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Results: 91 - 105 of 183
View Jenny Kwan Profile
NDP (BC)
View Jenny Kwan Profile
2021-04-27 18:33 [p.6280]
Madam Speaker, my constituent, a busker, applied for the Canada recovery benefit. He submitted his annual income tax return for the last two years along with his City of Vancouver street vendor permit as proof of income and employment. CRA did not accept these and wanted to see receipts and bank statements indicating deposits made. It is, in my opinion, unreasonable to expect buskers and street musicians to provide receipts and regular bank deposit for their small amount of cash income.
That was almost six months ago and today, I am happy to report that after this intense advocacy, which included a letter to the minister, questions in question period and countless calls to CRA agents, the government finally accepted my constituent's original proof of income documents, which were his income tax returns and the City of Vancouver street vendor permit, as valid proof of employment and income to qualify for the CRB.
I am sharing this in the House of Commons today so that others can be aware of this important win for my constituent. If people are faced with a similar issue, I urge them to contact their member of Parliament to try to get the matter resolved.
As we are talking about CRA, related to CRA, I have written to the government to request an extension of the income tax filing deadline for older adults age 60-plus who receive their guaranteed income supplement. Last year, the federal government publicly announced that seniors receiving GIS would be able to keep their GIS payments, without interruption, if they filed their taxes by October 1, which helped many seniors. I hope the same measures can be taken again this year to support seniors during this ongoing pandemic where we are well into the third wave with new variants.
Many GIS recipients face multiple barriers, including language, mobility and technology. That made the navigating of the systems very difficult, if not impossible, without assistance. These seniors rely on community tax clinics and community non-profit groups to assist them in filing their income taxes accurately and in a timely manner. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the barriers to tax filing already experienced by low-income seniors. Many seniors serve in community organizations that rely on volunteers who are also seniors, such as the 411 Seniors' Centre Society in my riding.
With the third wave raging on, organizations providing tax filing services for seniors are shutting down their in-person services in accordance to public health guidelines. I have been informed by the organization that it has been serving over 160 seniors per week and has almost 400 more appointments booked for the upcoming weeks. However, due to the need to temporarily shutdown in-person clinics, it will take time for the organization to move its services to remote models.
Even prior to the public health guidelines, both seniors volunteering and clients in need of support have been voicing health and safety concerns over travelling to the clinic in person. Even with services moved to remote and virtual models, there will be many seniors with technology and other barriers who will not be able to access these services in time. Ontario has also announced a four-week, province-wide shutdown and Quebec has announced special lockdowns for select cities and regions, which will no doubt impact community tax clinics in those communities as well.
From that perspective, I am asking the government to extend the tax timeline for seniors and to ensure that their GIS is not interrupted, especially during this very difficult period. I hope the government can provide this support to seniors.
View Francesco Sorbara Profile
Lib. (ON)
Madam Speaker, I am very happy to hear of the outcome with regard to the issue faced by one of her residents.
With respect to the assessment of eligibility for self-employed Canadians who received the Canada emergency response benefit, during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canada Revenue Agency deployed seven emergency and economic recovery measures to support Canadians and businesses.
The Government of Canada announced the CERB on March 25, 2020, and in just 12 short days after the announcement, the CRA began distributing CERB payments to the millions of Canadians who were in need of that support.
On April 27, 2020, the CRA also deployed the Canada emergency wage subsidy, otherwise known as CEWS, to eligible businesses as part of the Government of Canada's COVID-19 economic response plan. This emergency measure was designed to help employers who had been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic to keep workers on their payroll or to bring back previously laid off employees.
The CRA has worked very hard to support Canadians, including workers and small or medium-sized businesses, through this very difficult period. It also implemented measures to preserve the integrity of Canada's tax system.
We must remember that from the outset, the CERB was designed to support employed individuals, contract workers and self-employed persons who were not deemed eligible for employment insurance. For instance, millions of Canadians were able to apply for the CERB online through My Account via an automated telephone line or by calling CRA's toll-free number. Moreover, millions of payments were made to Canadians via either direct deposit or cheque, typically within just 10 days of applying for the benefit.
The CERB eligibility criteria clearly stated a person had to either earn at least $5,000 in 2019 or over the past 12 months from self-employment income or provincial benefit payments related to maternity or paternity leave.
In the first two weeks the CERB was announced, information provided on Canada.ca and by the CRA call centre agents on eligible self-employment income was unclear. The situation may have led some self-employed Canadians to apply in good faith despite being ineligible. However, by late April, clearer information regarding CERB eligibility was posted on Canada.ca and provided to CRA's call centre agents. The Government of Canada and the CRA regretted sincerely that communications regarding the eligibility criteria may not have been clear in the first days after the CERB was launched.
I would also like to point out that the Government of Canada and the CRA's support of self-employed workers does not stop there. Just last month, on February 9, the government announced that self-employed individuals whose net self-employed income was less than $5,000 and who applied for the CERB would not be required to repay the CERB as long as their gross self-employment income was at least $5,000 and they met all other eligibility criteria.
That same day, the Government of Canada and the CRA also announced they would provide targeted interest relief to Canadians who received COVID-related income support benefits. Once individuals have filed their 2020 income tax and benefit return, they will not be required to pay interest on any outstanding income tax debt for the 2020 tax year until April 30, 2022.
View Jenny Kwan Profile
NDP (BC)
View Jenny Kwan Profile
2021-04-27 18:41 [p.6281]
Madam Speaker, many low-income seniors across Canada depend heavily on their GIS as a core part of their income. Any interruption to this important benefit would cause dire hardships, so I really urge the government to extend the income tax deadline for them.
Of course, seniors are not the only people experiencing problems with CRA. There is another situation being faced by my constituents, whereby they are not able to get a new T4 tax slip from CRA in time to file their taxes, and the miscalculation on their T4 is a result of the errors made by CRA on CERB payments. In one instance, one of my constituents did not even ask for CERB but received it. She returned that money and now she is being taxed for it.
This is absolutely outrageous. We need the government to do better, we need CRA to do better and we need to extend the deadline for income tax filing.
View Francesco Sorbara Profile
Lib. (ON)
Madam Speaker, I do encourage all Canadians to file their taxes by the deadline to ensure they maintain the benefits and credits they deserve and for which they have worked so hard.
The CRA is committed to maintaining a balance between making emergency funds accessible to individuals and businesses that urgently need the support, while preserving the fairness and integrity of our tax system.
In collaboration with ESDC, the CRA designed the CERB application process to be attestation based. This is similar to the approach used in tax filing, where individuals attest to information they provide when they file their taxes. The CRA may verify this information at the time of filing or at a later date.
The vast majority of Canadians are honest and well-intentioned, and the CRA has effective systems in place to ensure only eligible Canadians receive benefit payments.
I want to point out that the CRA is committed to putting people first. In accordance with its client service model and in the spirit of fairness and transparency, the CRA will continue—
View Heather McPherson Profile
NDP (AB)
View Heather McPherson Profile
2021-04-22 10:25 [p.6000]
Madam Speaker, my colleague spoke about event planners, and it tweaked my interest, because I actually met with the Canadian Association of Exposition Management just yesterday. They are a sector that has been deeply impacted by the pandemic. There are many people within the sector who will not be able to even start back to work until the fall, and we know that because of the cyclical nature of it, and because some of their events will not happen for up to a year, they are very concerned about the impacts on their sector and that we have started this race but we are not going to get to the finish line with what is being proposed by the Liberal government.
Would the member be willing to look at some of these supports for businesses and individuals, and look at them as the individual needs for certain sectors, knowing that some sectors are going to take longer and that peeling back the CRB and business supports by September is not going to be appropriate for all sectors?
View Mark Gerretsen Profile
Lib. (ON)
Madam Speaker, I agree with the member that this particular sector was the first hit and will be the last to recover. Not only do events take months to plan, but also we are going to need to get the degree of confidence in people's willingness to go into a room with 10,000 people. I cannot imagine how comfortable people will be with that initially, so there will be some time. Specifically to her question, I am certainly personally always interested to hear about that, and I look forward to that discussion at committee.
View Soraya Martinez Ferrada Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Soraya Martinez Ferrada Profile
2021-04-22 11:42 [p.6011]
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question.
This question really resonates with me because my mother is a caregiver and has been her whole life for my brother, who is now in a long-term care home. I have not seen him in almost eight months. All that to say, I truly understand people's concern about caregivers.
I would like to remind my colleague that our government was the first to introduce a strategy to recognize caregivers and people with disabilities by increasing the disability benefit.
My colleague mentioned health transfers. I would point out that our government had to contribute $8 out of every $10 during the COVID-19 pandemic. That is over $40 billion transferred and allocated to various health programs across the country.
We are there, and we will continue to be there for all provinces to support Canadians through health care challenges.
View Heather McPherson Profile
NDP (AB)
View Heather McPherson Profile
2021-04-22 12:12 [p.6015]
Madam Speaker, the member and I have worked together on a number of things throughout this Parliament, and it has been very interesting to hear his intervention.
The member spoke about the emergency strategies and programs that have been put in place to support businesses. I agree with him that how they were designed and developed was deeply flawed. The NDP proposed many things, like the rent subsidy program, that would have been much better, so I certainly agree with him on that.
However, one of the things the member talked about was the debt. If we do not continue to invest in small businesses and workers, we will have only won three-quarters of the race; we will not be over the finish line. In fact, we could actually lose all the ground that we have been able to hold on small businesses and workers if we pull back that support too soon.
Could the member comment on that?
View Marty Morantz Profile
CPC (MB)
Madam Speaker, if I had been asked that question last fall, I might have been more in agreement. However, the reality is that we see the economy doing far better than it was doing at the time of the financial statement last fall by the finance minister. The economy is growing, and many economists are saying that this amount of stimulus is a solution looking for a problem and that if the government continues down this path, the economy could overheat, which will cause inflation and a rise in interest rates. I am very concerned—
View Julie Dzerowicz Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Julie Dzerowicz Profile
2021-04-22 13:15 [p.6025]
Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Richmond Hill.
It is an absolute honour for me to rise in the House today to speak on behalf of the residents in my riding of Davenport. I am truly proud to speak on this historic budget. I have so much to say that I suspect I am going to be running out of time.
I want to begin by acknowledging that my riding, which is in downtown west Toronto, like many places in the GTA, is currently under attack by a devastating third wave of this pandemic. There are four postal codes in my Davenport riding that are considered hot spots for COVID cases. I want to pay special tribute to all the essential workers in my riding, who have already spent more than a year working around the clock to save us and keep us healthy. I want to thank everyone who works in a hospital or a long-term care home, working to exhaustion to keep people safe.
I also want to say a huge thanks to everyone who is working to keep us fed, healthy and safe. I thank those who are working in grocery stores, food services, factories and the TTC and doing all the jobs that keep our committees going. I know they face more risks every single day with the variants that are out there and the risks are much greater, so a heartfelt thanks to all of them.
This pandemic has hit us hard not only from a health perspective, but also from an economic perspective. The COVID recession is the steepest and the fastest since the Great Depression. Some people may look at our government's historic, ambitious budget, which invests over $100 billion over three years, and say that we are overdoing it. What I would like to point out, and I know our Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance has pointed this out, is that we learned from our last recession. It took over 10 years for employment levels to fully recover. We know the investments at that time were limited. We have learned our lessons. We are not going to make the same mistake in federal budget 2021. The economic and human costs of inaction are too great.
As I am sure members have heard, because they have heard so many speeches thus far, there are three key sections in budget 2021: conquering COVID, punching out of this recession, and building a better future. I will touch very briefly on the first two but spend most of my time on the last section and how we are building back Canada better.
With respect to the first part, conquering COVID, as the current third wave is showing us, we are not done with COVID. To conquer the virus, the federal government needs to continue to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to keep Canadians safe, healthy and supported, and federal budget 2021 has allocated even more funding to extending supports to workers and benefits. We are extending the Canada emergency wage subsidy and the Canada emergency rent subsidy until September 25. We are extending the Canada recovery benefit by another 12 weeks, and we are maintaining flexible EI rules for an extra year until the fall of 2022. Some of the supports taper off a bit in the summer as we expect and hope that our economy will rebound. I know that Davenport workers and businesses can now plan around these supports and know that, as always, our government will be there if they need us. We will have their backs.
On the vaccine front, I am very proud of the fast action of our federal Liberal government early into the pandemic. We have secured contracts for more doses per capita than any other country, and more candidate vaccines. Our vaccine rollout is now third in the G20, behind only the U.S. and the U.K. Around 24% to 25% of our population has been vaccinated with one dose. We are investing a lot to rebuild our own domestic vaccine manufacturing. Budget 2021 proposes over $2 billion more for that, because we know that there is a very high risk that we will need booster shots and maybe even modified vaccines as we move forward, and we want to have the opportunity to be able to create that here in Canada.
Next, I want to talk a bit about punching our way out of this COVID recession. We know that many sectors have been disproportionately devastated by COVID, such as tourism, arts and culture, and the airline industry, among many others. We also know that small and medium-sized businesses have been greatly impacted. We only need to walk along our main streets to see the absolute devastation. Budget 2021 provides quite a bit of support for our small and medium-sized businesses to help them adopt and upgrade their digital technology, rehire laid-off workers and bring on new ones. It provides some special financing that is going to help them to be even better prepared for the challenges and opportunities of the economy moving forward.
In terms of additional supports for many of our hardest-hit industries, I mentioned tourism and festivals and events. There are a lot of events that happen within my own community. We have a huge comedy festival and lots of multi-ethnic festivals, and I know that they will benefit from the $1 billion of additional support that we have put into budget 2021.
I want to give a special shout-out to the arts and culture community in my riding of Davenport. They are huge, vibrant and impactful not only to my local community but to our city and nation. We also have an additional $1 billion of support for the arts and culture sector.
I will devote the rest of time to how we are building back better. There is so much I want to cover, and I will run out of time, but I will do my best to cover the most important elements to the residents in my riding of Davenport.
First is national child care. A lot of people think that downtown, west Toronto is a very wealthy area. However, most of the people in my riding are working-class. There are many working families who are struggling with the highest child care costs in the country. The introduction in budget 2021 of a national child care program will be an absolute game-changer for them. I truly believe that it is the single best thing we can do to restart our economy and to put a solid foundation for our economy for future success. It is going to increase the participation in our workforce that will result in an increase in our GDP. Investing in our kids, investing to ensure that we have full participation is going to be critical for Canada's success in a knowledge and digital economy. Of course, quality early learning and child care will be a great, best possible start for our children. We are setting them up for success early on in their lives.
The next thing I want to talk about are the huge investments we are making on a green recovery and doubling and tripling down on climate action. I will tell members that the number one letter that comes in from Davenport residents outside of anything related to COVID is about ensuring that, as we restart and regrow our economy, we are making sure that we do not stop on our urgent quest to get to net zero by 2050. Our budget commits an additional $18 billion in investments that puts us on track to reducing our emissions by 40% to 45% below 2005 levels by 2030. Our budget actually says 36%, but this morning, our Prime Minister announced that we are actually increasing our ambition to decreasing our carbon emissions to between 40% and 45% below 2005 levels by 2030.
We do have an action plan in place. Mark Carney was saying a couple of weeks ago that Canada is the first of the G7 countries with a climate policy serious enough to make a difference. We are serious about our green recovery, we are serious about moving to net zero and we have a serious plan that is going to ensure that we get there, and now this budget ensures that we have the financial resources to be able to do so.
For workers, we are going to be massively increasing our Canada worker benefit and increasing the federal minimum wage, which is a huge promise of our government and something really important for Davenport residents. We are also extending EI sickness benefits from 15 weeks to 26 weeks, which is something that many of our communities, non-profit organizations and advocates have been asking for. This is going to be a game-changer for those who are seriously ill and do not want to have to think about taking care themselves or making a choice between taking care of themselves and putting food on the table.
There are significant investments in our seniors, long-term care standards and increasing the OAS for those over 75. We also have a lot of investments in youth that I am really proud of. We want to make sure that they are not a lost generation. As well, there is over $18 billion to help support our indigenous people toward reconciliation and righting the wrongs of Canada's past and present.
I will end by saying that we have put a significant amount of money around migrant workers and immigration, which is close to my heart, because I believe that future Canadian economic success depends on a great immigration policy.
View Maninder Sidhu Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Maninder Sidhu Profile
2021-04-22 15:46 [p.6050]
Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by thanking the hon. member for Surrey—Newton for his kind words. I am thankful for the chance to address the House and all Canadians during this time of extreme difficulty for our country, particularly for my province of Ontario.
As we encourage residents to stay at home and practise extra vigilance, our federal government will always have Canadians' backs. We exceeded our original quarter one commitments for the total of 9.5 million doses received. With over 13 million now delivered to provinces and territories, we are currently third among G20 countries for people receiving their vaccines and we are well on track to provide a vaccine to every adult who would like one by September.
As we look to our new budget, I want to reflect on how our government has continued to support and invest in Canadians throughout this pandemic. The Canada recovery benefit has now helped more than 1.8 million Canadians put food on the table and pay their bills, including $14.5 billion in direct support.
Last month, we increased the number of weeks for the program availability to families and workers. The wage subsidy has provided $73 billion to workers with over three million approved applications to date. There have been 669,000 approved applications for the rent subsidy, totalling over $2 billion in support. These are crucial supports that support Canadian families, workers and businesses.
On Monday, my two proud daughters watched our first female Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance table a historic budget. As she put it herself, this budget is about completing our fight against COVID-19, alleviating the damage left by the recession it created, and building up to create more opportunities for Canadians to thrive in years to come.
We have not seen such a steep and fast economic contraction in recent times. As many members know first-hand, those disproportionately affected include low-wage workers, young people, women and racialized Canadians. Some businesses have found innovative ways to prosper and even grow and others, due to circumstances outside their control, have had to fight just to survive.
I am thrilled to be able to speak on a budget that is delivering on our government's commitment to creating jobs, growing the middle class, helping businesses get on track for long-term growth, and ensuring that Canadians' future will be healthier, more equitable, greener and more prosperous. Our top priority remains protecting Canadians' health and safety, particularly during this third aggressive wave.
Budget 2021 invests in Canada's biomanufacturing and life sciences sector to rebuild domestic vaccine manufacturing capacity. Our government is proposing a $3-billion investment to support provinces and territories and ensuring standards for long-term care are applied and permanent changes are established.
We will also provide $90 million to launch an “age well at home” initiative. This would assist community-based organizations to provide practical support to help low-income and otherwise vulnerable seniors to age in place, such as matching seniors with volunteers who can help with meal preparation, home maintenance, daily errands, yard work and transportation.
Our government is also proposing to increase the old age security for seniors age 75 and over beginning in 2022, including a one-time top-up payment of $500 this August, as we want to make sure we are there for our seniors who have built our country.
Ontario will see an investment of $466 million to support health care system capacity in responding to surges in COVID-19 cases, as well as heightened demand for those experiencing challenges related to mental health, substance abuse and homelessness.
The pandemic has created new barriers for those needing access to mental health services and the stresses associated with the pandemic, whether job, health or isolation related. Budget 2021 represents a $1.2-billion investment nationwide to help mitigate this challenge.
For our economy to reach its full potential, we must ensure we have the highest participation rate possible in our workforce. To do so, our government is proposing a transformative investment to build a Canada-wide early learning and child care system. This unprecedented plan will drive economic growth, increase women's participation in the workforce and ensure each child has the best start in life. We will aim to reduce fees for regulated child care by 50% on average by 2022, with the goal of reaching $10 per day on average by 2026. We will provide almost $30 billion over the next five years and provide permanent, ongoing funding.
We are committed to supporting women entrepreneurs as we aim to build back stronger and more inclusively. Our budget proposes allocating $146 million to strengthen the women entrepreneurship strategy. Women entrepreneurs will have greater access to financing, mentorship and training. We will work with financial institutions to develop a voluntary code to support the inclusion of women and other under-represented entrepreneurs as clients in the financial sector.
To support low-wage workers, our budget proposes to expand the Canada workers benefit to support about one million additional Canadians, helping them return to work and increasing benefits for those most vulnerable. The government will raise the income level at which the benefit starts being reduced to $22,944 for single individuals without children and to $26,177 for families.
Investing in youth has never been more important than at this moment. Many young people, recent graduates and students are struggling to find valuable job experience and growth opportunities due to the barriers caused by the pandemic.
Our budget is proposing to waive interest accrual on Canada student loans and Canada apprenticeship loans until March 31, 2023. We are proposing to double student grants for an additional two years, effectively covering 90% of the average undergraduate tuition in Canada for low-income students during the pandemic.
Further supports for youth include $118 million in after-school programming and $239 million in student work placement programs to support 50,000 work integrative learning opportunities for post-secondary students, up 20,000 from last year.
We will invest $80 million to help kids learn to code, and $109 million to create 7,000 more jobs through the youth employment and skills strategy to better meet the needs of vulnerable youth facing various and often multiple barriers to employment. An additional 94,000 job placements will be made available through Canada summer jobs funding.
To further our progress in prioritizing job creation in small business, our budget will extend business and income support measures through to the fall. We will support almost 500,000 new training and work opportunities, including 215,000 opportunities for youth.
Budget 2021 is a plan that puts the government on track to meet its commitment to create one million jobs. Our budget proposes $700 million over three years for the regional development agencies to support business financing. This would position local economies for long-term growth by transitioning to a green economy and enhancing competitiveness.
We also propose to launch the Canada digital adoption program to assist over 160,000 businesses with the cost of new technology. This will provide businesses with the advice they need to get the most out of new technology, while employing 28,000 young Canadians who will be trained to work with them. In addition, we also propose to allow small businesses to fully expense up to $1.5 million in capital investments and assets, including digital technology and intellectual property. This constitutes an additional $2.2 billion investment in the growth of entrepreneurial companies.
Fighting climate change has been and will always be one of our government's biggest priorities. Budget 2021 includes a plan to allow 200,000 Canadians to make their homes greener. Our investments are aimed at reducing the pollution from fuels used in the transportation and production of goods by increasing Canada's production of low carbon fuels, including biofuels. They are aimed at encouraging the developing of innovative new technologies to reduce pollution in heavy industry, and conserving up to one million square kilometres more land and inland waters to help achieve our 25% protected area by 2025 targets.
This plan puts Canada on track to exceed its Paris targets and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 36% by 2030. This also puts us on a path to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
As part of our green recovery plan, we are proposing $5 billion to the net zero accelerator. This would allow the government to provide up to $8 billion in support for projects that will help reduce domestic greenhouse gas emissions across the economy.
We are proposing to reduce general, corporate and small business income tax for businesses that manufacture zero emission technologies. More investments in this plan include $56 million to develop and implement a set of codes and standards for retail ZEV charging and fuelling stations. We will provide $98 million to support our commitment to power federal buildings with 100% clean energy by 2022, and $104 million to strengthen greenhouse gas emission regulations for light and heavy-duty vehicles and off-road residential equipment.
Canada entered the pandemic in a strong fiscal position. This allowed our government to take quick actions, supporting people and businesses, and to make historic investments in the recovery. To respond to the pandemic, $8 out of $10 spent in Canada has come from the federal government. I am incredibly proud that our government stepped up to support Canadians through an unprecedented year.
I would like to end today by talking about a conversation I had with a constituent who was filled with emotion just talking about the historic child care announcement and what it meant for her. It meant she would no longer have to choose between staying home to care for her child or going to work only to see a majority of her paycheque go toward paying for costly child care. It would mean giving her child the opportunity to learn and grow in a professional setting, providing this constituent the opportunity to focus on her career and feeling proud that she would be able to contribute to the Canadian economy.
This is why we are here, to make real, positive impacts in the lives of so many. I am proud to stand behind such a historic budget that will support all Canadians from coast to coast to coast.
View Jenny Kwan Profile
NDP (BC)
View Jenny Kwan Profile
2021-04-21 16:46 [p.5940]
Madam Speaker, I am very concerned with the budget. The CRB would be reduced from $500 a week to $300 a week. We are well into the third wave and some people are even talking about the fourth wave. This is a huge concern. People are very worried about how they will make ends meet if that should happen.
In addition, on the issue of disability, the budget put off the throne speech commitment for a disability benefit, and it will be revamped over three years. The budget does not match the commitments made in the throne speech, which in many ways is a hallmark of the Liberals.
I wonder whether the parliamentary secretary would advocate for the government to address this issue, instead of doing a consultation process, and change the benefits and supports for people with disabilities.
View Francesco Sorbara Profile
Lib. (ON)
Madam Speaker, as members can see in our budget, we have done a number of things to strengthen income supports. EI sickness benefits will be extended to, I believe, 26 weeks. For the DTC, the disability advisory committee has delivered two reports to the Canada Revenue Agency, and over 90% of the proposals in them have been advanced and worked on. We continue to see a number of income support measures. We are also putting forth the hiring incentive, which will create an incentive for businesses to bring on their staff. The CEWS is still there too, which maintains the employer-employee attachment.
Frankly, we will ensure that no Canadian has to choose between putting food on their table and paying rent during the pandemic. We have Canadians' backs. We will continue to do so. I encourage all parties to help us by supporting this legislation to get it passed so that we can continue to assist Canadians from coast to coast to coast.
View Alistair MacGregor Profile
NDP (BC)
Mr. Speaker, I very much agree with my colleague from the neighbouring riding of Nanaimo—Ladysmith about the comparison with Australia. My in-laws all live in Tasmania, and when we are on Zoom calls with them we look with envy as they are able to travel to restaurants and enjoy a semi-normal life.
I very much agree with him about the application of the Emergencies Act. I think the times call for us to look at that piece of legislation, and I think it was very unfair for the Prime Minister today during question period to make a comparison to the War Measures Act, because we all know they are two very different pieces of legislation.
My question has to do with the very vulnerable set of workers: racialized workers and those who work in tourism and arts and entertainment. Would the member not agree that the budget's announcement of having the CRB reduced by $200 in July is precisely the wrong approach at this point? We do not yet know how this pandemic is going to play out, and I think we need to give those workers all the support they need, for the near future at least.
Would he not agree that we should be keeping that at the current level it is at?
View Paul Manly Profile
GP (BC)
View Paul Manly Profile
2021-04-21 19:33 [p.5960]
Mr. Speaker, I agree. We need to continue to protect workers. One of the things we have seen is a reluctance on the part of the Ontario government to have sick leave, so vulnerable people whom we rely on to keep grocery stores open are going to work sick, because they do not have any other choice economically. We need to stand up for workers, and we need to protect workers. It is really important that we help them get through this, and I cannot understand how workers who are flying in for these man camps got in line for COVID vaccines before our teachers or grocery store workers did.
Where are our priorities? Our priorities are on resource extraction. Coastal GasLink does not matter right now; what matters is getting through the pandemic.
Results: 91 - 105 of 183 | Page: 7 of 13

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