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Adjournment Proceedings

In an adjournment debate, Conservative member Garnett Genuis raised the Conservatives’ proposals to make parental leave more flexible: letting parents pause and resume leave within 18 months, take classes while on leave, and be paid for childcare without losing benefits. Liberal member Ryan Turnbull noted the question submitted in writing had instead been about jobs, apprentices, youth, the budget and EI premiums, and answered that the government plans to save $60 billion over five years, balance day-to-day spending by 2027, and reduce consultant spending. The two members also exchanged views on the economy generally, with Turnbull citing job growth, faster growth than other G7 countries, and record investment, and Genuis replying that parental leave rules should keep pace with flexible, technology-enabled work.Written by AI from the debate. Updated .

Official text

6 statements

Garnett Genuis

Conservative
“Our parental leave rules are outdated now that many people work flexible hours from home. Conservatives want three changes. First, parents should be able to pause their leave and restart it later within 18 months. Second, parents should be allowed to take classes while on leave. Third, parents on leave should be able to get paid for watching other people's children without losing their benefits. I want the government to adopt these ideas.”
Official Hansard

Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to be able to address the House tonight and highlight the Conservative push for more flexible parental leave. We recognize and celebrate those who are doing the hard work of having and raising children, and also, we note the sad fact that many people report in polls that they would like to have more children than for whatever reason their circumstances have allowed them to have. The self-reported desired number of children in Canada is much higher than the number of children people are actually having, and I think there are a number of factors contributing to that. One of them is that it is so much harder to find a job and afford a home today that young people are hitting some of those milestones associated with starting life in a family much later, which leaves them with less time available to live out some of these personal goals, but also, the parental leave system simply has not kept up with the reality of more people working and also of more flexible work being available. Today it is much more possible for people to, for instance, continue working part time or take more flexible leave from home, because technology allows remote work, flexible work, odd hours work, etc. This is a reality that I see among many people around, including in my own family. My wife is a doctor, she has a medical practice and she sees her patients virtually from our home office at flexible hours that work for our family and that work for her. This is not that unique an example. There are many people doing this, but the parental leave system has simply not kept up. In a constructive spirit, Conservatives have put forward constructive proposals for more flexible parental leave, and we have asked the government to consider adopting these proposals. I am following up on a question I asked about this earlier. So far we have not heard from the government yet on whether it wants to adopt these proposals. Again, we are putting them forward in a positive, hopeful, constructive spirit, in hopes that the government will embrace these good ideas and consider other ones to make parental leave more flexible. We are proposing, first of all, flexible parental leave, allowing parents to pause and then resume their leave, provided that this pausing and resuming stays within an 18-month window. This is similar to the existing model in Quebec. In Quebec, parents are able to pause and then resume their leave, which means potentially that if someone is in more seasonal work, if their spouse is able to take some time off with the children or if they really need that extra money for a period of time, they can return to work, but then resume their leave. This is valuable for individuals, but also can be valuable for employers if they want to offer employees the opportunity to return to work for a period of time when they are very busy. I can think of a lot of different kinds of professions where there are particularly busy seasons. We are calling for that interruptibility, which currently is available in Quebec, to be available in the rest of the country as well. Second, we are calling for learning on leave to be available, so that a person would have the clear ability to take courses and to study. Likely from home or in a flexible way, they would be able to take courses or advance their studies while they are on parental leave. Third is a caregiving exception to EI parental leave benefit clawbacks. This would allow somebody who is on leave watching their own child to also offer paid child care to neighbours, family members, etc. Effectively, if someone is caring for their own children, they could also at the same time care for someone else’s children and be paid to do that without facing the kind of benefit clawbacks that would otherwise apply. These are three reasonable proposals that would have other benefits that would allow people to develop themselves professionally. Increasing the availability of local and flexible child care would create opportunities for more economic vitality, including for self-employed individuals, by allowing that pausing and resuming to respond to the natural cycles that happen within families as well as within work. These are constructive proposals, and we would love to hear if the government is interested in adopting all or some of them going forward.

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Ryan Turnbull

Liberal
“Our government manages money responsibly while investing in Canadians and the economy. We have the lowest debt compared to the size of our economy in the G7.”

  • Reply to a debate question

    Relevance 45 of 100

    None of this reply addressed the specific point raised or the topic under debate.

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  • A repeated line

    “We have the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7.”

    Said 17 times by 13 members since April 29.

    Every time it was said
Official Hansard

Madam Speaker, it is great to be here this evening. We are always interested in constructive proposals. What is interesting is that the member opposite’s question has nothing to do with the question that has been put on notice, but that is okay. I will answer the question that was put on notice anyway. In an increasingly fragmented and uncertain world, our government is concentrating on what it can control, which is maintaining fiscal sustainability while making targeted high-impact investments in Canadians and the economy. That is responsible leadership. It means investing in a brighter future while protecting Canada’s fiscal strength, the lowest net debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7, a sound fiscal position and a clear path to long-term sustainability. In fact, by investing strategically and responsibly today, we are positioning Canadians to benefit from a stronger tomorrow, and at the same time, our fiscally disciplined approach— Garnett Genuis: Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order.

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Ryan Turnbull

Liberal
“The member asked a different question today than the one they submitted in writing. Their written question was about jobs, youth, the budget, and taxes.”

  • Reply to a debate question

    Relevance 48 of 100

    None of this reply addressed the specific point raised or the topic under debate.

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Official Hansard

Madam Speaker, the member opposite’s question on the Notice Paper was about apprentices. It was about Canada facing unemployment. It was about youth. It was about the budget and EI premiums. It was about taxes on jobs. It was about a jobs crisis. That is about it.

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Ryan Turnbull

Liberal
“Our government is being responsible with public money. We plan to save 60 billion dollars over five years and balance our day-to-day spending by 2027. We are spending less on outside consultants and shrinking the public service. This lets us invest in the country's long-term future while keeping costs down for Canadians.”

  • Reply to a debate question

    Relevance 39 of 100

    None of this reply addressed the specific point raised or the topic under debate.

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  • A repeated line

    “Beginning with efforts to rein in spending on external management and other consulting services.”

    Said 6 times by 5 members since May 5.

    Every time it was said
Official Hansard

Madam Speaker, that is the question I prepared to answer, not the member opposite’s suggestions. Although I do not discount good-faith suggestions and positive proposals that could be considered by the government at a later date, they are not what I was anticipating answering to tonight. Therefore, I will speak to the fact that our fiscally disciplined approach is helping to lower everyday costs for Canadians. Budget 2025 marked a tactical shift in the government’s management of public finances. That plan is focused on expanding federal capital spending to mobilize investment in the country while maintaining fiscal discipline. Our plan is built on a bedrock of fiscal responsibility not for its own sake, but to create the capacity to invest for the long-term future to ensure our economic strength and greater self-reliance. That is consistent with our approach and the approach in the spring economic update, which was also guided by the government’s two fiscal anchors. These are balancing operating spending with revenues by 2028-29 and maintaining a declining deficit-to-GDP ratio. Our plan is working. As recently announced by the Prime Minister, the government is on track to balance the operating budget in 2027-28, one year ahead of schedule. We are committed to the disciplined implementation of the efficiency measures in budget 2025. This includes a comprehensive expenditure review, which was proposed to save $60 billion over five years. That comprehensive expenditure review is also returning the size of the public service to a more sustainable level through early retirement incentives, workforce adjustments and attrition. With implementation well under way, the focus is now turning toward targeted, ongoing, horizontal reviews, beginning with efforts to rein in spending on external management and other consulting services. These challenging but necessary actions will continue to support our objective of spending less to invest more in Canadians. In budget 2025, we also outlined a capital budgeting framework. This framework has distinguished day-to-day operational spending from long-term investments that strengthen our economy. Importantly, this framework is designed to enhance, not replace, existing financial reporting. It also creates further transparency for all opposition parties and all parties in this House.

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Garnett Genuis

Conservative
“The government is not doing well on the economy. I also want us to work together to make parental leave more flexible. Modern technology makes flexible work possible, and our leave rules should match that.”
Official Hansard

Madam Speaker, I am trying to track down the miscommunication here. It is a good-faith one in any event, and we will have to get to the bottom of it later. I look forward to returning to press the government more on the issue of parental leave, because it seems that an email I received is different. The date of the original question is different from what the Table has. We will track that down. I want to firmly disagree with everything the member just said about falsely claiming that the government is doing well on the economy. I want to encourage the member and other members to consider the important parental leave proposals we have made. I suppose I will have additional opportunities to bring them back to the House and, again, constructively propose that we can work together to make parental leave more flexible for parents to incorporate the modern realities of how flexible work is more possible and available, especially in the technological environment we are now in.

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Ryan Turnbull

Liberal
“Our government is managing the economy well. We have added over 217,000 jobs, grown faster than other G7 countries, and brought in record investment. This is happening because our plan works.”
Official Hansard

Madam Speaker, in fact, our government is doing well when it comes to the economy. The member opposite is obviously fully able to disagree with me, but I will state for the record that our government is getting results for Canadians. There are 217,000-plus net new jobs in the economy and the highest GDP growth in quarter two in the G7. We have also seen an almost two-decade record high in foreign direct investment. The Prime Minister’s investment summit garnered interest from investors around the world and got domestic investors to commit almost $500 billion in new investment in our economy. Those things did not happen by accident. They happened because our government has put in place a plan, a framework and a set of policies that are stimulating our economy, has a capital budgeting framework that is fiscally responsible and is making those generational investments in our economic strength and growth for the prosperity of all Canadians.

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