Finance Committee on Jan. 26th, 2026

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London Centre, ON]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

At the outset, I'll mention—I've talked to almost all colleagues but not everyone just yet—that I will be here in place of Mr. Turnbull over the next few weeks, through the budget implementation act and perhaps beyond that. I'm very much looking forward to working with you, Madam Chair, committee members and staff.

I'm also certainly looking forward to working with you, public servants, and engaging with you today. Thank you very much for your contributions.

My question relates to housing, and it's just a question from 30,000 feet, if you like.

What will Build Canada Homes do? How is it different from CMHC?

That's for whoever wishes to take it.

[Erin Hunt, Director General, Financial Crimes and Security Division, Department of Finance]

Unfortunately, I have to say that no one from the Department of Finance is here to speak about that section of the bill today. That's not one of the areas that we're covering. Unfortunately, we don't have the experts here. We can take your question back with us, but the experts aren't here.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Could you come back with an answer, please?

[Erin Hunt]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Thank you.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London Centre, ON]

We are looking at part 5, are we not? Part 5 includes Build Canada Homes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

I'm sorry. Are we missing someone? Okay.

We could ask that you come back. Is there nobody here who would feel comfortable answering that question? No.

We will ask for a response from the revenue department, please.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London Centre, ON]

No problem.

Perhaps we can talk about consumer banking, then.

Again, just tell us in general terms—because most Canadians will perhaps have some familiarity with consumer banking—what the government is trying to achieve by going down this path.

[Kïrsten Fraser]

The three core objectives for the consumer-driven banking framework are, first, economics, incenting competition and innovation, as your colleague spoke to; second, security; and third, consumer protection. The goal is to allow Canadians to securely share their financial data and information with accredited entities so that they can access new and innovative digital tools that allow them to improve their financial outcomes. Currently, people do use a workaround called screen scraping, which requires them to share their online banking credentials to access these services. It's neither efficient for the entities offering these services nor secure, whether for the Canadians using them or the entities with which they do their banking.

This framework puts in place a pathway to accreditation. It puts in place oversight and rules governing entities that will facilitate the secure sharing of financial information through technology called API technology.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London Centre, ON]

Thank you very much.

Can I ask, how do we compare now with G7 countries, for example, or if you want to look at the OECD, where are we with consumer banking and how would this alter that? I leave you to comment on it.

[Kïrsten Fraser]

We are one of the last G7 countries to adopt this. The first-mover jurisdictions were the United Kingdom and Australia. This is often known as “open banking”, and it exists throughout jurisdictions around the world, not just G7 and OECD countries. This will bring us up to where those countries are.

I also note that the government has committed to advancing payment initiation, or “right access”, through a second phase, and this commitment to bringing forward legislative amendments by mid-2027 to bring about the second phase was in the budget. This will bring us up to par with some of our G7 colleagues and, in fact, put us ahead of some of our other G7 colleagues, as well as jurisdictions throughout the world that have not moved on the right access or payment initiation aspects of this.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London Centre, ON]

Thank you very much, Ms. Fraser.

In the end, we basically have a policy that will make it easier for the everyday person....

[Kïrsten Fraser]

Yes...to securely and efficiently share their financial data to access services that will allow them to improve their financial outcomes.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London Centre, ON]

Okay. Thank you very much.

Again, I'll be posing general questions, at least at this first meeting.

I want to ask about the Red Tape Reduction Act. What, exactly, is the government moving with here? What is the intent and how will it work?

[Kïrsten Fraser]

I don't know whether we have anyone here from the Department of Finance who can speak to that today. Certainly, we can take that question back and come back to you with answers.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London Centre, ON]

Ms. Fraser, on consumer banking, you talked about security aspects—at least, you alluded to them. Could you go into that again and expand on it? What is being done to ensure security—or as much security as one can hope for?

[Kïrsten Fraser]

The legislation sets out requirements for entities seeking accreditation or participation in the framework to meet certain standards. The specific details of those will be set out in regulation.

The second part—

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Thank you, Ms. Fraser.

Thank you, Mr. Fragiskatos. That is time.

Mr. Garon, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'd like to talk to you about the Alto high-speed train.

Modern Canadian expropriation laws followed the despicable expropriations by the federal government in my riding, in Mirabel, in the 1970s, crimes committed by Ottawa for which the federal government has yet to apologize. However, the budget suspends sections 9 and 10 of the Expropriation Act and removes the right of potential future expropriated owners to hold public consultations.

So far, Alto has behaved in a highly inappropriate manner. On January 22, it published a new route without ever telling anyone that it was crossing my riding from one side to the other. It announced that it was going to hold three half-day consultations the following week, without giving mayors, civil society and farmers time to prepare.

Can anyone here tell me how suspending these sections will not leave room for gross, inappropriate and abusive behaviour by the federal government in my riding, which still bears deep historical scars when it comes to expropriation?

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Is there anyone from the Department of Finance who's able to...? I understand that's probably more of a transport question.

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

That's in part 5 of the bill, Madam Chair. Surely someone here knows it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Yes, I know, but I don't see anyone coming forward. Perhaps we can come back to that.

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

Does Alto really need to tell people that they will be expropriated and that they will not be allowed to take part in public consultations, when we know to this day that Alto's behaviour is inappropriate in my very riding, which has become a symbol of expropriation?

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

I don't see anyone from the Department of Finance who can answer that question. However, the Minister of Transport will be appearing next week, so you will have the opportunity to ask him your question.

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

I'll move on to the next question.

The act is also being amended to allow the government to expropriate farmers' land by notifying them by email. In Quebec, even a notice of rent increase must be sent by registered mail, because we think that's important. In this case, they're going to be able to expropriate people by notifying them by email.

Can someone explain to me why, for a train line, the government had to be allowed to expropriate people by notifying them by email? What's the technical reason for that? We have officials here. Can they tell me the technical reason for that?