A spring 2026 economic update bill with a smorgasbord of tax code tweaks. Some elements are mandates on tax filing and worker programs, others aim to make housing cheaper. Most discussion revolved around Liberal MPs lauding their economic record and slamming the Conservatives'. The actual bill got barely a mention after the opening statement.
“I want to spend more taxpayer money on my programs. Workers should benefit from our interventions. I want to make it easier for people to withdraw retirement savings for home buying. We're going to reduce some taxes for a while.”
“You said the government is halving the excise tax rate, but really you're just halving the size of the increase. The tax is still going up, just not by as much. Don't try to trick Canadians. Tell the truth - is the tax now going to be as low as it was back in 2017 before you started hiking it up every year?”
“You're confused because I'm talking fast and using lots of numbers. I'm cutting tax for one group, but also hiking it for everyone, just more slowly than before. Don't worry, the big companies have already planned for a 2% hike per year. This isn't a tax cut, we're just not raising it by as much. It's exactly what the brewers asked for.”
“I'm worried that the government might start paying too much attention to the economy when regulating pesticides, instead of just thinking about health. The PMRA is really slow at approving emergency products. By the time they get around to it, the crisis has usually passed for the farmer. I want my colleague to make me feel better about this, because it could be a problem for public health.”
“I want to cheer for our new expensive program. Talking about the wealth fund some more helps my team. Maybe if I say it is great, more people will like it. He should explain why he does not like it.”
“I want to cheer for our expensive program some more. It is good for people to help pay for the things we already want to build. I want to talk about how excited we are for our expensive program. People should help pay for it because it is exciting.”
“I am asking if the part of the bill about pesticides will go to the health committee, not just the finance committee. I want to make sure we study the part of the bill that might make it easier to use pesticides.”
“You say our plan is bad, but look at these numbers! The economy is doing better than we thought. The experts agree with us. I don't know why you keep complaining.”
“Milton Friedman said spending other people's money is the worst because you aren't careful. The government spent $200 million on a spaceport. Now they want $25 billion more. I bet you're not investing your own money in things like that.”
“You're asking about spaceport spending but I'll answer a different question. Canadians borrow money to buy houses. The government should make people rich too.”
“I want to complain about the budget. I think it has too much debt and spending. The government should spend less money. I want the government to build pipelines and highways, not a wealth fund or other projects. The government is doing it wrong.”
“I want to say that the Conservative is out of touch with reality. I think they don't care about building a strong Canada. The government is already investing in many projects like the port of Montreal. I want the Conservative to name a country in the G20 that is doing a good job with their approach. I think the Conservative approach is far-right and not good.”
“I want to call out slippery accounting. They talk about a 10% debt-to-GDP ratio but that's trickery. It pretends we could use the entire Canada pension plan to pay off debts. I want to criticize the Liberals for being in office for 11 years and not building the port of Montreal like they promised in 2015.”
