Parses captions for PM Trudeau's daily speeches and presents them in a more human readable format
Rosemary:
All right, that is the Prime Minister of Canada on this Saturday of the long weekend. We are not expecting briefings from the Prime Minister Sunday or Monday, so this is the last time we’ll hear from him over the course of the long weekend. a couple of bits of news in what he had to say today, so I’ll bring in My colleague David Cochrane to help with that. I’ll start perhaps with the encouraging news, David, that they have – health Canada has authorized some clinical trial – a clinical trial for a possible vaccine at the university of – dalhousie university. So that would be a first in Canada at any rate. We know that there’s about 100 or so vaccines on the go in the world, but that would be a first clinical trial for this country. Let’s go to the air Canada move, though, because there was a lot of questions, obviously, about that.
David:
Yeah, a lot of questions on that, and not necessarily a tremendous amount of answers at this point in time, except that the government of Canada will work with the aircanada specifically and the industry more broadly to see what things they might be able to do to help that particularly challenged sector. I mean, the Prime Minister was asked everything as to, you know, what this says about the effectiveness of the programs they rolled out and whether or not they consider expanding federal aid to do things like cover pension and benefit obligations for large companies, maybe even taking an equity stake in a struggling company like air Canada. Nothing ruled out, nothing ruledin. I think it would be difficult for the government to take on the pension and benefits obligations for a large-scale industry in this country when it’s already agreed to take on asignificant portion of the wagesof large-scale and small-scale business in this country. But you know, the word of the age is unprecedented, rosie, so why ruse anything out when it isa possibility of a choice between air Canada going under or drastically downsizing to a fraction of what it was going into this. The government may have to look at some very specific options, much like the other issue he wasasked about in terms of helping cities. I mean, as we go through these daily question and answer sessions with the Prime Minister, you can just see the sheer scope and scale of the challenge that from an individual canadian all the way up to the top of the corporate suites of the business role in Canada, what they are facing. You have airlines laying off more than 50% of their staff, 45% of the canadian workforce ison some sort of direct government aid, the emergency response benefit or the wage subsidy. You have cities, many of whom are restricted from legislation, from running deficits and going into debt, crying out for enormous financial help. Major transit services that run municipally and provincially having to scale back and cut their level of services. and all of these people, from provincial governments to industry to municipal governments to public agencies are looking at one level of government, the federal government for help, because it has the best balance sheet in the country and the most fiscal room to manoeuvre, but that roomgets gobbled up really, really quickly as you go through these announcements on the expansion of everything from child benefits to wage subsidies for companies.
Rosemary:
Yeah. I will say that was the first I had heard him at least acknowledge that the federal government is eager to hear ideas from provinces on how to bail out cities, because the cities – this week in particular – sort of ramp ed up the desperation, I think, for large cities in their pleas for some kind of support that they know very well will have to come via the federal government. I’ll just go back to the air Canada bailout idea. It just – that, too, is very complicated, as you say, because if you decide that you have to bail out air Canada, and you heard from My guest earlier that that would be something the federal government may have to do, then where do you sort of put the limit? what do you not bail out? you know, how do you explain to other big companies or industries that are being hard hit that they don’t get a bailout? I mean, I think that once you open the door to that, it becomes extremely complicated for the government, and when they put that lee ff program in place, the large employer bridge financing program in place, I think that’s what they were hoping, was that would be enough that they didn’t have to get into the business of bailing people out.
David:
Yeah, and it gets more complex I think the bigger the company is. You look at the small business aid package that was out there, the wage subsidy there, the big tweak that was made to that was that they would remit CPO and eipremiums that a small business might have to pay for hiring people back to make it as cost neutral as possible. That’s an easy fix for small businesses who don’t have defined benefit or defined contribution pension plans, or even like broad health benefits plans. The bigger the company gets, the more those obligations get complicated and far more expensive, and it becomes a big ask to get the federal government to cover those. So this becomes a sort of – the challenges that are there. Air Canada undoubtedly is a strategically important company for this country.
Rosemary:
Yes.
David:
So is westjet, you know, so air Canada, though much larger and has a bigger international footprint, the challenges they face are just astronomical right now, because there is nothing but uncertainty in the world. I mean, we had the great news off the top that researchers at dalhousie, they have approval to start clinical trials. Clinical trials is a long way from a vaccine which is a long way from the manufacturing of a vaccine which is a long way to the vaccination of the population to get herd immunity. The fundamental questions of what happens with air Canada can’t be answered until that happens.
Rosemary:
I’ll leave you there for a little bit, and I’llleave people with this note too. Today air Canada – Canada crossed the threshold of the 75, 000 COVID-19 cases in this country, but the good news is there are now more recovered cases than active ones. Keep that in mind. So while the airline industry is hoping the federal government will perhaps provide some more support as they move forward, there’s another sector looking to stay afloat during this pandemic. New Brunswick lobster season is under way, but this year the shortage of temporary foreign workers in that province has left a worrying labour gap. That gap is forcing some seafood plants to take a different approach and hire students. Coming up, we’ll speak to a father and son who will be working side by side this summer right after this break. ♪♪
Rosemary:
Hi, welcome back. In New Brunswick, lobster season is under way, but this year the shortage of temporary foreign workers has left a bit of a labour gap, so the province did hold a virtual job fair, but some fisheries and processing plants found it didn’t help. In an effort to fill in lost labour, some seafood plants are turning to students to help process lobsters. Russell Jacob is the owner of west more land fisheries and he’salso working at the plant with his son there. That’s zakary beside him. Good to see you both.
Hi, nice to meet you.
Rosemary:
Hi. Russell, let’s start with you. So the province held a job fair, and what was the outcome?
Disastrous. It was a virtual job fair, and it was really hard to understand how to get through to the job postings. First you had to create an account, and I tried myself. It was very, very confusing, and had people also check as well, and they said the same thing. and we had one applicant, and the person was from Mexico. So it’s not efficient at all, and with no results, zero results.
Rosemary:
Normally, where would your labour come from at this time of year?
Well, we have many local employees who have between 150 to 200 local employees, and we also have the – between 150 and200 foreign workers, depending on the year, how busy we are. and most of them come from Mexico. We have Filipinos, Indonesians, they have been here for many years and they are part of the family, right?
Rosemary:
and what happened this year? they weren’t allowed to come in? you couldn’t get them? what was the complication?
They were disallowed by our provincial government. They put a ban on tows crossing the border.
Rosemary:
and what did you think of that? because we know that other temporary foreign workers have been allowed in other parts of the country, in Quebec, Ontario, to help with farming. I think there’s about 11, 000 that have been allowed into the country. What do you make of your province’s decision to not allowthat?
Very upsetting and very discouraged at our own provincial government’s pulled avast one on us, at the last minute too, with no warning signs at all. Our neighbours, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, their governments are actually embracing the foreign workers to save their manufacturers, the fishing industry and the farmingindustry. The P.E.I. Government, Nova Scotia government took charge and they took possession of foreign workers as soon as they came in the province. They put them in hotels and theydid their quarantining there with security, and they had mealplans and everything. After the quarantine, they are delivered to the plants to be able to work and help out, right?
Rosemary:
So zakary is not just sitting there for his five minutes of fame. He’s sitting there because you hired your son to help you in the plant because you’re down workers. Maybe I’ll start asking zakary, how old are you again, zakary?
13.
Rosemary:
You’re 13. That’s young to have a job like that. When your dad said I need some help, what did you say to him?
I said yes, and I wanted to come here before, and he said I need help, so I got to go help him.
Rosemary:
and do you know how to do the work?
Yes.
Rosemary:
You do. is he paying you?
Yep.
Rosemary:
Oh, that’s good. [laughter]so, russel, obviously your son, it’s fairly easy to fire – hire him, and it sounds like he’s interesteded in work anyway. But you’ve tried to get other students on board. Can you tell me about that?
Actually, I didn’t need to try. The word got around that zakary was working around here, so they started applying. We have – today we had around 10 teenagers, 13, 14, 15, 16-year-olds. Tomorrow we’re – there’s about seven more adding to that.
Rosemary:
Wow.
and wonder we will add more. We had about 40 to 60 applicants from the teenagers, but we had zero applicants from the virtual job fair, but at least the local kids are stepping up to the plate and they are really, I must say, My hat’s off to them. They are really helping out.
Rosemary:
That’s great. I guess zakary is familiar with the business a little bit, but are teens – can they do this work? how hard is it to train them?
Well, this morning we’re a bit nervous, but you know what, they surprised us. Very, very surprisingly they caught on the work. You know, we will have them do different kind of jobs through their work term here, and so we don’t want them to get bored. We want them to love it as much as possible and show up every day. But no, it went very, very well this morning. The kids surprised me, and eager to learn. and we probably learned more from them than they will learn from us, right?
Rosemary:
Yeah. Are you surprised that this is working, that you’ve come up with this – I mean, that’s one of the things about this whole pandemic is people coming up with really creative ideas to solve solutions, and this is one of them. Were you surprised by that?
I didn’t expect it, but just so we’re clear, no, they are not going to replace our foreign workers that have the experience. We’re going to be – our efficiency will be down by a lot. Our capacity will most likely be down by 60%, and you know, it’s going to be a bit chaotic in the next weeks to come, if there’s allot of lobsters being landed.
Rosemary:
The government did offer a couple weeks back $62 million for processing plants so you could buy, you know, personal protective equipment or extra freezer room. Have you tapped into any of thatsupport?
Not yet, no. We have paid for all the P.P.E. Ourselves. You know, we have our own freezer here, and we use other freezers, but yeah, no, the federal government’s been a big help so far, and we’re just trying to get through the season.
Rosemary:
Yeah. and, zakary, have you convinced any of your buddies to get on board and get a job too?
Yeah. Well, I told them and they were, like, yeah, come – like, I told them and they were – they wanted to come too.
Rosemary:
Yeah, that’s good. I’m impressed. I don’t know that I could do that work, so I’m very impressed that you wanted to help your dadout, and I’m glad you’re gettingpaid.
Yeah. [laughter]
Rosemary:
Okay, Russel and zakary Jacob. They are the owner of westmoreland fisheries and we reached them in cap Pele, New Brunswick. Merci. thanks.
Thank you.
Bye.
Rosemary:
Bye-bye. I’ll bring back david Cochrane, just as we wait for the noon briefing to begin with some federal cabinet ministers and public health officials. See, you can get your kids doingyour work, if you pay them, and they can get their buddies helping out too.
David:
I was a 6-year-old anda 3-year-old with a lot of energy who are going a little bit house crazy.
Rosemary:
Ship them out to New Brunswick.
David:
If premier Higgs will let us cross the border, I will drop them off tomorrow.
Rosemary:
He probably won’t, unfortunately. I will bring people up to speed on a couple of things they need to know out of the Prime Minister’s briefing. The Canada child benefit, which we knew was going to get that extra $300 bump. He also confirmed that it is going up as it does annually in case people were concerned aboutthat. Because I know a lot of people rely on that in their families, and it does obviously increase each year. The other thing that happened yesterday, David, was the student aid being opened up for people as well, and I have had some tweets already that it seems to be going fairly smoothly for them as well.
David:
Yeah, every week it seems another new multi-billion dollar aid package comes online, and credit to the federal publicservice, not necessarily on the design of the programs, but in the administration of them, the internet portals. We said at the very beginning ofthis pandemic, rosie, the rollout of these aid programs would be a test for the I. T. systems of the government. To this point, that has not beena problem. There have been problems with the programs, people getting money they shouldn’t get, peoplegetting double payments or underpayments that they need to work out in terms of design and administration, but to this point, at least, the I. T. systems have held and people have been able to get the money in their pocket. The political haggling over the student aid program, though, will be an interesting one to see there is an insistence from some quarters that to get this money you have to be willing to go take some jobs in sectors like agriculture or wherever. Whether that comes to pass and how it is tracked and how it canbe demonstrated and whether it’senough to satisfy the people whowant that as a condition of help.
Rosemary:
Okay, David, I’ll leave it there just for a moment if you don’t mind. We’re going to take a short break here on CBC news network”. when we come back at the top of the hour we’ll go to the federal briefing with cabinet ministers and public health officials for the very latest on federal aid during this pandemic. I’m rosemary Barton. You’re watching CBC news network”. ♪♪
Rosemary:
Hi there. I’m rosemary Barton here in thenation’s capital. Thanks for joining us. We are standing by to hear from federal cabinet ministers on the announcements the prime minister made about 45 minutes ago. They are expected to give us more details that the Prime Minister hinted at earlier. For instance, that health canadahas approved the first canadianclinical trial for a potentialcovid-19 vaccine and that news comes as the scale of the pandemic continues to grow. Re are tracking a total number of confirmed cases of more than75, 000. As I indicated earlier, recovered cases are now more than the active cases, people who have recovered from thevirus. In different parts of the country on this long weekend, there are things that you can do that you weren’t able to do many weekends ago and part of that is happening in Ontario. It is one of the provinces that is very slowly lifting some of the health restricts because of the high number of cases still in this province. Part of the plan by the premier, Doug ford, to try to restart the economy in different ways. There are new guidelines in place on golf courses to maximize physical distancing and limit contact points where the virus can be passed on. For more, I’m joined by the marketing director at tpcdirector at off spree valley and that is a golf course just outside of Toronto which is behind him and good to see you.
How are you?
Good. I’m not a golfer myself but know mean people who are and were anxiously awaiting this day and seems like something should be able to do and still follow physical distancingrestrictions, requirements. So how have you adapted to make sure people can do that?
Yeah, we’ve spent a lot of time putting a detailed plan together to looks like what it from the type people arrive on teproperty until they leave. Everybody has a role to bring this into our lives safely andthankfully, we’re able to put Alan together in advance and once the government allowed us to give us notice to open onsaturday, we were relatively well planned to go ahead with that and it’s really just about managing expectations and really the attitude that we’re all in this together.
How busy sit there today?
Well, we filled up all of the tee times for this weekend within a few minutes. I’m sorry about that. [ laughter ]
That’s Ok. one of the hazards of being outside. [ laughter ]
Our tee times sold out within in a matter of minutes andthat’s because we have fewer tee times than we normally would. We have 20% capacity because we wanted to take sure we could do this safely first. That was the primary from theget-go, was making sure we wantto get off the ground runningand we can do this with safeoperations and not try to putthe cart before the horse andget ahead of ourselves and makesure everybody is safe when theyget here.
I know a lot of people were asking or thinking about what you would do with the actual hole after you sink a putt and have you had to adapt that? because obviously, that could Beau source of transmission.
Yeah, the government provided some suggestions and best practises for what to do. a lot of courses have used spool noodle or raised cup. We have the pin Candy which allows the ball to pop out of the hole so the golfers don’thave to touch the hole and we were able to test that and we feel it’s a good, safe system for people to use. But everybody is doing thingsdifferently. The golf courses have been given an opportunity to put in apposition where we have a lot of responsibility to do this right and everybody is doing things Little bit differently based on the best practises that were outlined by the government.
Brian Decker, good of you to make the time and do that outside for us, even with the gusts of wind. I hope the weekend goes well andyou’re one of the first businesses out there reopening and you’ll be a good test foreverybody. Appreciate your time.
Thank you.
That’s Brian Decker wit golfer PC Toronto and looks like a beautiful day.
let’s go to the federal briefing in Ottawa with federal cabinet ministers. This is Minister hussy thanks.
We announced the emergency support fund in the amount of$350 million in assistance to nonprofits and the charitable sector organizations that support the most vulnerable in our communities. I’m happy to announce today that starting on may 19th, community-based organizationsthat require financialassistance to reorient theiroffices to vulnerable canadiansduring the pandemic will be ableto apply for funding through ourpartner organizations. The government of Canada ispleased to work hand in handwith the United Way Canada, thecanadian red cross and ourpartners will post informationon eligibility criteria and howorganizations can apply for thatfunding on Tuesday, may 19th. While we remain focused onhelping Canadians through thispandemic, the government ofcanada also recognises thatthere are additional challengesfaced by vulnerable canadiansincluding african and blackcanadians. In recognition of people withafrican dissent, I’m proud to say they’re moving ahead to upto $25 million over four years in assistance to black canadiancommunity organizations, including $5 million in capitalassistance. Later this spring, we will sharedetails on how theseorganizations can apply forgrants to build the necessarycapacity and infrastructure tobetter serve black canadiancommunities. We will then work with thenetwork for the advancement ofblack Canadians, communityservices, as well as the blackbusiness initiative and thegroup transet, transset todisperse these investmentsbefore the end of 2020. Charities and nonprofitorganizations have alreadystepped up to help the mostvulnerable in our communities. Even if the most challenging ofcircumstances, they havecontinued to help the mostvulnerable in our communitiesand now is the time for us tohelp them in return. We have your backs. Merci.
Thank you.
Merci. (speaking french).
We’re on the line for minister mosef.
Ovid has hit women hardest, for their kids and elders and women are the on the frontlinesof the crisis and supportworkers, childcare workers and, nurses and healthcare worker sand social workers. The race of agenda-basedviolence were high puerto ricopre- covidwith a woman being kiysix days in Canada. With the pressures people areexperiencing, our partners aretelling us the rapes andseverity of the violence haveincreased. At the same time, someorganizations are telling usthings are eerily quiet, particularly in rural andisolated regions of our countryand some women are unable toseek help in scrutiny andcontrolled and lack to access tofriends, extended families, community centres, schools, places of worship. and the pandemic doesn’t makedomestic violence stop. It just silences it. We may not be able to see it, but we know it is happening, making gender-based violence ashadow pandemic. Domestic violence everywhere andalways is about inequality ofpower. When the powerful feel loss ofcontrol, some become depressed, some snap, unleashingfrustrations on those aroundthem. Domestic violence is a universalphenomenon and it happens inrich and poor households, inrich and poor nations and inurban, rural and remote sets. Settings. We understand some women andchildren may not be awaresupport organizations are openand ready to help. To ensure that the organizationsare able to continue theircritical work at this physicaltime, our government announced$50 million to support them. $40 million is being deliveredto My department and forindigenous organizations andwill flow through indigenousservice’s Canada. $23 million has been provided towomen’s shelters Canada and thecanadian women’s foundation whoworked quickly and tirelessly tolet money into the bank accountsof frontline organizations andwe thank them for this work. Funding began to flow in apriland as of today, I can confirmthat 422 women shelters and 89sexual assault organizationshave received funding. We’ve reached a separateagreement with the governmentsof Quebec that will see over$6 million in federal fundingflow to frontline organizations in the province. Those funds were transferred toquebec earlier this month. Organizations are using thesefunds to keep their doors open, may their staff, purchasecleaning supplies and ppe, laptops and software to supportclients remotely, protectworkers and allow for necessaryphysical distancing measures. As a part of the $50 millionthat was previously announced, $10 million will be distributedto address gaps and supporthundreds of other organizations. All eligible organizations willreceive funding by early juneand I will have more details toshare on this in the comingdays. So if you’re experiencingviolence at home, if your homeis not a safe home for you oryour children, you do not have to stay. I know you’re afraid, but thereare thousands of smart, caringprofessionals in every corner ofthis country who can help. Reach out to one directly ortalk to someone to discuss youroptions and plan your exit. Visit sheltersafe. Ca for moreresources. If you or someone you know is inimmediate danger call 9-1-1 oryour local emergency services. There are also people answeringcrisis lines who can help you, even if you have only a fewminutes to talk, including thekid’s helpline at (800)668-6868. If you can’t speak on the phone, signal for help is a simpleone-handed signal you can use ona video call. It can help you silently showyou need help and want someoneto check in with you in a safeway. It’s been developed by thecanadian women’s foundation. Put your thumb to the camera andtuck your thumb and then trapyour thumb. If you see someone signaling forhelp like this, visit thecanadian women’s foundationwebsite to find out how you canhelp. Your help and safety iseveryone’s priorities from thevirus and from those who may bethreatening you. No one should have to livethrough violence whether it bephysical, psychological, orsexual. These are difficult times butthe pandemic has alsohighlighted canadian’stremendous capacity for socialsolidarity and shared sacrificefor one another. We will continue to be there foreach other and things will getbetter. We are deeply grateful towomen’s organizations andequality-seeking organizesacross the country, providingservices to vulnerable women andtheir children. They are providing criticalsupports and we will continue tosupport them so that they cancontinue to be there for womenand children in their hour ofneed. Merci.
Merci. thank you, Minister. We’ll now here from ministering.
Thank you. Women, and business owners are being affected by COVID-19, like in retail, hospitality and the service industries. (speaking french).
Their businesses are generally smaller and morevulnerable. Because of COVID-19, making mane taking on more of this women. Work. This work. I know many women are wearing so many different hats and at time incredibly challenging anduncertain. I want you to know we see you and we are doing everything we can to support you. You make vital contributions to our community and our economy. That’s why years ago, our government has the women strategy with a $200 billion access to funding, networks and expertise to succeed in thecanadian economy and, indeed, this investment actually has totaled closer to $5 billion, when you have financing forwomen-owned business looking toexcerpt globally. We are hoping them to pay theirrent and saving child benefitfor parents, increasing fundingto address gender-based violenceand so much more. (speaking french).
Today, we are supporting women entrepreneurs even more. We provide targeted support to organizations dedicated to helping women business owners. In the coming week, this investment will help thousands of women entrepreneurs navigate through this crisis and give women tailored support through things like business workshops, mentor ships and skill training to help adapt to themarketplace. I know that this is frightening time for many business leaders, especially women leaders. It is about getting support and what comes next. So let me say this clearly, we’re hear for you and our work is far from over. We will support you ever step of the way through this. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Minister. Exceptionally today we’ll star tin the room with McKenzie and then we’ll go to the phone.
Question:
On March 26th, the government closed all thecanada service centres. I can go to the driving range, home depot and many other provinces are opening back up. When will service Canada open back up?
We took the opportunity to close this on the analysis on the important of employeesafety, as well as the safety of our clients. However, this has not impactedservice. We have redeployed 3, 000 staff members to better servecanadians through COVID-19 and we have a 1500-agent call centre that is taking calls related to service Canada. We are providing services tocanadians and in terms of what happens next, the government has issued guidelines onapril 28th and it will be gradual and based on the health advice from officials.
Question:
Grocery store shave been open all this time and they put up Plexiglas and did other things. They are responsible for helpingcanadians receive the benefits they need right now.
and that hasn’t stopped.
Question:
I’m not debating it stopped. Many journalists get calls for people with limited access to the computer and maybe they’reon the phone and would like Togo in-person. Why are places not open andother places are open?
So we made the decision base don the consideration of our clients who would visit thesesites. However, the services are being supplied to Canadians and, infact, we have redeployed staff to make sure that happens. In addition to that, for those who are not able to access theinternet, we took proactive measures to not only scale up our ability to take phone calls, but we also went through our outreach and liaison officer sand went through trusted community organizations to reach out to the most vulnerable and those who are not able to access the internet, to be able to ensure to them, to assure them that we have a number of means to access service including individual agents who are working through people through applications when they are unable to fill them online or even access the phone lines. As I said, we will make those decisions based on the advice of our health officials.
Thank you, Minister. We’ll now turn to the phoneoperator.
Operator:
Please press star1 if you have a question. The first question from teresawright from the Canadian press.
Question:
This question is for Minister Ing, about the aircanada layoffs and I’m sure aircanada and the public will be wondering if a bail-out would bewelcome to this country. The Prime Minister didn’t sayyes to this but also didn’t sayno. When looking at the situation, is there a concern that bail-outfor this company to open thefloodgates?
I want to thank you for this question and the utmost concern is helping our companies and our workers through this very difficult time and the canadaemergency wage subsidy is there, waiting for companies to help keep their employees on staff and we just announced a few day sago a large enterprise facility that is going to provide as Alas resort funding support for those companies who may be looking for it. But the work will have to continue and this period is are ally challenging one forcanadian businesses and that’swhy we begin to introduce the many emergency measures we have to help businesses weather through this difficult period.
Operator:
is there afollow-up? question. They said moneygiven to shelter9aid is not reaching indigenouswomen, particularly those livingoff reserve. What will you do to rectifythis?
Thank you. Minister Bennett and I were on ac all from indigenous leaders from various correspondence of the country yesterday and we have provided supports to indigenous women’s organization son reserve and we are planning on deploying further funds to strengthen the work of those who are working and doing really important work offer reserve, in urban centres, so more to com eon that.
Operator:
Thank you. The next question is from cbcand Teresa patella.
Question:
Hi there. This is for Minister Ing, as we heard air Canada plans to layoff more than half of its workforce and did use the wage subsidy and would have had access to bridge loans. What does this latest update tell you about the effectiveness of these programs?
I think that this is absolutely a challenging time. We certainly heard it from many businesses of all sizes across the country and the measures that we have put out is, indeed, how businesses weather through this difficult and challengingperiod. So whether it is to help and keep their employees with wage subsidy or helping with lending products with the small businesses but businesses in need of all sizes, including businesses in Canada, we know that sectors, particularly like tourism have been particularly hard hit as a result ofcovid-19. This is work that we’ll have to continue to do to support our work experts to to support ourcanadian companies threw this difficult time and that workdoesn’t stop. It continues.
Question:
Regardless of these measures, air Canada is still engaging in layoffs and do you foresee some businesses not surviving this crisis, regardless of governmentsupport?
I think throughout thisperiod, our focus has absolutely been on helping our Canadians, helping workers and helping businesses manage through this period and this period has been particularly difficult. For some, as in tourism, we’llhave to keep doing the work we have been with canadianbusinesses to weather through this period so that we can come out of COVID-19.
Operator:
Thank you, Minister. McKenzie, back to you.
Question:
It’s my understanding that generally when a company of this size lays off this number of people, they have to inform the federal government there have to be layoffs of this size. Has air Canada done that or did they give you a heads up before becoming public?
I’m not aware of that, but would say what is available to air Canada, as well as companies of all sizes and in all sectors across the country is the canadaemergency wage subsidy, where employers can, indeed, keep their employees on staff and keeping employers and employees together is something that is really important and we want our workers to be supportive didn’twe also want to make sure that companies are getting the help they need through this time. We’ve also extended the wage subsidy support, so that will go until August and we’re going have to keep doing the work to ensure companies of all sizes are supported throughout thisperiod.
The Prime Minister mentioned the need for workers to stay with their companies. If federal funds are given to air Canada, will it be on the condition or any other business, for that matter, that they rehire the employees they have laid off?
Well, the conditions that we have put out, particularly for the wage subsidy has to do with revenue decline, so if you’reseeing revenue decline, you absolutely will get access to the wage subsidy and in the large enterprise facility, there are conditions with respect to that facility that ensure thatcanadian taxpayers are, indeed, considered and in the course of those considerations.
Question:
My final question for you, right now if you have had a flight with air Canada or any of the other airlines that have been canceled, they’re not giving you a refund. They’re either giving you accredit or pushing your flightfirst-degree murder. First-degree murder. Forward. Should many have confidence thatthey will honour their flightswhen planes will take off?
Well, air Canada has been and continues to be a good canadiancorporation and we hope that aircanada will treat its customers in the way that they always have and I’m hopeful they, of course, will ensure that they are serving their customers well.
Thank you, Minister. That’s it for today and thankyou, everyone.
Rosemary:
That is the short version of the federal briefingtoday, public health officials are not there and just a handful of cab net ministers. Cabinet ministers. a lot of thesnworking around the clock anddavid Cochran has been listening in with us and lots of attempts there to try to get theminister’s small business andmary nag to say anything about air Canada and it would not be wise for her to do that is she did not.
David:
I think it’s hard to get specific answers and next steps from the government on the news of what is happening on aircanada is less than 24 hoursold. It was after supper last night where the Canadian press was the first to break the story that this was coming and a bunch of things going on. Air Canada has to give official notice to the federal government and trying to negotiate some sort of workplace concession sand cost reductions with its employees to minimize the impact of any sort of workforce restructuring and these are things that all take time is it has to see if it will negotiate with the government for some kind of bridge financing under the leaf program, the large employer emergency fund only announced this week and is negotiation of bridge financing and loans in excess of$60 million for these big companies on commercial terms with specific repayment and operational terms. So there is still a lot of different to settle on the aircanada situation right now because it is, in fact, so new and so seismic and significant. It’s had an absolutely atrocious first quarter because of thepandemic. The second quarter promises to be even worse than the first, where they lost a million dollars and hemorrhaging nearly million dollars an hours at hey continue to operate. So there will be enormous pressure and calls on the federal government to dosomething. Some will say don’t help aircanada. People who have tickets with them and who want refunds rather than just a credit, I think when you see the numbers coming outofair Canada, you can see why they may not have the cash to dorefunds. This will be a live issue in virtual parliament as the government has to sit down and have a conversation to see what they can do. The Prime Minister pressedrepeatedly, where there will Beau bail-out, will you coveragepension and benefit costs and nodirection answers but a promiseto we’ll see which is a commonanswer.
Rosemary:
The government wants to see how this will unfold and whether they will need support. We heard from an earlier guest that you’re not going to really let air Canada fail. I don’t think that’s something the government would be keen on doing but may be too soon to say in what capacity they do more at this stage. As I said earlier, if you open the door to air Canada, you risk opening the door to other kinds of bail-outs of substantialsize. Although, I understand aircanada is different in terms ofhow necessity is to thefunctioning of the economy.
David:
You’ve got empty planes and empty hotel chains around the country and the staffing costs not making money because people aren’t getting on planes and going to a city which requires them to stay in ahotel. So staggering and unprecedented challenges ahead for theeconomy, Rosie, with air canadabeing the first large industrial player to really put up the emergency signal flare in profound way dealing with thisworkforce.
Rosemary:
David, thank you for your help. David has an excellent piece atcbc. Ca/politics and he tries toanswer some of those questionsso could take a read of that.
our next guest helps to run two women shelters in ontariobecause we also heard about some additional funds for women shelters today, as well as some information there frommaryam monsef and her shelter has received funding and she does plan on applying for more, given that 350 million will be available for these kinds of organizations starting ontuesday. Jean Hutton is the director ofwomen’s crisis of the waterlooregion and she joins us.
Thank you for having me on.
We appreciate it. We’ve done a couple of storieshere. My colleague, Ashley Burke, about how incredibly difficult the situation is for people being abused right now and how, also, the numbers have gone up. Can you give us a picture of what you’ve seen in yourcentres?
We’ve seen some of our numbers decline. Typically we run at 90% capacity and lately, since the pandemic, we’ve had about 40, 50, 60%capacity and we’re not seeing as many women reach out to us. They’re also not calling our support line in the same numbers they would have previously.
Minister monster has spoken to it and that’s not because it is not happening.
Yeah.
So tell me what’s going onthere. It’s not that there are fewer people in these terrible times undergoing stress. What is actually happen.
Well, unfortunately, I don’tthink women are safe to reachout. They’re just not having the opportunity that they would have previously when their abusive partner would go out into thecommunity, out for work, whatever that may look like and so we actually recently – we did it within a matter of couple of days that we added an online chat feature because we really wanted to make sure women could reach us that need to and we actually had a family come in just in the last couple of day sand she said to us that if wedidn’t have that chat feature, we might not have gotten tosafety. So that was good news for us. But there’s a lot of worries that domestic violence is actually increasing right now, but our numbers are decreasing. So I just don’t think women, it’s safe for them to reach out and I think it’s hard for them to plan ahead and make such major moves when there’s so much uncertainty happening right now.
For sure, whether it be economic uncertainty or health uncertainty and these people, ofcourse, are stuck in their homes with the abuser, as well.
Yeah, exactly.
You’ve received some support from Ottawa and what else could you do, if you would get moremoney, to adapt your services to the situation we’re in now?
We’re really looking ahead because we’re all predicting that once things start to openup, we’ll see an increased demand for our services. So we’re look ahead at how to plan for that potential demand increase and how we can reach women sooner, always looking at how to shift our efforts to be more upstream and any money will help us in that regard knowingwe’re seeing our costs go up because of managing the pandemic in the shelter and then also seeing fundraising revenues decrease because we’re having to cancel some of our major events.
For sure and I’ll leave it with this. If there was someone watching right now who was in this situation and very worried and frightened and not sure what todo, what would you say to them?
I wouldn’t want them to feel alone and I would want them to find a safe way to reach out for help to make sure they get some guidance if they are thinking ofleaving. Because we know it’s the highest risk time for women. and I say to family, friends and neighbours to look out for one another because we know thatit’s maybe not safe for a women to reach out, so we’re also really relying on those around them to help them take care and to call for help if needed.
Such an important message. Jean Hutton, thank you for making the time. I appreciate it.
Thank you so much. Have a gate day.
You, too. That’s the director of thewomen’s crisis services of thewaterloo region. They are reiterating measures that they’ve taken but reminding you that the childcare benefit, the one-time additional paymentof $300 is available andconfirming that as it has sincethe government put it intoplace, that child benefit will, in fact, go up. Lots of comments, though, too, on the layoff of the potentially20, 000 people at air Canada withthe government, the Prime Minister specifically not sayingmore about a potential bail-out, given the numbers of programmesalready available to air canadaand mowing that this may besomething they have tocontemplate down the road. I’m rosemary barton and theprime Minister is taking acouple days off this weekend andi will, too. Michael serapio continues afterthis short break. Thank you for watching and takegood dear.