SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 201

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 29, 2023 11:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 201 - May/29/23
The Chair
  • May/29/23 8:05:35 p.m.
  • Watch
The hon. member for Elmwood—Transcona.
7 words
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border
Mr. Daniel Blaikie
  • May/29/23 8:05:41 p.m.
  • Watch
Mr. Chair, does “done deal” mean in writing?
10 words
All Topics
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border
Hon. Chrystia Freeland
  • May/29/23 8:05:45 p.m.
  • Watch
Mr. Chair, certainly. Now when it comes to Stellantis, I think it is important for us to all be serious about this. This is an important investment—
28 words
All Topics
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border
The Chair
  • May/29/23 8:05:54 p.m.
  • Watch
The hon. member for Elmwood—Transcona.
7 words
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border
Mr. Daniel Blaikie
  • May/29/23 8:05:57 p.m.
  • Watch
Mr. Chair, is Stellantis a done deal?
7 words
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border
Hon. Chrystia Freeland
  • May/29/23 8:06:02 p.m.
  • Watch
Mr. Chair, as I think the member opposite knows and as I think Canadians know, we are negotiating right now with Stellantis and we are negotiating—
27 words
All Topics
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border
The Chair
  • May/29/23 8:06:09 p.m.
  • Watch
The hon. member for Elmwood—Transcona.
7 words
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border
Mr. Daniel Blaikie
  • May/29/23 8:06:11 p.m.
  • Watch
Mr. Chair, in this budget, the government allocated another $50 million on top of the over $300 million it has already allocated to chasing money from the poor who were in the CERB program. How much is the government prepared to spend on chasing people who cannot afford to pay their CERB debt?
53 words
All Topics
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border
Hon. Chrystia Freeland
  • May/29/23 8:06:34 p.m.
  • Watch
Mr. Chair, our government believes in compassion, and I think we have demonstrated that in budget after budget. Our government also knows that Canadians want to know that there is fairness and program integrity.
34 words
All Topics
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border
Mr. Daniel Blaikie
  • May/29/23 8:06:56 p.m.
  • Watch
Mr. Chair, organizations that are currently working with vulnerable Canadians have said that the CRA is no longer offering the $5-a-month or $10-a-month repayment plans. Is the minister aware of that fact?
36 words
All Topics
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border
Hon. Chrystia Freeland
  • May/29/23 8:07:07 p.m.
  • Watch
Mr. Chair, I would like to talk about the importance of fairness. Fairness is important to vulnerable Canadians as well as to affluent Canadians. Vulnerable Canadians who play by the rules want to know that everyone else is playing by the rules too. That is why we are finding a balance between integrity and compassion.
55 words
All Topics
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border
Mr. Daniel Blaikie
  • May/29/23 8:07:27 p.m.
  • Watch
Mr. Chair, how much money is the government spending to reclaim emergency wage subsidy dollars that were taken by companies that did not need it?
25 words
All Topics
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border
Hon. Chrystia Freeland
  • May/29/23 8:07:35 p.m.
  • Watch
Mr. Chair, the point about the importance of integrity and fairness applies to all Canadians and to all of our programs.
21 words
All Topics
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border
Mr. Daniel Blaikie
  • May/29/23 8:07:49 p.m.
  • Watch
Mr. Chair, well, it applies to Canadians but apparently not corporations. I will ask again, how much money is the government spending on reclaiming emergency wage subsidy dollars from companies that posted profits and paid dividends?
36 words
All Topics
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border
Hon. Chrystia Freeland
  • May/29/23 8:08:01 p.m.
  • Watch
Mr. Chair, as I said, we absolutely understand the importance of program integrity. It really matters to Canadians. I also want to point out, and let us remember, that COVID was an unprecedented economic emergency. We took unprecedented—
39 words
All Topics
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border
The Chair
  • May/29/23 8:08:16 p.m.
  • Watch
The hon. member.
3 words
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border
Mr. Daniel Blaikie
  • May/29/23 8:08:18 p.m.
  • Watch
Mr. Chair, I do not know that Canadians think pretending to get money back from the poor and spending hundreds of millions of dollars to maintain the fiction has actually anything to do with fairness or that it is a prudent financial decision. Again, how much is the government willing to spend to chase money it already knows it cannot get back?
62 words
All Topics
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border
Hon. Chrystia Freeland
  • May/29/23 8:08:39 p.m.
  • Watch
Mr. Chair, as I said, it is important for us to be compassionate, and that is one of the priorities of our government, but we also understand that fairness matters to Canadians. For example, those Canadians who received a payment in error and who have paid it back want to know that those same rules apply to other Canadians.
59 words
All Topics
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border
Mr. Daniel Blaikie
  • May/29/23 8:09:05 p.m.
  • Watch
Mr. Chair, they might also like to know that it applies to multi-billion-dollar corporations that received that money, have not paid it back and have not been asked to pay it back. How much is the government prepared to spend in going after companies that got wage subsidy money and paid dividends to their shareholders?
57 words
All Topics
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border
Hon. Chrystia Freeland
  • May/29/23 8:09:20 p.m.
  • Watch
Mr. Chair, we believe that integrity of all of our programs is important, and that is what we are pursuing. We are pursuing it in a compassionate, reasonable way. I want to remind people: eyes on the prize. The important thing is we needed to take emergency action during COVID.
50 words
All Topics
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border