ANTIGONISH: Speaking on the federal government’s handling of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, two local Liberal Members of Parliament (MP) highlight a lightning quick response that’s seeing years-worth of initiatives to help keep food on the table and a roof over people’s head being rolled out in a matter of days.
Cape Breton-Canso MP Mike Kelloway underscored how he’s seeing the true sense and meaning of community in the midst of unprecedented times.
Looking at it on a weekly basis, he’s in contact with all five municipalities in his riding, the wardens, mayors, councillors, administrations, First Nation Chiefs, not-for-profits, and multiple sectors of the economy.
“We are consistently passing on information that we’re getting from the federal government to them but also getting insight from them,” Kelloway said. “People are saying I am their avenue by which to hear what the reality is on the ground, where the gaps may be, where the positives are in our plan, what we need more of down the road, what we need more of right now – it’s really inspiring.”
He said it’s important to stay connected in the foxhole while working from home, as his team is busy triaging 300 e-mails a day, calls, Tweets, Facebook messages, and texts.
Meanwhile in Central Nova, Sean Fraser suggested it’s been pleasant to be able to see more of his family but notes he has his fair share of frustrations; even though his offices are closed and the House of Commons may not be sitting in Ottawa, there has never been more work and he has never seen such a wide variety of concerns in such a high volume.
“We’re receiving up to 1,000 pieces of correspondence each day, while you’re also dealing with the challenge of doing video conferences from the basement and fighting the volume of an episode of Paw Patrol that might be on in the background,” he said. “I recognize that I am in a position of privilege to be able to work from home; and I know that is a luxury that many members of our community at this stage don’t have.”
Like many other Canadians, Fraser’s daughter is at home with him since her daycare is under a mandatory closure.
In addition to being a local MP, Fraser also serves as a Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance. What that means in terms of the COVID-19 pandemic, is he is part of a small team of people who are working to build the economic response.
“We realized early on that there was going to be a significant impact on individuals as a direct result of this pandemic, so we started by introducing a few measures to get cash in people’s pockets right away,” he said. “Including an enhanced Canada Child Benefit, enhanced GST rebate, a moratorium on student loan payments, but also a new program to help people who’ve seen an interruption in their income stream as a result of this pandemic.”
Fraser said its unfortunate they don’t have the luxury of conducting a multi-year consultation to make sure every person who falls through the cracks is covered.
“Responding to the concerns I hear from my constituents or my colleagues from different parts across the country, being able to get money out the door very quickly is a paramount concern,” he said. “But developing five or 10 years-worth of social and economic policy in a matter of weeks is in enormous feat.”
Cape Breton-Canso MP Mike Kelloway is pictured working from home in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic.
Kelloway reports having great conversations with Richmond County, Port Hawkesbury Mayor Brenda Chisholm-Beaton, the Warden of Inverness, Independent MLA Alana Paon, along with intense conversations with groups in the fishery, the tourism and the health care sector.
From small businesses, he is hearing issues of ensuring they have the ability to keep themselves going and employees going for an unknown length of time, and the ability to have cash flow.
“Number one, you want to make sure that you, your family and your friend are healthy,” Kelloway said. “On the other hand, you want to be able to pay the bills. You want to provide the basic necessities that sustain life.”
Fraser suggested the government has taken the mindset no matter the eligibility for Employment Insurance, Canadians deserve support in these unprecedented times, so they created the Canada Emergency Response Benefit – putting $2,000 every four weeks in the pockets of people who had their income interrupted.
The government also recognizes it’s going to be a serious challenge for businesses to stay open, and in addition to a wage-subsidy, which will offload 75 per cent of salaries, if they can demonstrate they’ve had a 30 per cent drop in revenue as a result of COVID-19, the federal government is also creating a new program to help small businesses access zero interest loans to help with the operating costs.
“We’ve introduced a number of other measures as well around deferring the time of which taxes may be due or remittances that businesses typically pay the government,” Fraser said. “We are saying hang onto that cash for yourself for a few months, but in the meantime we don’t want to be collecting certain monies from someone when we know they may need the cash.”
Although these are experiencing trying times, Kelloway suggested people are working together.
“I’m beginning to see even more of a sense of community; people watching each other’s backs, people checking in on one another,” Kelloway said. “It was a beautiful thing that Premier McNeil did by providing 800 iPads to senior’s homes for people to connect as opposed to standing at the window waving with their loved ones.”
Addressing essential workers that are holding everything together, Kelloway said it takes a lot of courage to go out and do their job; inspiring him to work even harder than the already 16-hour days he’s putting in.
“We don’t need The Avengers and we don’t need The Justice League,” Kelloway explained. “Just turn on the news and watch the men and women who’re ensuring that we have power tonight, that we have clean water during a crisis situation.”
Looking at ways to be transparent after having to close his community constituency offices, Kelloway indicated his team is looking at a couple of scenarios, including video interviews twice a week where people ask questions and provide comments. They’re also looking at the possibility of hosting webinars and are expressing an interest in a tele-town hall for people to call in, as opposed to going on-lin,e since not everyone has reliable access to the Internet.
Fraser hosted his own tele-town hall on April 2, where his team called constitents, provided a publicly listed phone number, and allowed people to sign up through his Web site. On Sunday, he hosted something similar through his Facebook page engaging his constituents from his home.
He’s been hearing concerns surrounding the status of the pandemic in the province, what it means for someone if they should be laid-off as a result of their employer closing, and small business owners worried about their ability to keep the doors open.
Kelloway said with the virus far-reaching and touching every aspect of society, the government is focused on the major pillars of health care and the economy, not only now, but six-weeks down the road, six-months down the road and six-years down the road.
“This virus doesn’t know if people have shades of blue, red, green, orange or party agnostic; we’re all in this together,” he said. “We have to stick together to get through this and my money is always on Cape Breton-Canso, and this time around it’s even more so because we are pretty resilient bunch.”
Fraser said he’s been inspired by the collective action of caring individuals in the communities he represents and he’s been blown away by the businesses which put their communities ahead of profit, and others that pivoted their operations to fill needs.