Finance Committee on Feb. 3rd, 2026

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

—is a very credible source that would tell you—

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

Minister, we have to go back to the question: How much will groceries go down with this rebate? We just need to know the price.

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

I'm sure that when you voted in favour, you applauded the fact that there will not only be a boost but there's also a bridge to 2030 and structural measures to allow more resilient food production in Canada. That's why we will also have a national food strategy. I think this matters to Canadians for food security.

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

Actually, we have the highest grocery inflation in the entire G7. In 2023 you made this grand show that you were going to pull in all the grocery CEOs. You said that you were going to be the minister on a mission. You said that you were going to be the guy who gave it to them, and they were going to stabilize grocery prices. Since then, we now have the highest grocery inflation in the entire G7.

If you're not going to tell us how much prices will go down, can you at least tell us, minister on a mission, on what date grocery costs will go down for Canadians? Just tell us the date.

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

Madam Chair, I'm happy to produce that for the record of the committee, but importantly, there's also something called “Understanding the resurgence of food inflation in 2025” by the Bank of Canada. I think that might help my colleagues to understand the source of inflation. This is from the Bank of Canada—

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

Great. I read that report today, Minister.

In fact, that report says—

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

I'm happy to quote it for you.

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

—that two-thirds of food costs—the food costs we see today, the highest grocery inflation in the G7—were caused by domestic factors.

Domestic factors include inputs, like your industrial carbon tax, like your Liberal fuel standard, like your food packaging tax. Those things are directly in your and your government's hands, and yet you guys refused, and in fact voted against, our motion when we brought it forward to help lower the cost of food for Canadians.

We see 2.2 million Canadians going to a food bank in a single month—700,000 plus of those are children—and we have the most indebted households in the entire G7 because of your failed policies.

In 2023, you said you would bring down those costs. Why have they not gone down? Just answer: Why are our costs and our food inflation double the U.S.'s?

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

I want to help my colleague again, because it's in the report.

For Canadians at home, it says, “The rise in food inflation in 2025 was mostly driven by pressures from import costs”. That's the Bank of Canada. It's not even me who says that.

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

Excuse me: It also says two-thirds of the cost of food is from domestic factors.

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

It's helping you to understand the nature of the inflation. I'm trying to help.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

One person at a time, please. It's a bit of a challenge for the interpreters.

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

Minister, right beside your $925 top-up is a $1,000 increase in grocery costs because your government is spending.... There's already a loss for Canadians.

Your rebate is literally $10 a week on a weekly $300 grocery bill. How is that supposed to help Canadians? Should you not be lowering the cost of groceries?

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

Maybe $945 may not make a difference...but it's going to make a difference for millions of Canadians.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Minister, we're going to have to end it there.

Thank you, Mr. Hallan.

We will continue with Mr. Sawatzky for five minutes.

[Jake Sawatzky, Liberal, New Westminster—Burnaby—Maillardville, BC]

Thank you very much, Chair.

Minister, thank you for being here today.

I share your enthusiasm.

It's an opportunity to make things more affordable for Canadians at a time when, as you've mentioned, it's very much needed.

Of course, there are investments in major projects, which will stimulate the economy in the long term, but bridging the gap is really important for a lot of young people—and really, for people of all ages. Families, seniors.... Everyone is feeling the pinch right now. As you've mentioned, there are a lot of factors: global shifts, climate change, the economic impacts of COVID and all sorts of other things.

Can you elaborate on some of the things the Bank of Canada brought up? What are some of the causes of food inflation?

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

That's a very good question.

You're right. I'm happy to talk to young Canadians watching at home tonight, because this measure is touching young Canadians, seniors and families across the country. That's why I was surprised that my Conservative colleagues are dismissive of our helping 12 million Canadians. I don't think folks in their ridings would be too happy to hear what they're saying tonight in committee, because their families and ridings are going to benefit.

If you look at the Food Banks Canada report, it will tell you that the amount we are proposing to offer Canadians—the boost and the bridge—is exactly what it is saying. The amount of money it quotes is very much in line with what we're offering.

That's why I think everyone here should have a humble approach to all of this. Canadians are watching at home. We have to be where the people are. For a lot of families, this is going to make a huge difference. You can take it from me. You can take it from Food Banks Canada. This amount will make a meaningful—I'm using the word—difference. To anyone in this room questioning whether it will be good for families, I say that humility is probably the tone we should adopt because, yes, if you're a single person in this country, the increase you're going to see this year will be meaningful. This is very significant. It's $402 more in your pocket. If you have a family with two children, it's $800. This is very significant for families.

However, you're right, sir. It's not just about that. It's about everything else we've done for Canadians. You have to couple that with the first thing we did, which was cutting taxes for 22 million Canadians. You have the Canada child benefit, which is going to six million Canadians. You have the national school food program, which is helping 400,000 kids in our country. You have the Canada disability benefit, which is touching 467,000 people. You have $10-a-day child care, which is helping 900,000 families. You have the Canada workers benefit.

The list of measures we have taken to support workers, young people and families is long. They understand our vision, and I know the Conservatives understand it too. They won't say it publicly, but they understand that if you want to grow GDP per capita, you have to grow the economy. They understand generational investment. Actually, the IMF gets it. I was there in Washington when they said, “Oh, there are two countries in the world.” They talked about Germany and Canada. They said that those are the only two countries in the world you should look at. Those are the two that have the fiscal capacity and the wisdom to invest in things that will make a difference: housing, infrastructure, productivity, innovation and defence. Those are the kinds of investments the IMF says will grow the economy in a smart way.

In the meantime, as we've heard from colleagues, Canadians are worried about the two things they see most directly: food and shelter. This is a reality every other day, every other week and at the end of the month. You have to be with people in their time of need. This is part of our Canadian values, and that's why people voted unanimously in the House. I'm surprised to hear some comments tonight from the opposition, because they were so glad to clamour that they put the motion forward and got unanimous consent. I'm sitting here tonight and they're saying, “This is not good enough.” I don't know. I'm a bit confused, because Food Banks Canada thinks it's good. Twelve million Canadian families will be saying that it makes a difference for them.

In the spirit of non-partisanship, good policy and no politics, our colleagues in the opposition should be rejoicing that they've been with us on the journey and that they're going to be able to go back to their constituencies and say, “Yes, the government took up a good policy that's going to help you.”

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Thank you, Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Sawatzky.

I now give the floor to Mr. Garon for two and a half minutes.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I want to pick up on the last point, just paraphrasing you. When you were Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, you went to see foreign grocers, you told them that we had a competition problem and you asked them to come to Canada. So those people bought a plane ticket, came here, and then told you that they were only interested in shopping centres. They said they could not control their enthusiasm when thinking about opening grocery stores in shopping malls, and that they wanted nothing but stores in shopping malls. Then you introduced your bill, you solved the problem of leases in shopping malls, and you thought that foreign grocers would rush to open stores in Canada. Now you are telling us that, since all this takes time to set up, those grocers have not yet opened stores in Canada.

First of all, that does not make sense as an analysis. Could it be that we still have competition problems in the grocery sector and that we still have five major grocers, including Walmart and Costco?

If there are still competition problems, specifically, what are the next steps for constructive public policy in order to have competition in the retail sector?

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

Thank you for going back to what I said. As I said at the time, competition is the best way to get better prices in the long term. What I told you—

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

Tell me just one measure or just one thing that remains to be done. We do not have much time.

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

What I relayed to you was exactly the discussions I had with some of the foreign grocers. They told us, in some cases, that they had looked at the Canadian market, but that the way the leases were structured did not allow them to enter the market. Obviously, time has passed. Is that now—

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

Time goes by here as well, Minister.

So there were not enough shopping malls for the Americans. I appreciate that.

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

I am talking about leases, not shopping malls.

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

No, no, there were not enough shopping malls for the Americans.