done since the onset of the pandemic, it responded very swiftly. It made historic efforts to put in place policy to deal with what is, I think we can all agree, the most difficult situation that has faced this country since the Second World War. Whether it is tourism operators or small or large businesses, we will continue to be there for Canadians as we have been throughout the pandemic, putting in place a number of measures, economic and otherwise, to meet the challenges head-on. In my own community of London, we have been there whether for tourism operators or others. There is more we can do, of course, and we can look at that, but when it is all said and done, historians will have a lot to say on what has happened, and we will have favourable judgments in the years to come.

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