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The Economy

In question period on the economy, Conservatives pressed the government on food costs and the state of the economy. Kyle Seeback pointed to roughly one million dollars spent on luxury flight meals while many Canadians face food insecurity, and argued the government’s repeated promises to lower food prices have not worked, saying the answer is tax cuts and removing rules that raise grocery costs. Kathy Borrelli said Canada is the only G20 country in a recession because of government spending, red tape and anti-development policies, and asked the Prime Minister to take responsibility. Liberals replied that the government is acting, pointing to a new $3.2-billion food security strategy that includes local infrastructure, year-round production and domestic processing, the national school food program, and efforts to diversify trade and create jobs in a difficult global economy shaped by wars and a trade dispute with the United States.Written by AI from the debate. Updated .

Official text

6 statements

Kyle Seeback

Conservative
“The government spent one million dollars on luxury flight meals this past year. Meanwhile, millions of Canadians do not have enough food and must use food banks. The Liberals cannot justify this spending.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, luxury Normandy butter cups, beef tenderloin, braised beef with wine reduction and crème brûlée were included in 95,000 dollars’ worth of luxury meals on one flight, $1 million in the last 12 months. Meanwhile, a quarter of Canadians are food-insecure. Surely there is not a Liberal member who is going to stand up and justify that, when 2.2 million Canadians go to an increasingly empty food bank every single month.

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Kevin Lamoureux

Liberal
“We are helping Canadians with good ideas like our school food program. The Conservatives just vote against them and offer no help.”

  • Government answer in Question Period

    Relevance 6 of 100

    None of this answer addressed the specific question that was asked.

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  • Government answer in Question Period

    Signal 32 of 100

    Much of this statement went to praise, blame, greetings, routine procedure or general stories rather than reasons, requests or specific points.

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Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I would look to Conservative Party members to actually demonstrate genuine sympathy and capacity to come up with ideas that will make a positive difference. The national food strategy that was announced yesterday is tangible. Unlike the Conservatives, as a government we provide good ideas that will make a difference. The Conservatives continue to vote against them, such as the national food program in our schools, which they called “garbage”. We will be there to have the backs of Canadians, contrary to the Conservatives.

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Kyle Seeback

Conservative
“The Liberals keep promising to make food cheaper, but I do not believe them. Their other programs have failed to fix problems. If they want to lower food prices, they should cut their taxes and their plastic rules that make groceries cost more.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, this is the 11th time the Liberals have announced they are going to make food cheaper for Canadians. Forgive me if I do not believe a single word that these guys say. It is another national program to do something to deliver something, like the housing accelerator, which did not accelerate anything except giving money to municipalities that actually did not build more homes. If they want to get food affordability under control, they can cut the expensive things they have done, like increasing the cost of packaging and making fresh food more expensive with their plastics regulations. Why do they not cut their costly plans and taxes to make food affordable for Canadians?

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Sophie Chatel

Liberal
“Our $3.2-billion food plan will make food cheaper for Canadians. We will build local facilities, grow more food year-round, process it here, and create jobs.”

  • Government answer in Question Period

    Relevance 100 of 100

    Of this answer, 100% addressed the question that was asked.

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Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, stakeholders across Canada are saying that this $3.2-billion strategy on food security will make food affordable for Canadians. There will be four key strategies. We will build local, regional infrastructure so that we have more options and more affordability. We will produce more. We will transform more of our own food here in Canada. We will create more jobs, and we will grow, all year long, fruits and vegetables.

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Kathy Borrelli

Conservative
“Canada is the only G20 country in a recession because of government spending, rules, and bad policies. I want the Prime Minister to take responsibility for causing this crisis.”

  • A repeated line

    “Canada is the only G20 country in a recession.”

    Said 104 times by 61 members since May 29.

    Every time it was said
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister promised Canadians strength and stability, but under his watch, Canada became the only G20 country in a recession. That is the result of Liberal inflationary spending, red tape and anti-development policies that have crushed workers, businesses and families. Canadians deserve a Prime Minister who takes responsibility, not one who hides behind excuses. Will the Prime Minister admit that his policies caused the crisis, or will he keep pretending Canadians are not struggling under his watch?

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Yasir Naqvi

Liberal
“The world economy is facing hard times because of wars and a trade fight with the United States. Conservatives are not taking these issues seriously. We are focused on trading with more countries and creating good jobs.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, if Conservatives ever wonder why Canadians do not trust them and elect them as government, it is unserious questions like this, and what we continue to see in this House is great evidence of this. As all Canadians know, we are living in some very challenging times. We are engaged in an unjustified trade war with the United States. There are wars that are going on in the world that have an impact not only on the Canadian economy, but on the economy worldwide. However, we are focused on building our economy by making sure that we are engaged in diversifying our trade. We will continue to do that work to create good-paying jobs for all Canadians.

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