- Member of Parliament
- Minister of Small Business
- Liberal
- Mississauga—Streetsville
- Ontario
- Voting Attendance: 66%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $101,328.92
- Government Page
- Jan/29/24 2:58:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we know that small businesses are still going through a tough time.
They still have nearly three years to pay back their CEBA loan. We extended the term loan repayment deadline to ensure that small businesses can focus on their post-pandemic recovery.
We are also cutting taxes for growing small businesses and lowering credit card fees up to a quarter.
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- Nov/20/23 2:29:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, small businesses asked for our help. That is why our government extended the deadline for forgiveness to January 18, 2024. We also announced the extension of the deadline for term loan repayment by one year, to the end of 2026. Our government will always be there for small businesses.
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- Nov/9/23 2:45:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I can reassure my colleagues that we are here for small businesses.
We have already given small businesses an extra year to access the forgivable part of the loan. They asked for more help, so we gave them more flexibility to refinance, more time to access loan forgiveness and a one-year extension of the repayment deadline.
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- Nov/7/23 3:03:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform my hon. colleague that nearly 900,000 small businesses benefited from the CEBA.
That is why we recently announced a one-year extension on the term loan repayment deadline, more flexibility on refinancing and more time to access loan forgiveness. We also increased the Canada child benefit and implemented $10-a-day child care, thus enabling more women than ever to enter the workforce.
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- Nov/6/23 2:57:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have already given small businesses an extra year to qualify for the forgivable portion of the loan.
Since they asked for more help, we are offering them more flexibility on refinancing, more time to access loan forgiveness and a one-year extension on the repayment deadline.
We are always there for our small businesses, unlike the Conservative leader, who wants to take us back to the Stone Age.
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- Nov/2/23 3:01:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we did not abandon small businesses during the pandemic, nor did we abandon them after the pandemic.
What did we do then? We created the Canada emergency business account loan to help small businesses keep their doors open. What are we doing now? We are offering more flexibility for them to repay their CEBA loans. What will we continue to do? We will continue to listen to and support small businesses across the country.
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- Nov/1/23 3:10:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our government understands that small businesses are still trying to recover from the pandemic. That is why we recently announced a one-year repayment extension, more refinancing flexibility and more time to access loan forgiveness.
This is in addition to our increase in the Canada child benefit and $10-a-day child care, which has enabled more women to enter the workforce than ever before.
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- Oct/31/23 3:04:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our government listens to small businesses.
The first deadline for the exemption qualification was the end of 2022. Small businesses asked for our help. That is why our government extended the exemption qualification deadline to January 18, 2024. We also announced a full one-year extension of the term loan repayment deadline to the end of 2026.
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- Oct/30/23 2:43:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we will continue to be there for small businesses.
We extended the deadline for small businesses from last year to this year. Since they asked for more assistance, we are giving them more refinancing flexibility. We are giving them more time to access the loan forgiveness and a one-year extension of the CEBA loan repayment deadline.
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- Oct/30/23 2:41:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, nearly 900,000 small businesses had to shut down during the pandemic. What did we do? We created the Canada emergency business account, or CEBA, to help small businesses keep their doors open.
What are we doing? We are providing additional flexibility so that businesses can repay their CEBA loans. What will our government continue to do? We will continue to listen to and support small businesses across the country.
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- Oct/30/23 2:28:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our government is listening to small businesses. The first deadline to qualify for forgiveness was the end of 2022. Small businesses asked for our help. That is why our government extended the forgiveness repayment deadline to January 18, 2024. We also announced a full one-year extension of the term loan repayment date until the end of 2026.
Our government is always there for small businesses.
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- Oct/26/23 2:44:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we continue to be there for small businesses. We gave small businesses an extension from last year to this year. Because they asked for more help, we are offering them more flexibility when it comes to refinancing, more time to qualify for loan forgiveness, and a one-year extension of the repayment deadline for their Canada emergency business account loan.
I thank my hon. Bloc Québécois colleagues who continue to share excellent comments and ideas to support small business.
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- Oct/26/23 2:42:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question.
Our government understands that small businesses are still trying to recover from the pandemic. That is why we recently announced a one-year extension of the repayment deadline, more refinancing flexibility and more time to access loan forgiveness.
We have also increased the Canada child benefit and implemented a $10-a-day child care plan, which has enabled more women to enter the labour market.
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- Oct/24/23 2:41:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are offering additional flexibility to small businesses in repaying their Canada emergency business account loans. This includes a full one-year extension of the term loan repayment deadline, more refinancing flexibility and more time to access the loan forgiveness, which is both a balanced and fiscally responsible approach.
The Bloc Québécois did not vote to lower credit card fees. We are always prepared to work with the Bloc Québécois, because our main objective is to help small businesses across the country.
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- Oct/23/23 2:27:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are offering additional flexibilities for small businesses to repay their CEBA loans. They include a full one-year extension on the term loan repayment deadline, more flexibility on refinancing and more time to access loan forgiveness, which is both a balanced and fiscally responsible approach.
We will continue to listen to small businesses across the country.
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- Oct/4/22 7:12:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Whitby.
I am pleased to speak today on the health portfolio's critical work with the World Health Organization and other international organizations. The importance of international collaboration and co-operation has never been more clear. No single country, including Canada, is able to solve complex health challenges alone.
As we know all too well, COVID-19 and other viruses and health issues do not respect borders. That is why the health portfolio engages, co-operates and collaborates with international and global partners. This happens multilaterally through the World Health Organization, the G7, the G20 and other organizations.
We also engage directly with our international partners to strengthen our domestic response. As a founding member, Canada is a strong supporter of the WHO and engages with the organization to advance domestic and international health priorities, share health expertise and protect the health of Canadians and people around the world. This includes contributing support and expertise to health emergency response efforts, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, developing a vaccine for Ebola, championing polio eradication and advancing global health security.
Canada also collaborates with WHO on issues important to Canadians, such as climate change and environmental health, healthy aging, mental health and non-communicable diseases.
Canada is strongly committed to advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. WHO is an important partner in advancing these objectives, including equity-based approaches to health systems, strengthening primary health care and closing gaps in sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Canada is a strong champion of gender equality and equity issues, and we bring this leadership to our engagement with the WHO. Canada values the WHO's leadership and coordination role in the COVID-19 response. The WHO has an important role in overseeing the international health regulations, driving global research efforts towards new vaccines and treatments, addressing shortages of critical medical supplies and personal protective equipment, helping global vaccination efforts and supporting vulnerable countries in their preparedness and response efforts.
We recognize the opportunity to learn from the COVID-19 experience and strengthen the WHO and global pandemic prevention preparedness and response efforts. That is why we supported the decision to develop a new instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response at the special session of the WHO's World Health Assembly last December. Canada will work to ensure that this new instrument enhances international co-operation so we are all better prepared should there be another pandemic, while protecting Canadian interests. We also strongly believe we need to improve the tools and mechanisms that we already have, including the international health regulations.
The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that member state expectations for the WHO outweigh its resources and capacities. There are important global discussions taking place right now on improving WHO sustainable financing and governance. Canada is engaging with other member states to address these issues and will continue to actively advocate for oversight of the organization and implementation of key findings and recommendations from the global COVID-19 reviews.
WHO also has an important role in crises, including the armed conflict in Ukraine, which has significantly disrupted health services and is having a disproportionate impact on women and children. Canada is contributing to the WHO's overall health response in Ukraine, which is focused on saving lives and ensuring access to basic health services for those affected by the armed conflict. Canada has allocated more than $7.5 million to the WHO to improve essential health services in Ukraine, including emergency care for injured patients and continued COVID-19 care.
These were important topics at the 75th World Health Assembly that took place this past May. Canada has a strong presence at the assembly to advance the priorities we share with the WHO and other partners. This includes strengthening the WHO through enhanced leadership and governance, mobilization of global action to better prevent, prepare for and respond to health emergencies, and accelerating progress on health equity and the determinants of health.
I want to reiterate that Canada believes the world needs a strong WHO, and that a strong WHO should reflect a global health community where everyone is included and can participate.
There are many actors contributing to better public health outcomes around the world, including Taiwan. They have been a good bilateral partner to Canada on health, which we saw when they donated personal protective equipment to us early in the pandemic. We continue to support Taiwan's full participation in organizations such as the World Trade Organization and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, where it is a full member. We also support its meaningful participation in international fora where there is a practical imperative and where Taiwan's absence would be detrimental to global interests.
Accordingly, and consistent with Canada's long-standing One China policy, we support Taiwan's inclusion as an observer in the World Health Assembly. The Minister of Health called for Taiwan's meaningful participation in the assembly during his plenary statement this year.
Canada also continues to work closely with its G7 partners on both the pandemic and other priority health issues. Canada has participated in numerous G7 health ministers' meetings, where it has underlined the need for collaboration to end the acute phase of this pandemic. G7 deputy health ministers are meeting in a week in Berlin, where they will discuss critical issues such as ending the COVID-19 pandemic and implementing lessons learned, tackling the connection of climate change and health, and combatting antimicrobial resistance.
Engaging through the G20 has also been important for global co-operation on the pandemic. Under Indonesia's presidency, G20 health ministers met this past June and will meet again at the end of October. Canada looks forward to working with its G20 partners to help build resilience for the global health system, including sustainable financing, harmonizing global health protocol standards, and expanding global manufacturing and knowledge hubs for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
Health ministers also met with G20 finance ministers this past June, with a second meeting planned for November, to address the critical funding gap for global pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
The health portfolio is working closely with G7 and G20 partners, as well as with international bodies and organizations, including the WHO, to address important global health challenges including and beyond COVID-19, such as antimicrobial resistance, climate change and mental health.
The threat of antimicrobial resistance has the potential to be the next global health crisis, as our antimicrobial medications, especially antibiotics, become less effective due to pathogens developing the ability to resist these drugs. This is increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death. A truly global challenge, this is an issue on which Canada needs to collaborate closely with its international partners and international organizations, including the WHO.
The impact of climate change on health has become a global health priority. It is important that the connection between health and the environment remain at the centre of international discussions and actions to address climate change. At the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Canada supported the commitments for building and developing climate-resilient and low-carbon sustainable health systems, which was recognized by the WHO.
This is a transformational time for global mental health. The pandemic has had a tremendous impact on mental health and well-being, underscoring both the gaps and opportunities in our mental health systems. We need to translate this momentum into action and work together with the WHO and our international partners to ensure that we achieve the goals and targets we have set, with the vision of creating a world in which mental health is valued, promoted and protected, and mental illness is prevented and cared for equitably and respectfully.
Canada has helped foster strong international relationships and the resilient global community needed to successfully face the challenges of COVID-19, to build back better as we emerge from the pandemic, and to continue to make progress on other important health issues that know no borders.
Moving forward, we will redouble our efforts to ensure that the WHO is an effective, efficient, relevant, transparent, accountable and well-governed institution whose actions and recommendations are guided by member states and by the best available science and evidence.
The world needs a strong, transparent and inclusive WHO. Canada stands ready to work with others to make this a reality.
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- Mar/25/22 11:02:28 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, last week I was honoured to join the Meet And Greet Senior Club Mississauga to celebrate the launch of their book, titled “Our Experiences of COVID-19”. Their book comprises the seniors' stories, sharing how they coped with the isolation and challenges of the pandemic.
This achievement would not have been possible had the seniors not taken the time to courageously describe the difficulties they have endured over the past two years. Despite many challenges, they persevered and created something positive by writing this book.
The Meet And Greet Senior Club Mississauga is a tight-knit and active group. I am fortunate to see first-hand their vibrant energy and the joy they spread amongst one another.
I want to acknowledge Dr. Sabharwal, Chanda Patodia, Subhash Madan and Urmila Bedi, as well as all of the directors, volunteers and participants who have made the senior club what it is today.
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- Feb/10/22 2:50:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this week is International Development Week. Reducing extreme poverty, advancing gender equality and increasing access to education and health care for the most vulnerable are some of the many global initiatives that Canada has moved forward.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the lives of Canadians in many ways, globally the pandemic has a pressing impact on people elsewhere and hinders the progress of Canadian initiatives abroad. Can the Minister of International Development update the House on what Canada is doing to help other countries in their vaccination campaigns?
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