The Budget  Mr. Speaker, I want to start by congratulating the member for Vancouver Kingsway on his new role as finance critic. I am going to share with the House that he and I both grew up in Edmonton and first met when I was a teenager and he was working on my mother's election campaign. Life is funny that way.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, I have a point that I think it would be good to get the Leader of the Opposition to offer clarity on. We presented a clear choice to Canadians. We said to Canadians that we believe we need the power of government to get things built for young Canadians and to get things built for the people of Alberta, who needed the pipeline that we got built.

The Budget  moved: That this House approve in general the budgetary policy of the government. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 83(1), I would like to table, in both official languages, the budget documents for 2024, including notices of ways and means motions. The details of the measures are contained in these documents.

Questions on the Order Paper  Mr. Speaker, on acquisition applications subject to ministerial approval, the department relies on a rigorous review process undertaken by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, or OSFI, to provide the Minister of Finance with advice on matters relevant to the application.

Questions on the Order Paper  Mr. Speaker, in response to part (a) of the question, revenues from the federal excise duty on alcohol products are projected to be $2.2 billion in 2024 25. In response to part (b), in real terms, the government does not anticipate an increase in revenues as a result of the inflation adjustment mechanism.

Questions on the Order Paper  Mr. Speaker, on June 14, 2023, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance announced that the Government of Canada would immediately halt all government led activity at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, or AIIB, and instructed the Department of Finance to lead a review of the allegations raised and of Canada’s involvement in the AIIB.

Carbon Pricing  Mr. Speaker, the MP who just spoke is a member of Parliament for B.C., and British Columbia is rightly proud of its place as a leader in Canada and the world in having a price on pollution since 2008. It is a provincial system that the people of B.C. support, so either the Conservative Party is ignorant about that or it disrespects the people of B.C.

Carbon Pricing  Mr. Speaker, I have a lot of respect for that MP from British Columbia, but I am really disappointed that he seems entirely ignorant of how the price on pollution works in B.C. There is no federal backstop in B.C. There is no federal backstop on B.C. small businesses nor on the people of B.C.

Carbon Pricing  Mr. Speaker, “the survival of our planet is at stake. I cannot ignore this urgent climate challenge and continue to look my two sons in the eyes.” Those are the words of Premier Legault. He is proud that Quebec has its own carbon pricing system. Quebeckers are proud of that. The Conservatives want to eliminate it.

Carbon Pricing  Mr. Speaker, there is so much shouting today that I can forgive the member opposite for not hearing earlier today the good news for Canadians, which is that thanks to the hard work of Canadians, and it has been a challenging time, inflation in February is back to the Bank of Canada's target range.

Carbon Pricing  Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives love to talk Canada down. They traffic in fear and falsehood. On this side of the House, we believe in Canada and we believe in Canadians. That is why I am so glad to share some good news with the members of this House. The inflation number for February, which came out this morning, is 2.8%; this is below expectations and within the Bank of Canada's target range.

Carbon Pricing  Mr. Speaker, the member for Kings—Hants stands up for farmers, stands up for his constituents, stands up for the people of Nova Scotia and stands up for the people of Canada every single day. On this side of the House, we are incredibly proud to have him as our colleague. One thing he knows is that the people of Kings—Hants do not need cuts.

Questions on the Order Paper  Mr. Speaker, under the Access to Information Act, the travel expenses incurred will be published on Open Canada at https://search.open.canada.ca/travel/ within 30 days after the end of the month in which these expenses were reimbursed.

Questions on the Order Paper  Mr. Speaker, the economic outlook presented in the 2023 fall economic statement, or FES, released on November 21, 2023, is based on the Department of Finance survey of private sector economists conducted in early September 2023. The average of private sector forecasts has been used as the basis for economic and fiscal planning since 1994, helping to ensure objectivity and transparency and introducing an element of independence into the government’s economic and fiscal forecast.

Finance  Mr. Speaker, our government understands how important it is to support Canadians and to do so in a way that is financially responsible. The fact that we have maintained our AAA credit rating is proof that that is what we are doing. That was reaffirmed last week. We have the lowest debt-to-GDP and deficit-to-GDP ratios in the G7.