Finance Committee on March 21st, 2024

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

I call this meeting to order. Welcome to meeting number 133 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance.

The committee is meeting today to discuss committee business. Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format. Pursuant to Standing Order 15.1, members are attending in person in the room and remotely using the Zoom application.

I'd like to make a few comments for the benefit of members.

Although this room is equipped with a powerful audio system, feedback events can occur. These can be extremely harmful to interpreters and can cause serious injuries. The most common cause of sound feedback is an earpiece worn too close to the microphone. We therefore ask all participants to exercise a high degree of caution when handling the earpieces, especially when your microphone or your neighbour's microphone is turned on. In order to prevent incidents and safeguard the hearing health of interpreters, I invite participants to ensure that they speak into the microphone into which their headset is plugged and to avoid manipulating the earbuds by placing them on the table away from the microphone when they are not in use.

This is a reminder that all comments should be addressed through the chair.

For members in the room, if you wish to speak, please raise your hand. For members on Zoom, please use the “raise hand” function. The clerk and I will manage the speaking order as best we can. We appreciate your patience and understanding in this regard.

I see MP Baker's hand up.

Members, one of our colleagues, MP Daniel Blaikie, the member for Elmwood—Transcona, is having his last meeting at the finance committee—for now—and his last day in Parliament.

Others may speak to this, but on behalf of the committee, we just want to thank you for all your hard work and collegiality and for everything you have brought to this committee and to our many reports. We thank you for all of the work you have done, Daniel.

We wish you all the best in your future endeavours, and I think those future endeavours will intersect with Parliament. We look forward to seeing you here as a friend and colleague. Thank you so much.

Now I am going to MP Baker.

Please go ahead, Mr. Baker.

[Yvan Baker, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Chair, I wanted to say something on the topic of Mr. Blaikie, but I also wanted to, if I could, get in the queue for committee business.

Is this committee business?

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

I just wanted to say those opening remarks about our colleague Daniel. I think you can speak to both if you'd like.

[Yvan Baker, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

I just wanted to make sure I wasn't pre-empting what other members wanted to talk about.

I want to echo the chair's comments. I think all of us, especially on this committee, have gotten to know Mr. Blaikie really well as a strong advocate for his constituents, but also as someone who's very thoughtful and very grounded in his principles and what he believes needs to be done on behalf of his constituents and Canadians.

Sometimes, with all of the various pressures that members face in this place and the input and advice we get, it's easy to lose that grounding. I think Mr. Blaikie is someone who is very grounded. That doesn't mean we agree on everything, but I know that when he's speaking, he's speaking from a place of principle and on behalf of his constituents primarily, but also Canadians, whom he cares deeply about. I have had the opportunity over the past couple of months to work more closely with Daniel and I have really appreciated his collaboration.

The last thing I'll say is that I think we've all witnessed him in the House quite a bit over the years, and one of the reactions from some of my colleagues when they learned that Daniel wasn't going to be staying with us was they felt it was a loss for the House.

I'll leave it at that. It's a loss for the House and it's a loss for our committee. We thank you for your service and we wish you well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, MP Baker. That was very kind and very nice.

If you also want to speak to your motion, go ahead.

[Yvan Baker, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

At the last meeting—

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

I'm sorry, but can we put Mr. Baker first later? I think it would be nice if we just go around for Mr. Blaikie.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

All right. If that's the sequence, sure.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

Do you want to go, Marty?

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

As the only fellow Manitoban on this committee, I want to wish Daniel all the best.

I did give him some marching orders when he gets back and has a chance to chat with Premier Kinew. I said to make sure he cuts more taxes and, in particular, makes that gas tax cut permanent. I know Daniel feels the same way I do and he'll make sure that occurs.

Aside from that, I very much appreciated working with Daniel. He is a person of character and just an all around nice guy. He's pretty smart too. We wish him well in Manitoba and I'm sure we'll cross paths again in the future.

All the best in your future endeavours, Daniel.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thanks to Marty for that.

I see MP Chambers, and I have MP Ste-Marie on the screen.

[Adam Chambers, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

I'm in my third year here, and it was nice to start right into it with a piece of financial legislation. One of the things that brought us together was a shared value of making sure that publicly traded companies didn't get the benefit of the wage subsidy if they paid dividends. I use that as an example of a time when we worked together on something. That's not the only circumstance, of course, but I appreciate the open collaboration you brought to the place. I think it's a good model for people to follow.

I'm a bit nervous about what happens to the committee after this, Mr. Chair.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Adam Chambers, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

We're losing somebody who's able to bridge the many gaps we have here. That's a good lesson or maybe a challenge for us, and those are perhaps big shoes to fill for whoever follows you.

It's been a pleasure in my very short time to have you here. I think you've advanced a number of great causes.

While we may not have you here at committee, I know that you will likely still be meeting with the Minister of Finance. I'm sure she'll be very pleased to see you continue to walk in that door, as she does when she sees you here, so we wish you all the best.

We may see you back here someday and look forward to that potentiality.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you.

MP Ste-Marie.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I wish you all the best Mr. Blaikie, and thank you for all the work you've accomplished in the House and on this committee.

As Mr. Chambers pointed out, you're the Jedi warrior who's always willing to come to the committee's rescue when its work gets bogged down. I'm therefore a little worried about how things will go from here on.

Are we going to end up with an endless process of systematic obstruction or will we persist with the flying pig socks that Mr. Chambers gave us?

Not only have you contributed greatly to the committee and the House, but your efforts and your social and political commitment are based on sound values.

You care about what happens to ordinary people. You help to improve their circumstances in a pragmatic and concrete working framework based on a search for effective solutions. Well done.

You're going to have some new and rewarding challenges to deal with, not the least of which will be working with the premier of Manitoba, who in my opinion is the most dynamic of Canada's premiers. I wish you all the best in these endeavours.

Living in Ottawa while your family stays in your riding, and not being able to see your children as much as you would like, is definitely a major sacrifice. From now on, you'll be much closer to them.

As our colleagues said, I can well imagine you back in the House again, with an even stronger presence. That would be a great privilege for us.

To conclude, I'd like to say that in my view, you are the very incarnation of the Canadian left, close to the unions, close to ordinary people, and prepared to work on concrete issues with a view to making improvements. That has earned you my total respect.

I'm going to use an expression that was previously applied to another Canadian politician. Thanks to your firm and constructive approach and your deeply rooted values, you provide quiet strength to the committee, to Parliament and to your political party. We are truly going to miss you.

We wish you the very best for the future.

Don't hesitate to come and see us or to contact us if we can work with you in any way.

Thanks for everything. Congratulations, my friend!

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, Gabriel.

Now MP Morrice would like to say a few words.

[Mike Morrice, Green, Kitchener Centre, ON]

I may be a guest at the committee, but I get the privilege of sitting next to Mr. Blaikie in the House. What I notice every day working with Daniel is that, because he speaks from the heart, he commands the respect of those he works with wherever he goes. I think that's been heard in comments from others this morning.

Daniel, that's a big part of why you'll be missed here as a voice for workers, a voice for people, a voice for Canadians. I will certainly miss you, and I wish you all the very best.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Mike, thank you.

Daniel, you'll be the final speaker.

I have MP Lawrence and then MP Hallan. Then I think we'll go to MP Blaikie.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

Just quickly, I echo the comments of Yvan and Marty. Daniel is no doubt a man of the highest character in his personal integrity, and he is true to his principles as a social democrat. I'll be brief because all the great comments have been made, but I'd just like to thank his wife and children for sharing him with Parliament for the last eight years. He might come back at some point. That's just a warning.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, Phil.

Now we'll go to MP Hallan.

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

Daniel, thank you. I know we disagreed on very little, but—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

I will say I respect how you elevated the debate, not just in the House but in here. It made us think about things we maybe wouldn't have thought about. You always stuck to your principles, whether we agreed with them or not. I show you a high degree of respect for that. As someone who also comes from a construction background, I want to thank you for always raising a voice for workers.

I wish you and your family the best.

I'd like for you to advocate on behalf of the Conservative Party with Premier Kinew and ask if he would be willing to join the other premiers in calling on the government to spike the hike.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!