Carla Qualtrough

[COVID-19 Protests, February 7th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Hamilton East—Stoney Creek has a really important question. These demonstrations have had a serious impact on the health and safety of Ottawa citizens with disabilities. Whether it is access to home care, other supports, food delivery or Para Transpo, this is serious. People are homebound and do not have food or access to their much needed supports.

I urge all members in the House from all parties to support our most vulnerable citizens and tell the demonstrators that it is time to go home.

[Employment, December 10th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, we are working very hard to improve the temporary foreign worker program, especially for the agricultural sector. Frankly, there needs to be more fairness in the employer-worker relationship, and we are working hard on that.

[Employment, December 10th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, the health and safety of temporary foreign workers is of the utmost importance to the government, and I want to thank every single temporary foreign worker for what they have done for our food security over the course of COVID-19. Like every worker in Canada, they deserve to be safe in their workplaces.

I thank the Auditor General and her office for the report and recommendations. We understand the importance of this audit, and we agree with her recommendations. They will guide our work ahead.

[Employment Insurance, December 9th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, of course we know that people who are sick need more weeks of EI sickness benefits, which is why we committed to extending the benefits from 15 weeks to 26 weeks. With the consultations on EI modernization, we will certainly put everything on the table.

I fully understand. As I told those I spoke to before question period, I look forward to meeting the woman.

[Employment Insurance, December 9th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, we offer our condolences to Émilie Sansfaçon's family. I was at that meeting with the Prime Minister. That is why, in budget 2021, we committed to expanding benefits from 15 to 26 weeks. We are now engaged in a consultation on modernizing the EI system. Everything is on the table.

[Canada Revenue Agency, December 9th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I can assure this House that my office and my department follow up on every allegation of fraud, and this would be no exception.

[Canada Revenue Agency, December 9th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I can assure this House that the government has zero tolerance for fraud. We are systematically following up on every active case and every issue that we address through CERB. We said from the beginning we would give Canadians, eight million of them, CERB. At the end, we are enforcing our integrity and compliance measures. We have no tolerance for fraud.

[Public Safety, December 9th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, our government has zero tolerance for fraud. We have worked, and will continue to work, with all appropriate jurisdictions and authorities to ensure that these individuals, and others who commit fraud, are held accountable. We will always take a hard stance against gun violence, illegal activities and organized crime to ensure that we keep our communities and country safe.

I will remind the House that eight million Canadians benefited from the CERB.

[Public Safety, December 9th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, our government has zero tolerance for fraud. We are working and will continue to work with all appropriate jurisdictions and authorities to ensure that these individuals and others who commit fraud are held accountable. The government remains firmly opposed to gun violence, illegal activities and organized crime and is working hard to keep our communities and our country safe.

[COVID-10 Economic Measures, December 7th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I can assure everyone in the House that we have been unwavering and continue to support workers throughout this pandemic. That is why Bill C-2 talks about continuing the Canada recovery sickness benefit and the Canada recovery caregiving benefit. That is why we are creating the lockdown benefit. That is why we are continuing with support for businesses to hire workers and to provide rental support.

There is a lot we are doing for workers and businesses, and as the Deputy Prime Minister has said, we have regained 106% of the jobs we lost during the pandemic. Our unemployment was down last month again, for the sixth month in a row. We are within 0.4% of our record high in February 2020.