Evidence of meeting #23 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was budget.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Paul Thompson Deputy Minister, Department of Employment and Social Development
We have the full intention to implement the budget measures as they were laid out by the government. I would note that—
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Okay. Thank you. That was a clear response. I disagree with it and I'm disappointed by it, but it was a clear response. The government still intends to implement those provisions.
Do you know when the government expects to implement the provisions I've just read out, given that they were not included in the budget implementation act? That question is for the deputy minister.
Liberal
Patty Hajdu Liberal Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON
Listen, I think we all understand that pieces of legislation have to pass in the House for the budget to pass so that Canadians can get the relief that everyone has been saying is so essential.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
The provisions I'm talking about are not in the budget implementation act. Mr. Thompson has confirmed that they're still government policy. Does the government have a timeline for proposing those measures?
Again, we oppose the provisions explained in page 217, but I think students would like to have some certainty around when their grants will be cut. What's the plan there?
Liberal
Patty Hajdu Liberal Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON
Well, it's difficult to project a timeline when we see the kind of obstruction in the House for everyday pieces of legislation—
Conservative
Liberal
Patty Hajdu Liberal Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON
—including the BIA, so I wouldn't want to put a date on it—
Conservative
Liberal
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
We can't be accused of obstructing provisions that have not been presented in the House.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Can I just try to ask one more question in the minute I have left?
Minister, why do you think food cost inflation here is twice the level of that in the United States?
Liberal
Patty Hajdu Liberal Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON
Well, I think we've covered this question in the House quite a bit. We have a number of conflating situations in Canada, including, as you would know, the tariffs we've been experiencing as a country. I think you're from the western part of this country and you yourself can speak to some of the cattle farmers, who are—
Conservative
Liberal
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
—tariffs are impacting food inflation?
Liberal
Conservative
Liberal
Patty Hajdu Liberal Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON
The focus here is on the things that we can control, as I said in my speech, and there's no doubt—
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Yes, but I'm asking about food inflation specifically.
Liberal
Patty Hajdu Liberal Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON
—that Canadians are feeling the impact of food inflation, but I will tell you what it's not, if this is where you're going. It is not, as many economists have shown, related—
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
You're the minister. I am not asking what it's not. I'm asking what it is.
Why is it twice that of the United States?
Liberal
Patty Hajdu Liberal Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON
Well, food inflation in Canada is directly related to the number of foods we must import and to the growing challenges of climate change.
Liberal
