Debates of Oct. 1st, 2025

Finance

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, that came from a true expert in economics, the Parliamentary Budget Officer. He said, and I quote, that the this Prime Minister's deficits are very alarming, stupefying, shocking and unsustainable. He also said that if things do not change, then this is done, that something is going to break and that Canada has not gone over the edge, but it is looking out over the cliff.

Every dollar the Prime Minister spends comes out of Canadians' pockets. Does he finally recognize that Canadians can no longer afford his incompetence?

[Mark Carney, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, Canada has the strongest record in the G7. Canada's long-term interest rates are almost the lowest in the G7, lower than the U.S. key interest rate. There is no premium here, but there is ambition on this side of the House.

We have an opportunity to build Canada strong.

The Economy

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister promised that Canadians would be able to judge him by their experience at the grocery store. Well, that experience is what is now being called struggle meals, with Canadians now sharing tips on how they can scrounge together meals that are often of lower nutritional value because that is all they can afford. Food price inflation has accelerated to almost double the Bank of Canada's target, rising 50% faster in Canada than in the United States since the Prime Minister took office, promising the reverse.

Will the Prime Minister finally axe the Liberal taxes on groceries so that Canadians can afford to eat?

[Mark Carney, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, there is no GST on groceries.

Number two, we cut the carbon tax. There is no carbon tax on farms. There is no carbon tax on grocery stores. There is no carbon tax—

[An hon. member]

Oh, oh!

[Mark Carney, Liberal, Nepean, ON]

No, there is not on anything under 50 kilotons.

Mr. Speaker, we see the big picture. We know that real wages have been growing every single month since I became Prime Minister.

Canada Post

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the government has just interfered in the already complex negotiations going on at Canada Post to the point where its actions seem like nothing less than pure provocation in a dispute already fraught with complications.

The uncertainty the government has sown is affecting not only workers, but many families as well. It is fomenting uncertainty in villages in the regions of Quebec and, presumably, within the regions of Canada as well. It is spreading uncertainty in the regions and among seniors most of all.

We want to clearly understand. Does the Prime Minister see the postal service as an essential service?

[Mark Carney, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the postal service is absolutely an essential service. Canada Post must remain viable.

Right now, the situation is difficult. Canada Post is losing $10 million a day. We need to act. Restructuring is needed.

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I suspect that the deficit the government is running up is going to be a lot bigger than that.

If this is an essential service, and if the goal is consistency, why does the government want to drastically reduce this service? Why was it done in such a way that the workers had to turn on their televisions to find out what was going on with this? Why did the government not consult people instead, and why did it borrow an old Conservative policy?

[Mark Carney, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I only recently became Prime Minister.

Changes have been needed at Canada Post for quite some time, because it is an essential service in this country.

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, if Quebeckers and Canadians had wanted Conservatives, they would have voted for more Conservatives.

The Liberals are adopting a Conservative fiscal approach. The Liberals are adopting a Conservative approach to climate change and the oil sector. The Liberals are adopting policies that look very much like Conservative-style austerity, with direct borrowing.

Will the Prime Minister scrap his plan and bring serious people to the table to reform a postal service that does in fact really need it?

[Mark Carney, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, it is up to Canada Post and the union to come up with a solution together. However, in this context, Canada Post needs to show a little more flexibility and act in a manner consistent with the recommendations in the Kaplan report.

Finance

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, every dollar that the Prime Minister spends comes out of the pockets of Canadians in Liberal taxes and inflation. The Prime Minister should know this. He calls himself a great economist, but he is going to spend over 60% more than even Justin Trudeau did. Parliament's independent fiscal watchdog says it is “alarming”, it is “stupefying”, it is “shocking” and it is “unsustainable”. He says something is going to break and that we are on the edge of a fiscal cliff.

Why is the Prime Minister going to drive us off that cliff at full speed?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Minister of Finance and National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, that is why we said that we need to spend less so we can invest more.

Unlike the Conservatives, I believe in Canada. I believe in Canadians. I believe in the will of this nation. We have the talent to lead in the 21st century. We have strong industries. We build planes. We build cars. We build ships. We have critical minerals. We have energy. We are the only country in the G7 to have a free trade agreement with all the other G7 nations.

Instead of talking down Canada, the Conservatives should celebrate the work of the government.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is the Liberal member who in 2015 promised that massive deficits were investments, but it was all a bait and switch, because investment collapsed while debt went through the roof. However, instead of sobering up from the debt binge that they have been on, the Liberals are just going to keep spending more money in a forever hangover. That means higher taxes and higher inflation for every Canadian.

The first step in fighting addiction is admitting one has a problem, so when will the minister stand up and finally admit that his reckless spending is sending us over the cliff?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Minister of Finance and National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, it is the same old Conservatives. It is the same old slogans.

The member might have missed that we cut taxes for 22 million Canadians. She might want to talk to people in her riding and across the nation. The first thing the government did was to tackle affordability. Why? It was because that is what Canadians told us to do. They also told us to build homes; that is why we created Build Canada Homes. They told us to build the most resilient economy, and that is what we are going to do. We are going to build the most resilient economy in the G7.

We are going to be strong. We are the north.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals assured us in 2015 that running massive deficits was an investment. A decade later, we all know that it was just a bait and switch. The reality is that despite consistent efforts to falsely stimulate the economy, investment in Canada has collapsed. There have been 10 years of Liberal broken promises. Debt up equals investment down.

We know that the budget will have a massive deficit, but does the Prime Minister really expect Canadians to believe that doubling down will change the results?

[Tim Hodgson, Liberal, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, we are retooling the Canadian economy by advancing national projects of interest. We are making Canada the strongest economy in the G7. That means shortening project reviews to two years and removing duplication, while maintaining the environmental standards and working with indigenous peoples.

We are making Canada stronger. It would be great if the Conservatives would support us.

The Economy

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Mr. Speaker, another Liberal bait and switch is that the Prime Minister promised to cap spending, yet he is on track to double Trudeau's deficits. He promised to make Canada the strongest-growing economy in the G7, yet we have the worst economic performance in the group. He promised to create jobs, but in reality, 86,000 Canadians have lost their job since the Prime Minister took office.

When will the Prime Minister tell Canadians that the plan to grow our economy was just a scheme to get elected?

[Tim Hodgson, Liberal, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, on Friday I was in Vancouver celebrating the launch of LNG to be sent across to our allies. There were 75,000 Canadians who worked on that project. Last week we approved, with the Province of British Columbia, the Ksi Lisims LNG facility, which will be as big again.

We are building Canada strong.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Clarke, ON]

Mr. Speaker, every dollar the Prime Minister spends comes out of the pockets of hard-working Canadian workers, families and seniors. Justin Trudeau promised that deficit spending would be an investment. The result was that the debt went up and the investment went down. That gave Canada the worst economic record in the G7 and the worst inflation in 40 years.

No matter what the Liberals promise, the results are always the same: more debt, higher costs and declining investment. Why should Canadians believe that this time will be any different?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions]

Mr. Speaker, interest rates are down, and as we speak, wages are growing higher than inflation. Meanwhile, the CPPIB CEO says that the world's largest investors are focusing on Canada.

What are we doing? We are building national major projects. We are making sure also to launch a new defence industrial strategy that will create jobs in this country. The opposition needs to come on board to make sure Canadians benefit from it.

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

Mr. Speaker, every dollar spent by the Liberal Prime Minister comes straight out of the pockets of Canadians who are watching at home right now. The Parliamentary Budget Officer has described the Liberal deficits as, and I quote, alarming, stupefying, shocking and unsustainable. He said that if the Liberals continue as they are, then it is game over for this country. I am not the one saying that. It is the Parliamentary Budget Officer.

Does the Prime Minister realize that what he is doing right now is putting Canada on the road to disaster?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions]

Mr. Speaker, actually, economists would disagree with what my colleague is saying because interest rates are falling and wages are rising faster than inflation.

What we are doing right now is attracting capital from around the world. Our goal is to do that through projects of national interest, such as the Port of Montreal at Contrecoeur or the major rail line everyone has been talking about that will connect all of northern Quebec to the Port of Saguenay.

We are working on big projects. We want to build more homes and we also want to have a defence strategy.

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

Mr. Speaker, those are not my words, they are the words of the Parliamentary Budget Officer himself. The Prime Minister promised to cap Liberal spending, but the Parliamentary Budget Officer has confirmed that that is yet another broken Liberal promise. Trudeau's deficits are about to double. Who would have thought? The Parliamentary Budget Officer says that something has got to give and warns that we are on the edge.

Seriously, could the Prime Minister stand up and acknowledge that, unfortunately, he is once again leading Canada into massive, unreasonable deficits?