Public Accounts Committee on Feb. 25th, 2026

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

—by spending less, by not having such an incredibly large deficit.

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

Would you suggest that it's not a Canadian value to help each other in times of need?

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

I would suggest that it's a Canadian value to stick within your budget and to be honest about the amount of money you are going to spend.

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

When you have the fiscal capacity, as the IMF said, would you suggest that a country of the G7, which has the fiscal capacity to help people who are in need—

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

I would suggest that the IMF is not in the grocery stores of Calgary Midnapore, seeing Canadians take groceries out of their carts and put them back in the aisles.

Minister, early on in the Prime Minister's—

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

But there are people in Calgary Midnapore who will receive the benefits. I'm sure they're not going to be—

[Jean Yip, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

I have a point of order.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Hold on.

Ms. Yip.

[Jean Yip, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

The minister isn't able to have a chance to respond.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Well, he was. If you're going to interrupt with a point of order, Ms. Yip—

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent—Akiawenhrahk, QC]

That point of order, Mr. Chair—

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

I'm going to reset.

Ms. Kusie, you have one minute to go.

Minister Champagne, you will have the last word. I do turn to the witnesses for a last statement.

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

I appreciate it.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Brevity, though, is the key word, once the time has elapsed.

Ms. Kusie, you have the floor.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

Minister, early on in the Prime Minister's leadership, you were proud to call yourself a partner. You said that the two of you would be “a mighty economic team”. Is doubling the deficit what you meant by a mighty economic team?

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

I would say there are very few people in the world who would question the credentials of the Prime Minister as a good steward of the economy—

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

He made you make these decisions to double the deficit. That's what you're saying.

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

—and it's not only me.

I want you to bring this into perspective, because the people of Calgary Midnapore are watching. I just want to understand. Thousands of people are going to receive the grocery benefit. Are you saying it's not going to help them? I'm missing that point.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

I'm saying that if you reined in your spending, that's what would help them, Minister. If you focused on the things that would allow them to pay less for groceries in the first place, that's truly what would help them, Minister.

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

Do you not think the structural measures—so we can grow more food, have more abattoirs in the country and have more food production and more food security—are important for Canada?

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

I think that's very important. I think the best way you can do that is by reducing the tax burden on them by spending less.

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

So no investment, in your view.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

That is the time.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Osborne, you have the floor for five minutes.