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Results: 106 - 120 of 656
View Peter Fragiskatos Profile
Lib. (ON)
What are some creative ways forward for those businesses to be relieved of that debt? I think of the post-pandemic period, and I know we're heading there, but we're not there yet. That's an enormous weight for those businesses and the economy as a whole, so I'd love to hear any thoughts on that.
Daniel Kelly
View Daniel Kelly Profile
Daniel Kelly
2021-02-25 17:26
The good news is that the government has laid the rails for really good programs that could deliver with some minor modifications.
I wasn't a huge fan of the CEBA loan program at the beginning, I have to admit, but Minister Morneau, who hated my guts, put in place a good program before he left office. The CEBA program provided a $40,000 loan, of which $10,000 was forgivable. Minister Freeland expanded that to a $60,000 loan, of which $20,000 is forgivable. That should be expanded to $80,000, in my opinion, with 50% of the overall loan being forgivable. That would take away some of the debt load that businesses have faced.
The other one is HASCAP, the good program that Minister Ng and Minister Freeland put in place. There has been a terrible rollout so far, just to let you know; some of the banks have just now started to offer it. That HASCAP loan for those who have been highly affected, including those in the restaurant and hospitality sector, provides a loan of up to $1 million at low interest rates. The idea of providing a forgivable component—let's say a quarter of that loan would become forgivable upon repayment of the balance—sends the right message to the economy.
You need to be a going concern in order to get the forgiveness, but it relieves some of the debt. Businesses can't afford to keep taking this on the chin, and this, remember, is not their fault. We're privatizing societal losses on independent businesses that can't afford them.
Frank Vermaeten
View Frank Vermaeten Profile
Frank Vermaeten
2021-02-23 15:32
Thank you very much and good afternoon, everyone.
Thank you for the invitation to appear before the committee today as you continue your review of the employment insurance program.
With me is my colleague, Annette Butikofer, who's assistant commissioner and chief information officer of the information technology branch at the Canada Revenue Agency. In my brief remarks, I'd like to provide the committee with a short description of the CRA's responsibility with regard to delivering benefits to Canadians.
First and foremost, the CRA seeks to ensure that Canadians obtain benefit payments in a timely manner and have avenues of redress when they disagree with a decision on their benefit eligibility. The CRA administers the Canada child benefit, the goods and services tax, the harmonized sales tax credit, the children's special allowances program, the disability tax credit, the Canada workers benefit and provincial and territorial programs.
Indeed, the CRA uses its federal tax delivery infrastructure to administer 181 services, ongoing benefits and one-time payment programs on behalf of the provinces and territories. These income-tested benefits and other services contribute directly to the economic and social well-being of Canadians by supporting families and children.
I should note that while the CRA is the administrator of many other benefits, the CRA has no direct involvement in the administration of the EI program or the EI system.
As the committee may know, the CRA's role in delivering benefits evolved as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, at the peak of the 2019 tax season. The CRA shifted gears to focus on the administration and issuance of emergency benefits to Canadians impacted by the pandemic. The Canada emergency response benefit was launched in April 2020 and was jointly administered by the CRA and Service Canada. Given the speed required to deliver the CERB payments to Canadians—within some three weeks—and the initial 16-week duration, the CRA leveraged pre-existing information technology services to ensure that payments would be issued on a timely basis.
As of February 14, 2021, the CRA had processed 22,652,229 CERB applications, representing $45.3 billion paid to Canadians. The CERB was followed by the Canada emergency student benefit, or CESB, in 2020, which leveraged the program and system design of CERB. Through the course of administering the CESB, the CRA has processed 2,140,226 applications, representing $2.94 billion paid to Canadians.
As part of the transition from CERB, since the fall of 2020, the CRA now administers three new COVID benefits: the Canada recovery benefit, the Canada recovery caregiver benefit and the Canada recovery sickness benefit.
As of February 13, 2021, the CRA had processed and paid out to Canadians, for the CRB or recovery benefit, 9,864,423 applications, representing $9.86 billion. For the CRCB—the caregiver benefit—we paid out 2,840,045 applications, representing $1.42 billion, and for the CRSB there have been 675,473 applications, representing $337.74 million.
In addition, the CRA also administers the Canada emergency wage subsidy and the Canada emergency rent subsidy programs, which were launched to assist businesses during the pandemic. As of February 14, 2021, 2,619,890 wage subsidy applications had been approved, with a $65.56-billion value of subsidies approved. As of February 7, 2021, 347,480 rent subsidy applications had been approved, with $1.29 billion in payments of subsidies approved.
In conclusion, while the CRA has no direct involvement in the administration of the EI program or systems, as those are the responsibility of ESDC, the CRA plays an important role in delivering many other benefits on which Canadians rely.
Thank you again for the invitation to appear, Mr. Chair. Ms. Butikofer and I would be happy to answer any questions the committee may have.
View Irek Kusmierczyk Profile
Lib. (ON)
Okay. I get it.
Most requests emanate from businesses. Can you explain that? How does that relate to the fact that, again, 75% are directed at IRCC? Can you give us a sense of what businesses are asking for? I'm just curious.
Caroline Maynard
View Caroline Maynard Profile
Caroline Maynard
2021-02-17 18:55
The businesses, I believe, appear because a lot of non-Canadians will use agents or lawyers or a company composed of experts in immigration files, and part of that process involves access requests.
View Steven MacKinnon Profile
Lib. (QC)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Good evening, Madam Commissioner. Thank you for being with us this evening.
I'd like to address the issue of trade secrets and intellectual property.
Of course, procurement issues are topical. I'd like to hear your thoughts on the idea that a company might be more reluctant to provide patented materials, services or methods, for example, to a government with an overly open access-to-information regime.
Have you thought about this issue?
Caroline Maynard
View Caroline Maynard Profile
Caroline Maynard
2021-02-17 19:05
Of course, even in the context of more permissive legislation, there are factors that justify the desire to protect certain information. In such situations, the act provides certain exceptions for third party information, meaning companies doing business with the government. For example, certain clauses of a contract could be excluded.
Now, what we often hear is that it should be all or nothing. Personally, I think there's a happy medium. If companies were told exactly which clauses would be accessible and which ones would be protected, they would be more open.
We are currently operating on a consultation system. When an institution receives an access to information request about a contract it has signed with a third party, the third party is always consulted and can object to the release of the information. In my view, third parties have a right to be consulted, and this is something that can never go away.
View Steven MacKinnon Profile
Lib. (QC)
Caroline Maynard
View Caroline Maynard Profile
Caroline Maynard
2021-02-17 19:07
I believe this is justified in situations where there could be real prejudice to commercial value or trade secrets. The problem that is often mentioned is that, since it involves a danger of prejudice it's difficult to demonstrate. In any event, the protections offered by the act in this regard are entirely justified.
View Steven MacKinnon Profile
Lib. (QC)
Caroline Maynard
View Caroline Maynard Profile
Caroline Maynard
2021-02-17 19:08
Right now, when an institution receives an access to information request, it has an obligation to disclose information. That is the first obligation. Then, it must determine which parts of the information must be protected and which could be protected. Often people think of information that could be protected as information that must be protected. Discretion is rarely used to disclose the information. When we receive a complaint, we are able to negotiate, but the first reaction is often to protect the information.
Access to information software allows you to carefully check information and redact what should not be disclosed. So people will often receive a document in which information has been blacked out. That is a possibility.
View Steven MacKinnon Profile
Lib. (QC)
The commercial entity or the third party therefore often has the discretionary power to require that the information not be disclosed. If the government absolutely needs a unique, one-of-a-kind product or service, you think it is appropriate to withhold that information.
Caroline Maynard
View Caroline Maynard Profile
Caroline Maynard
2021-02-17 19:10
It's hard to say. I have to be careful, because there could be a complaint or an investigation about this.
What I am saying is that provisions in the act allow information to be disclosed, just as provisions allow for information to be protected. You would have to refer to the contract in question. Just because there is a confidentiality clause does not mean that the entire contract must be protected.
Mike Beck
View Mike Beck Profile
Mike Beck
2021-02-05 13:49
Thank you, Chair and committee members, for this opportunity to speak regarding aspects of Canada's forest economy.
Our company, Capacity Forest Management, has been working with probably 18 to 20 first nation bands across the province of British Columbia, helping with pathway agreements and foundation agreements. We're very proud of the work we have conducted in providing forestry business and revenue-sharing opportunities for first nations within our sustainable forestry industry.
Forestry is an important industry to Canada. It provides sustainable, secure and good-paying jobs to 225,000-plus Canadians in the industry. In addition, it adds another 350,000 jobs created through forestry activities.
A significant part of a forest recovery plan is that government and industry need to involve and collaborate with first nations by providing forestry business opportunities, or forest tenure; business-to-business or joint ventures; and activity-based government stumpage revenue sharing with first nations within their unceded territory.
The importance of involving first nations in all aspects of forestry will provide reconciliation approaches to enhance fibre security for many forest licensees or tenure holders and mills to access timber. Recent historic foundation and pathway agreements signed with first nations—for example, Shíshálh Nation and Lake Babine Nation—are examples of the provincial and federal governments supporting first nations in working towards reconciliation and becoming a key economic component and participant in the forest industry.
Another positive aspect, I have to say, with the Government of Canada is that they have recognized that forestry plays a key part in climate change and have identified that forestry professionals will play a key role, a vital role, in commitments to climate change and in planting two billion trees.
Again, the Government of Canada and the Government of B.C. have taken some great steps to include first nations in the forest recovery strategy through foundation agreements and pathway agreements. These agreements have essentially placed first nations into the reconciliation aspect to be awarded forest tenure volume and forest revenue sharing to build successful forestry businesses. When first nation forestry businesses are involved, they will provide long-term fibre security; launch future first nations forestry businesses and partnerships; and provide forestry revenue sharing with government and industry.
The key requirement for a successful Canadian forestry economic recovery will be to look at the forestry business approaches and to work collaboratively with first nations, which will allow improved access to Canada's forest land base and the resources within first nations unceded territories. Without access from first nations to the forest land base, uncertainty over fibre security and timber supply at mills will impact the forest economy recovery. If there is a lack of fibre access or security, it will reduce future investment, employment, manufactured forest products and exports of forestry products or raw logs.
Again, it will be vital to work collaboratively with first nations by providing these types of activity-based approaches to revenue-sharing agreements or granting rights to forest tenure to secure access to fibre. This would include forms of tenure acquisition mechanisms, with the government granting increased timber supply apportionment to first nations, and both industry and government forming business-to-business or joint venture agreements, which would constitute an aspect of government stumpage revenue sharing.
The creation of business partnerships with first nations will provide assurance that industry and government will adhere to first nations best management and sustainable land practices and policies within their unceded territories. Key social and environmental values that first nations want to protect include their cultural and spiritual features and areas, food sovereignty and water quality, and access to their resources. A collaborative approach to create first nation partnerships and relationship agreements will build trust if government and industry implement and practise first nations sustainable land policies and practices, which will provide easier access and long-term fibre security.
We've seen other issues with regard to the recovery of some of our first nations businesses in B.C. Currently they are stumpage fees, the fee-in-lieu tax on raw log exports, timber supply reductions, a working forest land base and climate change.
Stumpage is a fee that businesses and tenure holders pay when they harvest timber from Crown lands. Stumpage is a payment for the use of public natural resources to fund vital social services and provide government with an avenue for first nation revenue-sharing agreements. Stumpage will need to adapt and respond more quickly to lumber prices, not in quarterly adjustments. Log pricing doesn't respond quickly to stumpage rate spikes. It typically takes six months to adjust and respond, which impacts the bottom line of projects and project start-ups.
Currently, many first nation businesses cannot start up projects because of the high stumpage rates we’re seeing today in B.C. Log prices in the current market are not achieving profits for first nations, and logging costs are also increasing with carbon taxation. In addition, any first nation tenure holder’s projects that are on hold will reduce the movement of logs to mills, which will struggle in turn and create curtailments. That will create a trickle-down effect and impact communities and employment.
There is a need to review pricing formulas, equations and stumpage calculations to be more reactive to the new lumber pricing models, thus lowering stumpage to make logging more viable. If stumpage fees are not reduced, we will see another forestry sector downturn, impacting hundreds of forestry workers, including loggers, road contractors and log haulers, with mills possibly having closures or downtime.
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