Finance Committee on Feb. 3rd, 2026

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

I appreciate that. I am not the best in the world like Mr. Leitão, but I am an economist, after all.

I think there would have been a way, at the same cost, to increase this year's cheque by more than 25% and to do so in a more staggered way, so that it would be permanent and people would be guaranteed predictability. That is my opinion. Obviously, that is not what is in the bill.

There is another thing you could have done, Minister, that I think would have been really good for people. You know, the GST credit cheques come in every three months, but people are going to the grocery store every week. In 2022, when we asked for the GST credit to be enhanced, we said that it might be a good idea to write the cheque every month, so that the money gets to people more regularly. Mr. Leitão and I know economic theory, so we know that when people have money coming in, they go to the grocery store and spend it, so it is preferable to have some regularity in that. This measure would cost virtually nothing, apart from administrative costs.

Why do you not want to go in that direction?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

I think you answered the question by asking it: There are administrative costs to that.

We do it quarterly and it happens at the beginning of the month. There is a cost-benefit issue, as you know, in administering these benefits.

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

Have you thought about that? Have you cost that out? It would really help people if they had a cheque a month.

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

I would say that, yes, we have looked at that. Obviously, if the cheques are sent out monthly, there is an administrative cost to that. To my knowledge, that is why the GST credit has always been done on a quarterly basis. We have tried to—

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

For the guaranteed income supplement and old age security, you write tons of cheques a month, so why not do the same for this credit?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

As I told you, I think people know that we do it quarterly. Now we are enhancing it.

In addition, as you know, you are asking for sound management of taxpayer money. So I always look at that.

We also tried to do this fairly quickly, to get an increase quickly, because people were asking us for it, as evidenced by the House of Commons—

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

I appreciate that. I have one minute left, so I am going to ask you one last question. However, I stand by the proposal and we would like to know how much it costs.

When you were the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, I was your critic. At the time, you told us that you were bringing together all the grocery store owners, among others, that we were going to have a grocery code of conduct and that we were going to see what happens, now that managing that issue had just started.

However, you were telling us something else. As you know, people call you the Energizer bunny, and we knew that the bunny was going to the United States and elsewhere to try to attract foreign grocery chains to Canada to bring back competition.

As of today, February 3, 2026, I would like you to give us a single name of a grocery chain that has come to set up shop here.

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

I will keep confidential the names of the people I spoke to, out of respect for the trade discussions we had.

I would say that one of the major concerns we heard was about the famous existing clauses in commercial leases that ultimately prevented other competitors from setting up—

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

[Inaudible—Editor] in committee six months from now, and one has arrived.

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Allow me to say that what constituted a barrier was the presence of these clauses in commercial leases. We made them illegal, because we found that, in terms of competition, it was the presence of these clauses in leases that stopped foreign companies from entering Canada. As you know, we amended the Competition Act precisely to make these leases illegal.

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

We will be sitting on the edge of our seats in the next few months, Minister, and we will wait for the news.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Thank you, Mr. Garon.

We will continue with Mr. Hallan for five minutes, please.

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary East, AB]

Thanks, Chair.

Minister, the Parliamentary Budget Officer costed this rebate at $12.4 billion. Your government has already doubled Justin Trudeau's deficit, at $80 billion. Where are you going to find another $12.4 billion to cover the cost?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

To go back to your first question about PBO, there are different assumptions. This is not unusual—

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary East, AB]

Whether it's $11 billion or $12 billion, where are you going to find that cost?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

They're just different assumptions in terms of the difference between their number and our number.

I would say that to be in government is to choose. We chose to support Canadians at a time of need. This is also part of our Canadian values. The fact that you voted in favour—

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary East, AB]

Minister, you also could have chosen to reduce the cost of groceries, but you didn't. The real issue is the cost of groceries. You're adding another $12.4 billion of deficit for Canadians. There are only a few ways to cover that, as you know. You can raise taxes, put more debt on to Canadians or make government cuts. To cover this cost, which is it?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

I would say there are a lot of ways to grow the economy, and that's exactly what we're doing. That's why you saw that in budget 2025, we have generational investments to grow our economy. That's the way we're going to make Canadians richer.

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary East, AB]

Minister, respectfully, we had 0% growth in GDP in November. All of last year, GDP per capita flatlined at 0%. The Bank of Canada is basically saying it's going to flatline next year for growth. I don't think you can say that the economy is going to be doing any better or help you guys out.

You are the guy who made a big claim in 2023 about lowering grocery prices. Can you please tell Canadians how much grocery prices will go down after this rebate?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

I just want to correct the record, Madam Chair. Canada will.... I mean, it's not me but the International Monetary Fund, which is a credible source, has said that Canada will have the second-fastest growth in the G7—

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary East, AB]

The Bank of Canada would disagree with you.

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

—so I think you should be rejoicing in that, because this is good news for Canada.

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary East, AB]

I don't think Canadians would be rejoicing—

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Well, the IMF—

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary East, AB]

—who have the highest household debt in the entire G7.