Mr. Poilievre.
Evidence of meeting #139 for Finance in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was debt.
A video is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #139 for Finance in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was debt.
A video is available from Parliament.
5:55 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
This was your platform. You said you would balance the budget next year. That's the Liberal approach that you ran on. Are you now saying you were wrong when you ran on that?
5:55 p.m.
Liberal
Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
What I'm saying is we're not going to take the Conservative approach to cutting veterans services, for example, the Conservative approach to boutique tax credits that only benefit the very wealthy. What we're going to do is continue to invest in Canadians, because we know that Canada works when Canadians are working, and that's what we're seeing right now.
5:55 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Will the budget be balanced next year as you promised? That's a yes or no.
5:55 p.m.
Liberal
5:55 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Would you know if the budget's going to be balanced next year, or is there another minister who'd be responsible for answering that question?
5:55 p.m.
Liberal
Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
What I can tell you is that we will continue with the successful approach we've taken to create a remedy to the failed approach that came before us.
5:55 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Okay, so you don't know. You're the finance minister of Canada. You're not sure if next year the budget will be balanced. I'll inform you, then. Your plan foresees another quarter century of deficits. That's a quarter century longer than you promised when you were knocking on doors in the last election, Minister.
During that quarter century, how much debt would the Government of Canada accumulate?
5:55 p.m.
Liberal
Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
What I can tell you is that the additional $150 billion of debt that was put on by the previous government is obviously an additional challenge we face, but we still find ourselves with a very low net debt-to-GDP. We're the best in the G7. We continue to be in a position where we—
5:55 p.m.
Conservative
5:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Mr. Minister, you have the right to finish your answer as long as it's not too long.
5:55 p.m.
Liberal
Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
We will continue with the approach to having a very positive fiscal situation by reducing our debt as a function of our economy over time to among the lowest levels that we've seen.
5:55 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
The minister doesn't know if the budget will be balanced next year. When I inform him that his own fiscal plan sees 25 years of deficits, he can't tell Canadians how much debt the Government of Canada will accumulate during that time. I did a control+F on your budget, Minister, and the term “balanced budget” does not appear once, according to my search. You can't do a balanced budget. You can't even write the words “balanced budget”. Can you say the words “balanced budget”?
5:55 p.m.
Liberal
Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
Here's what I can say. The Conservative approach to cuts to things like veterans services and to cuts to things like people who are supposed to implement a new pay system for federal government services clearly failed. We ended up with a low growth rate. We ended up with a high unemployment rate. The fact that more Canadians are working, that we have among the lowest unemployment rates in 40 years, I hope you're—
5:55 p.m.
Liberal
Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
—celebrating that, because I imagine there are more people in your riding who are working, which is a positive for our economy.
5:55 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
You can't even say the words “balanced budget”. You ran on it.
5:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
I'm giving you equal time, both of you.
Minister, you can finish that answer, and then Mr. Poilievre will have another.
5:55 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
You don't know if the budget is going to be balanced next year. You don't know how much debt you're planning to add to the Canadian people, and now you can't even say the words “balanced budget”. Are you that allergic to balanced budgets that you can't even say the words?
6 p.m.
Liberal
Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
What we have shown over the last two years is a very clear focus on Canadians, and what we've shown is that, when you do that, you create a better economy. The fact that our economy is growing significantly better than it was when we came into office, the fact that hundreds of thousands more Canadians are working, and the fact that we have the lowest unemployment rate we've seen in almost 40 years, lower than we saw in the entire period of the last government, are enormous positives. When Canadian families look at where they're at right now, consider the advantage they took—