Hon. Michael Chong · TranslatePolitics.ca

Government Orders

Spring Economic Update 2026 Implementation Act

2026-06-18

“People aren't investing money. That's bad. I don't like that. I think its very bad.”

“Investment in our country is falling. Statistics Canada says it fell for the fifth quarter in a row. What does the other member think about that?”

Oral Questions

Canadian Identity and Culture

2026-06-16

“I want Canada's museum to focus on Canada. I think a different country's stories are a foreign agenda. I don't like the Minister allowing this. I want him to delay and investigate.”

Oral Questions

Public Safety

2026-06-12

“The Prime Minister talked tough about China and Iran, but he hasn't backed it up with action. One deportation out of 30 doesn't cut it. I want the government to do more to show they're serious about protecting Canadians from foreign interference.”

“I want the government to say how many Iranian regime operatives it has actually deported.”

“You didn't say what you'll do differently to stop this. Canadians are scared. I want new actions, not just 'we're looking at it'.”

“I want the government to deport more dangerous people. I want to make the government prove it is keeping us safe.”

Oral Questions

International Trade

2026-06-11

“Why do you claim strong measures already prevent imports made by forced labour, but now you're introducing a bill to prohibit importing goods made by forced labour?”

Oral Questions

Public Safety

2026-06-09

“The government keeps letting in dangerous people connected to Iran. They're not deporting them. I want the government to take these threats seriously and protect our Persian community.”

Government Orders

Business of Supply

2026-06-08

“Liberals ignoring our economy will cause a brain drain to the US. High taxes make our top skilled workers leave for the US. Many top earners already left Canada. It's bad that high taxes and low pay push skilled people away.”

Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, one of the dangers of denial is that we are going to see a brain drain from this country to our neighbour to the south. According to the TD Bank study that was released on May 21, Canada's top-skilled workers are leaving for the United States in droves for lower taxes and higher pay. It says, “Canada is not hollowing out; it is spilling out at the top” and “Absent progress on this front, Canada will continue to be a feeder system for the U.S. innovation economy.” Statistics Canada confirms that in 2023 alone, 18,590 Canadian residents immigrated to the U.S. permanently, and a 2024 Bank of Canada study found that 40% of Canadians who would rank in the top 1% of earners have already left Canada for the United States. It also found that up to half of the top 2% to 10% of income earners have also already left.

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“I want to avoid blame for saying 'emergency.' The Bank of Canada and Fraser Institute said it. I want to say Liberal actions didn't help the economy. Canadians struggle with costs.”

“You're looking at the wrong numbers. I'll throw bigger numbers at you to make you look bad. See, my party understands business better than yours.”

“Canada's economy is terrible. The government isn't fixing it. I want huge reforms: taxes, regulation, everything. The government should admit how bad it is and change everything to fix the economy.”

Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, a recession can be defined as two consecutive quarters of flat or negative GDP growth. By that definition, Canada is in a recession. The government has downplayed the seriousness of these two consecutive flat to negative quarters of growth and painted a picture of an economy with underlying strength. However, that fails to take into account the bigger picture. Here is the bigger picture: In three of the last four quarters, aggregate GDP shrank. That comes on the heels of years of shrinking per capita GDP. Per capita GDP is a more important measure than aggregate GDP. Here is why. Decades from now, it would be far better to live in a country of 40 million Canadians making double what they make now than to live in a country with 100 million Canadians making the same as they make now. The first country would have a smaller economy than the latter, but it would be more cohesive, more prosperous and more environmentally sustainable, with higher levels of individual income. Many corporate CEOs would prefer the latter country, because the total accessible market would be larger, but the average Canadian would be poorer for it. Looking at the last three years, the picture of per capita GDP is grim. Canada was effectively in a per capita recession in 2023 and 2024. In 2022, per capita GDP stood at $60,735. In 2023, it shrank by $458. In 2024, it shrank, yet again, by $539. Over a two-year period, per capita GDP dropped by almost $1,000 per person, a drop of about 1.6%. Looking at the last six years, the picture is not much better. Before the pandemic began, per capita GDP stood at $59,681 in 2019. Last year, it stood at $60,073, an increase of only $392 over six years. This is a compound annual growth rate of 0.1% per year, effectively zero. All the while, the cost of living skyrocketed. The picture is just as bad when we look at last year. While per capita GDP edged up slightly in the last quarter, the first quarter of 2026, by 0.2% quarter over quarter, the fact is that per capita GDP shrank in Q2 and Q4 last year. As a result, per capita GDP last quarter was up only 0.2% year over year, effectively zero. In other words, per capita GDP in the first year of the new Liberal government follows the same trajectory as it had under the old Liberal government. Part of the bigger picture is not only declining GDP, but productivity. As a Nobel Prize-winning economist once said, “Productivity isn't everything, but, in the long run, it is almost everything. A country’s ability to improve its standard of living over time depends almost entirely on its ability to raise its output per worker.” The picture of productivity looks grim. When we look at Statistics Canada's annual measures, labour productivity has declined in each and every one of the last four years for which we have full-year data. Productivity dropped from $67.70 an hour worked in 2020 to $63.20 in 2024, a decline of almost 7%. Two years ago, on March 26, 2024, the senior deputy governor of the Bank of Canada, Carolyn Rogers, called Canada's lagging productivity an “emergency”. Since then, productivity appears to have flatlined, if not declined. The emergency appears to have become even more dire. When we look at Statistics Canada's quarterly measures, business sector labour productivity declined over the last year. In the first quarter of 2025, it measured on an index of 100 at 104.7. Last quarter, it stood at 104.074, a decline of 0.5% in just one year. Under the new Liberal government, the productivity emergency has gotten worse than it was under the old Liberal government. At this point, I will remind the House that I will be splitting my time. When the Bank of Canada rang the alarm bells on productivity, it cited low levels of business investment as one of the root causes. Business investment has plummeted over the past decade. According to a recent analysis by Steven Globerman of the Fraser Institute, business investment in plants, capital, equipment and IP, expressed as a percentage of GDP, dropped from 13.8% in 2014 to 11.1% last year, and under the new Liberal government, the decline has continued. According to Statistics Canada's release of May 29, “Business capital investment fell 0.7% in the first quarter of 2026, the fifth consecutive quarterly decline.” Steven Globerman has called this a “business investment emergency”. We have not only a productivity emergency but a business investment emergency. The word “emergency” is not my word. This is the word of the Bank of Canada and a reputable research organization. The fundamentals have not gotten better in the past 12 months under the new Liberal government: not on per capita GDP, not on productivity growth and not on business capital investment. In fact, in many cases, it has gotten worse. The data I cite in this speech is taken from Statistics Canada, including tables 36-10-0706-01, 36-10-0480-01 and 36-10-0206-01, unless I have specified otherwise. In my assessment, nothing the new Liberal government has done with the new Prime Minister in the past year fundamentally changes the trajectory of the economy, and the early data that has come in over the past four quarters confirms that assessment. Canada's per capita GDP continues to flatline, if not decline. Canada's productivity continues to flatline, if not decline. Canada's business capital investment continues to flatline, if not outright decline. That is because the government has failed to introduce the fundamental reforms necessary to turn the economy around. It has failed to introduce wholesale tax reform to our personal and corporate income tax systems. We need tax reform of the scale and ambition that we saw in 1971 or in the 1980s under the government of Brian Mulroney. It has failed to introduce fiscal reform of the scale and ambition of former prime minister Chrétien and finance minister Martin, who, in 1995, introduced a revolutionary budget that refocused the federal government and balanced the budget in 36 months. It has failed to introduce desperately needed competition reform to address the oligopolies and the uncompetitiveness of our economy, which are making our goods unattractive for export to global markets. Export expressed as a percentage of our GDP has plummeted, from about 43% of GDP in the year 2000 to about 33% today. The government has also failed to introduce the regulatory reform needed. We need to reduce the regulation that is strangling business investment and growth. The government implicitly acknowledged that its regulatory approach is not working. Not only has the government not used the national interest designation under Bill C-5, but it is engaged in yet more consultations to introduce yet more legislation to change its regulatory approach. Until early April, the government could argue that it did not have the power to enact these fundamental reforms because it did not have a majority. That excuse no longer holds. The early data coming in over the past 12 months is that the new Liberal government is on the same course as the old Liberal government on per capita GDP, productivity and business capital investment. The government has a choice: to acknowledge how bad things are, reverse course and introduce fundamental reforms in taxation, competition, and regulatory and fiscal policies, or to continue to preside over Canada's continued economic decline. If the government does not acknowledge the very real and serious fundamental challenges our economy is facing, it will not fix the problem.

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Private Members' Business

Canada Revenue Agency Act

2026-05-28

“I like this bill. I want the CRA to put out a list of tax cheats. The CRA should figure out how much tax they're missing out on. They should give the Parliamentary Budget Officer the data to figure it out too. This helps keep taxes low for everyone.”

Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak to Bill S-217, which was introduced by my friend and colleague in the other place Senator Percy Downe. I thank him for his perseverance in pushing this issue forward. I believe this is the third time the bill was introduced and adopted in the other place and the third time the bill has been sent to the House for consideration. I know Senator Downe has put a lot of work into this. To be clear, we support this bill. It would, broadly, do three things. First, it would have the CRA publish a list of people who are criminally convicted for tax evasion, which I think is an important part of public disclosure and transparency. Second, it would require the CRA to estimate the tax gap between taxes owed and taxes collected. Third, it would require the CRA to provide data to the Parliamentary Budget Officer so that the Parliamentary Budget Officer can independently assess the tax gap between taxes owed and taxes collected. Those are, I think, three very good goals of the bill. I would encourage my colleagues to support this legislation. It is important to maintain the integrity of our income tax system. This will give the institutions of state the tools they need to do that so that we can ensure lower taxes for everyone, because when we close the tax gap and reduce tax evasion, taxes can go down. I look forward to the further debate and vote on this bill.

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Oral Questions

Public Safety

2026-05-28

“The government says China is a threat but won't release the secret MOU. I think Canadians deserve to see it. I want the minister to bring up China's repression and interference when she meets their foreign minister.”

“Beijing abused the last MOU to coerce Canadians. Now the government says Beijing is our greatest security threat, but they won't release the new MOU they signed. I want the government to release the MOU so Canadians know they won't be coerced to return to the PRC.”

Statements by Members

Auto Industry

2026-04-24

“I want your government to negotiate away a tax that hurts my riding's industry. Talk now, or people could lose jobs!”

Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I am raising the alarm bells about Ontario's auto sector. The sector depends on access to the U.S. market. The sector has paid $5 billion in tariffs over the last year. Passenger, car and light truck exports to the United States are plummeting. The Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association has said, “You cannot have a commercially viable automotive plant in Canada facing tariffs of that size.” Toyota has said that tariffs have made manufacturing in Ontario “unsustainable”. However, the government has given no date for formal negotiations on section 232 tariffs, unlike Mexico, and no explanation for the decision to go slow on the tariff negotiations. The auto sector and its workers are worried about the status quo. They need to know when tariff relief is in sight. Bleeding $5 billion a year is unsustainable. Something is going to break. The auto sector is running out of time while the government goes slow on its approach to the tariff negotiations.

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