Parses captions for PM Trudeau's daily speeches and presents them in a more human readable format
Rosemary:
All right, this is the Prime Minister of Canada on this Friday, in case you’re still keeping track of days of the week, bringing some reaction to those stunning job numbers today, showing that 2 million more Canadians lost their job in the month of April, bringing the total of Canadians now unemployed to 3 million. Of course we know the figure of people that are struggling is much larger than that, given many, many people have had their jobs reduced, but the big news today from the Prime Minister is that the wage subsidy program will be extended beyond June. I’ll bring in My colleagues to help me break some of that down, including other things the Prime Minister said. Vassy kapelos and Catherine Cullen. Vassy?
Vassy:
So I agree. That’s huge news. The extension of the wage subsidy, no details on how long it will be extended for. The Prime Minister says those details are coming next week, but that’s the subsidy that the government is offering to any business, any sized business that has seen a 30% reduction inrevenue, 15% if you’re looking at March. If you can compare that to January and February, an average of those months, or compare it to the same month last year, and again the point is, it doesn’t matter how many employees you have, you could have five or you could have 500. You can still access that program. They are paying 75% of the wage sup until a certain number, about# $58, 000. The extension of that program is gonna mean a lot, and it actually really intersects with the stuff we were talking about prior to the Prime Minister’s press conference, and that is the data out from statistics Canada today on the number of people, the number of Canadians who have lost their jobs or lo stat least half the hours that they normally work. a really, really key piece of data that underpins all that, especially where the month of April is concerned, is that almost 90% of those who were newly unemployed were on a temporary layoff. So they did expect when the economy sort of came back to life, or whatever you want to call it, over time, that they would retain their employment, they would get their job back. The wage subsidy is directly addressed – extending that program would be directly addressing that, right? so as the economy – as it comes back or as restrictions are loosened, stores are allowed to open up, the idea is that employers who have suffered a big revenue drop because, perhaps, they had to close our shudder their business to some degree, will be able to rehire people through this wage subsidy. The amount of time, of course, that this is in effect is going to be really significant. is this an extension, for example, of four months, of six months, of a month? that’s going to make a meaningful difference to employers and people who run businesses, but on the flip side, I also sort of gleaned something from what the Prime Minister said, because it was often posited against the CERB program, right? there have been a lot of questions about what happens for that program. Next week people will have to apply to access their third month. They only have one month after that. I can’t say for certain, but what it sounded like from the Prime Minister, the way he framed the issue is the focus for the government where financial aid is concerned would move as economies reopen to that wage subsidy, and it didn’t sound like there would be any kind of concrete extension of this CERB program. Obviously that can always change, but it sounds like the focus very much is on the wage program versus extending the CERB.
Rosemary:
Yeah, I agree. I mean, he didn’t say clearly, but it certainly sounds as though if they are putting their – if they are gambling on the wage subsidy program working, they are also hoping that fewer people need the CERB and they will all move to the wage subsidy program. Although I wonder what it also says, the fact that it is being prolonged, what this also says about the government’s view of where the economy is going and the fact that the economy will need, you know, support beyond the months that we initially hadthought, as you say, that we don’t know how long they would give that support, but it certainly is indicative of how this is not obviously a rosy picture for the economy overall. Lots of questions and interesting comments by the Prime Minister on the people who were affected in these job numbers as well.
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I’m really struck by the – both the groups he named and the groups that are reflected in the data. He talked about the vulnerability of women, of youth, of new Canadians. When you think about what justintrudeau hopes to stand for, the constituencies that he’s tried to speak to, someone who, you know, sees himself as a feminist prime Minister, somebody who made himself the Minister for youth in his last mandate, he did try to offer a lot of assurance today, although I think it was broadly in the abstract, saying that these are things that they are going to be mindful of moving forward. He made the point that as he sees it we are not in the stimulus phase yet, still in the phase of taking care of people who are experiencing emergency situations. But there are a lot of questions already about what that rebuilding is going to look like. It was interesting to hear him talk about child care and really sort of re-shaping the economy. It’s one of a number of big-picture conversations, including long-term care, including health sector funding that the Prime Minister has promised we are going to have later, the expectations are going to be high, rosie.
Rosemary:
I will let people know if they are joining us on the CBC news network” over the next few moments, we are going to continue our coverage here as we wait for the federal briefing by cabinet ministers and federal public health officials to give us an update on the picture of the pandemic in this country, but also maybe more details on the government’s announcement today that the wage subsidy program will be extended into June. Also announcement today by the Prime Minister that the innovation Minister, navdeep Bains, will be leading a sort ofsectoral table to look at different industries, what their futures might be, what sort of ongoing support they might need. I’ll just say, the other line that stood out for me as Catherine was talking about segments of the population that were affected, when he was talking about vulnerable workers or people that are under-valued, women, new Canadians, students, lots of students also out of work now. He said the following quote: equality is more than a goal, but it needs to be a concrete reality. So indeed, there’s an interesting conversation going to happen as the economy shifts and as we all shift out of this at some point. Let me bring in the cbc’s seniorbusiness correspondent before wehead off to that next press conference, peter armstrong is here. He’s also been looking at the numbers, and trying to give us maybe a better state of how theyreflect the state of the economy. Oh, maybe we don’t have him yet. Okay, we’ll come back to him. Let me go to My other colleagues, then, Vassy and catherine – oh, he came back. Gals, sorry. He came back. I’ll be right back to you. Here’s peter. He’s probably working remotely. We don’t see him. Well, then, we’ll wait. We hear him. Okay. I’m not sure everyone wants to look at me for two minutes, but, peter, tell us what these job numbers tell you about the stateof the economy and, you know, how bad this is and it’s going to be.
Peter:
Yeah, and I think that’s the key here, is how bad is it going to be. You know, we have seen these numbers, they are staggering, and they are so big that they are kind of hard to get your head around. They seem almost abstract when you’re talking 3 million Canadians have lost their jobs. Remember, though, we’re now looking at I think it’s 7.6 million Canadians have applied for some kind of relief, so we’ve got another 850, 000 Canadians on top of these numbers that have been added in, and to me, the big question here is what does this tell us about what the recovery will look like. and I think a lot of questions are there now about, you know, how often, how quickly are you going to go back to your local cafÉ to have lunch in a restaurant, to go to the movies on a Friday night, to get back to life in general? and the more we think about that, the clearer picture we as consumers have around what our activity will be. I think, you know, businesses are going to be thinking about that and factoring it in to how quickly they ramp back up. Are they going to go back to full employment right away? it sure doesn’t seem like it because I think most of us aren’t going to do that. So that’s why that flexibility in the program like we saw today with the Prime Minister adding in extra months of capacity to the CERB and to other programs is so important, because this is not going to be what they call that v-shaped recovery. It’s much more likely to be a long checkmark of sorts that’s just going to take time. and I think a lot of that is going to be on us as consumers as we revisit what we’re willingto spend our money on, where we’re willing to go and how safewe feel going back into a lot ofbusinesses we used to go to every day.
Rosemary:
Well, and as the Prime Minister talked about, the wage subsidy program being extended, he also mentioned that this is not about stimulus at this point. Although we also know that the stimulus part of this will look very different than it would look outside of another sort of more typical recession, like the one we experienced in 2008.
Peter:
That is such an important point here, because remember, like, the stimulus program in 2008 was a bunch of shovel-ready programs, just get people working again and, hey, let’s lower interest rates and encourage consumers to borrow and spend. and we did. We did really well in that. We took on record levels of debt, but we probably saved the economy in doing that, and it’s an important point, because we’re not going to be able to count on the consumer to spend our way out of this recession this time. and whatever sort of stimulus programs we’re looking at, in terms of, you know, like, shovel-ready programs, they are not going to address those people that you guys were just talking about with Vassy, the most vulnerable, the women, the services sector doesn’t respond the same way as, you know, manufacturing and construction will. and so they need to really thinkcreatively about how can we use the federal weight and power andmoney to get those sort of services sector jobs back up andrunning. and is that more of a program ofawareness and of help in gettingthose businesses to a place where they do make people feel more comfortable to go back in and increasing their capacity and changing sort of sidewalk patterns and road patterns so you can have more, you know, sort of patio and terrace capacity for restaurants and cafÉs. It’s going to take creative thinking because there has neverbeen a services-driven recessionbefore. They are always sort of goods-producing sectors to get hit first and then services get dragged into it later. This is different and will require a completely different response.
Rosemary:
Okay, peter Armstrong, good to hear you even if we couldn’t see you.
want to take us to someone who is experiencing unemployment in Saskatoon, rebecca zurk. She wants to return to her work as a hairstylest. We talked to her about a month ago, but she has some concerns about how her industry is going to adjust. Good to see you again, rebecca.
Thank you for having me back.
Rosemary:
So you are still oncerb, I would imagine, if you’reinto probably – yeah, so you’reon your third payment or your last payment?
This will be My second. The days blend together.
Rosemary:
I know, that’s true. I shouldn’t be asking timeline questions at this point. Now Saskatchewan is slowly moving to reopen a bit. What is happening with the hair salon industry? can you go back? is it safe to go back?
So they opened phase one which starts with, like, an outdoor activity, things like that, some very simple things to kind of maintain social distancing. Hair dressing is one of the personal services that’s included in phase two along with things like massage therapy and other similar services. [indiscernible] if you can imagine, I miss My work so much. I’m tired of being at home. I’m tired of being away from My clients. I miss My work so much. However, I AM so concerned about the safety aspect of going back to work.
Rosemary:
We should also add that you’re also pregnant, so that’s also an added complication, I would imagine, something you’re considering and thinking about. Do you have any sense of whether there would be P.P.E., personal protective equipment, for you ifyou were going to go back?
So we’ve been given guidelines and suggestions for P.P.E. However, My concern is, one, affordable access, a self-employed person who’s been out of work for almost two months, we’re reducing our hour sand capacity and also adding an extra cost on top of our operating. As well as where the heck do I get it? I’ve reached out to so many different spaces. However, the average cost has increased, for example, a box of50 surgical masks used to be around $15. The average is now 50 to 60, so if that’s – if you’re able to find it, and more than once. So the concern is a regular access to it, a long-term accessto it, and also how to use it. I’ve never been trained how to use an n-95. I’ve never been trained how to do hospital or health care for apatient. My work is very service level. However at times like this we have to really consider every single avenue to ensure the safety of myself as well as My clients and the public.
Rosemary:
So I’m not sure if you heard the Prime Minister, but he has extended the wage subsidy program, but of course that doesn’t do anything for people who are self-employed, like yourself, and the CERB, it didn’t sound to me – I mean, hedidn’t say this concretely, but it didn’t sound to me like that will be extended because he’s hoping that companies will use the wage subsidy program. Do you feel like you are just going to have to be sort of forced back to work in some way because you’re just not going to have any further support possibly?
Absolutely. That is My biggest concern. Obviously My biggest concern is operating safely, the health and safety of myself, My child and My clients, and My family on top of that too. That’s top priority. However, I feel like I’ll almost be forced to go back to work in an unsafe environment because I can’t financially support not working and not receiving any kind of benefit. So what that will either happen is put me in a situation where have to risk My health to go back to work, which is a direct contradiction of what he said today in regards to safe working conditions for all Canadians, or have no income.
Rosemary:
Well, I mean, as you know, they have been sort of creating policy on the fly. Maybe there will be something that can be done for people who are self-employed, like yourself, who won’t get the wagesubsidy but might need to carry on with the CERB a little bit longer. You know, I don’t know where they are at in terms of that, but I do – I’m sure that they are hearing you because as the Prime Minister said no one is wanting anyone to go back to work if they feel unsafe, as you’ve well spoken about there. Rebecca, good to see you again. Hang in there. I’m at work every day, so I can sympathize with the idea of being at home every day. That’s also a difficult endeavour.
Thank you again for having me.
Rosemary:
Okay, stay healthy and look after that baby in there. Appreciate it.
Thank you, I will.
Rosemary:
All right, I’ll bring back My colleagues, Vassy and Catherine, as we stand by for the update, the press conference from ministers and health officials. Again, the Prime Minister didn’tsay anything about the CERB, so maybe there will have to be, though, some interim measures there for people that will sort of be stuck, which is, you know, how this has unfolded many times with the policy. a policy is announced, we find people that are missed or not captured, but the people who can’t move to the wage subsidy, like rebecca, and maybe don’t feel okay going back to work, it does sort of leave some questions I think for the government about what those people should be doing and whether they should get further relief and support going forward, Vassy.
Vassy:
Yeah, and even to take it a step further, Rosie, there are people who, for example, can access the CERB right now, cannot access the wage subsidy, also can’t access the – and I know I’m banging on a bit of a drum here, but I keep hearing from them, can’t access the business loan, so people who have – contractors, for example, they pay instead of people on the payroll or who are themselves self-employed, similar to the situation that your last guest was in, but can’t access anything to keep their business going or use dividends, for example, and theyhave been asking where do we fitinto all of this. For weeks. The government has so far not provided any details about how they might be helped other than sending them to a regional economic development agency, buteven there they are not getting specific help for it. So there are further questions, extending the wage subsidy I think will be welcome news by somany businesses. Wenow 96, 000 as of Monday had applied for it. They were supposed to be getting, at least 90% of them, their money starting yesterday. So certainly that’s – I’m not taking away from that at all, but there are and there continueto be people who fall through the cracks, and My guess is, as we move into this phase where things are not all shut down, you’re going to see more examples of that. So even for people, for example, where the emergency business loan has run out, $40, 000, how much rent does that cover, especially in a big market? how much of your fixed costs does that cover? what happens to them after this? I just – I think that, you know, you hit with peter the points that the Prime Minister made that were not even in the stimulus – we’re not even in the stimulus part of this, and iwonder how long it will be untilwe are in that part of it. What if it is until we have the vaccine? that’s the next year and a half that the government has to sort of figure out how to support allthese different segments of society, of the economy in a waythat they have never had to previously, right? no recession has required this level of support and perhaps forthis long. and I can’t imagine the sort of policy considerations that are before them right now.
Rosemary:
Yeah, and a reminder that this is what the government has called the biggest government aid package in history, certainly not of war-time package, $73 billion, so even adding on extra time to the wage subsidy program maybe we’ll get some details at this press conference, or next week, but that obviously – the ticketbehind that grows for the government, and it then takes onmore debt. So all these things have to be thought about. It is incredibly difficult to navigate. That’s for sure. Catherine, just over to you on those points?
Yeah, one thing I want to pick up on something else the Prime Minister said which is in some ways the other side of the coin, and understandably we are talking about people who have lost their jobs or who are not working, who have no hours rightnow, but he did make that comment that no Canadian should work somewhere where they are concerned about their health andsafety, and he was pressed by one of our colleagues about the situation in cargill. He said it is a precedent, it ISS standard in Canada that we don’t want people to go into jobs where they do not feel safe. I think, though, it’s important to reflect certainly the conditions at the car gill meat plant are one example, but I couldn’t help thinking as he said that the first time of stories coming out of Quebec, particularly Ontario as well, there are stories in Quebec of nurses wearing garbage bags as protective equipment. There are stories that our colleagues at CBC Montreal have done about speech therapists, social workers, people who are part of the health care system but do not normally get themselves involved in direct patient care who were told if you do not go into these long-term care centres you will be fired. So I think the standard that theprime Minister is talking about is certainly one that we as Canadians would all like to see, but even his announcement yesterday about trying to encourage and protect let’s say essential workers by offering them a wage top-up, we have to acknowledge that many of the people who are out there workingright now probably feel some degree of risk to their health and safety, while we might hope that’s the standard, I think formany people to some extent it’s not right now.
Rosemary:
For sure, and thereare, as the Prime Minister said, labour standards inside a province, and they have to sort of – companies are supposed to, you know, adhere to those.
Abide by them.
Rosemary:
Exactly, and obviously that’s what everyone would hope is happening. I’m not sure how much the federal government can do to ensure that it happens, although suppose they could say and make it very clear that if you don’t want to go to work and you don’t feel safe that you will continue to get a benefit. That seems to me the only way you could really support that idea that safety is an issue fora lot of people and will be going forward. I mean, you heard there from our friend rebecca, she doesn’t even know where to get things if she was going to go into work, and I’m sure she’s not alone in that. Where do you get the equipment you would need to be right in someone’s face? it’s a challenging thing. Yes, Vassy?
Vassy:
I was just going to say I think from speaking with some of the people who work at car gill and in particular more publicly the representative of the union there, the president of the union who represents those workers, though we hear from various levels of government about jurisdiction, to them, jurisdiction is not as salient a point, right? like, they are looking for the federal government, because theydon’t feel that they are safe at this point, they don’t necessarily have the faith in the regulator that does exist, and I take the point that that’ssupposed to happen from occupational safety in the province. They want an investigation led by the federal government. They are hoping that someone intervenes, and I think there are a lot of issues like that right now. For example, transit. We heard the Prime Minister say, well, that’s a provincial jurisdiction. The province is saying we are broke. We already have a lot of debt. People who need to access that affordable transit, and you can add greyhound and other bus carriers to that which have now suspended all of their business, they are not taking anyone anywhere, they are asking for help from the federal governmenttoo. and I hear what the federal government is saying in that these issues are, by and large, provincial jurisdiction, but for the people who are affected by them, that jurisdiction isn’t necessarily paramount, and I think, you know, to – he didn’t – the Prime Minister wouldn’t say anything about cargill. and My guess is those who work there were hoping for a bit more.
Rosemary:
Yeah, those are all fair points. I mean, I think there are wonderful things about living Ina federation, and then there are things that are clearly complicated too. Vassy and Catherine, thank you. I will go now to the press conference, federal ministers and health officials giving an update. This is the deputy Prime Minister, Chrystia Freeland. [voice of interpreter]– you can’t go out to see your friends. However, Sunday is mother’s day, and if you can give your mom a big hug and maybe help your family by cleaning the house, I AM sure that all moms across thecountry would really appreciate that. [ end of interpretation ]I would like to start by saying something to all the poor children of Canada. I know that this is such a difficult time for you, cooped up at home and not able to go and play with your friends. But Sunday is mother’s day, and I would really like to say, if you can, give your mother a hug. Give her a kiss. If you can, maybe help clean up the house a little bit. I know it’s hard for you, but Otis really also a hard time for parents across the country. and I know your parents and especially your mothers would really, really appreciate it. and in the interests of disclosure, I must say I do have personal interest in sharing this message with the children of Canada. So today we will hear from Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa tam, the deputy chief public health officer, Dr. Howard Njoo, by video link our Minister of employment, Carla qualtrough. [voice of interpreter]via video conference, the Minister of canadian heritage. [ end of interpretation ]and navdeep Bains and. [voice of interpreter]the president of treasury board, jean yves Duclos. [ end of interpretation ]
Good afternoon to all of you. I will now present the numbers on COVID-19 in Canada. There are now 65, 399 confirmed cases, including 4, 471 deaths. and 29, 000, or 45% of cases have now recovered. Labs across Canada have tested over 1.032 million people for COVID-19 with about 6% of these testing positive to date. In the past week we have tested an average of over 26, 000 peopledaily. We have had quite a few questions about lab testing, capacity versus our daily lab testing levels. So I want to take a moment to explain this a little bit further. To be clear, when we talked about a current lab capacity to do 60, 000 tests a day in Canada, this is about building up our ability to detect any surge in cases as we relax public health measures. Specifically, robust testing ability is a component of our case finding, contact tracing, isolation and quarantine approach to rapidly corner the virus. So how do we know we are testingenough? one relatively simple international benchmark for testing is the percentage of tests that come back positive. The lower the percentage of positive tests, the better your surveillance is. When the positive test is reallyhigh, it means you’re missing a lot of infections. The W.H.O. Benchmark is to aim for a positivity rate of 10% or below, striking the balance between casting the net wide that is high sensitivity while targeting testing where the virus is most likely to be spreading. Canada has maintained the percentage positive rate below 10% throughout the epidemic. Encouragingly our average weeklypositive rate has been decliningfrom 9.8% in early April to about 4% now in early may. At the same time we have doubledthe number of people being tested weekly since early April, indicating we are casting the net wide. Right now our testing strategy is evolving as the epidemic slows. In many areas of Canada testing is broadening to include people with a range of milder symptoms. Provinces and territories are increasing their testing to target people working or living in higher-risk settings, such as health care, long-term care, correctional facilities, certainwork and congregate living settings. When it comes to testing, it’s not the number that matters so much but knowing that you are testing the right people at the right time in the right place. There are multiple other ways that have been proposed to gaugewhether countries are testing enough. Regardless of the method, canadastacks up well against other countries, but we can always do better. This is why we continue to increase our testing capacity. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Dr. Tam. [voice of interpreter]and now Dr. Howard Njoo.
Dr. Howard Njoo:
Thank you. As usual, I will start with the latest numbers on COVID-19 cases in Canada. There are currently 65, 399 confirmed cases, including 4, 471deaths and 29, 000 new recovered, or 45%. labs across Canada have tested over 1, 032, 000 for COVID-19 to date with about 6% of these testing positive overall. In the past week we’ve tested an average of over 26, 000 people per day. We’ve had quite a few questions about laboratory capacity versus our daily laboratory testing levels, so I want to take a moment to explain this further. To be clear, when we talked about a current lab capacity, todo 60, 000 tests a day in Canada, this was about building up our ability to detect any surge in cases as we relax public health measures, specifically a robust testing capacity is a vital component of our case findings, contact tracing, isolation and quarantine approach to rapidly corner the virus. So how do we know we are testingenough? one relatively simply international benchmark for testing is the percentage of tests that come back positive. The lower the percentage of positive tests the better your surveillance is. When the positivity rate is really high, it means you’re missing a lot of infections. The W.H.O. Benchmark is to aim for positivity rate of 10% or below striking the balance between casting the net wide, high sensitivity while targetingtesting where the virus is most likely to be spreading. Canada has maintained a percentage – rather has maintained percentage positive rates below 10% throughout the epidemic, and most encouraginglyour weekly average positive ratehas been steadily declining from9.8% in early April to about 4% in early may. At the same time, we have doubled the number of people being tested weekly. Since early April, indicating weare casting the net wide. Right now our testing strategy is evolving as the epidemic slows in many areas of Canada testing is broadening to includepeople with a range of milder symptoms. Provinces and territories have increased their testing capacityto target people who are workingin and living in high-risk areas, such as those working in health care, long-term care, correctional facilities and certain work and congregate living settings. When it comes to testing, it’s not the number that matters so much but knowing that you are testing the right people at the right time in the right place. There are many other ways that have been proposed to gauge whether countries are testing enough. Regardless of the method, canadastacks up well against other countries, but we can always do better, which is why we continueto increase our testing capacity. Thank you.
Thank you, Dr. Njoo. [ end of interpretation ]and now I will turn it over to carla qualtrough. C.R.A. please.
Thank you and good afternoon, everyone. Today’s number of 2 million job loss in April show that COVID-19is having a real impact on communities and families right across the country. Since the beginning of this crisis, we have been focused on providing Canadians with the support they need as we work together to contain the spread of the virus and on ensuring we have the tools in place to keep our people safe. [voice of interpreter]that’s why our government has taken unprecedented measures to support Canadians and their families during this difficult time. [ end of interpretation ]we introduced the Canada emergency wage subsidy to help keep as many Canadians as possible working. To help Canadians who have lost income due to COVID-19, we introduced the Canada emergency response benefit which provides $2, 000 a month to those who needit most. Along the way we have worked to ensure that benefit is as inclusive as possible to reflectthe different realities that Canadians face. To date, over 7 million Canadians have accessed the CERB. We know that today’s job numbersalso demonstrate the real challenges that young people arecurrently facing in our country. While many have been able to access the CERB, many of the young Canadians are anxious about their employment prospects, especially this summer. That’s why we announced the Canada emergency student benefit. Students who are not eligible for the CERB will be able to apply to receive $1250 per monthbetween may and August. Students with permanent disabilities and those with dependents could receive an additional $750 per month. We know that you have additionalexpenses during this crisis and we are here to support you. I’m happy to say that we will have more details about the application process for the cesbsoon. In the meantime, eligible students should set up their maycra account and set themselves for direct deposit so that when applications begin they can get their first payment very, very shortly. [voice of interpreter]these initiatives as well as thetop-up for the Canada child benefit and the gst credit will quickly get more money to Canadians when they need it the most. [ end of interpretation ]as provinces begin to lift restrictions and our government continues to take steps toward economic recovery, we will be there for Canadians. We will get through these challenges times together. Thank you, Merci.
Okay. Thank you, C.R.A. [voice of interpreter]and now I will give the floor tominister guilbeault, the Minister of heritage. Go ahead, Minister. [ end of interpretation ]
Hello, everyone. Our culture, heritage and sports sectors are going through a major crisis. They are under enormous financial pressure z because of the isolation measures that deprive them of their audience and their income. The situation is critical. We have moved quickly to stabilize these sectors which are an important driver of the Canadian economy. On April 17, the government of Canada announced a fund of up to$500 million to help the cultural heritage and sport sectors. Today I’m pleased to announce the details. As I noted, many are eager to hear more. [voice of interpreter]the fund will be paid out into stages and will help, amongst other things, meet the needs of organizations which have been touched to help maintain jobs and will help keep organizationsgoing whose cash flow and operational viability in the short term are undermined by thepandemic. The fund comes on top of Canada’s COVID-19 economic response plan to make sure that no one is left behind. [ end of interpretation ]canadian heritage will distribute financial support through its program and will work closely with its partners, specifically the Canada council for the arts, the Canada media fund, factor, music action and [ french ] Canada. [voice of interpreter]our decisions with regard to funding will take into action traditionally marginalized communities as well as the lgtbq2, aboriginal and minority official language communities. [ end of interpretation ]full details can be found on thecanadian heritage website. Our program officers will be in direct contact with the organizations through the usual communications channels startingtoday. They will do everything they canto address the most pressing concerns. We know that organizations are facing all kinds of serious challenges right now and are doing their best to get through it all. This is why we’ve put in place – put together a streamlined process to distribute these funds. [voice of interpreter]our artists, creators and athletes are key to building healthy, tight, inclusive and proud canadian communities. During the lockdown, they helpedus feel a little less alone. Their resilience and their acts of solidarity have touched us all. They are still there for us and we want to be there for them. [ end of interpretation ]Canadians stand behind our creators, artists and athletes, and we have a message for them. We miss you. We need you. and we will meet again in person.
Okay. Merci. Stephen. Now we are going to hear from the Minister of innovation, signs and industry, navdeep Bains. Please.
Thank you very much, Chrystia, and good afternoon, everyone. Since the beginning of this crisis our goal has been to do everything we can to assist our front-line workers and to ensurethe safety and support of Canadians as we navigate this pandemic in these unprecedented economic times. As today’s job numbers show, many people are hurting because of COVID-19. [voice of interpreter]we know that workers in certain sectors were hit very hard. We have to understand their challenges and we have to continue to support them. [ end of interpretation ]our approach is to be proactive and strategic and design to bring the private sector to the table to directly share their perspective on the scope of the challenges being faced. As our government examines what is needed in this immediate crisis, we need to fully understand all of the challenges. Effective immediately, we’re establishing an industry strategy council tasked with helping us identify these challenges. The council will leverage an existing and trusted public-private forum known as Canada’s economic strategy tables, where business leaders can share perspectives regardingthe challenges they are facing as a result of COVID-19. In response to some particular pressures related to the pandemic, we are adding two new tables representing the retail and transportation sectors. They join our existing tables which have been represented by advanced manufacturing, agri-food, green technology, digital industries, health and bio-science, tourism and hospitality and resources of thefuture. [voice of interpreter]over the next 90 days, the council will meet regularly to identify and understand sectoralpressures that are common acrossour economy, and members of the council will help us better understand the challenges. [ end of interpretation ]these pressures range from workforce disruptions to re-establishment of supply chains and consumer confidence, to name a few. [voice of interpreter]I would like to thank monique l’heureux, who has accepted our invitation to chair the council. Ms. L’heureux has one of the most distinguished careers in canadian finance, and her impressive background makes her the perfect fit to lead this council. [ end of interpretation ]and we will be announcing the rest of the council members in the coming days. Just as we’ve seen with industrystepping up to assist with personal protective equipment production and medical countermeasures, we are going towork in collaboration with our industry to understand and to make sure that we come out of this stronger and we come out ofthis together. and with the help of the industry strategy council, we’lldo exactly that. Thank you very much, Merci.
Okay, thank you, Navy. [voice of interpreter]and now I will give the floor tojean-yves Duclos, the president of treasury board.
Thank you very much, Chrystia, and hello to everyone. The message this morning from the Prime Minister is a message of hope and courage following the recent statistics Canada survey on unemployment. I’m an economist, and for me the statistics are shocking, but as a member of parliament, this is unbelievable, because behind the numbers are thousands of families and workers affected by the crisis. Thankfully we can count on each other to come through this pandemic, thanks to the measures the Canadian government has already announced, including thecanada emergency response benefit, the emergency wage benefit as well as, which was mentioned again by the Prime Minister this morning, and which will be extended. So it is in a context where we know that after the crisis, if we keep on taking care of each other, not only will we all be stronger but we will always keep on looking after each other. Thank you, Chrystia.
Thank you, jean-yves. We are now ready to take questions. [ end of interpretation ]
As usual we’ll start on the phone with three questions, one question, one follow-up, and then we’ll turn to the room. Operator?
Operator:
Thank you. Please press star 1 at this time if you have a question. The first question [ no interpretation ][voice of interpreter]
Reporter:
Yes, hello. My question is for Minister qualtrough, and it is about the Canada emergency response benefit. Schools and day cares are starting to open. In Quebec it will be on Monday, and yet some teachers and daycare workers feel that going back to work would be a threat to their own health and safety. So I would like to know whether a personal assessment should be carried out if a person feels they might be in danger if they go back to work. and if so, would that person still be eligible for the CERB if it is deemed they can stay home?
C.R.A.
Thank you for the question. It is an important question. Of course we want to be sure that Canadians – that Canadian workers are safe when they go back to work, and we expect workplaces to do everything they can to ensure the health and safety of their employees by working with public health authorities. There are guides for employers to ensure that their workplaces are safe. Now of course a worker has the right to refuse to work if he or she does not feel safe in the workplace, but for us the point is to work with employers to ensure that the workplaces are indeed safe so that all workers can feel confident that their health and safety are the priority of the employers.
Follow-up?
Reporter:
So you are saying that a person has the right to refuse to go back to work? in other words, can daycare workers decide not to go to work and still be eligible for the Canada emergency response benefit? would such an application be accepted?
Well, the CERB is available to anyone not able to work for reasons related to COVID-19. Again, if you cannot work because of COVID-19, you are eligible. It’s a personal choice, but I want to reinforce the message that we want Canadians to go back to work, and we want employers to create safe workplaces where the health and safety of their workers is of utmost priority. [ end of interpretation ]
Operator:
The next question is from mike blanch field from the Canadian press. Please go ahead.
Reporter:
Hello, deputy Prime Minister. This question is for you. The job loss numbers out today are at historic levels in both Canada and the United States, and yet we’re seeing dramatically different responses. There’s pressure in the United States to reopen the economy and get back to work, but that hasn’t seemed to manifested itself in Canada in the same way. How do you explain the difference?
Thanks for the question, mike, and it’s nice to hear yourvoice. You are absolutely right that the jobs numbers are historic and are and should be profoundly worrying for all Canadians. Our country is going through a very, very trying economic time. In terms of what that means when it comes to our government response, and to the response ofcanadians across the country, I think Canadians are so smart and they are so sensible. We all knew, we all understood that physical distancing, that shutting the country down was an essential response to the coronavirus. We understood that. We got that, and I’m so proud ofcanadians for following that advice, and the good news is, as a result of following that advice, we are making real progress in beating the virus. The same sensible, prudent, smart approach needs to guide the re-start, and I think Canadians understand profoundly that the biggest mistake we could make right now would be tosquander our hard-won gains. It has been really tough to get here, and the job numbers today show what a big sacrifice we have been making. Our job now collectively is to build on that progress and to besure that as we look towards re-starting the economy we do itvery carefully, very prudently and in a way that will prevent the virus from surging back and enveloping us all. What that does mean, that careful, prudent, smart approachis that the government has to bethere to support Canadians who are doing the right thing, and that is why our government has put in place the largest economic program in canadian history to support Canadians andto support canadian companies. We are making really good progress. There is still a way to go in the fight against the virus. and as the Prime Minister said earlier today, the government ishere to support Canadians, to support businesses as we finish off that fight. We’re gonna get there.
Mike, follow-up?
Reporter:
Yes, deputy Prime Minister. Given this hard effort that has gone into all this to get us to this point, what are you saying in your discussions to the United States about the uneven approach that’s taking place down there, and what concerns are you expressing about how this might affect Canada, given that it’s our largest economic partner, our neighbour, and we share a border with them?
Well, let me just say, mike, first of all that we had a very productive conversation yesterday, the Prime Minister and the premiers. I was fortunate enough to be part of that conversation too, about the re-start, about the continued efforts to fight the coronavirus, and also about our border with the United States. In terms of our conversations with the United States, you know, they have been very appropriate to our relationship. They have been really neighbourly. They have been really practical and really effective. The border measures that we haveput in place, which are unprecedented and have restricted non-essential travel but have allowed essential travel to continue, have really worked. and our experience of them in Canada is that those border measures have cut down travel across the border very, very much, but at the same time essential travel continues. We have been in touch with our american partners, and they haveexactly the same experience on their side of the border. So that shows that they are really effective, and I think that that is really positive forcanada, for Canadians, for our economy, and it speaks well of our relationship.
Thank you, deputy Prime Minister. Operator, next question, please.
Operator:
Thank you, Merci. The next question. [ no interpretation ][voice of interpreter]
Reporter:
Thank you. Mr. Bains, you chaired the industrial strategy council. What do you expect of this council? what will it do in the next 90 days? are you expecting short-term recommendations? and what economic sectors will be a priority for the industry strategy council?
Thank you for your question. I would like to point to the importance to the exceptional leadership of the council, Monique l’heureux, has experience in the retail and auto sectors, amongst others. She has a lot of experience, and AM sure that she will work with myself and My colleagues to pinpoint the challenges in each of these sectors. For the moment, we will – we are focusing on addressing the crisis now because the situation is very serious. Over time, however, I hope that we will be able to find solutions to help improve the conditions for workers.
Micheline, a follow-up?
Reporter:
Ms. Freeland or Mr. Bains, we know that large American auto manufacturers will soon open up their plants again. Have you spoken with your American counterparts, and how are plants going to be reopened in Canada? auto plants?
Well, allow me to begin and Navy can complete the answer because he’s working very closely with the automotive sector. That’s a very good question. It is key for us to work with our American partners. I know that the Canadian automotive sector is very integrated with the American auto sector. Our industry also has a great deal of international experience within the context of the coronavirus. Many Canadians companies today are working in china in conditions where COVID-19 is present, so I know that our sector has a lot of experience. It will find a way forward, and we are – our sector is working closely with the federal government, with the Americans and with the provinces. Navy, would you like to add something?
Yes. I agree with what My colleague just said. She is right. So it’suite straightforward. We have to work with our American partners as the auto sector is as present in Canada as it is in the United States, and both sectors are integrated. However, our first priority is the safety of Canadian workers, so we will look at the situation closely every day. However, I AM sure that the sector will find solutions which will be to the benefit of workers. [ end of interpretation ]
We will turn to the room starting with Rachel Hines fromctv.
Reporter:
Hi, ministers, and doctors, Rachel Hines from CTV national news. My first question actually goes to Dr. Tam about the outbreak at the car gill meat facility and the outbreak in high river well. We have seen a large number of people who have been infected there, but a small number of deaths in that community. Can you tell us a little bit about why you think that is, when there is such a large outbreak that there would be such a small number of fatalities?
So obviously the province of Alberta is working extremely hard, and My colleague, the chief medical officer of health there. So they are, you know, providing guidance to the industry and trying to, as rapidly as possible, get these outbreaks under control. In terms of deaths, I mean, obviously right now the outbreak is still undergoing evolution, but we know that the fatalities mainly are in people over a certain age, so definitely over 60, but obviously at 70 or 80 years old you’re at a higher risk. So I think part of this might be related to the age groups that might be affected. But we also know that it’s not just the workers. It could be their families, so it may depend on what families the workers might be living with, for example. But we do know that the case [indiscernible] is driven very much by the long-term care facility outbreaks right now. I think the work environment is different, but it is definitely a work – a setting where, you know, really rapid response when we get cases, you know, in termsof testing and case finding and contact tracing is very important.
Reporter:
Thank you. and My next question is a bit of two-parter. It’s for Mr. Duclos and ministerfreeland. About the wage subsidy, Mr. Duclos, you said a few days ago that businesses would start seeing that wage subsidy. So have all businesses who have been approved gotten that money? and as well, the Prime Minister did say earlier today that as westart to reopen economies more people will be going back to work and will need the wage subsidy more so than the CERB. But for businesses who have had to shudder completely, for thosepeople and after June when they don’t get the CERB anymore, whatis available to them?
Thank you. If I may start with the statistics on the emergency wagesubsidy. So as of yesterday, 120, 000 businesses had applied and almost 100, 000, I think the precise number is 97, 000 of them, had their application approved for a total of 1.7 million workers. So these are a large number of workers, and we are very not only proud of the impact of thatprogram, but we are also very mindful that this is going to be important as we move forward. As you said, the value and the objective of that program was to maintain the important relationship, worker-employer relationship as we move through the crisis, and the great news is that a number of businesses, and we expect that to be continuingly improving a number of these businesses are going to be able to maintain that important relationship. and as the Prime Minister announced this morning, we believe that it’s important to extend that wage subsidy so thatbusinesses have the ability to hire even more workers on the wage subsidies.
and I’ll just add, I very much agree with jean-yves, and iwould just add, the wage subsidyprogram is really, really important, particularly now as we are able to begin looking cautiously with great prudence towards economic reopening. Because we really all appreciatethat the reopening is going to have to be very careful and verygradual, and what the wage subsidy does is it allows a business to operate even not at full capacity. and it allows that business, which is operating not at full capacity to continue to employ and pay its workers, and I thinkthat it has been – the wage subsidy has been a great tool sofar. I think we’re going to find it to be an even more valuable toolas we carefully move towards reopening our economy.
Reporter:
Businesses who have shuddered and won’t be reopening even in the next few months?
Well, there is an ability for not only re-hiring but hiring workers, and new workers included. So it’s designed in a manner that gives the businesses the flexibility on the decision, in the time of a decision that theywant to use. So it’s designed for that particular purpose. We understand that businesses have faced the crisis in many different ways, that they may want to start hiring new workersat different times, and that’s why extending this wage subsidy is important. [voice of interpreter]
Thank you, Mr. Minister. We will move to the lines for three more questions. [ end of interpretation ]
Operator:
Thank you, the nextquestion. [voice of interpreter]emily bergeron.
Reporter:
Thank you, My question is for Mr. Duclos. As far as the wage subsidy is concerned, or perhaps for ms. Qualtrough, now this program is being extended, and so what is the potential cost of this measure? according to the parliamentary budget officer, we are up to a cost of $75 billion, so by extending this program, how much could it potentially cost? of the applications received, how many have been processed so far?
Now with regard to the fiscal impact of this measure, even though we would like to have an exact figure, it’s hard to know what the number would be becausewe’re in a period of uncertainty. The parliamentary budget officer has done very good work forecasting, but there is no accuracy in the current uncertain context and we don’t know what the number will be until June 6, or what the number will be after it is extended beyond June 6. Or rather, Emily, would you mind repeating the question? [ end of interpretation ]
Rosemary:
We are going to pull away from this federal briefing on the response of the federal government to COVID-19 as well as an update of public health officials on the state of the pandemic. If you want to keep watching, go to our website, CBC. Ca/politics.
the focus today not only on the massive amount of job loss that has happened in this country but also on the government’s decision to make the wage subsidy program move past the month of June. We got some updated numbers there from the president of the treasury board saying that now 120, 000 businesses have applied to use that subsidy, which remember allows them to pay – which allows them to get some aid from the government to pay their employees. and they say that will help 1.7 million workers in this country, which is probably much needed because the labour market report out this morning tells us that another 2 million Canadians lost their jobs in the month of Aprils the economy went into a deep freeze. Now we’re at 3 million canadianswho no longer have employment. Add to that, though, the large number of Canadians who have lost significant hours in their work. We are more at 5.5 million people who are suffering because of that and using either the emergency relief benefit or, and the government hopes soon, the wage subsidy program as we move to the next phase of this. and I should just mention that in those unemployment numbers some areas, some people hit much harder than others. Students, vulnerable – more vulnerable workers, new Canadians and women. So something to focus on in the days ahead, of course. Our coverage continues here an CBC news network” with Andrew Nichols. I’m rosemary Barton. I’ll see you back here tomorrow. ♪♪♪