“You should answer the question. I think there's a problem here. I want to know if you did anything about it.”
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 talk about respect instead of answering the question.”
“It looks like the government is wasting money buying land for a project that isn't even approved yet. Taxpayers shouldn't be on the hook for this.”
“I'm not going to answer the question about buying land before consultations are finished. Instead I'll just talk about how our government is spending a lot of money on infrastructure. It's all part of our big plan in the budget so it must be good.”
“I'm going to point out that the minister is avoiding questions and imply he's hiding something. Does this bill let the government or its friends make money off land they shouldn't?”
“I want to direct this question to someone else so I don't have to answer it.”
“The government should tell taxpayers how much it's spending to buy all this land.”
“I want to spend a lot of money on things I call 'infrastructure' and 'investments'. I won't say how much it costs or what it's for.”
“You talk and talk but never answer simple questions. I ask again: are taxpayers taking all the risk for your 'public-private partnership'? Yes or no?”
“I could answer your question but I'm going to send you on a wild goose chase instead.”
“You're putting all the risk on the public and all the profit in private hands. Is this even a real partnership? I'm not sure you know what the word means.”
“I'm dodging your question by talking about rules and formalities. Ask someone else.”
“The government wants more power to collect information on airports. Has it told Parliament how much the airports are worth?”
“I talk and talk but I won't give a clear answer about the airports' value. I just want government to control more.”
“If airports get sold off to private owners, they'll suck out all the money for profit, raise fees on people flying, and leave the airports with no money to fix things. This is a bad idea.”
“We need to study whether selling off airports would really make money. But we might do it anyway if we want.”
“I want the government to spend lots of money fixing small fishing harbours in Atlantic Canada. It will help the local economy there. And it will help the environment too.”
“We are spending a lot of money on small fishing harbours. This member helped make that happen. I want to thank him publicly. I am proud of the money we are spending.”
“Does the minister think Atlantic Canada's ports could do more to help industries and make us more resilient? I want you to spend money to develop these ports.”
“That's a good point. I want to spend more money on cold storage. I saw a big cold storage facility and was impressed. They load a lot of lobster quickly. This is important work. I will answer questions because I am happy to talk about spending money.”