Government Orders
Business of Supply
“We spent a lot on housing. He should be happy I said 'generational' and 'affordable'. I hope he doesn't notice I didn't give a number.”
MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
Hon. François-Philippe Champagne
Champagne is a cheerleader for the Liberal government, frequently touting Canada's economic growth and the government's spending on programs and investments. He often deflects criticism by accusing the Conservatives of talking down the economy and highlights the government's 'generational investments' in housing, infrastructure, and innovation. He is skilled at filling time with kind words and praise for his colleagues while avoiding committing to specific actions or answering questions directly.
“I want to look good by reminding everyone we are cutting a gas tax. Please vote yes on my bill.”
“We suspended one fuel tax. That makes everything good now.”
“I want the government to spend money on a new program. I think it will make families happy. I want my colleague to vote for the bill that spends the money.”
“I'm going to talk a lot about challenges and crises, but I won't actually answer the question about the Finance Minister's failed promise on food prices.”
“I want to take credit for reducing the deficit by $11 billion. I'm trying to make people feel confident in the government by saying we are being responsible with money.”
“I don't care about the deficit. I want to announce popular spending!”
“My deficit is slightly less huge than first projected - that makes me serious and responsible! Never mind the promises we broke or the giant debt, look how disciplined I am!”
“I'm going to ignore your point and just repeat campaign talking points about our great economy.”
“I want you to be happy that I finally showed up. I just needed time because I promised to fix things for those voters first.”
“Look, I found a quote that agrees with me. So what if our old promises floated away? Someone else says we're more restrained now.”
“I want to correct my colleague. We have two promises: a debt-to-GDP ratio and a balanced operating budget by 2028-29.”
“I'm filling time with pleasant words. Look at these nice things people said about Canada! Maybe that will make everyone forget you asked about the rising debt-to-GDP ratio.”
“I want to spin numbers to make the debt sound smaller. I don't want to directly respond to the interest costs you brought up. Look over here at this historical percentage instead.”
“I want to look good by saying interest costs are not historically high. That percent-to-GDP fact makes me sound smart. Chatting about the 90s distracts from answering whether health transfers will get crowded out.”
“I don't want to answer the health transfer question. Let me change the subject to debt percentages decades ago instead.”
“I want my party to look good. We spent a lot of money. The International Monetary Fund says it's good. We will have the strongest economy. I'm filling time by repeating nice words.”
“I want to look good too, so I'll praise my colleague for speaking two languages. Now, to answer his challenge: my party already temporarily suspended some gas tax and we spent money on other programs. We did our part -- it's not our fault most of the gas price is from global oil markets.”
“I want to look caring and fiscally responsible at the same time. We took two-thirds of the money and spent it on what people want right now.”
“I want to reply by talking about nice things our party did, to make us look caring and the Conservatives look uncaring. I want to list many expensive programs we voted for as if that's proof we are helping. I want people to know I care about what they want. I'm going to talk a lot about how we spent money so that maybe people will think we're doing something good.”