Parses captions for PM Trudeau's daily speeches and presents them in a more human readable format
Rosemary:
That is the Prime Minister of Canada on thismonday morning, in case you’restill registering days of the week as I AM [ laughter ]
Rosemary:
a significant announcement by the Prime Minister around paid sick leave after a negotiation, I guess, is the best way to put it between the Boston and the NDP I’ll bring back Vassy and dad for some analysis. It’s a commitment by Ottawa todo this, but a lot yet to be worked out with the provincesyet, Vassy.
Vassy:
You can see it in the way the liberals and the way the prime Minister framed that commitment and it could be unequivocal question, we’redoing this, it will happen as this date. It wasn’t that but as close to political speak as you can get to that. This is as we were discussing previous to the Prime Minister’sremarks, something the NDP Put forth, that the NDP Wants ten days and he referencedjagmeet Singh and their discussion is that he will push forward with discussions with the provinces on that. He was later asked, Ok. where do those discussions sit? will you split the bill? which premiers do support it? and we know john Horgan, he, infact, has been calling for at least a few weeks now for the federal government to do something about this. The Prime Minister didn’t name other premiers. My guess is the answer to the second question if the bill will be split or it will be the federal government primarilypaying, we’ll have an impact on how they decide or they’refacing a massive cash crunch. a significant win, I think you can say, for the NDP Secondly what they said wascanadians for disabilities. We didn’t hear anything from the prime Minister to that effect, but the debate in parliament right now in the eventual quote could be a ways off and there’stime for movement on that. The other thing I wanted to flag is the waive subsidy, the answers the Prime Minister gave where subsidy is concerned. This was put forth a number of months ago, not a huge uptake but for employers of all sizes, including employers to subsidizewages, up to 75% of their wages. It was revealed four politicalparties, including the liberal sand conservatives, the NDP and green party are using it to pay their worker. The Prime Minister got a number of questions about that, about were whether or not they designed the programme knowing they would apply and the only answer that he gave was the purpose of the programme, it’svery much directed keepingcanadians employed and making sure people who work for those organizations are able to benefit from it. So the focus has been the worker and the benefit to them. Where he didn’t answer, though, was on those questions, were you aware when you designed theprogramme you would benefit fromit? My inbox has been full of people struggling to access theprogrammes, who have fallen between the cracks and upset in the conservative and liberal cases that those two parties which did raise millions ofdollars, think, 21 million for the liberals in 2019 and30 million for the conservatives in 2019, that they are choosing to access these programmes when they could use some of thatwarchest. I think My guess is debate, the block leader, the blanched has been critical. He provided reasoning for the programming but didn’t explain why he felt his party should benefit from it.
Rosemary:
No, he didn’t atall, really.
Rosemary:
So many of the parties are using it. The bloc is not using it which allows Mr. Blanched to fire openly in the direction of the other parties. On the sick leave, only employees in Quebec and P.E.I. and those under the canadalabour code have some sort ofpaid sick leave and it is notsomething that exists widelyacross the country and the ideathat you would get ten days ofpaid sick leave if you had aconcern you had COVID-19 orcovid-like symptoms and work ofdabout going into work, that could make a big difference to people if they can get this sorted out, David. That’s where the issue lies now.
David:
It’s not about thepresent-day situation. If you listen to the originstory of this, as the Prime Minister tells us, thepossibility of the a secondwave. The idea of preparing for thesecond wave may seem a long wayoff, but you have to do it atthis point in time from theordering of equipment to thestockpiling of supplies to thecreation and drafting of supportprogrammes that will be neededto minimize any potential secondwave impact. Horgan asked if there’s an openletter from the prime ministerfrom the business groups allacross the country and the majorones in Ontario and britishcolumbia, in particular, andthis is something the Prime Minister says should they get toan agreement, and well be it to the premier who stands in theway of paid sick leave in apandemic, this could last beyondthe COVID-19 ages. This is something they look atas the creation of a newnational social programme ofsome sort as we seem to becreates every two to three weeksnow. It’s something the Prime Minister has put squarely on thetable. So we will get reaction from theprovinces and the chair of thecouncil of the federation, whichis the organization ofprovisional and territorialpremiers that meets every yearand coordinates before they sitdown for the teleconference theydo, typically, every thursdaynight during this pandemic, tosee exactly where they are onthis. I know that the financialability of some provinces is notthe same as the others, right? like the ability of paying forbig programmes, provinces likenewfoundland and labrador whichare really strugglingfinancially, they may be limitedon this. So whatever comes out of this, iwould suspect to make it asuniform that the federalgovernment will have to do theheavy financial lifting.
Rosemary:
If you look at the commercial rent programme, they ask for 25% buy-in from theprovinces and we’ll see ifprovinces can pony up that muchand it’s not clear how much thiswould cost. I’ll just remind viewerswatching us on “cbc newsnetwork,” you’re watching thedaily pandemic update. We just heard from the Prime Minister and in a few moment’stime we will hear from thefederal cabinet ministers on thepicture nationally in thiscountry of how we’re doing withthe pandemic. (please stand by). and last time we talked she was thinking about re-opening and how that would all work. We wanded to bridgesing you back because obviously commercial rent is probably your biggest expense, I would imagine. and I wonder, having two stores, what you’ve been able to do and what your landlord has told you.
Well, thank you for having me back, rosy.
Rosemary:
Yeah. Good to see you. Good to see you. [laughter]
The ceca has been a challenge for me personally and probably a lot of other business owners. The reason is that ultimately the elephant in the room, the big ohs er issue with it is that ultimately the small business owner is kind of has to wait for the landlord to apply and to agree to be part of the programme before getting any type of benefit or subsidy paid. So, it’s really completely out of our hands. So, when it was first announced almost a month ago, before the may rent was due, I personally contacted both My landlords. I explained the situation to them. Neither one of them have fully commit ed to want to participate in the programme for various reasons. The biggest comment that I get is that there is a lot more red tape. They don’t have the time. and I guess from their point of view, there’s no real incentive. If they sign up for this programme, they’re going to lose 25% rent that they have to pay for. and then the small business owner would pay 25%, which would be a huge benefit, obviously, for me and for other small business owners. But it’s really out of our hands. So, those conversations almost to the point of begging My landlords were extremely humiliating in My case. I’ve never had to do that before. and there’s no guarantee that they’ll participate. Rent is due in another week. Small business owners are relying on someone else to help us. It’s not easy.
Rosemary:
So how have you paid the rent? can I ask? in the past, I guess there’s probably been two rent payments. How have you paid the rent?
The first one in April. I went into My personal line of credit to pay the rent. Obviously we were mandated closed. There was no income coming in at all. Like zero. and so for April I went into My own personal line of credit and then when may came around, I could have done that as well. But part of me is like why AM I going to keep putting myself into personal debt when I would like to work with My landlords in this programme that seems like it would be a way to share some of the risks associated with the closures. Instead of it all being on the small business owner’s shoulder, it would be, I think, fair to split it between landlords and maybe the banks. So I don’t know. Someone. I feel frustrated that it’s just us who are shoulder ago lot of this. – shouldering a lot of this. So, I didn’t pay My may rent as a result. I felt if I paid April and I pay may, there is not much incentive. The leverage is gone. There’s no incentive for them to participate. So, that’s where I stand.
Rosemary:
The last time I talked to the finance Minister maybe a week ago or so about this issue, and I had the same question – why would a landlord bother doing this? and his answer is, I think you demonstrate it well. His answer is you can either have no rent, which is what you did in May or you can be guaranteed 75% of the rent, part of it backed by the government and part of it by the tenant. When you’ve made that case to your landlords or if you make that case, what is the response? because at least – if you didn’t pay in May, at least they get 75% in June. is that not appealing to them?
I would think so. [laughter]from My point of view, I would think so. Yons. So, again, I think the main comments I’ve gotten, and again each small business owner – each small business is very individual. Right? so the communication with landlords is also very individual. For me, personally, one of My landlords said I have a bunch of various commercial properties. I’m overwhelmed with everything right now. People are leaving and handing in keys, clothing. I don’t have the time to look into this, to apply for it, to do anything. I don’t have the time. The other one islike we sold our building as of July 1 and we’re almost on our way out. We also aren’t interested. There is more than enough reasons for them not to do it because they are not feeling the pifrjs right now, maybe. I don’t know. – pinch right now, maybe. I don’t know. The same way we are.
Rosemary:
Yeah. What do you do? if they don’t buy into this, you have another month’s rent due not long from now. Have you already turned your mind as to what that might mean for you?
Of course. This weekend I have to make the dreaded phone call again and say I’m not in a position to pay June’s rent. As of today, in Montreal, we’re allowed to be re-opening our stores. I made the choice not to, for various reasons. But the real issue is even if we did open, you know, again I have an online store that has generated a little bit of sales and My clients have been fantastic about calling in orders. But it is still well below where we normally are this time of year. As we head into June, even if we can re-open which I’m hoping to do at one of My locations this week, the issue is will the clients come back? June and July are our busiest months. We won’t be in that situation, I don’t think, that we’ve been past. Again, there is still going to be crunch. When we re-open, then there is employee costs, although the subsidy is in place, which is great. The wage subsidy. It is still going to be a crunch. It’s going to be tight. and I can say for myself personally, we’re all maxed out business-wise on our loans. We came off our slow season. So our business lines are maxed which is why I’ve had to use personal money. But that will only bring you so far. Anja keep putting My own personal financial situation on the line continuously. So, I think in all reality there will be no rent payment in June and hopefully I can use that as some leverage for them to participate in the programme. Now that I’s open, again how long will it take for them to get the money, you know? so wi don’t really know right now.
Rosemary:
is there any chance you can get evicted if you continue not to pay or has that been on pause in Montreal?
I think – no, it hasn’t been on pause by the provincial government, as far as I’m aware. In every lease agreement, it always says that, you know, if you don’t make a rent payment, they have a certain number of days they can notify you. and then you have a certain number of days to pay the rent. Luckily I have been in a situation, both My landlords have, as of may, they were pretty understanding to the situation. So I did not receive that letter. If I do receive that letter, then I’m going to have to, you know, look where I stand and make some decisions. Because the other thing with the commercial lease is that when we sign it, it’s not like a personal lease. When we sign it, we have to give all kinds of guarantees personally. So, you can’t just walk away, you know, I have two years left on one of My leases. I’m legally on the hook so to speak for the rest of the payments up until the end of the lease. So, yeah. So, there’s a lot of things to consider.
Rosemary:
Debbie, we brought you back because you’re very good at expressing the concerns that so many people are struggling with. So I hope you know that there is other people like you also worried and we will try to, you know, keep pushing the government to get some clear answers for you. I hope the landlords are understanding in the next week or so.
Thank you. Thank you, Rosie. I appreciate it.
Rosemary:
Ok. We’ll check back in a new weeks and see how it is going. Ok. We are waiting, as I said, to bring you the federal briefing with cabinet ministers and federal public health officials trying to quickly squeeze in another person here because we’re going stay in Montreal. Because as you heard there from Debbie, there are many stores that are allowed to re-open today. and deborah arbeck is the host of cbc montreal. Stores can open. Not everyone is, but there are some stores starting to open there.
Yeah, rosemary, shopping as usual is not what we’ll experience. But Montreal is basically open for business again. It’s certainly no black Friday atmosphere out there. People are lining up. They have long line-ups in many cases ahead of them. In stores in the city. The only stores that you can access right now are stores that have an exterior access. So certainly you cannot go to the mall unless there is a store at the mall that has an exterior entrance. Once people get inside at reduced number – some stores are only allowing one person in at a time. They will be accompanied by a sales person as they do their shopping. There are stickers on the floor telling shopper which is direction to go in. There’s plexty glass at the counters. It is recommended that both staff and customers wear masks as they are shopping. So far this morning what we’re hearing is that about half of customers that our reporters have been seeing are wearing those masks. Certainly shoppers are happy to be back in the stores but one of the big items seems to be running shoes. There seems to be a run on running shoes right now. It kind of makes sense, actually. Because so many runners are out on the streets of montreal these days.
Rosemary:
Ok. Montreal is My favourite shopping town, but I’m not coming anytime soon. Thank you for that. I appreciate it.
No problem.
Rosemary:
I’m going bring you to the federal briefing now. Dr. Teresa tam is speaking. There’s listen in. – let’s listen in.
IN THE PAST WEEK, WE HAVE BEEN TESTING AN AVERAGE OF 22300 PEOPLE DAILY. THESE NUMBERS CHANGE QUICKLY AND ARE UPDATED REGULARLY ON CANADA.CA/CORONAVIRUS. THIS WEEK IS PARAMEDIC SERVICES WEEK. AND QUITE FITTINGLY, THIS YEAR’S THEME IS PANDEMIC:
Paramedics on the frontline. I think most of us are aware of the vital importance of paramedics in our health care system. As first res ponders providing life-saving prehospital care during times of great urgency. This year in particular, we are recognizing the important role paramedics play on the frontlines of the health care system during a crisis of the scale of COVID-19. It’s impossible to overstate the life saving importance of our paramedical services. Paramedics respond to all manner of emergencies from attending the sao*efn of en accident to providing life-saving care during acute health and mental health emergencies. Par med I believes have been instrumental on the front lines of the opioid crisis and now the COVID-19 crisis as well. Paramedics not only provide their expertise and one-on-one human connection, but they also forge working relationships with organisations to promote patient care and improve health in our communities. I recently learned of an innovative programme that was spearheaded by paramedicks in renfrew county, a rural area outside of ottawa. It is a joint effort of partners across the health system to preserve health care system capacity while at the same time ensuring that people receive the care they need. So, a virtual triage of assessment centres, patients can be linked with a health care provider and provided with an appointment. If an in-person appointment is required, a paramedic can be dispatched to make a house callful this is a wonderful example of the health system coming together to ensure that no one is left behind. and highlights the important role that paramedics play in linking communities to health care settings. This is just one example of how paramedics contribute to health and well-being across the health system and in our communities in innovative ways. This week is a great opportunity to learn more and give an extra shout-out to paramedical service providers across Canada. Thank you. Merci.
Merci. Dr. Najoo?
[Voice of Interpreter]:
Good afternoon. As usual, I will start with the latest numbers on COVID-19 in Canada. There are now 85103 cases, including 6453 deaths and 44219 people recovered, about 52% we have now tested in Canada over 1, 479, 000 people with about 5% of them being positive. We are now testing an average of 22, 000 people per day over the past week. These numbers change quickly and are updated regularly on Canada. Ca/coronavirus. This week is paramedic services week and quite fittingly this year’s theme is pandemic: paramedics on the frontline. I think most of us are aware of the importance of paramedicks in our health care system as providing prehospital care during times of greatest urgency. This wick is an a opportunity to further recognize the breadth and depth of paramedic expertise. This year in particular, we are recognizing the important role paramedics play on the frontlines of the health care system during a crisis on the scale of COVID-19. It’s impossible to overstate the life saving importance of our paramedical services. Paramedics have also been instrumental on the frontlines of opioid crisis and now the COVID-19 crisis as well. Paramedics not only provide their expertise and one-on-one human connection, but they forge working relationships with the organisations to promote paishlgt – patient care and to improve health in our communities. I recently learned of an innovative programme that was spearheaded by paramedicss in renfrew county, a rural area west of ottawa. It is a joint effort of partners across the health system to preserve health care system capacity while at the same time, ensuring that people receive the care they need. Through a virtual triaage assessment centre, patients can be linked with a health care provider and provided with an appointment. If an in-person appointment is required, a paramedic can be dispatched to make a house call. This is a wonderful example of the health system coming together to ensure that no one is left behind and highlights the important role that paramedics play in linking communities to health care settings. This is one example of how paramedics contribute to health and well-being across the health system and in our communities and innovative ways. This week is a great opportunity to learn more and give an extra shout-out to paramedical service providers across Canada. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Njoo. Mary?
Good afternoon, everyone. Bonjour. Five million Canadians are employed by a small business across our country. To the entrepreneurs who run these businesses, you are the key to ensuring millions of Canadians can get back to work as we take the gradual steps towards restarting our economy. You are at the heart of our communities and that is why we’re here to support you. Right now, the smallest and the most vulnerable businesses are facing additional challenges when I comes to accessing tailored financial planning advice. Today we are launching the business resilience service in partnership with the Canadian chamber of commerce, a free hot line operated by 125 business advisers from the chartered professional accountants of Canada. This service provides Canadian business owners, including people who run charities and not-for-profits with customized financial guidance who wouldn’t otherwise have access to it. From navigating tax regulations and government supports to planning their paths to recovery. Again, this service is meant for vulnerable small businesses with pressing financial needs and business owners who may otherwise have difficulty accessing tailored financial advice. You can now call toll-free, 866-989-1080. This is available seven days a week for the next four weeks.
[Voice of Interpreter]:
We will continue to ensure that all businesses are supported every step of the way through this crisis. Skh*k leads me to another business support launch. As you heard, applications for the Canada emergency commercial rent assistance are now available at cmhc. Ca. To help business owners as efficiently as possible, we are staggering the applications.
[Voice of Interpreter]:
Today is open to property owners with up to 10 tenants in Atlantic Canada British Columbia, Alberta and a Quebec and open Thursday for those with over 10 tenants.
Tomorrow is open to landlords with up to 10 tenants in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario and the territories. and Wednesday is open to those with over 10 tenants and then on Friday, it’s open to all landlords across Canada. We expect the money to flow starting next week. While rent falls under provincial responsibility, we have stemmed up to partner with provinces and territories to reduce rent by 75% for businesses who have experienced severe hardship. Through this programme, if you are a small business owner or entrepreneur, you will only have to pay 25% of your rent while we cover 50% in forgivable loan to your landlord. If you’re a landlord or commercial property own weather a small business tenant eligible for this programme, we’re asking you to step up and to work with us and your tenant to apply. Given these extraordinary times that we are finding ourselves, your participation in the Canada commercial rent assistance programme will help our businesses, our workers and our economy. and this this isn’t just about doing the right thing. It is also making financial sense for you as a land lord. Because if your tenant declares bankruptcy and is evicted you will lose all the steady stream of income you depend on and you would face additional costs while you search for new tenants. You’ve all heard this before, but it remains true, we’re all in this together.
[Voice of Interpreter]:
and it is in all of our best interests to work together so we all can get through this.
We’ll keep working hard to support all Canadians as we begin to restart our economy. We’ve got your back every step along the way. We’re going keep doing this. Merci.beaucoup. Thank you.
Merci.beaucoup, mary.
[Voice of Interpreter]:
Thank you, Mary, for summarizing two significant announcements from this morning. The first about the emergency commercial rent assistance for the Atlantic, for British Columbia, Quebec, and other regions. They can submit their requests in order to help small businesses who are going through extremely challenging times. Second thing for good news, we’re going to be working with provinces and territories to ensure paid sick leave workers for the next few months. We know it will cause a lot of insecurity and employers will have to do all that they can to protect their health, that of their families and the health of their colleagues. This paid sick leave will also allow workers to work with their employers so that they don’t have to choose between protecting their own health and buying groceries. So we would like to congratulate the Canadian government for this, but also the provincial government and the members of the house of commons that worked hard to push this issue forward. That said, we are going to be pleased to answer your questions. Thank you, Mr. Minister.
We’ll start with the room to give folks more time on the phone. Julie?
Reporter:
I’m just wondering how you can explain to Canadians that you’re allowing employees of the liberal party to tap into the wage subsidy, although you fund raise millions of dollars every year. and municipalities, for example, who have had to lay off thousands of people can’t tap into it.
Well, thank you for the question. Now the absolute priority of the government, and I think a priority shared by most Canadians, is to support those workers and those families that are struggling through the very difficult circumstances that we are living through in the last few weeks. That is why workers need that support. Whoever they may work for. Whether it’s a small business, a larger business, and that is why we believe that this support is absolutely essential. It is guided by the principles of focusing on people and helping everyone go through the crisis.
Reporter:
As I said, municipalities can’t tap into it. Na north – naheed nenshi of Calgary said he wish he could. Are you going to change it?
Your very important question on municipalities is absolutely relevantful . as we all know, the federal government just a few days ago, did announce either through the Prime Minister or through the deputy Prime Minister a real way to work with provinces and territories to see how we can support the essential work of municipalities and cities, but that needs obviously to be done in collaboration and with the full support of provinces and territories.
Reporter:
So, not a wage subsidy. Ok.
Reporter:
Minister Duclos, same question. How do you think it looks to Canadians to see political parties taking advantage of a wage subsidy programme that you put forward?
I would perhaps extend My earlier question, remembering – reminding everyone, again, that we are absolutely focused on workers and their families. We have had just a few weeks ago a statistics Canada report saying that almost six million Canadians have either lost their job and all of their income or most of their income. So, the circumstances are very difficult for workers and families and that is whirs the wage – the emergency wage subsidies was put into place. Now that programme, as all programmes are put into place in relatively rapid time period, come with conditions. and restrictions. and obligations for transparency. and these obligations and restrictions apply to all businesses.
Reporter:
Right. But that is not what I asked you. I asked you how do you think it looks to Canadians for political parties to accept the wage subsidy, when as My colleague pointed ed out, municipalities can’t do that and some companies are going under. Even with these programmes in place. So, how does it look to Canadians, do you think, a political party accepting a wage subsidy programme that you put forward?
I believe most Canadians know someone, either in their family or in their community or a friend that has lost his or her job in the last few weeks and when we go through these difficult circumstances, we need to look after each other and support each other. Whatever circumstances in all cases independently of the control of those particular workers have led to the loss of that job and that income. So, it is an absolute priority for this government toe look after everyone. and not to engage in to – into discussions that might lead Canadians to feel less important than others. I think everyone is important in this particular crisis and everyone needs to be supported, according to rules and regulation that are transparent and apply to everyone.
Reporter:
[inaudible] political party having to look at laying off staff without the wage subsidies?
I cannot speak for any particular organization. What I can do, however, is to speak for the vast majority of Canadians who understand that this crisis is very difficult for a large number of workers and families.
Thank you, Minister. Just a friendly reminder, one question, one follow-up. We’ll go to the phone. Operator?
Operator:
Thank you. Merci. If you have a question, please press star 1 on your telephone key pad. the first question, please go ahead.
Reporter:
[Voice of Interpreter]:
The first question for Minister Duclos. I have a question on today’s announcement on paid sick leave which is something that you sboenld to negotiate with provinces. I would like to know the federal perspective on the Canadian labour code which has three paid sick days. Would the federal government like to change its labour code in order to ensure 10 paid sick leave days in the future? answer – the answer is yes. The Canadian government will have to work with companies under its jurisdiction. Even if a lot of employees are under provincial jurisdiction, more than 70% of people work under provincial jurisdiction. But if we’re inviting provinces to work with the federal government, well, we need to help the federal government to do its job as well. Follow-up question – can you tell me if the timeline is the same for provinces? Mr. Trudeau this morning talked about hoping to reach an agreement by this fall. So that there are paid sick days for people in the fall. Will you be changing the labour code by the fall at the federal level? Mr. Trudeau also said that a lot of provinces agree with the idea of having 10 guaranteed paid sick leave days. Can you tell us about Quebec? answer – these are two separate questions. So, whether it be for provincial or federal workers, there are significant steps to take. The federal government needs to work with unions, with companies, federal companies and so things will have to be done quickly. But they will also need to respect their partners and for provinces, well I think it will be the province – up to the provinces to answer this question. Throughout Canada, we need to recognize that the coming months are going to be absolutely essential. Workers sometimes need to choose between protecting their health and being able to make ends meet. and we want to avoid such a situationful we want to avoid that a worker would make the wrong decision to go back to work, even though they might have COVID-19 symptoms. They’re puting their own health at risk, but also putting their colleague’s health at risk. and so their company is also at risk of not being able to maintain its activities. That’s why we need to react quickly, but we need to do things right. Thank you, Mr. Minister. Next question, operator.
Operator:
Merci. thank you. Next question is from Stephanie Levitt of the Canadian press. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.
Reporter:
Good morning. Or good afternoon, I guess. Thank you for taking My question. It’s for Dr. Tam. The point, you know, all along here of shutting down the economy, getting people to stay home and flatten this curve was to buy time for the health care system to get ready. and I just wonder what your assessment is of how ready the system actually is. Should there be a second wave? and I know there’s provincial and local differences here. But just broadly speaking, what do you think? is the health care system ready?
So I think we do have to prepare for, you know, potential for another wave and we always should prepare for the fact that they – the second wave could even be worse than the first wave so that is a very important question. So, we know that with collective efforts we did not exceed the health system capacity to cope with this initial wave, this first wave. So, that’s obviously being a tremendous amount of work to do that. But we got to keep going to increase capacity. I know we haven’t exceed our I. C.u. Capacity but provinces are continuing to ramp up including vent lays toer and other supplies. But also, of course, as a everybody knows, keep going on the ramping up of personal protective equipment. That’s very important, should we get more patients as well. Also, generally I would say having learned perhaps how people have capitalized on virtual care, etc., you know, keep going on some of those efforts that have worked. Because some of those similar approaches should be continue sod that you leave enough health system capacity. Of course, one of the key features of the current pandemic is the long-term care homes and seniors. So, I do think that there is more work to be done in the area. Some of the long-term care homes or senior living areas haven’t, as yet, complete extinguished their outbreaks. So, that also tells us that we have to just keep going with those capacities as well as the capacities for infection prevention control in some of these higher risk centres including shelters and long-term residences. We need to keep going with some of these capacity developments and that goes along with lab testing as well. We’re continuing to procure and including ramping up domestic capacity for some of our laboratory requirements.
Follow-up?
Reporter:
Yeah. Thank you. My follow-up is for Minister Duclos and I wanted to ask you about accountability and transparency during COVID-19. and the report today is recommending more of it, frankly. Why aren’t ministries releasing more information proactively? there is a lot of delays to access information requests. What steps are you taking to really make sure Canadians are getting a full picture of what is going on with government at the moment?
Well, what you see is absolutely correct. In particular, in the context of this crisis, we need transparency and openness. Canadians need information and I would signal that you journalists are important players, important actors in making Canadians feel informed and re-assured in many instances. and that is what public servants have been trying to do for the last few weeks. Now we understand that it is not easy, certainly not easy for public servants to provide that level of information in current con twr*ex they face personal and professional challenges. But I reminded My colleagues and the secretary of the treasury in making sure that whatever is possible is done in the current context. What I would also add is that with the information commissioner is looking forward and making sure that we can – what we can do is, for instance, more proactive development, dissemination of information, being more proactive as opposed to reactive and also to focus on technology. We are learning in this crisis the importance and the usefulness of technology and how it can perhaps lead to better ways of. Doing things in the future.
Thank you, Minister. Operator, next question, please.
Operator:
Thank you. Merci.
[Voice of Interpreter]:
Yes, I have a question regarding emergency rent assistance since the portal was opened this morning at 8:00 AM, how many requests have been sent in so far?
Thank you for the question. As I said earlier, we’re opening up the portal in phases to a certain number of provinces today and tomorrow with landlords that have more than 10 tenants and then open to everyone on Friday. We are going to monitor the take-up of this and, as I said as well, the importance and the focus of this canadian commercial rent assistance is to help our small businesses that have been hardest hit during this time. So that they can manage through this period and get on that road to recovery and restart.
[Voice of Interpreter]:
Follow-up question. My second question is for Minister Duclos regarding the wage subsidy use by the liberal party. We understand that you want to help workers regardless of who they work for. But Canadians know that the liberals and the conservatives have healthy budgets. What message is this sending to Canadians when companies are struggling to pay their employees? what message does it send that traditional parties that have enough funding may have access to the assistance when others have great difficulty accessing it? what message is this sending? answer – thank you. The message that we’ve been sending from the begining is that we want to support workers. and the wage subsidy was created for that. There is a solid and very clear criteria that ensures that the wage subsidy is given to workers. If a company uses this for something other than wages, then there would be significant consequences. 225% for the wage subsidy, which needs to be given to workers. Canadian workers and families are currently going through extremely difficult times and that is why this subsidy was created. We want to make sure that all companies respect the rules regardless of who they are. Thank you, Mr. Minister.
Julie, I think you had additional questions?
Reporter:
What happens in terms of the disaster that is – continues to be under way in long-term care homes and specifically about rivera, which is one of the biggest chains in the country. So I’m just wondering, does it – I believe that it is still under a public sector investment board, which reports to you. Right? for treasury board? so I’m wondering have you had direct talks with rivera about approving its conditions considering that it has a massive lawsuit against it and all the deaths from COVID-19.
Thank you. Well, there are two things. One, which I cannot comment on, which is the particular circumstances and details of a lawsuit or a class-action that will be, of course, inappropriate for a Minister to comment on. But I can say, however, is that – and as you all know as well, and which is very important, is that we are extremely saddened by the difficult circumstances in which many of our seniors have been going through in the last few weeks. We know that this requires a level of leadership, which is in strong support of the absolutely important responsibility and jurisdiction of provinces and territories. So although we are mindful of the fact that the federal government needs to be working respectfully, we have signaled a number of times that we want to do whatever we can to support the work of provinces and territories in managing health sector.
Reporter:
The public sector investment board reports to you every year. Are you going to be more diligent about what is going on in these homes, regardless of the lawsuits?
Well, I think we will be certainly more mindful of the importance of protecting our seniors and we’ll use all the tools that are appropriate for the federal government to do that.
Thank you, ministers. that is it for today. Thank you, even. – thank you, everyoneful
Rosemary:
Ok. and that is it in Ottawa for today. Ok. That is the federal briefing here in Ottawa for today. Minister, the president of the treasury board leading the briefing today with public health officials and the Minister of small business, Mary ng, highlighting the commercial rent programme, which we were talking about earlier today which opened over the next few days. For different provinces and different employers. Lots of questions there about again, the wage subsidy and the use of the wage subsidy by political parties with the exception of the bloc quÉbÉcois. and questions as well about this paid sick leave proposal that the Prime Minister has put on the table with the help of the NDP To talk to provinces about. All right. Let’s bring in Vassy kapelos and David Cochrane. Finished a little quicker than I expected there. That’s Ok. I’m sure we have lots to talk about. Let’s start with – let’s start with the sick leave because I do think that lots of people will be interested in that and it is a paid sick leave. So if you don’t have a paid sick leave in your province or you don’t have one at your work, this would allow you to potentially tap into 10 days of paid sick leave if they can get all their ducks aligned here, Vassy , and get the provinces all on board.
Vassy:
and that is going to be key and what we’ll be watching for in any negotiations that ensue. As you rightly point out, unless you live – I think it is just P.E.I. and Quebec – they have provincially mandayed paid sick leave. It is not a lot, I think it is one or two days. Otherwise, if you are covered by your work agreement or collective agreement, you may have some paid sick days a well but there isn’t any federally mandated or coordinated programme and what the federal liberals have decided to do, after being asked to by both the premier of British Columbia as well as the new democratic party led by jag meet Singh s pursue those conversations with the provinces and the Prime Minister said a little bit earlier that there isn’t exactly a definite timeline on how that takes place or a decision on who pays for what. Though I would imagine if the federal government is leading it that likely they will be paying far lot of it. and that there are some premiers that already support it. We know of premier Horgan or the other premeeser. My guess that depends on who’s footing the bill at the end of this. This is a significant piece of policy that the government is coming up with and I don’t just mean the liberals in this case, but in conjunction with the NDP What the NDP Did was predicate their support for the motion that the liberals had put forward over the weekend about how they envision parliament proceeding over the next number of months and My sources in the government say that now, because of what’s happened now with the NDP, they do expect a vote as early as tomorrow or by tomorrow on the motion going ahead. and that sort of sets out the design of parliament. The NDP Said if you want us to be on broerds with, this you have to move ahead on 10 days of paid sick leave. and this is, as David and you have both outlined, very significant as we get into the process of re-opening economies. and especially as we face the prospect of a second wave or a third or a fourth, albeit smaller wave, in the future. Or smaller waves in the future. and especially for people who are lower paid who are more likely to not have any covered or paid sick leave. It’s important that if they have any symptoms of illness, the biggest public health thing that you can do is stay home. and many are unable to do so because, of course, they would be forfeiting their pay so this is designed to mitigate some of that risk. Now as you said, it is all about getting their ducks in a row. How fast can they get something like this done. I would point to the examples of the commercial rent programme that we heard about today. I don’t know how successful it will be. But it is a joint federal-provincial endeavour as, for example, topping up wagesing for essential workers. and jurisdictional issues certainly may delay the conversation a bit, but didn’t prevent something from happening. So, I don’t see why there couldn’t be in this case, either.
Rosemary:
and if the target isn’t until after summer anyway. Maybe if it’s to deal with the second wave. Although it does raise an interesting other question. You know, the wage subsidy, the emergency relief benefit, those are things that you can understand are just for now. Might be a little bit more complicated to roll back paid sick leave. You know, beyond COVID-19. Like maybe this is just something that becomes part of public policy in this country. and I don’t know what the cost would be. I don’t know what the dangers of that would be. But it is an interesting thought that that is one of the public policy pieces that might be potentially a leg is Si of the pandemic because it’s connected to it. But it also speaks to a broader question of sick leave in this country and who gets access to paid leave and things like that. I don’t know if you want to wildly speculate with me. [laughter]
Vassy:
and actually I think that is the question for the essential worker top-up. Right? and I remember the government being asked that and provincial governments which some of whom sort of moved ahead of the federal government and topped up wages for essential workers t. Provinces decide who gets the extra pay, but the federal government helped contribute to it. You have to wonder, so it was for 16 weeks. At the end of four months, all of a sudden because we’re not in the acute phase of this pandemic, people who work in long-term care homes don’t deserve extra money? how do you all of a sudden say for this finite amount of time you can take paid sick leave or you can, you know, get paid more for take on such risk but six months from now you are not entitled to that. It is a more difficult thing to do as compared to the CERB or wage subsidy, for example. Once you’re hired back with employment, you probably don’t need that. That’s an easier line to draw. When it comes to paid sick leave or just hey, for essential workers, it is a harder thing to claw back.
Rosemary:
Yeah. and maybe it is not worth clawing back, too. That is a conversation that government and society will have to have. David, speaking of which subsidy, there were again questions about political party’s views with the wage subsidy and to be clear, I’ve already had some e-mails of people not happy about this. But they did meet the criteria for the wage subsidy. It’s whether you think a political party should have access to that, I guess, is the question. and jean yves Duclos says everybody is the same. Everybody needs help. I don’t know if everyone would agree with that. But that is the perspective that he put forward.
David:
Interesting the questions about the government’s support programmes have gone from why aren’t you helping more people to why are you helping “those” people and people are upset that the big, rich part is who fund raise quite woel, the liberals and the conservatives, are getting this but also provincial parties. Jason kenney’s united conservative party is applying for the wage subsidy in Alberta. a couple of thing on this. They have made the wage subsidy as broad as possible, exempt to public institutions, which is a tension point with municipal workers being in such dire straits right now because of the conversation about a larger financial package being required for cities and towns across the country. and they’ve tried not to single people out. Which is why they’ve kept broadening the criteria of the wage subsidy to capture as many people as possible. You can make the political argument they should have excluded political parties from this so that the liberal who are rolling out this programme seem to be benefiting the party apparatus which supports them in their political activities which is a legitimate point of view for people to express. I suppose you could also argue if you exclude a political party, maybe the liberals and the conservatives could ride it out but you force the new democrats and the greens into a position of near utter bankruptcy and political destitution. The bloc is taking the easy, moral high ground here saying we’re not going to take any of this money. Easy to do when you’re really a provincial party that operates in national elections. But doesn’t have the big national party apparatus that the other political parties have that need to be supported. They mostly run on their constituency staff and whatever they great their parliamentary allotment for having a certain number of M.P.s in the house of commons. The argument has been that one job is just like another job. People who work for the liberal party and conservative party are no different than people who work at suncor who are getting money right now through the wage subsidy or the toronto blue jays, you could have an argument about whether professional sports should be getting a subsidy in this. Not the headline, I think they’re looking for there. But, again, when everybody is lining up for the same level of assistance, it is not like when we see the question period today, Andrew Scheer is going to be leading off demanding that they cut the subsidy, although erin o’toole and peter mackay, the frontrunners for his job, say they should pay it back.
Rosemary:
and I becomes difficult as our colleague Aaron wherry, remember him? he is still tweeting and he made a good point that if you start looking at the criteria like this, like in a values or ideological point of view, how do you set that criteria up for everyone else and maybe then it gets a little bit messy for everyone to be determining. Anyway, we’ll see –
Vassy:
Can I jump in for one quick ?ekd
Rosemary:
Of course.
Vassy:
I think there is totally a debate to be had around the merits and I understand the discussions for and against that. The difference is I have interviewed Aaron sheer and jag meet Singh multiple times when they were pushing for what made sense, which was an increase to the wage subsidy. Here’s why it needs to help out more people. At no time did any of them say oh, by the way, My own party will benefit from this.
Rosemary:
No, that is true.
Vassy:
and it is the way in which this all came about. The NDP Ended up being the most fort right, but even then it wasn’t like anyone outlined this at the beginning. By the way also we think this could work for us. I think if Canadians felt like they were being more transparent, the discussion right now might be a bit different.
Rosemary:
You’re probably right. Ok. Lu tell people that there will be a question period today at 2:15 and Phil, My trusty producer, tells us it is the first question period in 75 days, since March 12. I’m sure you’ll have coverage of that on CBC news network and CBC. Ca. Thank you, Vassy kapelos and David Cochrane. You can watch Vassy on “power & politics” at 5:00 PM eastern. Thank you. Appreciate it. As we talked about the last couple of hours, there are ongoing problems with testing in Ontario. Tan province has been trying to make a push to do more. Premier Doug ford is urging Ontarian to get tested even if they don’t have symptoms. We’ll hear more from the premier and his officials today on that. It is a significant change, though, in message acing as the province gets ready to release this new strategy. Dr. Lawrence Lowe joins me now, medical officer of health for the region of peel. Nice to see you.
Nice to be on.
Rosemary:
I’m going to start with just what I see as a sort of worrying trend in Ontario. and that is the numbers don’t seem to be going down anymore. How concerned are you about that?
Well, certainly it is a concern. You know, and I think it is a recognition that across the province, we’re really starting to see multiple pictures in different regions, specific to what we’re seeing in peel we do know that we have started to see our seven-day moving average of new cases increase. and we are also starting to see, you know, ongoing transmission in the community. Which certainly is giving us pause as the province continues to re-open. At least in our community, it’s clear that the picture is moving out of step with sort of the phased re-openings that have occurred so far.
Rosemary:
In the briefing today with the numbers, the broad provincial numbers in Ontario, they did say that there are 61 now what they call outbreaks. Those would be things, yes, associated with congregant living, hospitals, but things like barbecues and family gatherings. How much of a concern is that in your region, that this is, because as you said, increased community transmission. People starting to not follow public health advice.
You know, I think it really speaks to the need for people, especially as the re-opening continues to occur, to remember that they need to remain physically distance and practicing good hand hygiene. I think one of the challenges we have in the region of spiel that our employment profile, many of our workplaces and offices are places where people can’t work remotely and if you think about warehousing, manufacturing, those kind of employment pieces and it really – it’s really the idea that things are, you know, COVID-19 is still circulating in our community. and things are far from returning back to normal. It is a matter of making sure that people are still taking the same precautions that we have been speaking about over the last couple of months.
Rosemary:
So, what should Ontario do? what are your concerns then as we move ahead with re-opening? although we don’t have the next phase lined up from the government yet. What are your concerns around re-opening given these numbers?
I think I actually really do welcome the recent loosening of restrictions around testing. It is an opportunity for us to think in a wholesome way around people who may need to be tested in our region and I think it allow us to come up with a bit of a strategy to target where we’re seeing those outbreaks in certain workplaces and sectors, in certain neighbourhoods or amongst certain parts of our community where we can really make sure we get in there. Because I think the important thing to remember, you mentioned the testing numbers being down. The big something to make sure that we’re testing smart where we ought to be testing and make sure that we’re identifying and interrupting change of transmission.
Rosemary:
Once you get more people who are sort of voluntarily showing up to be tested and get a sense of where it is, what do you do as a public health official then to sort of quash that spark of the virus? what do you do?
Absolutely. So it basically comes back to it’s the function of testing the, tracing, isolating and treating, right? so when once we’ve gotten a positive coronavirus test, public health as always follows up with that individual to determine where they may have acquired the disease from and also to determine who they may have passed it on to. As contacts. and that is essentially bread and butter public health. and so through contact tracing, making sure that individuals are isolated, we actually do mooning try to stamp out the isolation. But it really begins with the test and really begins with testing amongst populations, amongst people who are at risk just to make sure that they – that we’re able to identify any chains of transmission there.
Rosemary:
Obviously it is a different picture than the rest of the country. 307b8 seconds. But what would you say to ontarians, they had a lovely weekend of good weather and some people may be pushing the envelope a little bit on the public health advice.
I would just simply say, you know, the COVID-19 is still very much a threat in peel region and a, you know, throughout other parts of the province and it’s a matter of making sure that we keep our distance, avoid crowds and congregating, wash our hands. We in public health will do our part with the testing and tracing and working with our health care partners.
Rosemary:
Ok. So good of you to take the time. That is Dr. Lawrence lo for the region of peel. As we know, we are expecting more details today about that testing strategy from the premier. There you can see on the left hand side. and Quebec also an update coming at 1:00 PM as though two provinces continue to struggle with more cases. Andrew Nichols will continue our coverage here on CBC news network. I’m rosemary Barton. See you back here tomorrow. Thank you for watching.