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Results: 211 - 225 of 889
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
2021-05-13 14:46 [p.7191]
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Mr. Speaker, the commissioner has investigated the matter, and the report released today cleared the Prime Minister of all allegations.
I will quote directly from the report. On page 3, it says that the Prime Minister “did not contravene subsection 6(1), section 7 or section 21 of the Act”. The commissioner is conclusive on page 40, where he says, “I cannot conclude that a contravention has occurred.”
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View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
2021-05-11 14:40 [p.7060]
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Mr. Speaker, the member's question gives me an opportunity to talk about how important it is that our business support programs, including the wage subsidy, continue to be in place and will be in place until September 25. The wage subsidy alone has supported more than 5.3 million jobs, that is 5.3 million Canadians and Canadian families.
When it comes to small business and women entrepreneurs, I am very pleased to inform the member opposite that this budget provides unprecedented support for small business and unprecedented support for women entrepreneurs.
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View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
2021-05-11 14:41 [p.7060]
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Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of suppositions in that question that are not accurate, but let me talk about the most important thing, which is that our business and income support programs have provided and continue to provide a critical lifeline to Canadians and to Canadian businesses. The wage subsidy alone has supported 5.3 million jobs across the country. We are going to be there to support Canadians as we fight this third wave.
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View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
2021-05-11 14:43 [p.7061]
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question, which gives me an opportunity to reassure all Canadians and all Canadian businesses that the federal government will be there for them. All of our programs to support businesses and Canadians have served a critical purpose, especially now as the third wave of the pandemic is hitting us hard. The wage subsidy enabled 5.3 million Canadians to keep their jobs.
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View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
2021-05-10 14:49 [p.6959]
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for his concern for working Canadians.
Let me take this opportunity to point out to him that the wage subsidy has protected the jobs of 621,000 workers in his province of British Columbia. Across Canada, more than 5.3 million jobs have been supported by the wage subsidy.
The CRA website makes clear that the wage subsidy can only be claimed for employee remuneration. It cannot be used for other purposes.
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View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
2021-05-07 11:26 [p.6897]
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Mr. Speaker, I want to point out that there is no special exemption for Netflix or for any other digital company.
In fact, on July 1, for the first time in Canada's history, we will be imposing GST and HST on digital service providers such as Netflix. This amount is included in the budget implementation act and should result in $1.2 billion in revenue over five years.
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View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
2021-05-07 11:29 [p.6898]
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Mr. Speaker, local public health authorities have had to impose the necessary restrictions to fight the third wave, and those restrictions have had repercussions on Canadians' jobs.
That is why our budget extends the Canada emergency wage subsidy, the Canada emergency rent subsidy and the recovery benefits. This will help Canadians and Canadian businesses get through the pandemic.
I hope all members of the House—
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View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
2021-05-07 11:30 [p.6898]
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Mr. Speaker, it is puzzling to me why the Conservatives constantly try to talk down Canada and Canadians. The reality is that Canadians and Canadian businesses have been astonishingly resilient, notwithstanding COVID.
In the fourth quarter, our GDP grew by 10%. In the first quarter, it grew by 6.5%. In both cases, that is stronger growth than in the U.S. When it comes to jobs, notwithstanding today's very difficult numbers, 83% of COVID job losses have been recovered in Canada compared to just 63% in the United States.
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View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
2021-05-07 11:32 [p.6898]
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Mr. Speaker, yet again, let me urge our Conservative colleagues to pick a lane. Half of the time, the Conservatives complain about debt and deficits, and accuse our government of investing too much to help Canadians finish the fight against COVID and have a strong and robust recovery.
What we believe Canada needs is the support to get through this difficult wave, which our budget provides, and strong investment to come roaring back. That is what we are going to do.
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View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
2021-05-07 11:47 [p.6901]
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Mr. Speaker, we are so enthusiastic about home retrofits. I think that all members of this House will agree that supporting Canadians in making their homes more energy efficient is a great way for us to work together to fight climate change and create great jobs in Canada in putting these retrofits in place.
The program that the member mentioned is very important and, in the budget, we also committed to moving ahead with an additional program to provide credit for Canadians who want to have deep retrofits of their homes.
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View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
2021-05-07 12:09 [p.6905]
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Mr. Speaker, this budget makes unprecedented investments in reconciliation and in supporting indigenous people across Canada, with $18 billion over five years. That includes significant investments in supporting indigenous businesses and indigenous entrepreneurship. Moreover, this budget includes more than $1 billion to support tourism across Canada.
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View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
2021-05-05 16:12 [p.6690]
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moved that Bill C-30, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on April 19, 2021 and other measures, be read the second time and referred to a committee.
She said: Mr. Speaker, it is my sincere pleasure to join this debate on Bill C-30, an act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on April 19, 2021 and other measures.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have done everything necessary to protect Canadians’ health and safety, to help businesses weather the storm and to position our country for a strong recovery. After 14 months of uncertainty and hardship, Canadians continue to fight COVID-19 with determination and courage.
Right now we are being hit hard by the third wave, but we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. More and more Canadians are getting vaccinated. The recovery is around the corner. The bill before us today would implement our plan to finish the fight against COVID-19, create jobs, grow the economy and ensure a robust recovery from which all Canadians would benefit.
The budget I presented to the House on April 19 contains further details about the plan. The budget focuses on middle-class Canadians and seeks to help more Canadians join the middle class. It is also in line with the global shift to a green, clean economy.
This plan will help Canadians and Canadian businesses heal the wounds left by COVID-19 and come back stronger than ever.
This budget meets three fundamental challenges. First, we must conquer COVID. That means buying vaccines and supporting provincial and territorial health care systems. It means enforcing quarantine rules at the border and within the country. It means providing Canadians and Canadian businesses with the support they need to get through these final lockdowns.
Second, we must punch our way out of the COVID recession. That means ensuring that lost jobs are recovered as swiftly as possible and hard-hit businesses rebound quickly. It means providing support where COVID has hit hardest: to women, to young people, to racialized Canadians and low-wage workers, and to small and medium-sized businesses, especially in tourism and hospitality. When fully enacted, this budget will create, in total, nearly 500,000 new training and work opportunities for Canadians.
Third, the major challenge is to build a more resilient Canada: better, more fair, more prosperous and more innovative. That means investing in Canada's green transition and the green jobs that go with it, in Canada's digital transformation and in Canadian innovation, and it means building infrastructure for a dynamic, growing country. This budget invests in social infrastructure and in physical infrastructure. It invests in human capital and in physical capital. It invests in Canadians and it invests in Canada.
Vaccine campaigns are accelerating, and that is such a good thing, but we need to vaccinate even more Canadians even more quickly. Thanks to plentiful and growing vaccine supply, that is something team Canada can get done working together. This legislation proposes a one-time payment of $1 billion to provinces and territories to reinforce and roll out vaccination programs.
Canadians should take advantage of our increasing vaccine supply and, when it is their turn, go and get the first Health Canada-approved vaccine available to them. I was vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine nine days ago at a Toronto pharmacy, and I am so grateful I was able to be vaccinated when it was my turn.
COVID-19 has placed extreme pressure on health care systems across the country. The pandemic is still with us and Canadians do need help urgently. That is why we propose to provide $4 billion through the Canada health transfer to help provinces and territories address immediate health care system pressures.
These funds are in addition to our unprecedented investments in the health care systems during the pandemic, including the $13.8 billion invested in health care under the safe restart agreement.
A full recovery from this pandemic requires new, long-term investments in social infrastructure, from early learning and child care to student grants to income top-ups, so that the middle class can flourish and so that more Canadians can join it.
COVID-19 has brutally exposed what women have long known: Without child care, parents, usually mothers, cannot work outside the home. A cornerstone of our jobs and growth plan is a historic investment of $30 billion over five years, reaching $9.2 billion annually in permanent investments when combined with previous commitments, to build a high-quality, affordable and accessible early learning and child care system across Canada.
Within five years, families everywhere in Canada should have access to high-quality child care for an average of $10 a day. This will help increase parents', and especially women's, participation in the workforce. It will create jobs for child care workers, more than 95% of whom are women. It will give every child in Canada the best possible start in life. Early learning and child care has long been a feminist issue. COVID has shown us that it is an urgent economic issue as well.
As we make this historic commitment, I would like to thank the visionary leaders in Quebec, and in particular Quebec feminists, who led the way for the rest of Canada. I am very grateful to these women.
Of course, the plan also includes additional resources for Quebec that could be used to provide further support for its early learning and child care system, a system that is already the envy of the rest of Canada and, indeed, much of the world.
We also recognize the continuing need to bridge Canadians and Canadian businesses through this tough third wave of the virus and into a full recovery. To date, the Canada emergency wage subsidy has helped more than 5.3 million Canadians keep their jobs. The Canada emergency rent subsidy and lockdown support have helped more than 175,000 organizations with rent, mortgage and other expenses.
The wage subsidy, rent subsidy and lockdown support were set to expire in June 2021. Bill C-30 extends these measures through to September 25, 2021, for a total of $12.1 billion in additional support. Extending the support will mean that millions of jobs will be protected, as they have been throughout this crisis.
To help people who still cannot work, we also propose maintaining flexible access to employment insurance benefits for another year, until fall 2022.
We also plan to extend the number of weeks for certain major income support measures, including the Canada recovery benefit and the Canada recovery caregiver benefit.
We are providing an extra 12 weeks of benefits to recipients of the Canada recovery benefit, which was created to help Canadians who are not eligible for employment insurance.
Bill C-30 also proposes extending the Canada recovery caregiver benefit by 4 weeks, up to a maximum of 42 weeks at $500 a week. This will help when the economy begins its safe reopening.
For caregivers who cannot find a solution, especially those who take care of children, the employment insurance sickness benefit will be extended from 15 to 26 weeks.
Canada's prosperity depends on every Canadian having a fair chance to join the middle class. Low-wage workers in Canada work harder than anyone else in the country and for less pay. In the past year, they have faced both significant infection risks and job losses. Many live below the poverty line, even though they work full time. We are Canadian, and this should not be acceptable to any of us.
Through Bill C-30, we propose to expand the Canada workers benefit to invest $8.9 billion over six years in additional support for low-wage workers. This will extend income top-ups to about a million more workers and will lift 100,000 Canadians out of poverty. This legislation will also introduce a $15-an-hour federal minimum wage.
Young people have made extraordinary sacrifices over this past year to keep us, their elders, safe. We must not and we will not allow them to become a lost generation. Bill C-30 would make college and university more accessible and affordable. This legislation will extend the waiver of interest on federal student and apprentice loans to March 2023. Waiving the interest on student loans will provide savings for the approximately 1.5 million Canadians repaying student loans.
In the past 14 months, no one has felt the devastating health effects of COVID-19 more than seniors. They deserve a safe, secure and dignified retirement. We therefore propose a one-time payment of $500 in August 2021 to old age security recipients who are or will be 75 or over in June 2022.
Bill C-30 also includes a permanent 10% increase in the old age security benefit for people aged 75 and over as of July 2022.
Small businesses are the cornerstone of our economy. Lockdowns, though necessary, have hit them hardest. To heal the wounds left by COVID, we have to put a small business rescue plan into action as well as a long-term plan to help them grow.
In addition to extending the Canada emergency wage subsidy, the Canada emergency rent subsidy and lockdown support, we also have to make sure that [Technical difficulty—Editor].
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View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
2021-05-05 17:03 [p.6697]
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Madam Speaker, I thank colleagues for their patience with my Internet difficulties today. I apologize and I do really appreciate their forbearance.
Small businesses are the cornerstone of our economy and of every main street in Canada. Lockdowns, though necessary, have hit them hardest. To heal the wounds left by COVID, we have to put a small business rescue plan into action as well as a long-term plan to help them grow.
In addition to extending the Canada emergency wage subsidy, the Canada emergency rent subsidy and lockdown support, we also have to make sure that the hardest-hit businesses pivot back to growth and stay on track.
Bill C-30 proposes the new Canada recovery hiring program, which will run from June to November and make it easier for businesses to hire back laid-off employees or to hire new workers. We also intend to invest up to $4 billion to help up to 160,000 small and medium-sized businesses buy and adopt the new technologies they need to grow. We will encourage businesses to invest in themselves by allowing for the immediate expensing of up to $1.5 million of eligible investments by Canadian-controlled private corporations in each of the next three years.
Small businesses need access to financing in order to invest in people and innovation and to have the space to operate and grow. That is why Bill C-30 enhances the Canada small business financing program through amendments to the Canada Small Business Financing Act. This will mean broader eligibility and increased loan limits.
In 2021, job growth is green growth. This budget sets out an ambitious and realistic plan to help Canada get to net-zero emissions, and it puts in place the funding to achieve our 25% land and marine conservation targets by 2025. At the same time, we will make targeted investments in transformational technologies, helping our business growth and making us more productive and competitive around the world.
The hard and essential work of reconciliation continues. This budget commits to investing $18 billion over the next five years to narrow gaps between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples, to support safe, healthy communities and to advance reconciliation. We are committing to investing $6 billion to improve infrastructure in indigenous communities.
Bill C-30 earmarks $2.2 billion to flow through the federal gas tax fund, renamed more appropriately the Canada community-building fund, to communities across Canada. Cities and towns have faced steep revenue declines because of COVID. This funding will help them maintain and build the local infrastructure on which Canadians depend.
Collaboration with all levels of government across Canada has been and will continue to be the cornerstone of our team Canada response to this pandemic. Together, we will finish the fight against COVID and together we will come roaring back.
Bill C-30 is essential if we are to activate our government's recovery plan as presented in budget 2021. Our people and our businesses cannot do without the support measures in this bill. This bill takes unprecedented steps to stimulate future growth.
This plan is about people. It will make a measurable, positive, tangible difference in the lives of millions of Canadians. It is about making concrete, targeted commitments to heal the wounds of COVID, to get us all back to work and to put us on a long-term path toward growth, prosperity and a clean, green future.
I urge all members to join me in supporting the speedy passage of this essential legislation.
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View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
2021-05-05 17:08 [p.6698]
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Madam Speaker, I have a very high degree of confidence in our country's financial institutions. Indeed, the stability of Canada's financial institutions is one of our core economic strengths.
The CDIC is one of our key institutions, and the well-regulated, prudent way in which it operates is really central to Canada's stability. It is one of the reasons that Canada continues to enjoy a AAA credit rating.
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View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
2021-05-05 17:10 [p.6698]
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. We do not always agree, but we always have useful discussions.
With respect to securities, I certainly understand Quebec's position. I have had constructive conversations about this with Minister Eric Girard.
While I certainly understand Quebec's position, I think that, with the agreement of all the provinces and territories, it is a good thing for the whole country to do things that help us establish a shared economy. One example of that is trade among the provinces and territories.
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