Parliamentary Speeches
1,397 speeches by François-Philippe Champagne — Page 14 of 28
Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I believe my colleague should be very happy. There is a lot for him to be happy about, because now we are talking about projects of national interest. Just recently we had all the premiers get together with the Prime Minister to build Canada strong. We want to build an energy corridor. We want to build this country. I can see in his eyes that he is happy as well because we are going t…
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Mr. Speaker, it will not be a surprise that as a finance minister, I like revenue. Revenue allows us to provide services to Canadians, to make financial transfers to provinces and territories for Canadians, and to maintain the social fabric of our country. It will not be a big surprise that a finance minister always likes revenue.
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Mr. Speaker, what I think is fair is that we join together in building this country. I am speaking with premiers in western Canada. They are very happy to work with this new government so that we can build Canada strong. I know that Conservatives, in their hearts, want to build this Canada. They want to join us. That is why they voted for the first ways and means motion we presented.
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Mr. Speaker, I just wish the member had been in Saskatoon recently. He would have seen that there is unity in this country like we have never seen before. People want to build. They want to make sure our resources go to market. That should have been a moment celebrated by all Conservatives. I know many of the western premiers, who text me quite often. They want to make sure that we build things to…
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Mr. Speaker, the member probably will not be asking if I can say “oil and gas” or something like that. I can assure him that we are proud of what we produce in Canada, and we want to build infrastructure so we can—
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Mr. Speaker, I heard the other question, and obviously, I can say “budget” as well.
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Mr. Speaker, I know the member is a very experienced member. He reads “The Fiscal Monitor”. I know him. He is the type of member who would focus on “The Fiscal Monitor” to get his information. If he is reading—
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Mr. Speaker, it is public record. I know there is not much time left for good questions, and I know my colleague wants good answers, but the time is short. The things in the public domain—
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Mr. Speaker, if my colleague were to look at the public debt charge percentage of nominal GDP, he would see that, over the last decade, they have always been in the range of 1% to 1.5%. It is a great position to be in as a country.
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Mr. Speaker, as the member wants to talk about numbers, I will go to the numbers. In 2023-24, the public debt charge percentage of nominal GDP was 1.2%. In 2023-24, it was 1.6%. Canada is in a very enviable position as a member of the G7.
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Mr. Speaker, let us look at the chart. Ten years ago, the public debt charge was $24.2 billion and represented 1.2% of GDP. If we look at 2023-24, it represents 1.6%. Canada has been consistently maintaining a low level as—
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Mr. Speaker, as the Minister of Finance, I always want the economy to grow because it allows us to have revenue to provide services to Canadians and transfers to provinces and territories. I think my colleague also wants to see revenues grow.
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Mr. Speaker, as the Minister of Finance, I always want to see revenues grow because revenues allow us to deliver services to Canadians. Obviously, we will continue to be fiscally prudent but, at the same time, look at ways to support Canadians.
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Mr. Speaker, we inherited what we all have as Canadians. We have a country that has a AAA credit rating and the lowest debt-to-GDP. We should be very proud. I was at the G7 meeting, and next time I might invite the member. He will see how G7 colleagues appreciate Canada—
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Mr. Speaker, the member is talking about the G7. I intend to continue as the chair of the G7 finance ministers' meeting with central bank governors. We continue to provide leadership. We even came out with a communiqué in Banff. It was more than people had expected. We came out with a communiqué.
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Mr. Speaker, again, the member should take comfort in his heart that Canada, with its AAA credit rating, is the only country, with Germany, in the G7 that has that fiscal position. That is a very strong position, and that is why he should be happy to have a finance minister with fiscal discipline.
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Mr. Speaker, I am here at the behest of the members. Members voted for us to be here at 9:55 p.m. I am making myself available to the House to answer members' questions, especially questions from my Bloc Québécois colleagues, whom I hold in high esteem.
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Mr. Speaker, I am sure that my colleague is going to like this, since he is a numbers guy. In the spending plan for the Department of Finance, 99% of planned expenditures are statutory expenditures. Less than 1% of these expenditures are departmental operating expenditures. I think my colleague can see that the Department of Finance budgets are really transfers to the provinces, including Quebec.
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Mr. Speaker, I get my colleague's enthusiasm. I know him. He is an enthusiastic guy, and he wants to see things right away. I am sure my colleague will have an opportunity to read the plans as soon as they are available. The important thing is that he already has the financial framework, which he saw in the main estimates. That alone gives him a good overview of the government's priorities.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his excellent question. He is a very well-informed man. Obviously, he knows or he will know that we are discussing with the aluminum and steel industry to take the appropriate measures to defend our industries and protect our Canadian industries, while encouraging Canadian procurement to support our steel and aluminum industries. I can confirm that we are work…
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Mr. Speaker, we need to look at every possible measure to support the steel and aluminum sector. That is why we are having intense discussions with our colleagues. Both he and I want the same thing. I know him, and I know that he, too, wants to stand up for workers in the industry. We have the same goal. That is why we are working hand in hand with the industry.
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Mr. Speaker, I have shared several numbers tonight. To date, we have raised $1.7 billion from the retaliatory measures. It is important to note that we have imposed tariffs on $95 billion worth of goods imported from the United States. We have implemented historic measures to protect our industries and respond to this American threat to Canadian industry.
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Mr. Speaker, I am a Quebecker, and I think that Quebeckers and the Bloc Québécois members want the tariffs gone. The main thing we want is no tariffs. Then there would be no retaliatory measures. That is why our priority is to fight the tariffs and protect our sectors, our industry and our workers as we build one Canadian economy.
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Mr. Speaker, it is good to hear that my colleague is looking at my Twitter account. I might even suggest that he follow me. The numbers I post on social media are accurate. We obviously want to keep Canadians informed. I am pleased to see that my colleague pays close attention to what we post on social media, because this is important information for Canadians and for the industry.
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Mr. Speaker, this question was addressed with the premiers at the great meeting we had in Saskatoon. Everyone wants to see more being done for energy corridors in this country. We want to bring our energy and our natural resources to market.
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Mr. Speaker, it is clear that we need to bring our natural resources to market, and that includes different things. We are going to be supporting that. It is why we had a great meeting. I wish the member would have been in Saskatoon. Maybe next time we should think of having him with us, because he would have seen how the Canadian premiers—
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Mr. Speaker, we support in principle all forms of transportation that can bring our natural resources to market, including pipelines, energy corridors and transmission lines. We have been very clear on that. Not only that, the premiers have come together to say that they want to do more to support our natural resources getting to market. The member should be rejoicing about that. The premiers have…
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Mr. Speaker, I like this line of questioning. The Government of Canada owns a pipeline. It is called TMX. There is no news there. We have been in the business of bringing our resources to market—
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Mr. Speaker, the member is talking to the wrong person asking that. We have brought historic investment into this country. I can think of major projects and major investments. We can look at Dow Chemical and Volkswagen coming into our country. We can look at these—
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Mr. Speaker, the member should be proud. It is a bit late, but if my memory serves me well, we ranked number three in the world for attraction of investment just last year or the year before. Canada is the place to invest and investors know that. We do not need to argue that in the House. Investors—
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Mr. Speaker, the member seems to read from “The Fiscal Monitor”, so I would advise him to refer to a publication done by the Government of Canada. There is a lot of good information for him in that.
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Mr. Speaker, I know it is getting late, but I will provide good news, because I like this member in particular, who is a very smart member. He will know what really matters to Canadians is that, with Germany, Canada is the only country in the G7 to have a AAA credit rating. I can see his face; he is smiling because that is something that he should be—
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Mr. Speaker, what I agree with is that Canada is one of only two countries in the G7 that has a AAA credit rating, with Germany. I am looking at a former finance minister in Quebec. He knows how important it is to have that kind of credit rating and have the lowest—
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Mr. Speaker, I will give another number to my colleague, because I know he likes numbers. If we look at the FES 2024 projections, our deficit-to-GDP is 1.6%. He can look at the other G7 countries. He will see that we are in a very good position.
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Mr. Speaker, the member should be proud, and I can see he is proud, that Canada is one of the two countries in the G7 with a AAA credit rating. It is a great place to be. He should have come with us to the G7 finance ministers'—
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague would be happy to learn that the public debt charges' percentage of nominal GDP has been pretty consistent, at around the range of 1.5% over the last decade, and in 2023-24, it was 1.6%. That is a very good place to be. That is why we believe in Canada strong.
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Mr. Speaker, the member knows me well; he has known me for a bit. He knows I believe in fiscal discipline, and he knows as well that we are going to present a very ambitious budget, a budget he is going to be proud to present to his constituents.
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Mr. Speaker, the question people watching at home have on their mind is whether the member believes it is important for Canada to meet its NATO commitment of 2% of investment in defence. This is really the question people at home are asking themselves: Does the member believe it important to meet our NATO commitment of 2%?
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Mr. Speaker, I know it is getting late. I will say to my colleague, I do believe that it is great for Canada to have a AAA credit rating. I can say that my colleagues at the G7 are very envious of Canada's position, because they know that we are the true north, strong and free.
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Mr. Speaker, I know it is getting late, but the questions are becoming more and more interesting. I believe in a fair tax system, where everyone pays their fair share.
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Mr. Speaker, I know the member would have loved to be at the G7 finance ministers' meeting in Banff, because he would have seen Canada's financial call to action on money laundering. This was an initiative by Canada. He would have been proud. He would have been in the room and applauding when he saw Canada standing up to make sure that we are cracking down on financial—
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Mr. Speaker, I really feel that the member would have been very happy to be with us, because he would have seen Canada's leadership. He would have seen all our G7 colleagues watching us and thanking Canada for putting that on the agenda as the chair of the G7. We want to combat money—
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Mr. Speaker, I told the member we were not in some bike shop; we were in Banff, a great city in Canada. That is where we had the G7 meeting, and there were 175 accredited media. I am sure he saw me on TV and he watched the press conference. I know he is the kind of person who would watch the press conference to celebrate Canada's—
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Mr. Speaker, if the member is wondering who is watching me on TV, I can assure him my mother is. The other thing he would have seen is that the other G7 countries were proud to see Canada. I do not feel, because I know it is late for them, that the Conservatives are proud about Canada. We are leading the world. We are leading in combatting financial crime.
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Mr. Speaker, I have a sense that the member really feels that he should have been at the G7 meeting, because he would have seen the moment where Canada was on the world stage, leading in combatting financial crime. I will think about sending him an invitation next time, because he would really learn from these discussions.
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Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives will have a great opportunity. They can vote for Bill C-5. I am sure people are anxious. There are people watching tonight. The member was wondering who is watching. Bill C-5 is—
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Mr. Speaker, I believe in premiers coming together to build this country. We saw that in Saskatoon. We saw Canadian unity, with Canadian premiers being—
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Mr. Speaker, again, that is a moment of unity; we should seize it. When we have Canada coming together to build big things, we should be proud. We should really be proud to see premiers and the Prime Minister working together to build Canada strong. We are—
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Mr. Speaker, I believe in the oil and gas sector; it is a very important sector in our economy. It provides jobs for Canadians in many parts of our country. I am proud of the construction workers who are making our country strong, and we will—
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Mr. Speaker, we have always paid attention to the requests from members and our colleagues from the New Democrats. Like I said, we have a set of measures that were in place that met the moment to support our workers, and we will always be there for our workers. I know the member will keep—
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