Debates of March 26th, 2026

The Economy

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

Mr. Speaker, once again, we see that the Conservatives are incapable of hearing good news. Not only do we have some good news, but we are also reaching our 2% NATO target. They should be applauding. We have more good news to make them happy before they go back to their ridings.

This morning, we introduced a bill that will help us increase new home sales in Canada. We are strengthening the construction industry. We are strengthening the work of construction workers across the country. Today is a day to celebrate our construction industry and defence members—

[The Speaker, Francis Scarpaleggia]

The hon. member for Mégantic—L'Érable—Lotbinière.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L’Érable—Lotbinière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, there is really nothing new about the Liberals. It is always the same old story. They make announcements, but nothing ever happens.

Everything at the grocery store costs more. There are more expenses, more debt, more food inflation and more unemployed families, yet all the Liberals can think to do is celebrate. It is unbelievable how out of touch they are with the reality in Canada. No matter which prime minister is at the head of the government, it is always the same thing. Nothing ever changes.

When are they going to put an end to these old Liberal policies that are so costly for everyone?

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

Mr. Speaker, I have a lot of respect and affection for my colleague, but I am sure that not even he believes what he is saying.

The reality is that our government was able to create more than 80,000 jobs in the past six months. Meanwhile, the U.S. economy, which is 11 times bigger than ours, lost 6,000 jobs over the same time period.

According to the Bank of Canada, inflation is under control. Salaries are going up by 4.3% across the country. That is part of what it means to work for Canadians.

Official Languages

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister said he was very disappointed with Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau for expressing his condolences in English only. However, he has no business being disappointed. Three years ago, his government voted against requiring leaders of companies like Air Canada to be bilingual.

His government is being sued by the organization Droits collectifs Québec because it is not complying with its own Official Languages Act. His government is investing every penny of its official languages plan in promoting English in Quebec instead of French.

How can the Prime Minister be disappointed in a situation for which the federal government is primarily to blame?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, the member seems to be conveniently forgetting that we have invested $4 billion in our francophone strategy with the overhaul of the new Official Languages Act.

As far as the situation with the CEO of Air Canada is concerned, we are obviously disappointed. He should have known better. We expect there to be a—

[An hon. member]

What are you going to do, Marc?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am being interrupted by the Bloc Québécois once again. They do not want to hear the answer. This is ridiculous.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, instead of expressing disappointment with Michael Rousseau, the Prime Minister should lead by example.

Instead, he is likely the only prime minister in half a century not to have a francophone speech writer. His government has made unilingual English appointments, starting with Governor General Mary Simon. It was under the Liberals that the federal public service became the worst economic sector in Quebec in terms of ability to work in French.

Does the Prime Minister understand that the example he sets encourages the Michael Rousseaus of this world?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, I would first like to point out to the member across the way that we have a record number of Liberal members from Quebec. I speak to the Prime Minister. Furthermore, his cabinet includes a number of francophones. I think he is well supported. Furthermore, we saw during the election campaign that he made extra efforts to learn French. It is not easy, but I think Canadians know full well that the Prime Minister is making incredible efforts to improve his French.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Mr. Speaker, while the Prime Minister says he is disappointed by Michael Rousseau's unilingual English message, the federal government has spent more than $2.4 billion to strengthen English in Quebec since 1995. Billions of dollars have been spent to anglicize Quebec in the past 30 years, and this continues every year. We do not need to look any further to understand how Michael Rousseau has managed to live his whole life in Quebec without speaking a word of French.

When will the Liberals realize that there are many people like Michael Rousseau in Quebec and that it is largely their fault?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, without denying the fact that anglophones have rights in Quebec, it is clear that the member opposite is spouting nonsense. I am not going to dignify that with an answer.

Taxation

[Leslyn Lewis, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

Mr. Speaker, a grocery store worker in Haldimand—Norfolk contacted my office to say $120 used to buy five bags of groceries, and now it barely fills one. Even though she works at a grocery store, she is still forced to use the food bank. The Prime Minister has delivered the worst food inflation in the G7, and he even plans to raise the clean fuel standard tax by 7%.

Will the Prime Minister get rid of the food tax so Canadians can afford to eat?

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Minister of Transport and Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, we understand that world events, supply chain challenges and other things have generated inflation, and we understand that it has had a deleterious impact on the ability of families to afford some basic essentials. That is precisely why this government put in place the Canada child benefit, dental care and pharmacare, and made child care agreements resulting in $10-a-day child care in most of Canada's provinces.

The question Canadians really have is, why do the Conservatives vote against them?

[Leslyn Lewis, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are in distress and struggling with high food costs. The Prime Minister promised change but instead, the affordability crisis has just gotten worse over the past year. The Prime Minister broke his promise. He said grocery prices would go down. Now Canada has the worst food inflation in the entire G7. His plan to increase the clean fuel standard tax by 7% would only make things worse.

Will the Liberal Prime Minister cancel this tax on food so Canadians can afford to eat?

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

Mr. Speaker, we understand the situation. That is why, on this side of the House, we have provided a number of measures to help Canadians and Canadian families.

I think of the Canada child benefit, which is making a real difference. I think of the national school food program, which is helping kids across the country. I think about the Canada disability benefit our government put in place. I think about the Canada groceries and essentials benefit, which is going to help more than 12 million people.

We know it is an issue. That is why we are working to tackle affordability every single day.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington—Tyendinaga, ON]

Mr. Speaker, almost a year ago, when asked if there would be a barometer for Canadians to hold the Prime Minister accountable, he responded, “Canadians will hold us to account by their experience at the grocery store, when they are paying their electricity bill, when they or their children are looking for a place to live”. Now, 10 months later, groceries are higher than ever, affordable housing is non-existent, and the price of fuel is skyrocketing. This is a direct result of increasing the clean fuel standard tax by 242%.

Will the Prime Minister get rid of this tax on food so Canadians can afford to eat?

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Secretary of State (Canada Revenue Agency and Financial Institutions)]

Mr. Speaker, we are getting the same question after question from that side of the House. The only thing that changes on that side is leaders. They have had six of them in the past 10 years. It is probably soon to be seven.

On this side of the House, we are focused on affordability. We have cut taxes for 22 million Canadians. We have introduced the groceries and essentials benefit, which is going to put up to $1,900 in the pockets of working families.

On this side of the House, we are going to continue to focus on affordability. They can focus on changing leaders time after time.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington—Tyendinaga, ON]

Mr. Speaker, after 10 years, the only thing the Liberal government is focused on is consistently delivering excuses. The government needs to look at home for the root causes that have created a decade of debt and deficits, like the government's own economic and monetary policies. The government continuously raids the bank accounts of Canadians to fund vanity projects like Alto rail, instead of investing in much-needed infrastructure and housing.

Again, will the government scrap the fuel standard tax so struggling Canadians can get a modicum of relief?

[Leslie Church, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Secretaries of State for Labour]

Mr. Speaker, what we are hearing from that side of the House, what we are hearing heckled today, is that the programs we have been putting in place to help Canadians and Canadian families are glorified food stamps, that these are ideological, radical programs. In fact, they are actually designed to help Canadians. We have boosted them, whether it is our groceries and essentials benefit, which Canadians are going to be feeling here just this spring; making our national school food program permanent; or expanding our dental care program. When I talk to people in my riding, they talk about how these programs are making a difference in people's lives, but the Conservatives keep voting against them.

The Economy

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister promised the best economy in the G7, and he is delivering precisely the opposite: the highest household debt, the highest food inflation and an economy literally shrinking under the weight of his policies. What is particularly concerning is the decline in foreign and domestic investment. C.D. Howe called it “Canada's investment crisis”. Adjusted for growth and labour inflation, Canada's investment, all business investment, has declined. We have offered a positive solution: Let us remove the industrial carbon tax.

Will they do it?

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Secretary of State (Sport)]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives just learned a new word, “affordability”, and they use it often in the House of Commons, but every time they get the chance to vote in favour of an affordability measure backed by experts, they vote against. This feigned new interest in supporting lower-income Canadians is not fooling anybody. Besides, our policies are working, particularly on rents. I will read a couple of headlines for the Conservatives: “Now is the ‘best time’ to rent in Canada as asking price hits 31-month low”. When we build more affordable housing, rents go down, and that is what this government has been doing for years now. The Conservatives can get on board.

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the question was about business investment. I will try again. C.D. Howe says that investment per worker has declined 25% since the Liberals took office. Weak investment yesterday and today means lower wages and lower productivity tomorrow. Two years ago, the Bank of Canada said we had to break glass on this issue. A year later, C.D. Howe said it was a four-alarm emergency, but here we still are. We have offered a positive solution: Let us remove the industrial carbon tax, which is a clear drag on business investment.

Please, I ask for an actual answer this time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I was beside the Premier of Alberta earlier this week in the United States. She was applauding the work of this government. She believed the work of this Major Projects Office has brought over $126 billion of investment to Canada in the last six months.

National Defence

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Prime Minister is busy grandstanding once again, bragging about how much he is spending on defence, but it is all just an illusion. He stood up a new agency, hired more bureaucrats and created a taxpayer-funded bank. He is issuing massive corporate subsidies to large defence contractors and enriching Liberal insiders. Meanwhile, Canada has only 300 troops defending the Arctic, and half our equipment is unusable. We do not even have new fighter jets or anyone who can actually fly them.

Why is the Prime Minister wasting money on backroom bureaucrats and corporate insiders instead of giving our frontline troops the equipment they need?