Parses captions for PM Trudeau's daily speeches and presents them in a more human readable format
Operator:
Thank you. Merci.
Reporter:
french[no translation][no translation]
Prime Minister Trudeau:
Interpreter:
Can they expect you to extend the CERB or not? the best thing is that people remain connected to their job, so they can go back to work as soon as the economy starts to re-open and that retains that attachment between employers and their workers. Now the wage subsidy also will give more money, in many cases, to people than the CERB. That is assistants we’re providing to allow for an economic recovery. and, of course, that will be an integral part of the recovery. Now we are in a situation where millions of Canadians have lost their jobs and not receiving paycheques and there is no possibility of their benefiting because they don’t have an employer. and they are benefiting from the CERB. The fact is that people would be able to use the wage subsidy more if employers rehire them and they’ll even be able to hire new workers as a result of that wage subsidy. and that means ensuring a quick recovery and an every one. Follow-up? yes, so AM I to understand, you seem to be saying that the CERB will not really be extended. is that true? well, we are looking at the fact that millions of Canadians still need the CERB. But, of course, with the economic recovery and with fewer and fewer people, having lost their jobs as they become rehired, I think we will be able to have more people benefiting from the wage subsidy than the CERB. But, again, we will be looking at the situation very carefully and we will be there for people who need help.
Operator:
Thank you. Merci.
Reporter:
Interpreter:
Good morning, Mr. Trudeau. With respect to the problems related to the CERB and the directive to ignore them, what do you intend to do about those problems? well, I think we had a very clear choice make at the beginning of this pandemic. Either we would try to goat money into the hands of people as quickly as possible and introduce measures to detect fraud and get the money back after the fact or introduce a system that would have called for very close verification hex on every file before sending out any money. But we’re in a situation now where people needed the money immediately. So the choice we made, and the only choice that could have been made was to quickly get money into the hands of all those people who applied for the CERB and sign the attestation and then afterwards, and that is what we’re preparing for now, introducing measures to recollect that money from fraudsters and, of course, that I will suffer the consequences.
Prime Minister Trudeau:
a straight forward choice that we had to make from the very beginning. Do we get the money out as quickly as possible to everyone who needed it and then bring in maeshs that go back and create consequences and get the money back from people who took it without needing it, or do we put in place a process that verifies carefully every application so that only those who needed it get it and nobody had to – and fraudsters wouldn’t be able to get it. The problem with the second approach would have been it would have been months before delivering to the well over seven million Canadians who needed it, the Canada emergency response benefit. In this situation, in this crisis, we made the deliberate choice to get the money out the door to millions of Canadians who needed it and bring in measures to go back, go after retroactively people who might have tried to defraud the system. The response in order to keep Canadians safe and healthy needed to be to get them the money quickly and that is exactly what we did. But we will ensure that fraudsters or people who got the benefits unfairly or inappropriately, will have to pay them back.
Interpreter:
Follow-up? I guess what you’re saying is that things will not change. But My follow-up question has to do wlt return of parliament. Mr. Scheer, again, is demanding a return of par wlament a limited number of M.P.s. You said you didn’t want that to happen. Has your position changed? we now have a parliament that meets in person twice a week with a limited number of M.P.s who only come from a limited number of places around the country and two days a week we have virtual sessions where members of parliament from all across the country can speak, can represent their communities. So I think this is a balance that is yielding very good results because it allows all members of parliament to express the concerns of their regions and their constituents, not just people who happen to be close to Ottawa. At the same time, we are holding in-person sessions in a safe manner to ensure that the house of commons continues to operate. We proposed that that continue in that way, but of course we will be working with all the opposition parties to ensure that during this crisis or in spite of this crisis or maybe because of this crisis, we continue to defend our democracy and our democratic institutions.
Prime Minister Trudeau’s we have a system right now where parliament sits once a week, in person, with a limited number of M.P.s who are highly concentrated around the – within driving distance from Ottawa who get to actually be there in person. But two more virtual sessions every week where M.P.s from every corner of the country get to represent the concerns of their communities. That is something that has been extremely effective in making sure that we are hearing from the breadth and scope of concerns across this country and not just those folks who are within driving distance of ottawa. We proposed to continue that and I know there will be discussions with the other parties on the best way to move forward. But we all agree we need to continue with a strong democracy and a functioning parliament in a way that ensures that concerns of Canadians from every part of this country get heard.
Thank you, operator. Next question.
Operator:
Thank you. Merci. Next question, mike blanchefield, the Canadian press. Line open.
Reporter:
Hello, Prime Minister. No contact tracing is going to be key when it comes to re-opening the economy. But right now the provinces and even some municipalitis are all doing this differently. When will we see a national plan for contact tracing and what will it look like?
Prime Minister Trudeau’s I was very pleased to have a great conversation with the premiers last night. It was our ninth virtual first ministers meeting since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis. As always, we’re working extraordinarily well. We also understand that moving forward with a massive scalup of capacity testing across the country and contact tracing that goes beyond our own regions and jurisdictions going to be important, particularly as the economy starts to re-open and Canadians start to carefully travel across provincial borders and from one jurisdiction to the other. It is still important that people stay home as much as possible, even through the re-opening. But there will be more travel because of a re-opened economy and we need to make sure that we do have coherence in our approach, across the country, on both testing and contact tracing. Which is something that we talked about a lot last night and we’ll continue to work together on to make sure that Canadians are covered from coast to coast to coast as we control this pandemic.
Interpreter:
Last night, we had our ninth virtual meeting with the premiers since the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak and we are looking at an important increase in the testing capability and the contact testing across the country. That’s very important. and that’s the only way to prevent a future outbreak of COVID-19. So, we will continue to work together so that, as the economy starts to re-open, Canadians will be traveling a little more. Not too much, but a little bit more. At that point, we really must be able to properly manage COVID-19 in a new situation. and we will be working on that.
Reporter:
What is the timeline for that plan with the premiers, Prime Minister? and when do you think parliament should be expanding beyond one emergency sitting a week so it can deal with legislation other than COVID-19?
Prime Minister Trudeau:
First of all, we know that massive testing and effective contact tracing are going to be essential to go along with re-opening of the economy. There are a number of places that are starting to look at re-opening in different places and they already know that we need to step up on our testing, on our contact tracing. The federal government is offering to work very closely with the provinces on expanding massively both our testing and contact tracing and we certainly hope that the provinces will work with us on that because everywhere across the country, as we re-open, we need to be hypervigilant to possible resurgences of COVID-19. On parliament, I look forward to being able to deal with a broad range of subjects when the time comes. Right now, our focus is rightly almost entirely on COVID-19 and getting Canadians the support necessary to get through this first phase of the crisis. But also making sure that Canadians are properly supported through what will be a difficult and convoluted process of restarting an economy while staying safe from the further spread of COVID-19.
Thank you. Operator, last question on the phone.
Operator:
Thank you. Merci. Next question, radio-Canada. Line open.
Reporter:
Yes. Hello, Prime Minister. On may 13, amnesty international sent you an open letter urging you to review your current policy and practice wondering if Canada could comply wits international obligations and guidance from the unhcr to the treatment of refugees. What is your response to this open letter which was signed by people like [inaudible].
Jaetsz » Prime Minister Trudeau Canada has a strong tradition of protecting the most vulnerable around the world, of welcoming people fleeing persecution. They have contributed significantly to Canada’s betterment and growth over the years. We have strong values of protecting the most vulnerable and being a welcoming country, while at the same time, ensuring the strenght and the rigor of our immigration systems and processes. We will continue to defend our values. We will continue to stay true to the way Canadians are open and welcoming while expecting the rules to be followed. and that is something that we will always do.
As a follow-up?
Reporter:
Yes. Where do you draw the line between protecting the health of Canadians and feeling your obligations under the refugee convention and allowing refugees to claim asylum in Canada?
Prime Minister Trudeau:
My responsibility, first and foremost, as Prime Minister of Canada, is to look out for well-being, the safety, security of Canadians and that will always be My top priority. However, in a situation of a global pandemic right now, we know that what we do in Canada is not going to be enough to keep us safe going forward unless we’re also part of the global solution, unless we are helping out countries and people around the world in dealing with the pandemic. We’ll make sure we’re getting that balance right. But first and foremost, My job is to look out for the well-being of Canadians.
Reporter:
Interpreter:
Radio-Canada. It has been concerned that some members of the c. a.f. Have contracted the virus by serving. Does that change the role of the army in these homes and what does this mean for their colleagues? the men and women in the canadian armed forces have always been ready to take risks in order to protect Canadians. They have always been there to serve in difficult times and in terrible situations. and they are again doing that in our long-term facilities. We are doing everything we can to minimize the risks that members of the military face in their jobs, whether it is overseas or here at home. and, unfortunately, as we all know, this is a situation where there are rifngs so we will be ensuring and reinforcing any measures so that our military members stay safe as much as possible and a, of course, we will need to ensure that COVID-19 does not spread within the canadian armed forces. So, we will be taking any necessary action to do that.
Prime Minister Trudeau:
The women and men of the Canadian armed forces have always stepped up to do difficult and dangerous things, when called upon. Their service to Canada, whether bit overseas or here at home, has always been exemplary and our responsibility as Canadians, as a government, is to ensure them we give them the proper support to minimize the risks that they undertake to serve Canada. They go into that knowingly willingly and that is why we offer them our deepest gratitude every day. At the same time, we need to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to protect them. So we’ll look at the protocols in place and see if and how they can be strengthened as well as ensuring that cases of COVID-19 don’t spread throughout the Canadian armed forces and others who are serving their country.
Interpreter:
Now radio-Canada talked about a woman who was pregnant and wanted to bring her husband over the border who was american. Now apparently her husband was turned back at the border. How do you react to the fact that the cbsa is applying more restrictive measures than what are provided for? well, we know it’s very difficult right now for families that are separated and where people are mourning in Nova Scotia and elsewhere for loved ones or members of their family who have died in long-term care homes without being able to see them or say good-bye to them. This requires a lot of sacrifices and puts people in very difficult situations and the border agents, like everyone else , are trying to apply the rules consistently. But there are situations that arise where, unfortunately, they’ve never seen that particular circumstance and we are trying to adjust as best possible.
Reporter:
On the c. a.f. Members contracting COVID-19, there is a veterans saying that forces members should be, given the danger of its deemployment, should be given the same kind of benefits that would receive overseas, danger pay. Thing like that. is that something that your government is open to?
Prime Minister Trudeau:
I think that is something that the Canadian armed forces is certainly looking at.
Reporter:
Ok. Can I ask you then about the wage subsidy you are talk about today? you haven’t seen businesses rehiring people at a level that you wanted. Does that say to you that there is a problem with the programme or businesses are worse off than you thought?
I think there is a reflection that this is an unprecedented situation and there is a lot of uncertainty about what the coming months might bring. As businesses are trying to figure out when they might be able to re-open or looking at numbers of cases and trying to imagine what that might mean for their business in the coming weeks and the coming months. They are busy trying to juggle a whole bunch of different factors that they have very little window into. That is why it was so important for us to announce that we will be continuing with the wage subsidy over the next three months until the end of the summer to give businesses the certainly to know that we’ll be there for them. As the economy re-opens, there is a danger of unintended consequences. I mentioned that, for example, if part of the eligibility criteria for getting the wage subsidy is decrease of 30% of your business, we wouldn’t want people who are getting back their business going to feel like they have to hold back on their growth, on their expansion, on their rehiring in order to be able to continue benefiting from the wage subsidy. So, we’re going to work with industry, work with labour, work with stakeholder groups to make sure we’re getting it right. But that wage subsidy is going to be a really important part of the coming months of recovery. We will continue to be there for businesses, to give them the certainty, to know that they can rehire their workers and get back to work in a very careful way as the economy re-opens.
Reporter:
Hi, Prime Minister. Canadians with underlying health conditions are concerned that they may have to go back to work early and putting their health at risk if the CERB isn’t extended. Will there be any measures put in place if the most vulnerable
Are put at ?rifk » Prime Minister Trudeau our focus throughout this pandemic has been the safety and security of Canadians. We know that some Canadians are more vulnerable because of age, because of underlying health factors and a every step of the way, we have focused on giving them the support they need and we will continue to do so.
Reporter:
What are the specific measures on the table for those workers?
Prime Minister Trudeau’s we’ll continue to look at the situations, as they come up and as we support people who need it during this COVID-19 crisis. We’ve delivered the CERB to over seven million Canadians. We’ve seen millions of workers get on the wage subsidy. There are measures in place for so many different groups because we know that being there for each other is part of who Canadians are and also how we’re going get through this. and that is what we’ll stay focused on.
Interpreter:
We know that we have to be there for each other, particularly the most vulnerable of our society. and that is why we introduced measures to provide funding and support for millions of Canadians. and we will continue to help them during this pandemic. Our top priority will be the health and safety of Canadians because without healthy Canadians, there can be no economic recovery.
Reporter:
For Canadians who have loved ones in the states, is family reunification considered essential? are they essential enough to cross that border at this point? I know that some CBS officers are saying no to them and not letting them across. and could this be negotiated as part of ongoing border talks?
Prime Minister Trudeau:
We know that Canadians are facing extremely difficult situations because of COVID-19 k. Whether it be families who can’t grieve the loss of a parent or a loved one, because they cannot gather and cannot hold funerals because of COVID-19, these are things that are extraordinarily difficult. Families are stretched across the country and unable to see each other. People are stuck over assess and despite the hundreds of re– the repatriation flights we’ve brought, there are others who simply can’t come home. This is a difficult situation. But every step of the way, we need to do what is necessary right now to keep Canadians safe. That is our priority, to control the spread of COVID-19. To make sure that we get it under control in Canada and prevent the importation from other countries. That continues to be the priority that Canada has and I know it is difficult on Canadians, but we need to continue to be very, very careful. If we make a wrong step in the coming weeks, everything we sacrificed over the past two months could be for nothing if we see another massive surge of COVID-19. So, we’ll continue to be extremely individual lends and extremely careful about how we move forward.
Interpreter:
We know that these are very difficult situations for many, many families across the country. That are separated from their loved one and happen to be at the other end of the country or in another country. They cannot mourn their parents or grandparents who are in trouble in our long-term care centres because we have to stem the spread of COVID-19. and that simply has to continue to be our priority. To do everything we can to control COVID-19 in Canada and prevent other cases arising when we all are successful. But we must have, as our top priority, the protection of all Canadians.
Reporter:
Immediate family members in the United States should not go to the border?
Prime Minister Trudeau:
We have established rules around traveling across borders and international travel. They need to be respected because we have to keep Canadians safe. We have to control the spread and we will be doing that.
Reporter:
and My second question is talks are beginning between the yao*ufps and the federal government about getting back to work. Example, service Canada, for example, to do that safely. Do we know when that is going to happen and I know many Canadians are struggling to find support online.
Prime Minister Trudeau:
I will highlight that the federal government did not shut down. Service Canada offerings are made online or via telephone, even though we closed the physical centres. The services that the government continues to offer to Canadians continue. We’ve seen that in exceptional measures like the Canada emergency response benefit or the wage subsidy or the students benefit or the seniors benefit or the fishers benefit. You know, the list of things that public servants in this country have continued to work on and delivered for Canadians during this crisis is extraordinary and we need to, again and again, recognize and thank the incredible public servants who deliver these measures while facing the same kind of fears and challenges, whether it is concerns about COVID-19 or dealing with working at home with a young family around. Our public servants have been exemplary through this and we’ll continue to work with them and with their unions to ensure that they are kept safe as we move forward.
[SPEAKING FRENCH] » Prime Minister Trudeau:
Merci.