Finance Committee on April 13th, 2026

[Charles St-Arnaud]

Yes.

Everything is connected, in a way. Vulnerability is really linked to the next negative shocks, the next job losses, which will have more significant negative effects than we have seen in the past, and this is due to high household debt and the knock-on effects this can have elsewhere.

Furthermore, we must also take into account the fact that part of the current debt and problems stems from the fact that Canadians’ purchasing power has stagnated quite significantly over the last few decades. So that doesn’t help much either.

This is where everything is somewhat interconnected. We will need to place much greater emphasis on how to increase incomes. We can certainly provide short-term support to households, but what will really make a difference in the long term is whether we can achieve real incomes adjusted for inflation. Higher incomes will give Canadian households more breathing space. This is where productivity is very important.

[The Vice-Chair (Jasraj Hallan (Calgary East, CPC)), Conservative, Jasraj Singh Hallan]

Thank you, Mr. St-Arnaud.

Now we'll go over to Mr. Sawatzky for five minutes. This is our last round.

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

Thank you, Chair.

Mr. Schwartz, you mentioned preventative financial literacy. I think this is an important thing to talk about. I was curious to get your take on the rise in online gambling. Have you seen this affect people financially? I wondered if you had anything to say on that.

[Jeffrey Schwartz]

Anecdotally, we do see gambling as an issue amongst the clients who come to us. It really is a matter of what we can do to stem that so it doesn't continue and how we can get them back to a point at which they can afford their payments. They've accumulated all this debt, and it's usually at a high interest rate. We're trying to work with their creditors to get it to an affordable rate for them to pay it off. Also, we encourage them not to take on additional debt and count themselves out of the gambling situation.

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

Are there any things you find yourself repeating a lot when you're giving financial literacy advice? Are there things that more people should be aware of?

[Jeffrey Schwartz]

One thing we say in our office is that you can't borrow your way out of debt. Taking on additional debt is really going to exacerbate the issue. What we're trying to do with our clients is to see what we can do to get them to a point where they're just treading water. Right now, they're sinking. Let's get them to where they're treading water, and then the next step is to build savings.

As for financial education, the best way to combat debt is to have savings. If you have unexpected expenses or something creeps up that takes you off track, you have a savings plan to handle that and move forward without taking on additional debt for the expense.

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

Have you been seeing a significant number of people taking on additional debt to pay off other debts?

[Jeffrey Schwartz]

Yes, and usually the first question that comes is, “Can you get me a loan?” Our first question back to them is, “What do you need the loan for?” It's typically to service other debt.

We want to get them into a situation in which we not only restructure their existing debt so it becomes affordable but also, while we are working with them, have them change behaviours so they can get ahead of this and not go down the same pathway.

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

Thank you.

Are there any other things you find yourself consistently bringing up?

[Jeffrey Schwartz]

A big thing is education—financial literacy. I know the FCAC talked about this previously, but we need to do a better job. There's nothing that irks me more than when someone comes to us and says we're the best-kept secret out there. We need to be front and centre, and we need partnerships with the financial institutions to refer people to us as a first stop.

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

For anyone who isn't familiar with your organization, how can they get in touch with you?

[Jeffrey Schwartz]

We're all over the Internet. We're the largest non-profit credit counselling agency in Canada. We help hundreds of thousands of Canadians every year. If you search Consolidated Credit Canada, you're going to find us.

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

Could you speak to the broader economics of everything that's going on internationally, such as the Strait of Hormuz being closed, for example? How do these international events affect people's day-to-day expenses?

[Jeffrey Schwartz]

We hear this multiple times every day, because what's happening is it's putting an additional strain on people's finances. It's showing up in the grocery store. It's showing up at the gas pumps. It's showing up everywhere for them.

In addition to that, and I know it was alluded to earlier, there's some concern about job losses and job reductions that are putting strains on people's finances, and we want to get them to us sooner rather than later so that we can change behaviours and, we hope, get them treading water again.

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

Thank you.

When it comes to federal policy, are there any things the federal government can do to help out with what you're doing?

[Jeffrey Schwartz]

One thing that's come up recently is the code of conduct on the prevention of coerced debt. Mandating that the banks support people and move them towards credit counselling as opposed to further debt is going to help Canadians. As I said before, the biggest defence against debt is savings. If we can get people, even in a small way, to put money towards savings and have banks push towards that, it's going to benefit Canadians in the long run.

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

What percentage, roughly, of people are thinking about saving? Are there a lot of people who are familiar with how important it is?

[Jeffrey Schwartz]

I'm going to suggest to you probably not. I think we hit an all-time low of between 2% and 5% prior to COVID. Over time, we've seen it uptick a little bit, but I think it needs to be far more than that. We encourage Canadians to save between three months' worth and six months' worth of their budget and have that put away for a rainy day. Unexpected expenses happen all the time, whether it's a dental emergency or your washing machine breaking. You're going to have to deal with it instead of going deeper into debt. This is a better way.

[The Vice-Chair (Jasraj Hallan), Conservative, Jasraj Singh Hallan]

Thank you, Mr. Schwartz.

This concludes our rounds.

I want to thank all the witnesses.

I look at Mr. Kelly as I ask this: Is it the will of the committee to adjourn the meeting?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Vice-Chair (Jasraj Hallan), Conservative, Jasraj Singh Hallan]

Thank you, everybody.

Meeting adjourned.