SPECIAL COVID-19 EDITION

93 Cedar Street, Suite 302Sudbury ON P3E 1A7

705.673.7107Paul.Lefebvre@parl.gc.ca

THE SUDBURY I KNOW COVID-19 has turned our world upside down, making the lives we led before the pandemic barely recognizable.

Like most of you, I am bunkered in with my family and working hard for Sudburians from home. In Sudbury, thousands of people continue to work as front-line and essential workers to ensure our safety. We cannot thank them enough.

In return, the response from the community has been astonishing. Over the past two months, I have spoken to dozens of people and businesses in Sudbury who want to help. Extraordinary people doing extraordinary things in extraordinary times! This is the Sudbury I know. Resilient, resourceful, determined. And united.

The Government of Canada continues to work with public health experts and local and provincial officials to design policies and programs to help every Canadian. Every day, I reach out to Sudbury families, parents, seniors, teachers, health authorities, politicians, institutions, business owners, entrepreneurs, agencies, etc.

As we pass into warmer spring months, I remind you of the simple message from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — act like you have COVID-19 and stay at home. Let safety guide your actions.

Small things like washing our hands frequently, disinfecting our environments and sneezing or coughing into our elbows make a big difference, and we must continue to be vigilant.

Finally, I would also like to thank the thousands of government employees who continue to work to deliver these historic new programs under very stressful conditions. I know my own office has been flooded with phone calls, emails, and Facebook messages. We’ve helped Sudburians find a way back home from abroad, helped people access temporary financial support, helped businesses obtain loans and subsidies, helped students find employment, and helped hundreds of Sudburians navigate government programs. We are doing our small part… we’re in this together.

Stay safe.

Thank you Sudbury.

WHAT’S INSIDE The Impact of COVID-19 on Canada’s Economy How Sudbury Responded Returning Home: The Garcias’ Story

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Sudbury’s Business Community Rises to the Challenge Comparison of Daily Requests to My Office 250 Student Summer Jobs Available Soon

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COMING THIS SUMMER Virtual Canada Day

paullefebvre.ca Paul.Lefebvre@parl.gc.ca PaulLefebvre.Sudbury @LefebvrePaul @PaulLiberal

RESOURCESDOMESTIC ABUSE / VIOLENCEShelterSafe.caVoices for Women Sudbury Sexual Assault Centre ......... voicesforwomen.ca Genevra House, YWCA Sudbury ...................ywcasudbury.ca | 705.673.4754Sudbury Counselling Centre ..................... counsellingccs.com | 705.524.9629Sudbury Women’s Centre ................................... sudburywc.ca | 705.673.1916Assaulted Women’s Helpline ...........1-866-863-0511 | TTY 1.866.863.7868Violence Intervention and Prevention Program (HSN) .............705.688.6796Centre Victoria pour femmes (Sudbury) .....centrevictoria.ca | 705.670.2517Fem’aide ........................................................................................... 1.877.336.2433

MENTAL HEALTH ASSISTANCEWellness Together Canada ................................................................... ca.portal.gs iamentalhealth.ca ............... counselling@iamentalhealth.ca | 1.855.449.9949Sudbury/Manitoulin CMHA .................... info@cmha-sm.ca | 1.866.285.2642

INDIGENOUS HOMELESSNESSCity of Greater Sudbury ......gail.spencer@greatersudbury.ca | 705.674.4455

FOOD BANKSudbury Food Bank ...................sudburyfoodbank@vianet.ca | 705.671.9663Volunteer Sudbury ................................ volunteersudbury.com | 705.560.6661

DOWNLOAD THE APPThe Canada #COVID-19 mobile App is here for you- and it’s free!ca.thrive.healthThanks to this App, we’re helping to reduce the strain on 811 and telehealth lines, as well as in-person services.

Canada.ca/coronavirus

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THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON CANADA’S ECONOMY

RETURNING HOME — THE GARCIAS’ STORY

KEEP THEGOOD HABITSPROTECT YOURSELF AND OTHERSFROM GETTING SICK

The number of Canadians impacted by COVID-19 is critical, and the impact on Canada’s economy is considerable. By the end of March, more than a million Canadians had lost their jobs, and millions more would go from full-time to part-time work to no work at all. Several million Canadians signed up for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) in the first two weeks of April and it remains the lifeline for millions of Canadian households.

As well, thousands of Canadian employers took advantage of the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy so they could keep their employees on their payroll to prepare for the day when they could reopen.

In the mass confusion of late March, members of the Garcia family contacted my office to seek help bringing their parents home. Denis and Bertha Garcia, both senior residents of Sudbury, were in Lima, Peru, unable to leave their apartment due to quarantine. They needed assistance to get back to Canada fast.

Like many other countries, Peru had closed its borders and restricted ground, air and sea travel. My team assisted the Garcias with their registration with Global Affairs Canada. I called them in Peru to see what they needed, and I called their children in Canada to assure them their parents would be safe. I made several calls to the Minister’s office to make sure the Garcias were taken care of. On March 26, Canadian Embassy staff transported the Garcias from their apartment to the airport where a plane was waiting.

I personally advocated for several Sudburians like the Garcias to ensure they got seats on the next available flight to bring them back home safely… no matter where in the world they were.

“It is a huge relief for us to know they are home,” the Garcia children wrote to me. “Thank you very much to you and the rest of your team for checking on my parents and helping us with this process. My family and I are very relieved and feel very blessed to have had your support.”

As of mid-April, 18,949 Canadians like the Garcias have returned to Canada on 144 flights from 74 countries thanks to our government’s help.* Every one of them, like the Garcias, is an important story.

*This doesn’t include the hundreds of other commercial flights.

I’m very proud that Sudbury has rallied to the challenge presented by these unprecedented times! Over the past month, my team has received multiple offers from citizens and businesses in Sudbury who wanted to pitch in and help. For a city built on getting things done, this came as no surprise.

• A call to retired healthcare professionals and workers to return to the front lines of primary healthcare was answered by dozens

• Geoffrey and Gerry Lougheed donated $100,000 to the Sudbury Food Bank, followed by Vale (also $100,000) and Glencore ($50,000)

• Sudbury’s Warriors biker club has delivered meals to seniors for Meals on Wheels

• Collège Boréal, Cambrian College, Northern Ontario School of Medicine, Laurentian University and Greater Sudbury Paramedic Services collaborated and donated necessary equipment and supplies to a temporary Health Sciences North location at the Clarion Hotel

• Stack Brewing offered free pre-made meals on a first-come, first-serve basis to families in need after so many were thrown out of work

• Teenagers created headbands for face shields with their 3D printer• A university student created the volunteer group called Greater Sudbury

Community COVID-19 Response and Relief, delivering groceries and food donations to those in needs

• SNOLAB donated 3,000 pieces of PPE and supplies to HSN• Sudbury Steam Clearners launched a cloth mask initiative: buy one and

they’ll donate one• Guilty Pleasures Bakeshop has distributed thousands of pounds of free

fresh food

Do you want to help, too? Donate to the Sudbury Food Bank or a local shelter.

For the nearly 4,000 federal government employees in Sudbury, and all others across Canada, these are unprecedent times. I thank all of you for your dedicated work, patience and assistance in delivering these historic programs.

WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER You need help or have questions? Visit PaulLefebvre.ca.

Our website is updated frequently and contains important information for our community, citizens, students, workers and businesses.

Reach us at 705.673.7107 orpaul.lefebvre@parl.gc.ca.

HOW SUDBURY RESPONDED As of mid-April

paullefebvre.ca Paul.Lefebvre@parl.gc.ca PaulLefebvre.Sudbury @LefebvrePaul @PaulLiberal

“It is a huge relief for us to know they are home.”

WASH YOURHANDS OFTEN

COUGH/SNEEZEINTO YOUR ELBOW

AVOID TOUCHINGYOUR FACE

USE ALCOHOL-BASEDHAND SANITIZER

AVOID CONTACTWITH SICK PERSONS

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SUDBURY’S BUSINESS COMMUNITYRISES TO THE CHALLENGE

250 STUDENT SUMMER JOBS AVAILABLESOON THROUGH CANADA SUMMER JOBS

I’m grateful to the Sudbury business community that stepped up to help face the challenges of COVID-19. The response has been overwhelming. Businesses from all sectors have been quick to contribute to the effort. Here are a few examples from the many great contributions. In our next issue we will highlight even more.

• Crosscut Distillery retooled to start producing hand sanitizer. It started providing the product to local groups and charities that were either running low or couldn’t afford to buy more. Crosscut has a license from Health Canada to provide hand sanitizer for frontline health care workers. Shane Prodan at Crosscut tells me he plans to cater to the Sudbury market for sanitizer.

• A partnership including Ionic Mechatronics, SHYFTinc, and Hard-Line Solutions, in collaboration with Laurentian University, Northern Ontario School of Medicine, Cambrian College, Collège Boréal, and Science North has allowed the building of 3D plastic face shields for health-care workers at Health Sciences North.

• ProStitch is answering the call by focusing on half face masks, face shields and universal medical gowns for people who bravely face today’s worries to provide everyone with necessities. While not medical grade, the hope is that anyone who wants the peace of mind of PPE can buy it locally. The professional equipment can then be rationed for people at highest risk and for health care professionals.

• Pat Dubreuil of Let’s Roll ‘Ideation’ Consulting, has teamed with Ionic Mechatronics, Synaptic Technologies and CL Mining Consulting to develop a large-scale, but still portable, bio-decontamination chamber, or Decon-POD, which can be used to decontaminate vital PPE such as N95 masks, surgical masks, gowns, goggles, face shields and foot coverings using hydrogen peroxide vapour, allowing for repeated use by health-care personnel.

• Sudbury businessman and inventor, Tom Fortin, came up with the POSIStation, a self-contained, portable testing unit built inside a shipping container. Going forward, increasing our testing capacity will be the key to beating COVID-19.

• Sudbury technology manufacturing company FORTAI has converted a mining supply chain and logistics product, the SmartCube®, into a tool that sanitizes personal protective equipment or other devices used by front-line health care workers. The company will bring its Sanitization SmartCube® into production within 30 days by leveraging its proven SmartCube® technology, a powerful set of partners, and expertise from the INOVINTA group of companies, which includes BESTECH and SHYFTinc.

Work is on the way. On top of the six-month interest-free moratorium on the repayment of Canada Student Loans, and the $9 billion announced mid-April for post-secondary students and recent graduates, Sudbury students will have access to more than 250 summer jobs soon. Stay tuned.

MORE SUPPORT FOR STUDENTS Doubling Canada Student Grants

Creating the Canada Emergency Student Benefit

Improving Canada Student Loans

Helping Students find a job in their community with the Canada Student Service Grant

Expanding eligibility for student financial assistance

paullefebvre.ca Paul.Lefebvre@parl.gc.ca PaulLefebvre.Sudbury @LefebvrePaul @PaulLiberal

COMPARISON OF DAILY REQUESTSTO MY OFFICE

PRE-COVID-19

0% EI / CERB

30% CRA

15% Passport

30% Service Canada

15% Immigra�on

8% Seniors

2% Other jurisdic�on

COVID-19

85% EI / CERB

5% CRA

0% Passport

3% Service Canada

2% Immigra�on

0% Seniors

2% Other jurisdic�on

CALLING ALLSTUDENTS

paullefebvre.ca Paul.Lefebvre@parl.gc.ca PaulLefebvre.Sudbury @LefebvrePaul @PaulLiberal

CANADA’S COVID-19EMERGENCY RESPONSE PLAN

DIRECT PAYMENTTO SUPPORT LOW- AND

MODEST-INCOME FAMILIES

PROTECT SENIORS’RETIREMENT SAVINGS BYREDUCING THE MINIMUM

RRIF WITHDRAWAL

UP TO $300 MORE PER CHILDFOR PARENTS THROUGH THE

CANADA CHILD BENEFIT

$500 PER WEEK FOR CANADIANSWHO LOSE INCOME DUE TO

COVID-19 THROUGH THECANADA EMERGENCY

RESPONSE BENEFIT

TEMPORARY WAGE SUBSIDYFOR SMALL BUSINESSES TO

HELP KEEP EMPLOYEESON THE PAYROLL

PREVENT SHORTAGES OFPATENTED DRUGS OR

MEDICAL DEVICES

PAUSE REPAYMENT OFCANADA STUDENT LOANS

FOR SIX MONTHS

$500 MILLION TO SUPPORTPROVINCES AND TERRITORIESIN DEALING WITH COVID-19

SUPPORT BUSINESSESAS NECESSARY THROUGH

EDC, BDC ANDFARM CREDIT CANADA

GIVE MORE FINANCIALSPACE TO CANADIANS ANDCANADIAN BUSINESSES BYDEFERRING TAX PAYMENTS

PROTECT CANADIANS’ HOMESBY STRENGTHENING THEMORTGAGE FINANCING

MARKET