Finance Committee on June 4th, 2026

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

You have five minutes, sorry.

[Éric Lefebvre, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Good morning, Minister, and good morning to the people accompanying you.

Madam Chair, Maritime Launch Services is a private company that leases land from the Nova Scotia government for $13,500 a year. This private company then turns around and leases the land to the federal Liberal government at a cost of $20 million a year for 10 years, for a total of $200 million.

Minister, my question is simple. Have you ever met with the people from Maritime Launch Services?

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

Madam Chair, I already had the pleasure of responding to Mr. Lefebvre, I believe, regarding this issue in the committee of the whole. I'm happy to respond to him again. I think that it's important.

[Éric Lefebvre, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

I have five minutes. I'm asking whether you met with them.

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

I couldn't give you a specific answer to that question this morning.

[Éric Lefebvre, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

That's fine, Minister, thank you.

My question was whether you met with them. Let me help you. You met with them on August 13, 2024. You were the minister of industry from 2021 to 2025.

Did your chief of staff, Ian Foucher, meet with the people from Maritime Launch Services?

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

Thank you for recounting my record of service. I was indeed the minister of industry for a number of years. I enjoyed that role.

[Éric Lefebvre, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Minister, you're a clever politician. I'm asking whether your chief of staff, at the time, met with the people from Maritime Launch Services.

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

As you just said, you have information suggesting that I've already met with these people. However, I think that the bigger issue concerns national security. Why is Canada investing in space?

[Éric Lefebvre, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

No. Minister, I have only five minutes.

My question is the following. Did your chief of staff meet with them? Your chief of staff met with the people from Maritime Launch Services 14 times.

My question is simple. When were you informed of this financial scandal?

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

Madam Chair, I would say that the people who keep up with our work understand the need for Canada to have a space industry.

[Éric Lefebvre, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

They understand, I can tell you.

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

If you speak to the officers, the people who know about space—

[Éric Lefebvre, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Minister, don't talk to me about astronauts today. People laughed at the answer that you gave me this week in the House.

We're talking about a financial scandal. People are outraged. We're talking about a $13,500 site rented for $20 million.

Who negotiated this contract and who signed it?

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

You may not have the same respect that I have for astronauts. However, Canadians have a great deal of respect for our astronauts, because people are proud.

[Éric Lefebvre, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Madam Chair, the Minister is putting words in my mouth. I have a great deal of respect for astronauts, but I also have a great deal of respect for the money that Canadians entrust to us to manage like good stewards.

The Liberal government leasing $13,500 land at a cost of $20 million a year for 10 years, for a total of $200 million, shows a lack of respect for Canadians.

My question is simple, Minister. Who signed this contract?

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

Madam Chair, as I was saying, I would like to ask my colleague to talk to the people at the Canadian Space Agency and to national security experts. They could explain the need for a launch site to launch a geostationary satellite.

[Éric Lefebvre, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Minister, you're talking about astronauts again, which I find unbelievable.

Minister, do you agree that we should get together to meet with these people so that I can find out who signed this agreement?

Will you accept my invitation?

I would like to join you in meeting with them. You have invited me twice now.

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

Madam Chair, as I said to my colleague, I would encourage him to talk to the people who know about space, who know about national security and the Canadian Space Agency and who can explain to him why this is important.

[Éric Lefebvre, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Minister, I'm not talking about the importance of space issues, but about the importance of the sound management of Canada's public finances. The current situation is a financial scandal. I understand the importance of astronauts and of doing this. However, given the current situation, we need to know who signed this agreement and when you found out about this.

Your chief of staff met with these people 14 times. The former Liberal premier of Nova Scotia is a member of the company's advisory board.

Minister, questions need to be asked.

Do you agree that we should get together to meet with the people who negotiated this agreement?

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

As I said, Madam Chair, the committee could talk to the heads of the Canadian Space Agency. They could shed some light on the topic.

I have a great deal of respect for Mr. Lefebvre. However, I think that he lacks a broader perspective on national security and space security, in which Canada wants to play a key role.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Thank you, Mr. Lefebvre.

Thank you, Minister.

We'll continue now with Mr. MacDonald for five minutes, please.

[Kent MacDonald, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Welcome to the minister this morning.

Minister, our government has spoken extensively about improving productivity, strengthening the trade corridors and building the infrastructure needed to support long-term economic growth. I'm not going to be talking down Atlantic Canada investment this morning. I'm going to be promoting it. That may not surprise you.

I'll tell you that I'm in my riding, in Cardigan, P.E.I., this morning. I'm attending a rural development conference with our Secretary of State for Rural Development, Buckley Belanger. As we travel around the district, we are getting a lot of excitement from our fishers and our small business people with the commitment of almost a billion dollars announced for small craft harbours in Atlantic Canada and throughout Canada for all our coastal communities.

Another critical piece of infrastructure here in P.E.I. is our ferry service between Wood Islands and Caribou, which you would be aware of. That ferry service brings about a million visitors to P.E.I. every year. In budget 2025, the Prime Minister lowered the fares on those ferries. With that measure, in 2025 alone, we had an increase of 100,000 visitors using the ferry service.

Going forward, my question for you is this: As Canada advances its nation-building agenda and we seek to improve productivity, what's the government's view of regional transportation links like the Wood Islands ferry service, small craft harbours, marine infrastructure and everything that gives us opportunities in rural coastal communities to contribute to the growth of Canada?

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

Madam Chair, that's a great question.

You're lucky to be in P.E.I. today. I'll give a big shout-out to everyone in P.E.I.

I was just in Newfoundland and Labrador. I was in St. John's on Monday and Tuesday. We see in Atlantic Canada that there's something special in your part of the country. People roll up their sleeves. They don't see only challenges; they seize opportunities. I've never been more confident about the economy in Atlantic Canada. We're looking at a number of opportunities.

You mentioned small craft harbours. I wanted to note, in front of everyone in Prince Edward Island who is watching this morning, the key role that you played with your colleagues in Atlantic Canada to make sure that we would double the support for small craft harbours.

I was recently in Cap-Lumière, New Brunswick, with Minister LeBlanc. I had the pleasure of sitting down and meeting with fishers, who explained the 950 small craft harbours we have across the country to us. They are more than ports; they are the livelihoods. They are the centres of communities.

I want to say to everyone watching this morning that, thanks to your leadership and your good work, we have met the moment. We understand how the ocean economy is key to Atlantic Canada. We understand that a seafood industry is one of the key exports. I even had the chance to look at one of the cold storage facilities when I was in New Brunswick. We understand how logistics are key to Atlantic Canada as well as your proximity to key markets. As we're looking to diversify our exports overseas, Atlantic Canada is a geographic location that puts us closer to Europe, for example, which is a very significant market.

I want to reiterate that the investments we've been making—reducing the fare on Confederation Bridge, supporting Atlantic Canadian fisheries and making sure that we have the funds needed to support the fishers, the families and the communities in Atlantic Canada—are going to be signature programs for many communities and families who are watching today.

I want to thank you for your leadership.

[Kent MacDonald, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

I have a second question for the Minister of Finance.

We've made significant investments in housing, trade corridors, defence infrastructure and energy projects.

Can you elaborate on the steps we've taken to ensure that we're going to have people to train, recruit and retain in order to do the work that's needed?