THANK YOU, PRIME MINISTER. WE’LL GO TO THE PHONE LINES FOR QUESTIONS. ONE QUESTION AND ONE FOLLOW-UP. OVER TO YOU, OPERATOR. OPERATOR:

Thank you. Merci. First question, Kristy kirkup, the “globe and mail”. line. Open.

Reporter:

Good morning, Prime Minister. How will you help millions of Canadians who find themselves without medical benefits during a global pandemic?

Prime Minister Trudeau:

We know that the way we get through this particular crisis is by pulling together and making sure those who are most vulnerable get the support theyey particular crisis is by pulling together and making sure those who are most vulnerable get the support they need. It is key to being able to recover quickly once we’re through this pandemic. That is why we continue to work with partners across the country, to highlight gaps and challenges and things we need to do more to help people. We will continue to work with partners to make sure we’re getting that help out there. Ok.

Interpreter:

We know that, in the midst of this pandemic, there are many people who are suffering and who need help and that is why we have put in place new measures that will help many, many people. But we also recognize that there are other people who need more help and that is why we’re working with our partners, with people across the country and other levels of government to help people get through these difficult times so that we can come back very strong once this pandemic is over.

Reporter:

Millions of Canadians are finding themselves without medical benefits because they have been laid off and Dr. Eric Hoskins says that Ottawa could cover the cost of the provinces and territories, bringing Canadians into their formularies as an interim step to help. is this something your government is willing to do?

Prime Minister Trudeau:

We’re going to continue to work with all sorts of experts and smart folks making recommendations from across the country in different ways to make sure that we’re doing everything we need to help Canadians through this crisis. We’ve always – we’re always looking for more things to do and will continue to do the things that need to be done in order to help Canadians.

Thank you. Next question, operator.

OPERATOR:

Thank you. Merci.

Reporter:

Bonjour.

Interpreter:

Good morning. With respect to the wage subsidy, I gather that it will be fob apply starting Monday, but can you tell us, Mr. Trudeau, when companies that apply will actually receive money in order to pay their employees? the reality is that during this crisis, people need help. Almost immediately. and we need to be able to deliver that help as quickly as possible. We realised that the wage subsidy was going to take a bit of time to be delivered and we’re still working on that. As you say, people will start to be able to apply on Monday and we do hope that we can get the money to them quickly after that. It will take a number of days at the very least. That is why we wand ed to make sure that businesses, small businesses and corporations, would have access to credit in order to get through these times. The money is coming. The online calculator will also allow companies to see exactly how much money they will be receiving from the government in the coming weeks and, therefore, they can make the necessary – do the necessary borrowing now.

Prime Minister Trudeau:

We recognize the need for support as quickly as possible and that is why we’re working extremely hard to get help out to people. We started with the Canada emergency response benefit, which is now helped over $8 million people across this country and made a significant difference. But we also want people to get the – we want other people to get the emergency wage subsidy, which means working with businesses to keep people on the payroll through this so that they cannot only retain a job, but have a job to get back quickly to as soon as the economy picks up again. We have announced that on Monday, people will be able to register for this online. As of today, however, they can see what the amount they’re likely to be able to get through this and be confident in their ability to access credit from banks, from agencies like BDC and EDC, to be able to support people right now in this time of need. We’re moving as quickly as we can. We move very quickly on the Canada emergency response benefit. We hope to be able to get this help out to businesses, to keep employees on the payroll as quickly as possible.

Interpreter:

Follow-up?

Reporter:

Interpreter:

Mr. Trudeau, quickly, what does that mean? will it go as quickly as the CERB for the wage subsidy or should we expect that it could take longer or perhaps a week or two weeks before the money starts to circulate? the Minister will have more to say about that in a couple of hours, but I can tell you that people at the Canada revenue agency are working hard right now to deliver that money to businesses as quick will I as possible after the registration. Now it will take a bit of time, but people should know that they will be getting that money and should not hesitate to access credit from banks and our other institutions like BDC and EDC

Thank you. Merci.

Operator:

Next question, charlie Pinkerton, ipolitics. Line open.

Reporter:

Good morning, Prime Minister. Bill Blair said he intends to introduce stricter gun laws as soon as possible and you said your government was on the verge of. Passing a ban. Will a gun control bill be introduced in the restricted version of parliament that we see during the pandemic or will have it to wait until parliament returns to normal sits?

Ing » Prime Minister Trudeau obviously, we’re all reeling from the tragedy in Nova Scotia and our focus right now is on supporting those families as quickly as possible and, as well as we possibly can. On gun control legislation, we made strong commitments to move forward with that rapidly. As you mentioned, we were on the verge of bringing it in before parliament was suspended through COVID-19 and we’re now looking at the right way and the right moment to bring it forward. The tragedy in Nova Scotia simply reinforces an underlines how important it is for us to continue to move forward on strengthening gun control in this country and we will do that at the appropriate time.

Interpreter:

The tragedy in Nova Scotia makes it clear just how important it is to continue to move forward with gun control. We made commitments to move quickly on this and we were on the verge of. Introducing new measures to restrict assault-type weapons in Canada before parliament was suspended because of COVID-19 and now we are looking at what the right time will be to reintroduce that bill. But we will take necessary time to ensure we do things properly.

Reporter:

So which of your government’s promised gun control measures will it be that it introduces first? the assault rifle ban or something else perhaps influenced by what happened over the weekend.

Prime Minister Trudeau:

The legislation on the assault rifle ban was ready – almost ready to go when we – when the parliament suspended. So I expect that will be the first measures that we bring forward. Of course, as we learn more about this terrible, terrible tragedy in Nova Scotia, we will keep reflecting on ways that we need to help Canadians stay safe in their communities and their homes and across the country.

Thank you. One more question on the phone, please, operator.

Operator:

Thank you. Merci. la presser.

Reporter:

Bonjour, Mr. Trudeau.

Interpreter:

I’d like to come back to a question you were asked yesterday during the question per in the house about three planes that were to come back to Canada full of medical equipment from China. – china. and that came back empty. Can you tell us more about that? I received more information about that. There was one plane that was supposed to be bringing in equipment for Canada. Another was bringing in equipment for a specific province that hay had ordered and there are very strict limits on how much these Chinese aircraft are allowed to stay in Canada and there are huge delays when it comes to bringing in the equipment from the airport. Unfortunately the planes ha ed to take off without having received their cargo. But we continue to work tirelessly to deliver that equipment. We received a great deal of equipment in recent days. We are expecting more equipment in the coming days and up until now, we have been able to respond to the province’s need every step of the way. Although I understand it’s difficult for people to hear that when they are working in our health care system. But we will continue to ensure that we deliver all the necessary equipment to them.

Prime Minister Trudeau:

I got more information on the issue around the two planes that landed empty yesterday. One was a government of Canada charter. The other was chartered by a specific province for one of their orders. There are severe restrictions in china over how long a plane can stay in their airports before having to leave, whether it’s full or not. Shipments to the airports are difficult and interrupted by checkpoints and quarantine measures. For the most part, we’ve been able to navigate through those and make sure that Canada gets the equipment that it needs. But those two airlines were forced to take off quickly. We will continue to ensure that, as we have been, we make sure that Canadians get – Canadian provinces and *ins – institutions get the equipment that they so desperately need. We’re continuing to receive millions of pieces of P.P.E. Over the past days. We expect many more over the next days and weeks. As well as the canadian industrial facilities tooling up their ability to deliver P.P.E. S. it’s always a challenge to get the P.P.E. Into Canada in a time where the global market is very, very competitive for these. But we have managed so far to get the equipment the provinces have asked for and we will continue to make sure we’re prioritizing support for our frontline workers who are going into battle every day against this virus.

Interpreter:

Follow-up?

Reporter:

Interpreter:

So what happened to that equipment, Mr. Trudeau? is it still in our possession in storage somewhere or – and what is the other province expecting this equipment? well, we will continue to follow up on the orders that were placed and ensure we receive the equipment we need and we will continue to ensure that we have chartered plane there is to pick up the equipment we require. With respect to the province, I will let the province share that information with you.

Reporter:

I want to ask you a question on behalf of nick Beaton who lost his wife Kristen in the senseless violence in Nova Scotia this weekend. He just spoke with our chief anchor. His wife Kristen died. She was a front line worker, a dedicated nurse and was also pregnant and she was forced to reuse her personal protective equipment because there was not enough. So on behalf of nick, let me ask you this question – why aren’t there enough P.P.E. S for nurses and other health care workers not only in Nova Scotia, but across the country and where is the supply chain broken and what are we going to do about it?

Prime Minister Trudeau:

First of all to nick and all the families going through a heart wrenching loss right now looking for answers, looking for reasons, looking for support. We are there for you. We will be there for you. Like so many people across the country who are worried about what the next days will bring and the challenges we’re facing, our front line workers have been worried about the continued availability of personal protection equipment. We’ve seen a number of provinces talk about the shortages a number of days away. We’ve managed to cover those but we are in a situation where people are trying to stretch out our P.P.E. As long as possible. Different provinces are managing their stockpiles differently. The federal government is there to support provinces in their requests and until this point have been – up to this point and beyond this point have been able to respond to the specific requests the provinces have made. At the same time, we have been this a competitive and international environment where everyone is looking for P.P.E., which is why we made significant investments in domestic capacity to make the equipment that keeps can frontline health workers safe across the country.

Interpreter:

First of all, I want to express My deepest condolences to nick and all those who lost loved ones because of this terrible tragedy in Nova Scotia. This is something that people are having a hard time understanding and we want you to know that we will be there for all the families suffering at this time. Now with respect to our health care workers who are concerned about having the necessary protective equipment, the provinces are responsible for managing their protocols and their equipment and, as a government, we will bawls there and have always been there to respond to any requests from the provinces for p. P. e. Now we heard provinces say a couple of times well we’re three days Aida I from being completely out of this piece of equipment or that piece of equipment, but every single time we avoided shortages and provinces were able to extend the availability of their protective equipment. But we’re working very hard at the national and international level in an environment that’s become extremely competitive in terms of getting that perform p. E. up until now, we have succeeded in filling all the necessary orders from the provinces and we realised that we had to develop a domestic capacity to produce that equipment. and that is why I’m so pleased to be seeing all of those Canadian companies that have stepped up to produce the necessary equipment and that equipment will be available very soon.

Reporter:

You’ve been able to deliver personal protective equipment to provinces that need it but is the supply chain broken if a pregnant nurse has to reuse masks and gloves?

Prime Minister Trudeau:

These are decisions that are taken by provinces and how they extend and how they require the use of P.P.E. Different provinces have different burn rates in terms of use of P.P.E. We have worked as a federal government to ensure that when provinces have made requests of us for more personal protective equipment, we’ve been able to deliver what was needed. These are things we’re fighting for every single day and want everyone to have the equipment they need.

Interpreter:

The provinces make their own decisions with respect to their health care system. and the use of personal protective equipment. Our responsibility as the federal government is to be there to support the provinces and be able to help meet their needs and, thus far, in most cases, we’ve been able to meet those needs. But, of course, we must continue to do everything we can.

Reporter:

Prime Minister, when you were talking about the gun control legislation, you brought up the tragedy in Nova Scotia. I wanted to know if you’ve been briefed on what kind of gun or guns were used in Nova Scotia. Do we know that they were legal and, based on that, how would your proposed gun control legislation have potentially prevented the shooting?

Prime Minister Trudeau:

There is still a tremendous investigation going on by the RCMP right now. Many, many different sites and different questions that a lot of people have and I’m going to trust the RCMP on releasing information as they feel it is important to.

Reporter:

With regards to the gun control, why are you joining the two?

Prime Minister Trudeau:

We have gun control legislation ready to move forward on. We were ready – almost ready to move forward on it a number of weeks ago. We continue to see it as a priority. We had every intention and have every intention of continuing to move forward on it when things restore to order. It did not need or take this tragedy for us to be committed to gun control. We’ve long been committed to it. This is just another tragic reminder of the fact that we need to do more to keep Canadians safe.

Reporter:

As a follow-up, on the world health organization, ireland said it would quadruple funding for the W.H.O. and Australia and the rick and – and the United Kingdom are calling for an independent investigation of the handing of the crisis. Are we going to be calling for an investigation?

Prime Minister Trudeau:

We have been increasing our contribution to the W.H.O. In order to deal with this pandemic. We fund them to the tune of tens of millions of dollars a year. At the same imtoo, we do need to find answers to how this happened so we unction how to ensure that it never happens again and that is certainly something Canada will be part of.

Reporter:

FranÇois?

Prime Minister Trudeau:

Interpreter:

We continue to tribute to the world health organization. This is an important institution, particularly in pandemics but we will have to get some answers in order to better protect ourselves as a country and as a planet. So that we’re better prepared for the next potential pandemic.

Reporter:

Should Canadians be concerned about the security of their food supply chain and what more can the government do to protect that supply chain?

Prime Minister Trudeau:

We heard from Canadian beef producers and associations that the priority will be to ensure supply. Right now the priority is on domestic supply. We’re not anticipating shortages of beef but prices will go up. At the same time, we know that it is extremely important to do everything we can to keep Canadians safe, to keep workers in all industries across this country essential or not, as safe as we possibly can and I’m pleased to see measures being taken reflected on how to keep people safe.

Interpreter:

The reality is that a meat processing plant has prioritized deliveries to the Canadian market. There may be lower exports in that case, but we want to ensure that our supply chain for beef products is functioning. The reality is that there may be higher prices but we’ll be monitoring that closely. But the important thing in all of this is to ensure that we’re protecting workers in essential and other industries. Protecting them from COVID-19 and we must take the necessary measures to keep them safe.

Reporter:

and on oil prices, is there going to be further support for the oil industry and beyond that, for provinces that rely heavily on oil revenues and refinance their debt to recover from this downturn?

Prime Minister Trudeau:

Our focus from the beginning has been on helping Canadians, families, workers across this country and we have put in place a significant measure that has an impact on all industries, including the oil industry with the Canadian emergency response benefit and wage subsidies that have helped thousands of workers across Alberta and the oil sector in this country. We moved forward on other measures as well to help out that sector specifically and we’re always open to working more on helping particular industries or areas that need support to get through this COVID-19 crisis. We’ll continue those discussions. On the supporting provinces, we recognize that various provinces are facing real challenges in terms of cash crunches and liquidity and our department of finance are engaged closely with different provinces on challenges that they’re facing specifically.

Reporter:

Interpreter:

Now earlier in your speech, you said there was some positive science and I won’t Earp what those positive signs are in your opinion. and on the wage subsidy, can you assure us that not $1 of taxpayer money will go to companies that have money in tax havens? well, in terms of encouraging signs, when we look at the pandemic curves and the numbers in terms of spread of COVID-19, we can see that there has been a the decline in the numbers. Now we see the numbers going up in certain parts of the country. But there are fewer and fewer cases each day and we hope that what this means is that the measures we’ve been taking are now helping. and are now helping the expected outcome. At the same time, we need to keep those measures in place because if we relax them too soon, we could end up in a situation where COVID-19 would ramp up again and this is not something we would want to see happen. In terms of our approach in helping businesses, we have always been focused on help for workers. We did not want to judge whether someone working for a small Halifax store or for a large inter nation hardware chain would be treated differently. We wanted to ensure that workers and families that depend on that income would have the necessary help and that is why we moved forward with the wage six did and moving forward with the emergency response benefit. I’d like to say that we are always working hard to fight tax havens and tax avoidance. We have taken very strong measures to try and recover that money and impose serious consequences on companies that take advantage of those tax havens and we’ll continue to do that.

Prime Minister Trudeau:

As I said a couple of times, I think there is reason for cautious optimism. We’re hearing that from mode cal officers across the country. Noting that the increase in cases is getting smaller every day in many places. That we are still seeing more cases every day, but fewer than in previous days, which is a sign that our efforts are working. We are continuing to do the right things as a country, that is getting this virus under control. However, we need to continue to do those things because as soon as we loosen up, if we loosen up too quickly or if we’re not careful, we could see a return spike of COVID-19 that would be problematic for citizens and for the economic recovery. We’ll focus on making sure that we’re doing things very, very carefully. But it is encouraging to see the things that Canadians are doing from coast to coast to coast, to help each other out and stay safe are working and that is why we need to continue them.

Reporter:

Interpreter:

Now just to understand with respect to tax havens, you didn’t really answer My question. Can you tell Canadians today that the money that you paid in taxes will not go to companies that have accounts in tax havens? can you assure us of that today or can you not assure us of that today? we are helping workers right across this country. Someone who works for a company whose family depends on that job and has lost that job needs help. Needs to be able to pay for groceries or pay rent. It is that reason that we decided to help people, whether it is a small company or big company. We are helping workers who need that support. Now with respect to tax avieed answer, we will continue to fight that sort of action. and choices made by some companies who refuse to pay their fair share of taxes. We have invested more than $1 billion in the Canada revenue agency so that we have more tools available to us to target those companies.