Madam Chair, during the course of the pandemic, it was clear that the Conservatives wanted to embrace a policy of austerity, and they really believed that the COVID lockdowns were a time for cutting back. They thought that in this time of crisis, the government should have told Canadians to just stick it out on their own. Well, that is not our approach, and it is not the approach we took. We chose a process of investment and an approach of compassion, and that is why we have had one of the fastest recovered recessions in Canadian history, with 106% of jobs recovered since the base of the pandemic.
In the House of Commons on December 8th, 2021. See this statement in context.