Finance Committee on Feb. 5th, 2026

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

There are also certain initiatives. People have come to us with good ideas, which we are currently considering.

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

Can you give me an example of a good idea?

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Thank you, Mr. Garon and Minister. Your speaking time is up.

We have only about five minutes left for this committee.

Given that we have two more speakers, I'll split the time in half, with two and a half minutes each.

With that, Mr. Hallan, please proceed.

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

Minister, in 2023, you said that you would stabilize grocery prices. Ever since that date, when you promised that to Canadians, food inflation has more than doubled. In fact, Canada now has the highest food inflation in the entire G7. Food bank usage has more than doubled, and we're seeing 2.2 million Canadians having to use one each month, including at least 700,000 children.

Knowing all this, knowing the pain and suffering that your government has caused Canadians, why wasn't there a single thing in the BIA to lower grocery prices?

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

You would have seen Bill C-19. I just appeared this week on that, and I think your party supported it.

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

Minister, Bill C-19 came after the budget, and if it was that important to you, why was it not in the budget?

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

As I said, this is something you supported, so I think that you recognize that this was important for Canadians.

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

By the way, Minister, Bill C-19 has almost passed now, and we helped it. Yes, it's a rebate.

Can you tell us how much grocery prices will go down after it's implemented?

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

You know very well how complex that situation is, and Canadians understand this. There's no gain politically for you to go in that direction. Canadians understand that it's complex and that we're offering support.

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

Canadians who are going to grocery stores are frustrated because your government policies have raised grocery prices. That's why we have the highest food inflation in the G7.

Your government also committed to 500,000 homes a year. Your own housing agency says that you're not even meeting half of that target. Can you tell us in what year you'll reach 500,000 homes?

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

Honestly, I don't think there are any political points for you to score talking about groceries and shelter. This is something we should all come together on. You supported it, and you should stand by that.

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

You said that it would be in the budget, but it wasn't. It became a political issue for you guys. The 2.2 million Canadians going to food banks weren't enough for you. Sometimes it makes me wonder if you guys are all like the Prime Minister, and none of you do your own grocery shopping. Do you not see the prices at the grocery store? Canadians are suffering under you, and 2.2 million Canadians a month are going to food banks. You've doubled food bank usage.

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

That's why I think you should adhere to the words of your leader. I'm just quoting the letter from your leader of January 24—

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

Your leader said to judge him by the cost of groceries at the grocery store.

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

That's not what he said in the January 24 letter. I have it in front of me. He said, “If you have other ideas that make food affordable, we will fast-track them.”

I think you should stand by what your leader said.

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

What have you done to make food more affordable? Name one thing. Name one.

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

I did not hear your question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Thank you, Mr. Hallan.

We will conclude now with two and a half minutes from Mr. Leitão.

[Carlos Leitão, Liberal, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

Before asking you a question, I would just like to make two brief comments.

During our meeting, we talked a lot about pipelines.

I would just like to remind our colleagues that the memorandum of understanding with Alberta was extremely well received by the Alberta government and the oil industry. I think our friends across the floor who are trying to scare people should check this with their colleagues in Alberta.

Furthermore, with regard to taxation, the integrity of the tax system and Canada's debt, I think we always have to look at the size of the economy and the government's ability to manage that debt, and this debt is manageable.

Minister, I don't really have any questions for you, but I would like to give you the remaining minute and a half in case you would like to make any final comments to the committee.

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

Thank you, Mr. Leitão.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues from the Bloc Québécois and the Conservative Party who are here today.

I think Canadians understand that Canada must move forward. If there is one message to take away today—and this was certainly the Prime Minister's message when he said that we are at a critical moment in history—it is that now is the time for us to work together. I think these words were also echoed recently by former prime minister Stephen Harper.

I invite everyone to rise above politics and truly work in the national interest. At a time like this, we must build our country, protect our sovereignty, ensure Canadians have the services they need, and grow the Canadian economy. For my part, I believe in Canada, and I believe in the potential of Canadians.

The plan we presented in the 2025 budget is a timely plan for growth. It is an investment plan. It is also the kind of measure that will enable families, workers, our seniors and our youth to prosper in uncertain economic times. That said, I believe that each and every one of us believes in Canada's future.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you to my colleagues.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Thank you, Minister.

On behalf of the committee, I would like to thank you for joining us today for two very productive hours. You have been here for three hours this week. Thank you.

I will now conclude by first taking the time to thank Mr. Leswick and reminding him that he promised the committee he would provide it with written information. We will thus be waiting for this from the Department of Finance.

In addition, I would also like to remind committee members that when officials from the Department of Finance appeared before us, they promised to provide us with written information on several topics, and the committee is still awaiting this information. I will leave that to you.

Before we conclude, colleagues, I want to give you a bit of a preview for Monday. We'll soon be sending out an official notice of meeting.

We likely will be meeting for four hours again on Monday. We will be hearing from Minister Miller, the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture, as well as the CRTC, Minister Fraser, the Minister of Justice, and justice officials.

Monsieur Garon, did you have something?

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

I would just like to make one comment, Madam Chair.

I think it is important that we talk about this, because we are going to have a lot of meetings.

Personally, I am very sensitive to the work of interpreters. You know, it's kind of in our DNA, in the Bloc Québécois. We know that it is difficult for interpreters when we speak at the same time as others, because there is sometimes emotion involved, because ministers do not answer our questions or because we feel that they are not answering them.

However, I have noticed that, for some time now, points of order have often been raised to somewhat undermine the privilege of members to ask questions of the minister. You know that—I don't want to drag this out—we sometimes have no choice but to interrupt the minister. Ministers know they have six minutes. They play their game, they stretch out their speaking time. That's fine, it's kind of their job to do that, but it's up to us to rectify things.

I would perhaps invite the parliamentary secretary, on the other side of the table, to trust us to manage our time and to recognize that sometimes situations can arise that are a little more inconvenient for the minister or for the interpreters. We will try to keep their number in check, but perhaps we should be allowed to manage our speaking time and stop raising points of order for reasons that are not actually in the Standing Orders.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Thank you, Mr. Garon.

On that note, if there are no objections, the meeting is adjourned.

Have a good weekend.

Thank you.