Debates of April 28th, 2026

Finance

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

Mr. Speaker, we are building Canada strong. That is exactly why we have the second-highest growth of the G7 and also the best fiscal position of the G7, all that while dealing with unjustified and illegal tariffs on the part of the American administration; all that while our workers in the auto, steel, aluminum and forestry sectors are affected. We know the manufacturing sector is impacted by the tariffs.

We are making sure to put money on the table to help these workers and help these businesses. We will continue to do that because this is exactly what this government needs to do right now.

[Billy Morin, Conservative, Edmonton Northwest, AB]

Mr. Speaker, everyday Canadians do not have time to worry about what the G7 or IMF says. At this moment in time, we have record high unemployment for youth. At this moment in time, we have record lineups at food banks. At this moment in time, Liberals want to waste $1 billion on a gun grab that nobody wants. At this moment in time, Canadians have the highest household debt at over $3 trillion. At this moment, we are at year 11 of record Liberal deficits.

When will the Liberal Prime Minister commit to capping the deficit at the reckless $31 billion left by Justin Trudeau?

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance and National Revenue and to the Secretary of State (Canada Revenue Agency and Financial Institutions)]

Mr. Speaker, one thing Canadians can count on is that the pessimism of the Conservative Party will never infect the members on this side of the House. Do members know why? It is because we will never apologize about being optimistic about Canada's future. That is why we are here. We are here in government to build Canada strong.

Just shortly, in under an hour, the Minister of Finance will give a progress report on our plan to build a stronger economy. There are signs of progress. The International Monetary Fund says we have the strongest fiscal position in the G7. That does not happen by accident.

[Roman Baber, Conservative, York Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, nobody thought it was possible to outspend Justin Trudeau, but the Liberal Prime Minister has doubled Justin's deficit. He is putting the nation's bills on a credit card. Canadians will be paying off his debts for generations. I thought he was an economist. Deficit spending leads to inflation. A quarter of Canadians are skipping meals.

Will the Liberal Prime Minister stop swiping the nation's credit card so Canadians can afford to live?

[Evan Solomon, Liberal, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario]

Mr. Speaker, in about an hour the finance minister will give very good news for that member.

Instead of just this negativity, let me give some facts. It is a fact that wages are growing twice as fast as inflation. It is a fact that Canada has the highest credit rating in the world. It is a fact that we lowered taxes for 22 million Canadians. It is a fact that we invested $6 billion in the auto sector. It is a fact that the Conservatives do not support investing in Canadians. It is a fact that this government does, and we are just getting started.

[Roman Baber, Conservative, York Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the only people doing well are people connected to Brookfield.

Imagine that, instead of leaving kids with an inheritance, people leave them enough to pay their debts. That is what this Liberal Prime Minister is doing to generations of Canadians. In his first year, operating spending is up 9%. It is enough already. We cannot handle the taxes, we cannot handle the inflation and we cannot continue to borrow like this.

Will the Prime Minister stop maxing out our nation's credit card?

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

Mr. Speaker, what the good people of York Centre do not have to put on their credit card are their dental bills. In fact, 11,147 people do not need to pay out of pocket for their dental care because they signed up for the Canadian dental care plan. I will say it again. There are 11,147 people who were helped, just in York Centre alone. In addition to that, 27,665 kids benefit from the Canada child benefit. All these are programs that the Conservatives are willing to cut to achieve their reckless agenda.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Algonquin—Renfrew—Pembroke, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Liberal spending is out of control. Liberal overspending means higher inflation today and more taxes tomorrow. The money is not getting to Canadians who need it. It is going to well-connected Liberal companies and corporate welfare queens, like Brookfield.

Canada has the highest grocery inflation in the G7, the worst household debt, the highest housing costs and the second-highest unemployment in the G7. Will this Liberal Prime Minister end this costly credit card budget so Canadians can afford to live?

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance and National Revenue and to the Secretary of State (Canada Revenue Agency and Financial Institutions)]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite is more concerned with conspiracy theories than with the truth. This is the problem with the pessimistic politics of the Conservative Party; they do not correspond with the truth.

The truth is that there are signs of progress. There are very clear signs that our plan to build a stronger economy is working. We see generational investments coming to fruition throughout our country, building industries and creating opportunities for workers. We see wages outpacing double the pace of inflation. We see Canada projected to have the second-strongest growth in the G7. We see foreign direct investment at levels that we have not seen in—

[The Speaker, Francis Scarpaleggia]

The hon. member for Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is just another tax-and-spend Liberal specializing in costly credit card budgeting. Canada now faces the worst grocery inflation, the worst household debt, the highest housing costs and the second-highest unemployment in the G7. Canadians know they cannot borrow their way to prosperity. There is more debt, more costs, more spending, more taxes and more of the same.

Will this Liberal Prime Minister commit to capping the deficit at no more than the already reckless $31 billion left by his predecessor and mentor, Justin Trudeau?

[Maninder Sidhu, Liberal, Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, to get more Canadian exports to new markets and create jobs, we are championing major projects like the Darlington nuclear project with 18,000 jobs in Ontario; the port of Montreal project, 8,000 jobs; the copper mine project in Saskatchewan, 500 jobs; the Grays Bay road and port project, nearly 3,000 jobs in the north; and the LNG Canada phase 2 project with 7,000 jobs in British Columbia. This is how to build Canada strong.

[Fraser Tolmie, Conservative, Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan, SK]

Mr. Speaker, no one thought it possible to outspend Justin Trudeau. This Liberal Prime Minister has somehow managed to. He has added $90 billion above the Trudeau-era levels in new spending and nearly doubled the deficit. Operating costs are up 9% in under a year. Two-thirds of that new spending goes to day-to-day operations, not investment. The result is the worst grocery inflation in the G7 and Canadians putting their own bills on credit cards are going to food banks.

When will this Liberal Prime Minister end his costly credit card budgeting so Canadians can afford to live?

[Buckley Belanger, Liberal, Secretary of State (Rural Development)]

Mr. Speaker, there is more good news for Saskatchewan.

Funding for the RCMP Heritage Centre is done. SMR research at the University of Regina is done. Defence procurement for Yorkton is done. Nuclear power opportunities and procurement services for Estevan are done. Housing opportunities in Saskatoon are done. Canola crushing in rural Saskatchewan is done.

Let us imagine for a moment, if we had not wasted 10 years of sending Conservative MPs to Ottawa, how much further ahead Saskatchewan could be. That ends now.

The Economy

[Tatiana Auguste, Liberal, Terrebonne, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to take the floor again today to ask an important question on behalf of the citizens of Terrebonne, whom I have the honour of representing.

Quebec businesses are facing a situation that is far from normal. The trade environment has changed, and we must support our businesses while creating new opportunities.

Can the industry minister inform the House of the measures the government is taking to protect workers and create jobs in Quebec?

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

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to welcome my colleague, the member for Terrebonne, back to the House.

We are working tirelessly on behalf of our workers and businesses affected by the White House's tariffs. That is why we have announced $63 million for 99 businesses affected by the steel and aluminum tariffs to protect jobs and help these businesses pivot. This helps employees and workers, whether in Terrebonne, Repentigny, Sherbrooke, Quebec City, Montreal or elsewhere across Quebec.

I would like to thank my colleague for her excellent work.

Ethics

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Sturgeon River, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the ethics committee has issued a report calling on the Prime Minister to divest himself from Brookfield.

Now, the Prime Minister has set up a blind trust, but the problem is that it is not truly blind, because the Prime Minister stands to make millions from stock options and future bonus pay from an investment fund that he personally set up while he was at Brookfield.

Will the Prime Minister finally do the right thing and divest himself from Brookfield, or is he going to defy the direction of the ethics committee?

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

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister, as we all must, all 343 of us, follows the rules, which are among the strictest in the world. These are rules that the Conservatives put in place under Prime Minister Harper.

The Prime Minister has disposed of all his assets in a blind trust. He did so on the day of his election as the Liberal Party leader, five days before he was sworn in as Prime Minister. Contrast that with a 22-year run of not having a security clearance, which is the position in which the Leader of the Opposition finds himself.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie South—Innisfil, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in a review of the Conflict of Interest Act, the ethics committee heard that while the Prime Minister was Trudeau's economic adviser and chair of Brookfield, he set up one of Canada's largest tax-dodging schemes by hiding $5.3 billion in offshore tax havens. Brookfield's CEO also confirmed that the Prime Minister will make millions from what is in his blind trust by aligning public policy with Brookfield's strategy.

The committee recommended that the Prime Minister divest his holdings to ensure that he is acting in the best interests of the country and not his personal self-interest. Will the Prime Minister divest his Brookfield assets to eliminate his conflicts of interest?

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

Mr. Speaker, of course those accusations are ridiculous.

Just like us, the 343 members of this House, the Prime Minister has abided by some of the strictest rules in the entire world. These rules were put in place by the Conservatives and Mr. Harper.

The Prime Minister placed all of his assets in a blind trust on the day he was elected leader of the Liberal Party, even before he became Prime Minister. Contrast that with the Leader of the Opposition, who has spent 20 years in the House without a security clearance.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie South—Innisfil, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the ethics committee also recommended that the general application provisions of the Conflict of Interest Act need to change. That means that a public office holder, including a highly conflicted prime minister, can be involved in decisions they benefit from personally, even though they are in conflict.

Brookfield's COO again confirmed that the Prime Minister will make millions from public policy decisions that align with Brookfield's strategies. Will this Liberal Prime Minister commit today to address this loophole in the law so Canadians have confidence that he is making decisions in the best interests of the country, not his own or Brookfield's?

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

Mr. Speaker, these are, of course, the most spurious, bottom-of-the-barrel conspiracy theories and allegations that one can possibly imagine. It is imagined, it is fake, and the members of the opposition who continue with this fantasy tale should be ashamed of themselves.

Public Safety

[Doly Begum, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise on behalf of the good people of Scarborough Southwest.

Our government has now made strategic investments into public safety programs across Canada. Initiatives like the building safer communities fund help combat new and old threats to safety and security, including gun violence, youth crime, violent extremism and more.

Can the Minister of Public Safety outline for us the work that he and our government are doing to keep people in Scarborough and across Canada safe?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, I welcome my friend from Scarborough Southwest to this House.

Through the building safer communities fund, we are tackling gun violence and youth crime and supporting victims through organizations across Canada, including in her riding of Scarborough Southwest. We have also introduced several measures to keep Canadians safe. This includes tougher bail laws, lawful access measures to help police protect Canadians, hiring 1,000 new CBSA and RCMP personnel, and measures to address hate and protect places of worship.

Justice

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Mr. Speaker, Jaskirat Sidhu, a non-citizen, pleaded guilty to 16 counts of dangerous driving causing death and 13 counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm, yet, yesterday, he was granted a stay of deportation. The psychological and physical harm to the Humboldt Broncos victims and their families was not adequately considered in the stay decision.

My question is for the Minister of Public Safety: Will the Liberals appeal this decision and allow the victims and their families to be interveners?