Senate QP: Third time’s the charm

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Twice before, the Senate has invited Small Business and Tourism Minister Bardish Chagger to attend Senate Question Period, and in each of those attempts, scheduling on either side scotched the attempt. This time it finally happened, even as votes in the Commons went a bit overtime.

Senator Carignan led off, as he often does, and asked a fairly standard question about the small business tax rate. Charger, used to this question, gave her standard reply about how the government was looking to put more money into people’s pockets, and how that would benefit the revenues of these small businesses.

Senator Plett was up next, asking about support for his bill on prompt payment for contractors. Chagger thanked him, and noted that both Public Services and Procurement and Treasury Board would be the more responsible authority, and that while she was informed that there was a ninety percent payment of invoices paid in thirty days, they were striving for 100 percent. Plett noted that he was focused on small businesses, and that the bill was focused on forcing contractors to pay subcontractors on time. Chagger thanked him and promised to look further into the matter.

Senator Munson asked about programmes like Millennium scholarships and Katimavik as engaging the youth as a tangential question around tourism. Chagger noted that those kinds of programmes helped to sell Canada, and noted the entrepreneurial funding they are dispersing to youth.

Senator Greene Raine asked about a Tourism Advantage report and whether she would work with the minister of transport to make air travel more competitive. Chagger responded in the affirmative, and promised to study the report. Greene Raine asked about GST exemptions for travel packages to Canada from abroad, and Chagger again said that she looked forward to the conversation as they have work to do.

Senator Meredith asked about the investment into Destination Canada and now small and medium-sized businesses were able to participate. Chagger spoke about the tourism industry as being worth $90 billion, and noted that Destination Canada is an arm’s length Crown Corporation, so she won’t interfere with them until there is a problem. Meredith asked about temporary foreign workers — particularly from the Caribbean — having visa challenges. Chagger noted that she works closely with the employment and immigration ministers, and that they needed to revamp and modernise the immigration programme, particularly so that small and medium-sized businesses can get the help they need.

Senator Lang asked about contributions that the government of the Yukon has asked from the federal government in order to market their tourism internationally, and territorial applications to Destination Canada. Chagger noted that her Yukon colleague in the Commons has been engaging with her on that file, and there was a little more back and forth on it.

Senator Jaffer returned to the issue of temporary foreign workers, and problematic working conditions. Chagger noted how close the issue was to her given her family history, and that she was looking into the issue. Gaffer wanted some kind of assurances that issues around workers compensation would be there for these workers, and Chagger offered to continue the discussion off-line in order to talk about it more at length.

Overall, it was not the highlight of these new Senate QP sessions largely because there were attempts to shoehorn questions in to Chagger’s portfolio when they would be better addressed to other ministers, though she was a very good sport about it. As for Chagger, she did ramble a bit in places, and wandered around the topics a little, making some of the responses a little harder to track.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Senator Daniel Lang for a tailored dark grey suit with a white shirt and a brown tie, and to Senator Janis Johnson for a tailored black pantsuit with a white top and tasteful scarf. Style citations go out to Senator Lynn Beyak for a gold jacket with a black Paisley pattern and a black top, and to Senator Colin Kenny for a dark grey suit with a light grey shirt and a multicoloured tie.