“The government isn't delivering on their housing promise. They said they would double the housing construction rate, but the numbers show they're barely doing a fraction of that. The Minister needs to explain this massive failure.”
What they said. What they meant.
Plain-language translations from the House of Commons.
Recent debates
8 latest topics
Spring Economic Update 2026 Implementation Act
57 statements
Spring Economic Update 2026 Implementation Act
19 statements
Arab Heritage Month Act
5 statements
The Economy
15 statements
Government Priorities
2 statements
Government Priorities
2 statements
Housing
12 statements
The Environment
2 statements
Government Orders
Business of Supply
A wide-ranging bill to implement the Spring 2026 Economic Update, touching on everything from tax deductions for tradespeople to aviation fuel taxes to beer excise duty rates. In 5 hours of debate, MPs mostly grilled the Finance Minister on unrelated topics like ride-sharing regulation, StatsCan data collection, and election promises from 2015. Some substantive questions were asked about domestic investment levels and the bill's housing provisions, but mostly talk went in circles without many direct answers.
“I'm going to ignore your real question and just say we spent a lot of money. $56 billion sounds big, right? Surely that means we're doing enough.”
“You're planning to spend an insane amount on the military. $159 billion a year! How are you going to pay for that?”
“Canadians know the world is dangerous. We must spend a lot of money to protect ourselves. Record amounts of money!”
“You say you're protecting Canada, but you're cutting $60 billion from programs. You're even cutting over $2 billion from indigenous programs. What will happen to the communities that need that money?”
“We found $60 billion to cut without hurting anything important. We were very careful not to cut from indigenous programs.”
“You're letting companies spy on people and charge them more instead of banning it during a crisis.”
“I want you to remember I spent money on it.”
“Investing in oil and gas is a bad idea. The world is moving to renewables. I want Canada to stop helping oil and gas companies.”
“I'm glad you're here. But actually, Fatih Birol said countries want Canada's energy. We're going to build even more energy. I want you to feel good about that. And our tax credit is already enough to support renewables. We don't need to spend more. Let's keep investing in all the energy.”
“You're doing a good job. But our economy has problems. Oligopolies are dominating some sectors. That's reducing competitiveness. And we export too many raw materials. That doesn't add value. How can Canada improve productivity? Point to measures in the budget that would actually make a difference.”
“I like to talk about the things we're doing. It makes us sound good. We gave the Competition Bureau more power. And we let businesses write off investments faster. That's supposed to make them more productive. The OECD says it's a good policy.”
“Market intervention and incentives haven't worked before. But maybe we should try them again. Let's make businesses do what I want. I want more processing in Canada.”
“My colleague said things I agree with. I'm going to talk about those things. The government should spend money to train young people. If the government spends money, more young people will become trades workers. I want the government to spend money to make this happen.”
“I want the government to spend $25 billion to start a new fund. I don't like that most Canada pension plan investments go to other countries. I want more of that money to stay in Canada instead.”
“I want to praise the program and say it's the best. That's all I have to say.”
“I'm going to ask the minister a bunch of questions so I can criticism him later. First question: is it true you're not forcing companies to make electric cars?”
“I want taxpayers to subsidize car companies even more. Our delays were fine. Other countries had delays too.”
“You didn't answer me earlier. I think you didn't know the answer. So I'll ask again: these rules mean only electric vehicles are allowed by 2035. Can we agree this is a zero-emission vehicle mandate?”
“I want to say the government is helping. I want the government to spend money. I want the government to control the industry. I want the government to get the credit.”