By Andrew Thomson | UPDATED November 29, 2021 4:30pmET
Watch today's question period:
House of Commons debate continues on the government's plan to target emergency pandemic to hard-hit sectors and workers.
Bill C-2 would:
- Extend the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit and the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit until May 7 and increase the maximum duration of both by two weeks.
- Extend the Canada Recovery Hiring Program through May 7.
- Establish the Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit to provide a weekly $300 income support to eligible workers affected by a local lockdown between Oct. 24 and May 7.
- Establish the Tourism and Hospitality Recovery Program with a subsidy rate of up to 75 per cent; eligible businesses include hotels, restaurants, bars, museums, tour companies, gyms, casinos, and wedding venues
- Establish the Hardest-Hit Business Recovery Program that targets “other businesses that have faced deep losses, with a subsidy rate of up to 50 per cent.”
- Establish the Local Lockdown Program for businesses that face temporary closure.
For a third time, the government has introduced legislation on conversion therapy, and this time make the proposed ban applicable to adults along with children.
The first attempt ended when the Liberal government prorogued Parliament in 2020; the second bill died in the Senate when Parliament dissolved ahead of this year’s election.
Previous Liberal bills would have amended the Criminal Code to block the widely discredited practice of attempting to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity using psychological or spiritual interventions.
Past versions sought to ban:
- causing a person to undergo conversion therapy against the person’s will;
- causing a child to undergo conversion therapy;
- doing anything for the purpose of removing a child from Canada with the intention that the child undergo conversion therapy outside Canada;
- advertising an offer to provide conversion therapy;
- receiving a financial or other material benefit from the provision of conversion therapy.
Courts would also be able to authorize the destruction or disposal of advertisements for conversion therapy.
Watch Justice Minister David Lametti and cabinet colleagues speak to reporters:
No private member's business is on today's House of Commons order paper.
But the Bloc Québécois is calling for more federal action on firearms trafficking and gun control after a rash of recent violence in Montreal.
Watch the news conference with Bloc public safety critic Kristina Michaud and justice critic Rhéal Fortin (no interpretation):
We're also watching the latest federal developments on the Omicron COVID-19 variant.
Late last week the government banned the entry of foreign nationals who had recently travelled to southern Africa and mandated a quarantine for Canadians who spent time in the region, including South Africa, Eswatini, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Namibia.
Ontario has identified two cases in Ottawa, the first confirmed Omicron cases in Canada. Both were reported in people who had recently travelled to Nigeria. Quebec has since reported one case.
Dr. Peter Jüni, epidemiologist and scientific director of Ontario's COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, said Canadians must remain vigilant, warning that the Omicron variant is “about to take over the world."
Watch the full PrimeTime Politics interview with Peter Van Dusen:
Here's what Ontario's chief medical officer of health told reporters this morning:
And a look at Quebec's health minister and top public health official taking questions this afternoon:
