Finance Committee on May 7th, 2024

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

I'm sorry, Mr. Hallan. I didn't interrupt you with your very long comments. I would ask you politely to do me the same courtesy.

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

Sure.

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

Let me just be clear, because you have waded pretty far into waters of political speculation, that our party has a leader and our government has a Prime Minister. He has the full support of our cabinet and our caucus.

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

Fair enough, Minister, except I have a short amount of time—

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

Mr. Hallan, please don't interrupt me.

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

—so on that note—

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

You used up your precious time speculating about party politics. You leave me no choice—

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

As a follow-up to that question, Minister—

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

—but to answer. I'm quite happy—

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

I just wanted to ask you if you support his quadrupling—

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

I'm sorry, Mr. Hallan. I didn't interrupt you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Minister and Mr. Hallan, perhaps we could try to find the right balance here so that we can hear and we can get some answers.

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

Sure.

I'll move on, then, because I just wanted to know—

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

I wasn't finished with my answer, Mr. Hallan.

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

That's fine. I'll take my time back, because I only have a limited amount of time.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

I have a point of order.

Mr. Chair, I think it's customary, when members ask questions, to give witnesses an equal and weighted amount of time to answer, and I don't believe the minister has had her time to answer.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

What I would ask for is respect here in the room. We do have the minister. It is precious time. We have one hour. I'm sure you want to hear from the minister.

MP Hallan, I'm sure you want to pose your questions, so let's find, as I said, the right balance to make this happen.

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

All I want is to move on to my next question, because I have only a limited amount of time.

Minister, under the nine years of your government, rents have literally doubled. They were half what they are now before your government took over. Rent prices are outpacing income for the first time in 60 years. Your $89-billion photo op slush fund, supposedly for housing.... After you announced that, it has doubled rents. I want to know how you spent $89 billion to double rents.

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

I am glad to see all of us paying attention to housing. I think it is one of the most pressing issues for Canada and Canadians. That is why, with this budget and the actions we have taken, our government has put forward the most ambitious plan to get more homes built faster than at any time in Canadian history. All of the measures taken together will mean that nearly four million new homes will be built by 2031. That is what Canada needs. That is what we are doing. That's what we're investing in. Conservative austerity will not accomplish that.

You also offer me a nice opportunity to point out that when your current leader was responsible for housing, he managed to get only six homes built. That is a record we're happy to stand against any day of the week.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, Minister.

We're going to our next questioner, MP Thompson, for the next six minutes, please.

[Joanne Thompson, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Thank you.

Welcome again to committee, Minister. I'm sorry that I'm not there in person, but I'm pleased as well that I'm back in my riding today.

I would like to reference the school nutrition program.

Specifically, we know that every child in Canada deserves to have the best start in life, but nearly one in four kids just doesn't get enough food. This, obviously, has a real impact on their ability to learn and to grow.

Certainly, while the Conservatives seem to be against supporting fairness for every generation, our government—I'm very proud of this—is taking action, and we're certainly seeing this with the launch of the national school food program.

Would you outline some of the benefits of this program, please?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

I know that you, like me, are a mother. I know that you have worked as a nurse. I know how much you know and care about Canada's children.

I must say that the national school food program is one of the things in this budget that I am most pleased that we're able to invest in. This investment means that an additional 400,000 Canadian children will get some food in school, before school. I know that you, like me, have had heartbreaking conversations with school teachers who talk about how, in Canada today, they have students who come to school and can't focus because they're hungry. I know that you, like me, have talked to teachers who say that they spend their own money to buy some snacks to bring to school to give to those kids. We, thanks to this investment, are going to be able to provide nutritious, healthy snacks to 400,000 more Canadian children. I think that is surely a measure we should all support.

I do have to point out that this is just one example of why we need a government that recognizes the importance of investing in Canada and Canadians. This is why austerity and cuts always, always hurt the most vulnerable. They hurt the people who need help the most. They hurt Canada's children.

That's why I am so glad that our government, with this budget that promises fairness for every generation, is investing in the youngest Canadians.

[Joanne Thompson, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Thank you.

I wanted to stay with young Canadians or younger Canadians for another moment.

We know that young Canadians were disproportionally affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. It's interesting to me that in so many of the comments we hear here at committee, we seem to forget that it was a very difficult period of time that this government, I believe, did a remarkable job in navigating Canadians through, but young Canadians certainly faced the worst of the pandemic, and they're still feeling the economic pinch. I certainly feel, and I believe the government does, that it's very important that we address the struggles that young Canadians are experiencing, particularly around the high cost of living. I'm glad and very pleased that so many of the investments in budget 2024 address these concerns for young Canadians.

I'm wondering if you could speak to this. You referenced some of the programs in your opening statements, but I'd be really interested. I think it's important to outline in a little more detail the specifics of what is in the budget to help young Canadians who are feeling that the opportunities are not available to them that were available to their parents.

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

Thank you very much, Ms. Thompson. I could not agree more.

This is a budget for fairness for every generation, with a particular focus on millennials and Gen Z. That is because we recognize that today the promise of Canada—the good middle-class life, if you study hard and have a good job—is just too hard to reach. That's why in the budget we are aggressively investing in housing, in measures to make life more affordable, in economic growth and productivity, and we're doing it all in a fiscally responsible way, because we understand that that is also part of our promise to young Canadians.

Then how do we make the math work? We're doing that by asking those who are doing the very best in our society to contribute a little bit more. That's a budget that delivers fairness for every generation.

Specifically for younger Canadians, I want to highlight two measures. One—and I'm going to smile at Don Davies—is free prescription contraceptives. It is high time to deliver this for Canadians, for all Canadians. It is especially important for young Canadian women.

As we were putting together this plan, I spoke to gynecologists and obstetricians, who said to me that every month they have young women who come to their offices who are pregnant and don't want to be. The reason is that these young women—teenagers, some of them—can't afford to pay for prescription contraceptives, and they're too scared to ask their parents for the money, or maybe their parents don't have the money. It is a tragedy for every woman who goes in to see a gynecologist or an obstetrician in that situation, and it's a tragedy for our country, and I am really glad that we are now taking action to change that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, Minister.

We'll move to MP Ste-Marie.

Thank you, MP Thompson.