Finance Committee on June 4th, 2026

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

Mr. Hallan, I say this with great affection. You were undoubtedly a great home builder. I think we should leave the economics to the economists.

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

We left it to you guys, and now we're in a recession.

Are we in a recession, yes or no? Can you at least just say the word?

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

The country is encountering enormous headwinds from a trade war, an actual shooting war in the Middle East—

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

So are the other G7 countries. The rest of the G7 countries are in the exact same position as Canada.

Why is Canada the only country in the entire G20—

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

They aren't geographically located next to and economically intertwined with the United States of America.

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

Mexico shares a border with the U.S. and is more intertwined than Canada is. Why are they not in a recession?

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

You said the G7.

Mexico is a long way from the G7, and I prefer our economic outlook to that of Mexico.

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

Canadians don't, and that's why we're in a recession.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

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

Thank you, Mr. Hallan.

We will continue now with five minutes from Mr. Leitão, please.

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

Thank you, Chair.

I will share my time with my neighbour, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance.

Good afternoon, Minister. Welcome.

We certainly could have talked about a recession, but I won't go there.

I would suggest that my colleagues contact or read the reports of the C.D. Howe Institute, which is Canada's foremost authority on classifying whether or not there was a recession. Please read the C.D. Howe stuff, and they'll answer the question very directly.

I could also have talked about the Alto project, which I fully support. I really like the intermodal aspect. It's very interesting. That said, we're going to come back to Bill C‑30 instead.

Our Bloc Québécois colleague told us that it was important to properly analyze the situation, to think about what we're going to do for the airports and to think about the factors that should guide this thought process.

To me, it seems that a good thought process will require information. I get the impression that that's what Bill C‑30 is all about. There's a desire for the right to access that information.

Can you say a few words about that?

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

As I told my colleague earlier, I was surprised to learn that Canada's Minister of Transport didn't have quick access to this kind of data. When we asked for such data, we saw that there was fantastic co-operation from airport authorities.

However, to adopt a solid approach that uses both the belt and suspenders, we thought it would be a good idea to clarify that. The Minister of Transport is entitled to such information, if only to analyze operations and the flow of air transportation in Canada. That's why we included it in the bill.

Obviously, our intentions are just as transparent. We're looking at the possibility of privatization. Canadians are the owners of these facilities, and they have a right to potentially maximize their investments in these facilities and benefit in another way from the possible outcomes.

We're at a very preliminary stage of the review. As I said to my colleague from the Bloc Québécois, we anticipate that each facility or piece of infrastructure will have a tailored solution, since each one is unique. It will take time to analyze all the operations concerned, but we're at the very beginning of this process, and we're very eager to get started.

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

Thank you, Minister.

I'll give the rest of my time to my dear colleague Mr. Turnbull.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Minister, thanks for being here and thanks for your leadership.

On Alto high-speed rail, I want you to know, as a member of Parliament who represents a riding in Durham region where eventually that high-speed rail will pass through, and someone who's lived in major cities around the world that have high-speed rail, I have heard from countless constituents of their support for this project. I want you to know that despite what we hear sometimes in the House of Commons with objections.... I understand and I'm sure you appreciate that choosing a route and understanding there's displacement that happens with these major infrastructure projects are aspects of this project that we need to be very sensitive to. I trust that you will be sensitive to those.

I want you to have an opportunity to highlight some of the robust economic benefits that will come with Alto high-speed rail.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

You have 30 seconds.

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

Thank you.

Let me say to people in the Durham region that I know how mobility, transportation, is a daily fact of life. We indeed will have an exciting, transformational project to propose to Canadians, which will change life as we know it for literally 40% of the population of this country, a corridor with new worlds of intercity travel. If you're a student, you're a tourist, you're a business person or someone who wants to go to a hockey game or a baseball game and come back the same evening, all of these doors open.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Thank you, Minister. That concludes the time we have.

Thank you, Mr. Turnbull.

Mrs. DeBellefeuille, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

It makes me smile a bit when you talk about baseball games or hockey games.

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

We should come back to that as well.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon, QC]

As for the Quebec City facilities, I'm not sure how much it will cost. That's also somewhat the question we have to ask ourselves. Who will be able to afford to leave Quebec City in the afternoon, take the HSR and buy a ticket at the Bell Centre? Ultimately, there are also doubts about that.

Who will be able to afford the nice HSR ride? These are legitimate questions, Minister, and I don't think everyone will be able to travel from Trois‑Rivières or Quebec City to go see a soccer game. Who will be able to afford it? We haven't seen the business plan yet. We don't know if the HSR will be affordable for all Quebeckers.

In its budget brief, the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec pointed out that air service routes in the regions are lagging way behind. I'd like your comments on that.

I can bring up Côte‑Nord again, and I can also talk about Abitibi. In fact, I can talk a bit about all the regions of Quebec, the ones I know best. The idea is to find out what you propose to improve availability, to improve airport services in the regions.

Right now, it's fair to say that they have been abandoned, particularly by Air Canada. If airports are privatized, we think that this may put our regions at an even greater disadvantage.

What are your thoughts on that?

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

Thank you for the question.

I will say that regional access to air travel is another concern of mine. It's an issue I think about often. There are new models. There are carriers, partners and code-sharing agreements with major carriers.

Some airlines find this appealing. They can make routes between small airports or small towns and major hubs profitable. In fact, getting back to Mr. Lavoie's question, this is a possibility for—

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey Newton, BC]

Madam Chair, I seek unanimous consent to carry on with this meeting while the bells are ringing.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Do we have unanimous consent to carry on with the meeting?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Thank you, Mr. Dhaliwal.

Please continue.

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

In fact, Quebec City could play a role, as could Montreal and the new airport—the Montreal Metropolitan Airport, or MET—in Longueuil.

That said, we are constantly conducting analyses of the regions and their access to transportation.