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Results: 1 - 15 of 31
View Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Medline, you have indicated that all resources have been put into your teammates. Your company has described them as family members. Describe the recent increase to shareholder dividends and how that accords with what you described to this committee in relation to putting all of the resources into your teammates, family members and your essential workers.
Michael Medline
View Michael Medline Profile
Michael Medline
2020-07-10 15:41
We have a lot of stakeholders. We have to do everything we can for our teammates. We put every penny we could and every effort we could into the safety and health of our teammates. In fact, I was on a call with Chinese and Italian grocers early on in the pandemic, heard about plexiglass and put plexiglass in without knowing how much it was going to cost.
In terms of why we pay dividends, it's because ordinary Canadians count on those dividends to retire and to put their kids through school. There's a balance, but teammates, as you said—and you quoted me there—are so important.
View Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Profile
Lib. (ON)
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you paid just over $100 million in pandemic pay, additional pay. What's the number represented by the increase in shareholder payout?
Michael Medline
View Michael Medline Profile
Michael Medline
2020-07-10 15:42
The increase in dividends was four cents per quarter. I'd have to do the math. I'll send it to your office.
View Alain Rayes Profile
CPC (QC)
Mr. Chair, one month ago, the Prime Minister announced with great fanfare that the eligibility criteria for the $40,000 emergency loans for businesses would be more flexible to help self-employed entrepreneurs and businesses that pay themselves dividends to have access to them.
However, as of today—it has been four weeks since that announcement—businesses are still banging their heads on the doors of their financial institutions. They do not have access to the information because it is not available on official websites. In addition, even senior officials confirmed to me during a technical call on June 2, last Tuesday, that this information would not be available for several weeks.
Can the Minister of Finance, who says he wants to act quickly to help our businesses, explain why, after four weeks, it is still not possible to get the information the Prime Minister promised us from his doorstep?
View Mona Fortier Profile
Lib. (ON)
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been listening and responding to small businesses and entrepreneurs across the country.
In fact, we have even announced the expansion of the program's eligibility criteria to include many owner-managed small businesses with payrolls of less than $20,000. The new criteria have forced financial institutions to adapt to be able to provide this program to new applicants.
We are working around the clock to ensure that we are able to promptly provide small businesses across the country with the assistance they need.
View Joël Godin Profile
CPC (QC)
Mr. Chair, on May 19, the Prime Minister announced during his daily press conference that his government would take additional measures to help businesses that still needed assistance. The Prime Minister said that he would expand the Canada emergency business account, or CEBA, to include family-ownded SMEs that prefer dividend income over salary income.
More than two weeks after his announcement, SMEs are still waiting for this promise to be fulfilled. I'd like to remind the government that this isn't an election campaign. We're in a crisis, and urgent action is needed.
When will the program be fixed?
View Mary Ng Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Chair, I thank the honourable member for that really important question. Indeed, those small businesses he has described are very important to our country.
As of now, over 650,000 small businesses have accessed the Canada emergency business account. The member is absolutely right that we need to make sure that additional support is provided to those additional businesses that now qualify. We're working very hard to make sure that support is there for businesses, and very soon they will be able to get that support through their financial institutions.
View James Cumming Profile
CPC (AB)
Thank you, Madam Minister, for being here today.
I want to see if you can give me an answer to a question that I've been asking related to the CEBA program and the changes that have been made so that entrepreneurs who are sole proprietors or get paid through dividends can realize on these loans.
When will this be available? They need some certainty. When will this program actually be available for them?
View Mona Fortier Profile
Lib. (ON)
As we have said since the beginning, we have been listening to small businesses and entrepreneurs across the country and we are responding to them. We announced earlier—two weeks ago—an expansion to the eligibility criteria for the CEBA to include many owner-operated small businesses. We will continue to work on potential solutions to help business owners and entrepreneurs who operate through their personal bank accounts or who have yet to file their tax returns, such as newly created businesses.
Thank you very much for sharing that concern that you have.
View James Cumming Profile
CPC (AB)
Unfortunately, “lots” is not an answer for the businesses that I'm trying to talk to.
Can you tell me, for the CEBA changes that were recently announced, when will we be able to see people who have income through a dividend able to apply?
View Mary Ng Profile
Lib. (ON)
That's a very important question, Mr. Chair.
There's nothing more important to me and to our government than getting these supports out to businesses. Those small businesses that will meet the expanded CEBA criteria are working very diligently with the financial institutions to make sure that they can get access to those loans as quickly as possible.
Evan Siddall
View Evan Siddall Profile
Evan Siddall
2020-05-19 15:45
We actually don't expect to absorb our capital. We have a range of stress-testing scenarios that we run, as you will recall, and based on current forecasts, we have sufficient capital on hand. We had a $2-billion dividend that we were scheduled to pay to the Government of Canada. We have decided to withhold that liquidity in order to cover claims.
Amazingly, notwithstanding these numbers, they are forecasted to recover. Even when they're under water, Canadians do a very good job of paying their mortgages, so our loss forecasts are not extreme.
View Marty Morantz Profile
CPC (MB)
With regard to the $2-billion dividend, is that an annual thing? Do you give a dividend every year, or is it unusual?
Evan Siddall
View Evan Siddall Profile
Evan Siddall
2020-05-19 16:29
It's unusual, or it used to be unusual. Over the last 10 years, we've earned about $17 billion of profit that goes to reduce the deficit. That's incorporated into the federal government accounts. Off to the side, we accumulate cash, and if that cash doesn't go back to the government, we'd sit on the cash and invest it. That's dumb, because it can be used to repay debt, so we paid a special dividend—someone will correct me—two years ago, I think, of $4 billion. Maybe it was last year. We were scheduled to pay another $2 billion. In addition to that, we pay a regular dividend, and that's basically just to make sure the money goes to retiring debt instead of sitting in my pockets, if you will.
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