Debates of June 8th, 2026

Opposition Motion—The Government's Fiscal Policies

[Charles Sousa, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is important that all levels of government recognize that during points of difficulty, it is important to stimulate economic growth. It is counter-cyclical. That is what is happening here.

We have to create the bridge to enable our citizens to weather the challenges before us. We cannot just stand in the House and create fear, saying the sky is falling, and do nothing to help. We have to approve some of the work that is being done to support them in this case.

[Jeff Kibble, Conservative, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, behind every announcement from the government is a problem getting worse, whether it is crime, debt or the cost of ordinary life. Canadians have stopped taking Liberal promises on faith because they are now measuring them against their own reality. They fall short every time.

When will the government and the member address that they cannot announce their way out of results—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, John Nater]

The hon. member for Mississauga—Lakeshore.

[Charles Sousa, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it would be great if we installed some of the crime bills that are right before the House, as well as some of the bail sections. We are combatting crime. On this side of the House, we recognize the impact it has on my community, specifically. We are creating the reverse onus and making it harder for criminals to make bail. We are toughening sentencing for repeat and violent offenders. We are criminalizing coercive control to stop domestic violence. We are ending house arrest for criminals who commit—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, John Nater]

Resuming debate, the hon. member for Newmarket—Aurora.

[Sandra Cobena, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise today in support of this motion because it tells the truth about what the Liberals have done to this country. The reality is that Canada is in a recession. This is not a slowdown. This is not a rough patch. It is a recession. In fact, it is the only country in a recession in the G20. Canadians in Newmarket—Aurora are living it every day. They are paying more for groceries. They are watching their mortgage payments climb. They are wondering whether their kids will be able to afford a home in the community they grew up in. They are asking a simple question: How did it come to this? The answer is 11 years of poor Liberal policies and spending without limits.

The numbers do not lie. Scotiabank has downgraded Canada's growth to 0.8% this year, and the Bank of Montreal has downgraded Canada's growth to 0.5% this year. Then, there is the Parliamentary Budget Officer, an independent, non-partisan officer of this Parliament, and her latest report does not mince words. There is slowing growth, a weakening fiscal outlook and a deficit that is bigger than promised. The probability of the government meeting its own fiscal anchor is 1%. Let us remember that this is after the government chose to give up the last fiscal anchor it also could not meet.

If a student handed in a business plan with a 1% chance of success, they would fail the course. If a CEO presented a strategy with a 1% chance of meeting its targets, the board would show them the door. However, the government members stand here and ask Canadians to trust them with the national finances, with a 1% chance of keeping their own promises. Let us not forget they revised this fiscal anchor after they already failed to meet their last one.

I should mention I am splitting my time.

The government will stand and say this is all external, that it is caused by global headwinds, tariff uncertainty, forces beyond its control. Canadians have heard that before. They heard it when inflation hit 40‑year highs. They heard it when housing costs skyrocketed. They heard it when the debt doubled. There is always an excuse from the Liberal government. There is never accountability. Here is what it cannot explain away: Every other G20 country is growing. Canada is an outlier. Canada is the exception. Even Mexico, which also shares a border with the U.S. and has been significantly impacted by tariffs, has managed to steer clear of a recession.

When we are the only country in the world's 20 largest economies to be in a recession, that is a local policy problem. Still, the Liberal government has chosen to respond with more of the same: denial, increased spending, higher taxes, more regulation and more debt. It continues to choose to make life more expensive for the very Canadians who were already stretched to the limit.

I want to speak directly to what this means to the families I represent in Newmarket—Aurora. I heard from a young couple, both working, both doing everything right, who cannot afford a down payment because their rent has eaten up every dollar they saved. I heard from a small business owner on Davis Drive who is watching her customer base shrink because people simply do not have money left over at the end of the month. I heard from a senior on a fixed income who never thought he would have to choose between his bills and groceries.

This is deeply concerning for me because my own grandfather lives in Aurora and we have this conversation all too often. Seniors, who spent their entire life working hard, who gave it their all, are now on a fixed income and have to make these impossible choices. They are not statistics. They are neighbours and friends. They are family members, in fact. They deserve a government that is honest about the damage that it has caused and is serious about fixing it. This motion calls for exactly that.

Today's motion does not ask the impossible. It does not ask the government to undo every mistake overnight. It asks for something straightforward: reverse the costly inflationary policies that brought Canada to this point; stop the reckless spending that drives up debt and keeps interest rates higher for longer; stop layering on new taxes and new regulatory burdens on businesses that are trying to hire, invest and grow; and stop the costly credit card budgeting that future generations will be asked to pay for.

On this point, I had a discussion with a group of youth just a few weeks back. They told me they felt like they were on a bus where the driver did not care about the passengers and did not care about the direction that the passengers wanted to go in. They felt that they were the passengers, because the government was driving them into incredible amounts of debt that they would eventually inherit.

The government can start with its $750-million gun grab, the $90-billion train or the $25 billion of debt it will be taking on for the so-called sovereign wealth fund or the $20 billion on consultants. Those are just to name a few. I am talking about Canada's conditions for real, sustainable growth, not politically convenient announcements, but the kind of economic environment where businesses expand, investors can invest, workers earn more and businesses can actually get ahead.

Today's motion is simple. It is honest. It is necessary. Canada is in a recession, the only country in the G20. The banks have downgraded growth projections. The Parliamentary Budget Officer has sounded the alarm. The numbers do not lie, even when the government's talking points are trying to obscure them.

Conservatives will always stand on the side of fiscal responsibility, economic growth and the hard-working Canadians who deserve a government that respects every hard-earned dollar that they make, and to work as hard as they do.

With that, I urge all members of this chamber to support this motion.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, I have not had a chance to work with the member opposite yet here in this Parliament. I would like to ask for her thoughts with respect to the supports that we have been providing for young people, including in the spring economic statement in terms of providing training opportunities for young people. I think that she mentioned some young people in her speech and the importance of supporting young people.

I would like to know if she would support those initiatives, in terms of helping train young people for apprenticeships.

[Sandra Cobena, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I brought up youth because I have been hearing these concerns for quite some time. Of course, for youth, it is about that first job opportunity. It is an opportunity to build a career and have a future here in our country. Most of the concerns are with unemployment that is highly concentrated in youth. It is a concern for them because they tell me it is not a situation where they can just walk in and get a job any more, or submit a résumé and get a job any more. A lot of them are not able to find that job. When they do, because some of the industries, especially the trades, do not have senior people there any more to train them, they find their futures are actually quite difficult.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I find it interesting that my colleague talked about young people struggling to find work in the current economy.

As I pointed out earlier to the member for Winnipeg North, 35,000 jobs were lost in the retail sector in the first quarter of 2026. These are precisely the kinds of jobs that are often available to younger people and those who may have less formal education.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives fully support making massive investments in developing the fossil fuel industry. Billions of dollars are going to oil companies in the form of tax breaks, for example.

Would my colleague be in favour of easing the burden on taxpayers a little, including the young families she seems to want to defend in her riding? People in my riding, Drummond, are also struggling.

Would she be willing to reconsider the subsidies given to oil companies and redistribute some of those billions of dollars to taxpayers who are really struggling right now?

[Sandra Cobena, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Mr. Speaker, one of my priorities is to be the voice of the youth who are struggling today.

As I mentioned before, it is quite concerning for them because of how critical that first job is. They are looking for these jobs in all sorts of industries, but we are seeing that business investment has fallen for five consecutive quarters and that more businesses are shutting down than opening up. Retail, which is one of the largest employers for our youth, is being hit particularly hard.

There is no initiative right now from the government to actually remove some of the barriers that these businesses are challenged with, when it comes to overtaxation, over-regulation and actually being able to expand their business.

[Grant Jackson, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Mr. Speaker, there is no question the member is an excellent member of Parliament. We are lucky to have her and so are her constituents.

I just want to pick away at this a little. I know she heard the speech earlier from the Liberal member talking about how he felt his government has saved the taxpayer $60 billion. I just do not see that in any of the documents. I do not see that in anything we are discussing today with respect to the opposition day motion. In fact, we are calling out the Liberal government on the fact that its economic policy has failed Canadians. It has failed this country for 11 years. We need a fresh perspective.

I wonder if that member can elaborate on the fact that the Liberals seem to be pretty out of touch when they have spent over their $60 billion projected deficit. We are now much higher than that. Somehow these Liberal members are still running around saying that they have saved the taxpayers money when in fact we are seeing record-level deficits.

[Sandra Cobena, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Mr. Speaker, there are no savings. In fact, if we look at the projections going forward, there are even more costs. Even when we look at the spring economic statement or the budget itself, there are hundreds of announcements that they have made that have not been included in those projections.

Bill C‑20—Notice of Time Allocation Motion

[Joël Lightbound, Liberal, Minister of Government Transformation]

Mr. Speaker, an agreement could not be reached under the provisions of Standing Order 78(1) or 78(2) with respect to the third reading stage of Bill C-20, an act respecting the establishment of Build Canada Homes.

Under the provisions of Standing Order 78(3), I give notice that a minister of the Crown will propose at the next sitting a motion to allot a specific number of days or hours for the consideration and disposal of proceedings at the said stage.

The House resumed consideration of the motion.

Opposition Motion—The Government's Fiscal Policies

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to the opposition motion. At the outset, I must say that I have sat in the House for a fair bit today, listening to the debate. I cannot help but reflect on some of what I have been hearing as a result of some of the news that was received regarding the economy: a sense of almost excitement or gleefulness that comes from the Conservatives as they celebrate the opportunity to try to make a bigger issue out of news and turn this into a partisan issue rather than trying to genuinely help.

I am being heckled, but I will read something from Fred DeLorey, a former Conservative campaign manager. About three or four days ago, while he was being interviewed on CBC, he said, “it's dangerous politics to be going out here claiming the sky is falling, when in a month's time or two months' time, when the next numbers come out, it shows that it isn't. It was a week later.... Job numbers are better than they were last quarter. We have the C.D. Howe Institute coming out and arguing, and other economists saying, it's not a recession.”

I am not talking about some Conservative operative from the 1980s or 1990s. I am talking about the campaign manager who led the Conservative Party of Canada's national campaign just two elections ago, and that is what he said. He is being extremely critical of the approach that the Leader of the Opposition is taking to this issue, running out and trying to proclaim that the sky is falling.

Let us look at the timeline. Mr. DeLorey is looking at the timeline too and reflecting on it in the quote I read out. The timeline is this. On Friday, May 29, the first-quarter growth numbers came out, and the growth for Canada was -.04%. It does show that it is negative growth. Two consecutive negative-growth quarters means that we are in a recession.

Why are the Conservatives clapping? This is exactly what I was talking about. They jump on an opportunity. They start clapping at the idea that the economy is not doing as well as it otherwise could have been doing.

This is what ended up happening. The Leader of the Opposition, on a Friday morning, ran out one of the main doors of this building, held an emergency press conference and said that there is a massive, full-scale recession and it is all the Liberal Prime Minister's fault. He went on and on.

The Leader of the Opposition attacked a reporter for asking a basic question. One of the reporters said that some economists are not saying that what he is saying is true, and the reporter asked if he was jumping the gun a bit. He attacked the reporter and asked what outlet the reporter was with. These are totally Trump-style attacks.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this is exactly what happened. Regardless of the Conservatives' heckling, it happened in front of this building on a Friday morning. The Leader of the Opposition could not wait 30 minutes to digest the numbers. He had to do it immediately.

Let us fast-forward to this past Friday, June 5, when we found out the job numbers in the report for May. There were almost 90,000 net new jobs in Canada, which contributed to a decrease in unemployment. Full-time employment skyrocketed. There was significant economic growth in many sectors.

What did the Leader of the Opposition do? Did he run outside and hold another press conference? No, he did not. He is literally in hiding. He disappeared. He has not said a word.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, by the way, as my colleagues across the way heckle me on this, I have not heard his speech today. When is he going to give a speech on this? He has not said a single word on this issue. He literally does not want to address this.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, should I call my own point of order on this? At some point you have to step in.

The Leader of the Opposition has not said even a single word about it. It is one thing if he wants to claim one day that the sky is falling, but a week later he cannot even reflect on the fact the job numbers are better and the economy might not be in that full-scale recession he tried to paint a week earlier.

My colleagues are having a hard time listening to me, so why do I not go back to Fred DeLorey, the campaign manager from two elections ago. By the way, a number of Conservatives sitting in the House ran for office when he was the Conservative campaign manager. This is what he said just three or four days ago: “It's problematic when you choose to go down that road that [the Leader of the Opposition] has chosen to go down so aggressively, almost like he's rooting for a recession. I understand partisan politics very well. You know, I'm a tribal Conservative. I want to win the next election. Three years before an election, screaming that the sky is falling every week is not how you do it.”

These are the words of a former Conservative campaign manager, who ran the 2021 election for the Conservative Party of Canada and who full-on went on CBC news and announced to the world that the Leader of the Opposition is, in his words, “rooting for a recession.”

That is what we are dealing with. The Leader of the Opposition cannot think that he is ever going to be the leader of a country, when he runs out there one day and claims that the sky is falling, that everything is coming to an end and that we have the most dramatic economic downfall in Canadian history, then a week later keeps his mouth completely—

[An hon. member]

Mr. Speaker, I am rising on a point of order.

[The Deputy Speaker, Tom Kmiec]

I cannot recognize the member. I cannot see the member, because she is not in her seat.

I will let the chief government whip continue his remarks.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the member cannot run out there and act as though the sky is falling one day, and then a week later pretend that there is no news, because it is completely contradictory. Conservatives can heckle all they want on this. They can disagree with me. They can challenge me. They can do whatever they want. The reality of the situation is that this is the narrative that is out there. This is what the vast majority of Canadians see when they see the games the Leader of the Opposition plays.

Unfortunately, it is my position that what the Conservatives are doing today is just continuing to play into that narrative of “The sky is falling”, without being genuinely reflective of what is really going on and the reality of the situation. They can hem and haw, roll their eyes and say that I have no idea what I am talking about, but I would encourage them to be a little self-reflective and to try to figure out if they can sort out why they did not win the last election and why they continue to be so low in the polls. It is because of the Leader of the Opposition and the way he continues to go on and on, the games he plays, and the things he does. Canadians are just not buying it anymore.

The Conservatives do not need to like it, but that is the reality of the situation. They hopefully can take some time this summer to reflect on what their strategy should be moving forward, because as we have seen over the last number of years, the strategy they are currently using, which led to today's opposition motion, is not a successful one. I do not think it ever will be. I hope they can learn from that and figure out that there is something they can contribute to the House and to democracy, but it is not going to be with the approach they have been taking and, in particular, the approach the Leader of the Opposition is taking.

[Tamara Jansen, Conservative, Cloverdale—Langley City, BC]

Mr. Speaker, earlier today I was speaking with some grandparents from my riding who were actually sitting in the gallery listening to my colleague, our finance critic, speak on the state of our economy. I did not realize they were coming. I am very grateful to have met them downstairs. As they listened to the Liberal members—