Debates of May 1st, 2026

Spring Economic Update 2026 Implementation Act

[Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to my colleague's speech, and I must admit that I am rather surprised. He seems to believe that Quebec was overlooked in this economic update. However, what I see, when I read the update, is a historic investment for small craft harbour infrastructure that coastal communities have been waiting for for a long time. There are many such communities in the Atlantic provinces, but also in Quebec. This is a historic, long-awaited investment.

We are also investing in sports to expand access to sport for young people. That will benefit all of Canada, including Quebec. There is also the update on the housing strategy. In January, Quebec and Ottawa signed an agreement to speed up the construction of housing and the infrastructure needed to support housing construction. There are projects of national interest. I am thinking about the Contrecoeur port. Does my colleague agree that these are important investments for Quebec?

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I have read the entire document. The whole problem is that the major investments are being made not in Quebec, but in the oil and gas sector. The accelerated capital cost allowance in the economic update applies only to the gas sector. It does not apply to other sectors that are specific to Quebec.

There is nothing for our economic sectors. There is only money for the oil and gas sector. The goal of this economic update is to give even more support to Canada's energy sector using taxpayer dollars. This is being done at Quebec's expense, just as Quebec is dealing with one of its worst tariff crises ever thanks to the United States.

If my colleague does not find that outrageous, I can draw him a picture.

[Tamara Kronis, Conservative, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his thoughtful remarks.

As he can see from my exchanges with him and his colleagues in French, I want to understand the needs of all Canadians, including those in Quebec.

We share concerns about forestry and the government's lack of attention to major challenges facing our communities. What struck me was the absence of the term “substance abuse”. The government eliminated the position of minister of mental health and addictions and does not seem to care about the crisis plaguing my community.

To what extent could Quebec be affected by this as well?

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague and congratulate her on her excellent French, even though she has not been speaking it for very long. Everyone in the Bloc Québécois agrees that she is remarkable.

In my view, issues relating to substance abuse and health fall under the Government of Quebec's jurisdiction. I am not trying to avoid her question.

I would, however, like to point out that I have rarely agreed with the leader of the official opposition, but I do agree with him on one thing. He has pointed out on numerous occasions that the major oil and gas companies are acting like corporate welfare claimants by asking the federal government for money. I know the Conservatives are in favour of defending the energy sector tooth and nail, but they would not stoop so low as to take money from Canadians and hand it over to the greedy oil and gas sector, which is making record profits and sending them back to the United States.

On that point, I congratulate the leader of the official opposition.

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

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleague on his excellent speech.

As we have seen and as we know, the U.S. President has increased tariffs on aluminum- and steel-based products. This will have a major impact on Quebec SMEs. The Bloc Québécois spoke about this often prior to the economic update. The economic update came, but had not a word to say about it.

Can my colleague tell us more about that?

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we were all astonished, especially since the leader of the Bloc Québécois seems to have told the Prime Minister about the situation. The following day, after the Prime Minister was made aware of the problem, he told us that we would get an answer in the economic update.

Then, lo and behold, the economic update arrived with absolutely nothing. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister said that it was on the way and that we would get an answer. Can we take him at his word? The next few days will tell whether the government walks the talk, but this is deeply concerning.

Ministerial Compliance with Order in Council

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I am rising to respond to the question of privilege raised on April 29 by the member for Peace River—Westlock respecting the tabling of annual reports pursuant to an order in council.

I submit that this matter is a question of statutory law upon which the Speaker is not empowered to make determinations. In the ruling referenced by my colleague, I would like to draw the attention of members to parts of that ruling that were not addressed in the member's submission to the House.

On February 5, 1992, in the Speaker's ruling respecting the tabling of a document pursuant to an act of Parliament, he stated:

The first point that the Chair wishes to highlight is that Speakers do not interpret or enforce matters of statutory law. There are many precedents to this effect.

On June 19, 1978, a question of privilege was raised respecting the late tabling of the Postmaster General’s annual report. In rejecting claims that the failure to respect the law constituted a breach of privilege, Speaker Jerome warned the House that the authority of the Chair did not extend to the determination of questions of law.

On two occasions—March 27, 1981 and February 10, 1983—Speaker Sauvé confirmed this principle in denying claims for the Chair to intervene in cases similar to the one raised by the honourable Member for Scarborough—Rouge River. In each of these situations, the Government had failed to live up to its statutory responsibility to table documents within a specific period of time. In response, Madam Speaker ruled that the Chair had neither the responsibility to interpret the law nor the authority to compel the Government to obey it.

There are two important distinctions between the case of the ruling of February 1992 and the case currently before the House. In the situation facing the House in 1992, there was a statutory requirement found in the Customs Tariff, an act adopted by Parliament, to table an order made pursuant to that act respecting the elimination of tariffs on certain plywood and related products under a free trade agreement that required the Minister of Finance to table in the House no later than April 2l, 1989.

The case before the House is not analogous. The tabling of the report in question is not done pursuant to a statutory obligation but rather a legal instrument made by an order in council by the executive branch of government. The order in council referenced by the member, unlike the situation in 1992, does not provide a requirement to table the document by a certain date. Both of these points diverge distinctively from the situation facing the House in 1992.

More substantively, the case of a statutory obligation requiring that an order in council be tabled in the House respecting the alleviation of a tax or the elimination of a tax on certain products would be of legislative concern to members of the House. The question currently before the House is not a legislative requirement and has no direct impact on any legislative matter currently before the House.

Moreover, the All-Party Parliamentary Group to End Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking is not an official standing, legislative or special committee of the House. There is no mention in the Standing Orders of the powers, mandate and functions of such parliamentary working groups. These unofficial forums are not official creatures of the House and, therefore, are not subject to the provisions of Standing Order 108, which set out the powers and mandates of official committees of the House.

I submit that the matter raised by the member for Peace River—Westlock is a question of law, which is outside the purview of the Speaker. Secondly, the legal instrument referred to was not a requirement of an act of Parliament. Finally, the absence of a requirement for a time frame to be complied with brings into question whether the government has not exercised, or will not exercise, the obligation under that order in council.

I therefore submit that this is not a procedural question, nor can a determination be made that the government has not complied with its own exercise of authority under the order in council.

[The Acting Speaker, Pat Kelly]

I thank the member. The Chair will take that under advisement and come back to the House as necessary.

The House resumed consideration of the motion that Bill C-30, An Act to implement certain provisions of the spring economic update tabled in Parliament on April 28, 2026, be read the second time and referred to a committee, and of the amendment.

Spring Economic Update 2026 Implementation Act

[Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by informing you that I will be sharing my time with the member for Winnipeg South Centre.

For over a year now, I have had the pleasure of serving as the member for Madawaska—Restigouche, and since day one, our government has remained focused on what we can control: building a stronger Canadian economy, diversifying our international trade partners, managing the budget rigorously and responsibly and supporting Canadians who are struggling because of the cost of living. We are on the right track. We have more work to do, but over the past year, we have been on track, and our 2026 spring economic update is the next step in our plan to build a stronger Canada for everyone.

Building Canada strong and meeting our housing, infrastructure and defence needs will require workers who are already qualified. Our workers are the engine of our economy in Canada. That is why, with the economic update, we are launching our plan to recruit and train workers, and hire 80,000 to 100,000 new Red Seal skilled trades workers over the next five years. That is important because we want to build big, but we need the manpower to do it. We will modernize the Red Seal program to reduce certification delays and improve national consistency. We will introduce online exams and digital logbooks and create a single national registered apprenticeship number. All of this will help to simplify the process.

We will also introduce financial incentives. As part of their Red Seal certification training, apprentices have to accumulate a certain number of hours of on-the-job training, which is essential to their apprenticeship. To help employers hire, train and retain apprentices, we will put in place wage subsidies of up to $10,000 for their first-year salary. This is a financial incentive to support employers who give our apprentices on-the-job training opportunities.

Of course, there is also the classroom training component. We will be providing apprentices with an additional $40 week in income while they are completing their mandatory classroom training. This amount will be in addition to measures already in place, such as employment insurance benefits for eligible apprentices and the student loan and grant program. We will also introduce a new $5,000 success bonus upon obtaining Red Seal certification. By comparison, the previous version of this bonus was approximately $2,000, so this is a substantial increase. Why is this being introduced now? It is because we want to provide apprentices currently in their training program with an incentive to complete their training and obtain the Red Seal.

When we talk about training the next generation, it is also important to offer meaningful employment experiences. That is why I am very pleased that the economic update reiterates our government's decision to increase funding for the Canada summer jobs program. We are already seeing real results. In my riding of Madawaska—Restigouche, this represents an investment of more than $1.5 million for the summer of 2026, which will support more than 400 jobs for young people in my region. This includes jobs in a variety of sectors, such as summer camps, tourist sites, care homes, day cares and the cultural community, to name a few. In addition to giving young people a great job experience, it also supports our community organizations, our small and medium-sized businesses and our municipalities because it allows them to hire summer workers who are essential to their activities. That in itself is great news.

I would also like to draw my colleagues' attention to the fact that Canada covers a vast area and its economic realities vary across the country. Many sectors, including agriculture, fishing, forestry and tourism, especially in rural areas, rely heavily on seasonal workers. As we know, these industries have to cope with weather and seasonal constraints, as well as variations related to fluctuating demand. For that reason, EI provides temporary income support to these workers during the off-season, while they wait for a new season of employment to begin. It gives them some financial stability and lets them remain in their community.

Supporting seasonal workers through EI this way also benefits employers in the sectors I mentioned earlier, as well as our regional economies, by allowing employers to retain skilled workers and to ensure they remain on hand for the coming season.

A program consisting of five additional weeks of EI was created in 2018 to support seasonal workers. It was active in 13 of the country's economic regions where seasonal work employs a significant portion of the labour market, as it does in Madawaska—Charlotte and Restigouche-Albert, which make up the entirety of my riding.

These measures enable seasonal workers to receive five additional weeks of benefits. This is essential because it allows them to bridge the gap between one working season and the next, thereby avoiding what is commonly referred to as the spring gap. These support measures were initially intended to be temporary and were due to expire in October 2026. My colleagues from the affected regions and I have held discussions with our colleagues, and I am very pleased to say that the economic update has announced additional funding to extend the five‑week measure, so that seasonal workers in our regions can continue to receive benefits during what is known as the spring gap.

The economic update also extends some of the temporary measures we put in place in response to the tariff dispute. For example, the one-week waiting period for receiving EI benefits has been temporarily removed. Initially, this was intended to last for six months. We have extended this period until the fall and will reassess the situation at that time. This is good news for workers.

In the economic update, we also announced that we will make it easier to access the disability tax credit. The disability tax credit provides significant tax relief to persons with disabilities and their supporting family members. As members know, eligibility for the credit serves as a key requirement for other federal supports, including the Canada disability benefit. It is important for us, as a government, to ensure that people who need help are able to access all the assistance to which they are entitled.

We realized that certain bureaucratic procedures could sometimes make it extra challenging to access the disability tax credit. For example, health care professionals are required to certify a person's disability and its impact on their daily activities by filling out a form that can sometimes be time-consuming. Our experience over the past few years has shown us that, for certain medical conditions, it would be possible to streamline the process and reduce paperwork to simplify the process for health care professionals. That is why we announced in the economic update that we will implement a simplified application process for individuals with a formal diagnosis of certain long-lasting medical conditions. It is important to note that the eligibility criteria are not changing, but based on our experience, we have observed that people with certain illnesses do, in fact, meet the criteria, so they will no longer be required to fill out the entire form.

I will give a concrete example. If a health care professional certifies on the form that their patient has Alzheimer's disease, they will not need to answer all the questions about how the disease is affecting their daily life, because that information has already been documented, and we will consider the person with the disease eligible for the tax credit. This will apply to more than 40 medical conditions, such as stage three or higher chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, cystic fibrosis and schizophrenia. A whole series of other medical conditions are listed, and this will simplify the process for people living with those conditions.

We will also expand the list of health care professionals who can certify eligibility for the tax credit in order to ease the burden on health care workers. Podiatrists, physiotherapists, speech therapists and occupational therapists will all be able to certify certain conditions related to their areas of expertise. These are just some of the various measures we are putting in place to ensure that people who need help actually get the support they need.

This economic update brings more good news for the Atlantic provinces. As we know, investments in small craft harbour infrastructure were long overdue. This was a long-standing request from coastal communities. I am pleased to say that, in this budget, the Atlantic provinces have been heard, and we will see historic investments in this harbour infrastructure, which plays a vital role in the economies of rural and coastal communities.

I look forward to hearing questions from my colleagues, and I hope we can work together to pass this economic update. I hope that my colleagues in the opposition will support us, because I believe this update contains good news for all Canadians.

[Clifford Small, Conservative, Central Newfoundland, NL]

Mr. Speaker, I listened to my colleague's speech on the spring economic statement. I know that he comes from a riding in New Brunswick where salmon are paramount in Restigouche.

The Minister of Fisheries announced $82 million towards making Atlantic salmon as they once were, in a great healthy state. At the same time that she made that announcement, she cut two biodiversity centres, which were long established, one in New Brunswick, the member's home province, and one in Nova Scotia.

In my province of Newfoundland and Labrador, she has not even laid out contracts for river guardians this year. If we do not protect spawners, then there will be no spawn, and salmon will be finished.

Will the member question the minister to make sure she puts her money where her mouth is?

[Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Speaker, I am glad to hear my colleague mention the $3.8-billion nature strategy, which includes an investment of $82 million to protect Atlantic salmon. The Restigouche River is internationally recognized for its waters, where salmon are plentiful. It is in my riding and I am very proud of that.

I have actually been having ongoing discussions with the Minister of Fisheries regarding this investment. I look forward to seeing how these investments will translate into real measures to better protect salmon habitat in the Restigouche River and other salmon-rich rivers in Atlantic Canada. In fact, we are also investing in other projects to protect salmon habitat in our river.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague ended his speech by saying that he is pleased that Atlantic Canada was heard in the economic update. I can tell him that I am sad that Quebec was not heard.

Quebec is grappling with the worst of the tariff crisis. The two sectors with the highest tariffs are softwood lumber and aluminum, and there is absolutely nothing for these sectors in the economic update, even though it was supposed to respond to the crisis we are currently facing.

Does my colleague think that is acceptable?

[Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Speaker, I do not share my colleague's interpretation. When we look at the economic update, we can see that there are positive benefits for the whole of Canada, whether in Atlantic Canada, Quebec or elsewhere in the country.

I would like to again mention small craft harbour infrastructure. I know this is important for Quebec. Then there are the EI measures we announced in relation to the spring gap. That was a Bloc Québécois request. I am also thinking of the investments being made in Quebec in several major infrastructure projects of national interest, which the Bloc Québécois has often spoken to us about in the House. I am thinking of the update we are making regarding housing. Quebec and Ottawa signed an agreement as recently as January to speed up housing construction in Quebec.

When my colleague says there is nothing for his province in the economic update, I would invite him to take another look and see that there are in fact a number of positive benefits for the whole country.

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Parkland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I know the member across said that he is very proud of the government's investments. I wonder if he would tell this House if he is proud of the government's $50-million investment in the molten salt nuclear reactor scam in his very own province by Moltex. The company has now gone into insolvency. It is being sold off for $11 million; 55 million taxpayer dollars down the drain.

Is that member proud of that investment?

[Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Speaker, we are investing in several projects of national interest.

This includes projects related to various types of energy, such as clean energy. I am thinking in particular of our investments in offshore wind energy off the coast of Nova Scotia.

I am also thinking of all the mining projects currently in development, including one in New Brunswick that is under discussion with the federal government.

There are also small and medium-sized projects that will have a transformative impact on our communities.

We are making many investments that will support the energy sector both in Atlantic Canada and across the country.

[Philip Earle, Liberal, Labrador, NL]

Mr. Speaker, I am always happy to ask questions relative to Labrador. I will speed it up a little bit, but I am also happy that my colleagues from Newfoundland and Labrador are here because it gives me an opportunity through my question to talk about the great things our government is doing in Labrador.

We have heard about the announcement for—

[The Acting Speaker, Pat Kelly]

We need time for a response. The hon. member for Madawaska—Restigouche has 10 seconds.

[Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Speaker, the economic update confirms that we have reached the defence spending target of 2% of GDP. This is excellent news, and it translates into investments across the country, including in my colleague's riding of Labrador.

[Ben Carr, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the people of Winnipeg South Centre.

The spring economic update, much like the budget, is a wonderful exercise in the democratic process. It is not only an opportunity for the prime minister and the minister of finance to report back to Canadians and indicate the direction of the government. It is also an opportunity, through a variety of different iterations, for grassroots Canadians, constituents, to convey their needs, their wants and the opportunities that exist in our country back to the people who represent them, such as me, here in Ottawa.

I try to create time every week, whether I am in Ottawa or in Winnipeg, to sit down with people I represent in order to have a conversation, whether through email correspondence, a phone call, in-person meetings or at events. It is an opportunity for them to connect with me and help me understand what they want said on their behalf on the floor of the House of Commons.

My speech today will be framed around one question: What builds a strong community? For me and for many people I represent, it is about connection of people and places. More specifically, I want to talk about opportunity, belonging and stability. I am going to start with sport.

I was extremely privileged and blessed, as a young person growing up in Winnipeg South Centre, to have been raised in a community filled with people who wanted to give back. I am thinking of my coaches in baseball, John Matas and Ray Ali, and my coaches in football, Jon Romu and Gerry Urbanovich, who gave so much back to my teammates and I. They taught us about the importance of teamwork, leadership and perseverance. Sport brings us together and creates a sense of belonging. Like the arts, it is a practice of expression. It is a reflection of us back to others.

In addition to creating a deep sense of belonging, sport is also critically important from the perspective of both our physical and mental health. I can remember having the privilege of being the head coach of the Kelvin Clippers football team, where I had been a player in high school, and working with a number of students who came from difficult situations, whether that was conflict in the home, a lack of success in what we would have traditionally deemed as such in the confines of a classroom, or just looking for something to belong to. Sport, particularly team sport, was an avenue for them to grow, develop and be a part of something bigger than themselves and to do so in a way that contributed positively to their mental and physical health.

The spring economic update's announcement of an investment of $755 million, a monumental and generational investment not only in Canadian athletes but also in participants in sport across the country, is going to be a game changer that brings about a healthier sense of belonging in our communities.

I want to now turn to opportunity. I recently met with Fred Meier, who is the president of Red River College Polytech in my hometown of Winnipeg. Alongside Fred, I had the opportunity to chat with a number of members of the faculty associations. One of the things they raised is the existence, unfortunately still, of a stigma that exists in our country around the trades.

There is a belief among some people that the only path to prosperity through higher education can come through traditional programming at universities. This could not be farther from the truth. Not only are the trades and skilled workers who occupy the positions within that domain working valuable jobs in terms of being able to people prosper economically and financially, but they are also critical to the growth of our country. What young people in this country need right now, vis-à-vis the trades, is opportunity. The government's growth agenda is going to help them realize that.

As we build a strong Canada, we need to allow for the development of a strong workforce that will help support many of the major projects and critical infrastructure developments we are catalyzing right now.

In the context of the spring economic update specifically, there were a number of measures I was very pleased to see that I think are going to make a significant difference for folks on the ground in Winnipeg, throughout Manitoba and beyond, across the country. Included in those are up to $16,000 over the course of about four years for somebody who is in training to become a skilled worker in the trades. This financial incentive is critical for folks who are trying to balance their education with the financial responsibilities they have in their life. This type of incentive is going to ensure that we retain people throughout that educational process.

In addition to that, one of the things we see in this particular part of the spring economic update statement regarding the skilled trades are supports for small and medium-sized businesses to allow for apprentices to have opportunities. I was very proud a number of years ago to be the principal of the Maples Met high school. One of the things that was amazing about this school was that on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays the kids would be in class doing project-based learning, but on Tuesdays and Thursdays they would go out into the community to do internships. Often these internships would take place with the leaders of small and medium-sized businesses, who would help them understand what the pathway was toward a profession in the trades.

We are going to be creating an agency government-wide that is going to help facilitate that process, whereby business owners, educational institutions and people who are wanting to join a profession are going to be able to work collaboratively to advance those opportunities. Inclusive as well of the opportunity in trades is a $5,000 incentive upon the completion of a Red Seal certification.

One thing I would like us to move on is some conversations between the federal government and provincial governments in order to make sure we are aligned on helping to create that opportunity for young people. It is often as early as grades 8, 9 and 10 that people know they want to begin to explore the spaces around the skilled trades, and the more closely we can be aligned across the country to create those pathways, the stronger I believe we are going to be.

I also want to talk about the importance of stability in building a strong community. In my hometown of Winnipeg, there is a significant crisis ongoing in relation to mental health, addiction and homelessness. We have announced a continuation of a $125-million investment in unsheltered homelessness and encampment initiatives. Just last week in my office here in Ottawa, I sat down with some executives from the Canadian Mental Health Association, the Manitoba chapter, who talked to me about how critically important the investments in this fund have been to providing, particularly, wraparound services.

When we talk about dealing with the mental health and addictions crisis and about people who are currently unsheltered or living on the streets, we have to focus not just on creating housing but also on creating stable housing that is supported by a variety of different resources, whether that be addiction treatment options, social workers, psychologists and psychiatrists, or peers who are going through similar situations who can build strong bonds within the community to help people through these very difficult aspects of their journey.

The $125 million is a significant investment, but in addition to that, it builds on top of the $5-billion health infrastructure announcement we made in the last budget. I am working very closely with my colleagues on the ground in Winnipeg and other stakeholders to make sure these funds go towards building the types of wraparound services that will comprehensively and collaboratively create the type of supports people in Winnipeg need right now.

I started this speech by talking about the importance of connection between people and places. Connection to our natural environment is critical, and the last thing I will say is that I am very proud to have seen reflected in the spring economic update the insights, feedback and guidance that the people I represent in Winnipeg South Centre had given me, inclusive of input on the environment. It is investments like the $75 million in the Seal River Watershed in Northern Manitoba that speak very much to that.

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Parkland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I think my colleague will agree that the crime rates in this country are far too high, and that is why I think Canadians were very hopeful when the government announced that it would be hiring 1,000 new RCMP officers.

However, we have recently learned that of the 1,000 RCMP officers the government claimed it was hiring, only 750 of them are actually going to be frontline officers; 250 of them are going to be civilian support employees. It gets better. The government, under its early retirement incentive, laid off over 300 civilian employees from the RCMP. The government says it is hiring 250 more employees, but it has let go 300 employees and is bringing in only 750 frontline officers.

This is an investment illusion under the government. Why is it failing to protect our streets, by underinvesting in police?

[Ben Carr, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I met with police officers from the Winnipeg police union a couple of days ago in Ottawa. I can say that their view was very different, as was that of police chiefs from across the country. For example, Bill C-14, which would bring in tougher penalties for repeat offenders, particularly those who are using weapons and violence in the crimes they are committing, is being welcomed across the board in this country.

In addition to that, I want to go back to a component of my speech that talked about the importance of investing in supports for mental health and addictions, and homelessness. Lots of crime is born out of poverty and out of very difficult conditions that people find themselves in, so by making investments in people through social services, we help to reduce crime rates in this country.

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

Mr. Speaker, currently, the government has set the increase in health transfers at 5%, which is clearly insufficient because system costs are rising, due to population aging, at a rate closer to 6%. The government has not locked in the increase in health transfers, which means that, by 2027-28, it could drop to 2% or 3%, even though the health care systems in Quebec and other provinces are already struggling.

I would like to hear my colleague's thoughts on that.

[Ben Carr, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, we are allocating nearly $220 million for infrastructure and health care in Manitoba. What does that mean for the people of Winnipeg and Manitoba? It means that we can continue to provide the necessary services. As I just mentioned in my response to the previous question, there is a crisis happening right now on the streets of Winnipeg. These investments will make a big difference.

I cannot speak to what is happening in Quebec specifically, but I can say that, in Manitoba, these investments are making a big difference for the people of my province.

[Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Speaker, in his speech, my colleague mentioned that he had visited schools and spoke about the importance of supporting our youth.

I would like him to say a few words about our historic investment in sport and its impact on our young people. Why is it important to support sport, including for the younger generation?