Q & A

Operator:

Thank you. Merci. First question, bill curry, “theglobe and mail”. line open.

Reporter:

Yes, I think a question for general Vance. What can you tell us about sub-lieutenant abbigail cowbrough, why she was on that helicopter since we’re understanding she’s not a normalmember of that crew.

Thanks, bill. All of the details surrounding why she and one other were on the aircraft will be released as we get through the investigation. It would be premature for me right now to describe anything beyond the facts that we have right now and that I’ve given you. Suffice to say she was authorized to be on the helicopter, and further details about her, her family and anything pertaining to her will be released formally later when we can confirm all of the details. Thank you.

Reporter:

and then for the Prime Minister, if you don’t mind a question on another topic. The parliamentary budget officer released a report this morning saying that the federal deficit could reach $252 billion and that it could climb higher if the current programs are extended or if the government approves fiscal stimulus measures when the economy recovers. So at what point do you reach the limit of what Ottawa can afford in response to COVID-19 and how will your government deal with the new debt once this crisis is over?

Prime Minister Trudeau:

Right now we are focused on supporting families through this crisis. We need Canadians to stay home. We need Canadians to take the measures that will protect themselves, their loved ones, their neighbours and our health care systems, and that’s why we have made sure that we are sending help to the millions of Canadians across the country who need that help, whether it’s through the Canada emergency response benefit or the Canada emergency wage subsidy, or othermeasures. We will continue to support Canadians to get through this in the best possible way so that our economy can come roaring back afterwards. Our focus is on what we need to do now to get through this. I have tremendous confidence in Canadians’ ability to keep going and to come back stronger than ever after this. [ voice of interpreter ]our priority in the current situation is to help the families and to support Canadians who need this so that we can do what we need to do, namely to stay at home, to be there for each other, to preventcovid-19 from taking too many lives, and from overly impactingour health system. We are going to continue to be there for Canadians and Canadians will continue to be there for each other, for their neighbours, for our workers on the front lines of the health care system, and I’m very confident in our capacity to bounce back afterwards because of the decisions and the actionswe’re taking now as Canadians.

In Ottawa, we don’t have details right now about the various members that were on thehelicopter, including Abigail cowbrough. We will have more details after we conduct our investigation, and we will give you precise details then.

Thank you. Next question. [ end of interpretation ].

Operator:

Thank you, Merci. [ voice of interpreter ]marie bastille from “le devoir”, next question.

Reporter:

Good morning, Mr. Trudeau. To follow up on the question that bill asked about the pbo’s report this morning, we’ve seen now that the debt-to-gdp ratio is now 49%, and I realize you’reinsisting that we have to do what we need to do to help Canadians, but people are starting to wonder how do you –are you planning what will happen next to get a grip on ourfinances. Are you thinking about a specific tax or a way to pay back this money once this crisisis over?

Prime Minister Trudeau:

Firstwe’re remaining focused on this crisis right now. We recognize that, yes, we have to help Canadians, but we also have to invest to ensure that an economic recovery will be possible as quickly as possible. That is why we’ve made the necessary investment to help families. Yes, we recognize that this is an economic crisis that will be tough, that is tough right now for many people, and it will last for a certain period. But at every stage we have to ensure that the economic recovery will be possible. That’s why we’ve kept people with ties to their employers through the wage subsidy. We’ve provided support for people so that they can continue to pay their rent. We’ve provided assistance for companies so that they can keep cash reserves and pay their employees and keep their employees – and ensure our economic health. This is the best way that we’ll be able to get out of this crisis in good shape and to be able to ensure that the economic recovery is as strong as possible.

Follow-up question?

Reporter:

I understand, but with all due respect, it doesn’treally answer My question about what will happen next. How do you expect to gain a grip on the economy? do you have any measures in mind with respect to austerity, taxes, or are you expecting to run up deficits of hundreds of billions?

Prime Minister Trudeau:

Of course we’re going to have to think about this, but for the time being we are focused on what we have to do now to help Canadians to get through this crisis. We’re lucky to have had one of the best debt-to-gdp ratios in the g7. There are many economies throughout the world that we compare ourselves to, and we arein a good budgetary position to be able to make the necessary investments to help people now, but also to be able to rebound afterwards. Canadians are extraordinary people and our institutions are strong, our economy is strong during normal times, but we’ll also be able to show great health. We will be discussing measures in due time that we’ll have to take depending on how this pandemic unfolds. [ end of interpretation ]. obviously our focus right now needs to be on how we get through right now, to support Canadians, to support workers who’ve lost their paycheques, to support families who need to take measures to protect themselves and to protect our health care system. At the same time, our investments have also been focused on making sure that when we are able to get the economy back up and running, it will be done quickly and strongly. That’s why investments like the emergency wage subsidy or the Canada emergency business account are there to ensure thatbusinesses, that our economy are able to hold through this difficult time and come roaring back afterwards. Canadians are strong and resilient people, and our economy was in great shape before going into this. We had one of the lowest debt-to-gdp ratios of most of our comparable countries, and that left us in a great situation to be able to make thenecessary investments to see us through this the right way. There will be time after this isall done, ASL we figure out how exactly this unfolds, where we will have to make next decisionson how that recovery looks, but right now our focus is on getting through this together as a country.

Thank you. Next question.

Operator:

Thank you. Merci. Next question, Angela Dunn, the chronicle herald. Line open.

Reporter:

Hi, there. I’m wondering – I don’t know who the best to answer this question, perhaps Vance, but I’mwondering if there’s been any consideration of grounding the rest of the cyclone fleet because of this. Like, what’s the plan for that?

Thank you. We have put the fleet across Canada and overseas clearly in an operational pause. It’s not a grounding. It’s an operational pause until the flight safety team can determine the next steps. We will try to get back to business with those helicopters as quickly as we can, but we have to rule out that there’s a fleet-wide problem, and we’re going to do that as quickly as we can.

Reporter:

Just a follow-up question. I’m wondering, you mentioned that there was some flare spotted, but was there any sort of mayday call issued? can you provide any information about that?

Right. Honestly, I have to wait, as do we all, for any details to come from the flight recorders, voice and data flight recorders. Anything we have right now has been passed in the heat of the moment. I can tell you what is known, and I have. As far as any further details, they will have to come as a result of an investigation. [ voice of interpreter ]details, all details will be coming with respect to this helicopter after the investigation is conducted. I forget your other question. Oh, yes, all the helicopters that are cf148 are on an operational pause. This will allow the flight safety team to determine if there was an issue with these helicopters. We’re going to continue operations as quickly as possible.

Next question. [ end of interpretation ].

Operator:

Thank you. [ voice of interpreter ]next question, emily bergeron.

Reporter:

Good morning. My first question is for generalvance. Can you specify what operational pause means? in terms of grounding these helicopters?

I think I understood your question. An operational pause is established by the Canadian armed forces for two reasons, mainly. One, to allow the members of this community to have a moment to think about their crew member. It’s important. This is a rather small community, and a close community. They lost a member of their community, and it’s hard for them. Second, we have to eliminate, rule out any problems, so it is a pause that is temporary to allow the Canadian armed forces to look at this quickly.

Reporter:

Thank you. My next question is for Mr. Trudeau. On another topic. Yesterday at the house you weren’t exactly clear about your intentions in terms of companies that benefit from tax havens, soi’d like to give you an opportunity to clarify this. Will these companies be able to get the wage subsidy or not?

Prime Minister Trudeau:

We’vealways fought about tax evasion and avoidance. We have worked in unprecedented measures with the Cara to ensure that there are consequences for any company that seeks to not pay its fair share of taxes. We are going to continue to apply the consequences during this crisis and the pandemic. Our priority is always Canadian workers who need support at thistime, and that’s what we’re going to do. [ end of interpretation ].

Good morning. General Vance, condolences on the loss of your members. Could you give us any more details? I understand you said the recorders were recovered. So have you recovered the wreckage of the chopper as well? and I just wonder if not what is the challenge presenting you in those waters?

Thank you for the condolences. [ please stand by ]

What are kinds around this helicopter which is supposed to be state-of the-art.

I don’t have any concerns about the helicopter. The commander of the rcf, as for this operational pause, he’s the air worthiness authority for thecanadian armed forces and it’shis decision to do that for the two reasons I described. One simply to the teams who fly, the small community and the others to rule out anything immediate that they would have to take care of to resumeoperations. (speaking french).

I have a lot of confidence in this fleet of helicopters. They are state-of-the-art, capacity for find be submarinesand the electronics on board aretop class world-wide and so wehave a lot of confidence in thisfleet. and this operational pause wasimplemented by the air forcecommander to ensure that there’sno obvious issue to ground thefleet. Minister, I would like to goback to the pbls report, yousaid you remained focused on thecrisis and you’ll think aboutwhat happens next later. abut in terms of increasingtaxes, is it something you’veruled out or a possibility?

Answer:

We’re not thinking about that at all right now. We have great trust in the economic recovery and in the ability of Canadians to resumeeconomic. We are going to be get out of this crisis. We have great trust in our economic community. Can you be more specific about the nature of the mission. Was there a contact under the operation when the troops returned to HMS fredricton? were the players automatic or were they manually engaged? did the crews send a distresssignal?

Answer:

It’s rather technical and I’ll answer inenglish, if that’s all right. I understand your question.

Operation reassurance is an assurance and deterrencemeasure, meaning the alliance has put on the ground capabilities to tell Russia, any adversaries to not interfere with security, north atlanticsecurity and it’s also to assure allies that we are all in this together and Canada has beenpresent, particularly at the maritime mission without fail. At the time of the accident, themaritime, the standing maritime group was conducting training and not conducting surveillance or particularly targeted operations on any particularvessel, adversary or otherwise, there was no, from what I can tell – we can’t rule anything out but I’m certain from military operation this was Nita function of contact orshoot-down. I wanted to make that abundantlyclear. and I just lost the thread. As I understand it, from what iwas briefed, that the flareswould go automatically when itditched. That will be determined morefully by the flight safetyinvestigation. Merci.

Thank you.

Prime Minister, can I – this is tom Perry with CBC. Can I ask you about anothermatter. Evacuee seen a list ofassault-style weapons yourgovernment is consideringbanning and can I ask why thislist, why not other weapons? and the timing. is this because of the novascotia shooting?

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau:

We have long been committed to strengthening gun control in this country, including banningmilitary-style assault weapons. There is no need in Canada forguns assigned to kill thelargest amount of people in theshortest amount of time. That was the commitment we madein the last election and this issomething on which there’s alarge consensus by Canadians whowant to see less violence andfewer deaths from gun violencein this country. and we were ready, almost readyto go on measures to do justthat when parliament suspendedbecause of COVID-19 and we willhave more to say on this when wemake an announcement around whatwe’re doing to strengthen guncontrol in the coming days. (speaking french).

We have made a firm commitment to Canadians to ban military assault-style weapons, because if Canada, there’s noroom for weapons that were madeto kill a large number ofpeople. There was a consensus acrosscanada that we have to doeverything we can to protectcanadians and their communitiesfrom gun violence. and we’ve committed to doexactly that. We were almost ready to announcemeasures to strengthen guncontrol when the parliament wassuspended because of thepandemic and we will be makingannouncements in days to comeand we’ll give more details onthis, then.

Last question.

Prime Minister, Janet silver, global news. Just to switch topics, if youwill. Were you or anyone in your government aware back in januarythat china had engaged in the global effort to procure Poe and have those sent back to china? and if you or anyone in your government knew about this, whydidn’t you try to stop it?

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau:

As of January 2nd, our chief public health officer convened group of provisional public health officers to advise that there were reports of a new virus present in china. Our intelligence services were tracking and aware of the issue sand we got regular updates through the month of January. Further than that, I don’t have anything to add.

Thank you, that concludestoday’s press conference.

Thank you, everyone.

That is the Prime Minister ofcanada, as well as his minister of national defense. That was general Jonathan vancetalking about the crash where six Canadians were on board during NATO training commission, one confirmed dead, but the search and rescue mission forinformation, for debris and for the bodies of the five that are missing continues. I want to bring in My colleauges in just a moment to go through the various details that we found there, but first, I want to go to Brenda who is the grandmother of sublieutenantabigail – I think we’re still getting audio working. Brenda, I don’t know if you can hear me. It’s rosemary Barton.

Yes, I can, good morning.