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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 201

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 29, 2023 11:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 201 - May/29/23
Hon. Chrystia Freeland
  • May/29/23 7:57:51 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, we need to be very careful in our budgets about a couple of things. We had an eye on a few things. One was being sure we found a balance between fiscal responsibility, between our deficit and debt—
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Context: House Hansard - 201 - May/29/23
Hon. Chrystia Freeland
  • May/29/23 8:31:02 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, it is incontrovertible that Canada has a strong and responsible fiscal policy. That has been reiterated by S&P. We have the lowest deficit and the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7 and an AAA credit rating. Those are objective markers and not, frankly, partisan talking points from the Conservative—
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Context: House Hansard - 201 - May/29/23
Mr. Philip Lawrence (Northumberland—Peterborough South, CPC)
  • May/29/23 8:32:37 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I want to start out with some serious discussion. I believe we had a serious discussion at the finance committee. We are in perilous economic times. We are facing high inflation, high interest rates, increasing unemployment, record-high housing prices, low growth and record food bank usage. I would just like to start to get some basic answers, some straightforward answers to some straightforward questions. What will be the deficit in 2023?
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Context: House Hansard - 201 - May/29/23
Hon. Chrystia Freeland
  • May/29/23 8:33:05 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, is that in 2022 or 2023? We published a “Fiscal Monitor” last week, and it showed that our deficit for 2022-23 is likely to be lower than forecast. We forecast around $43 billion. We are now seeing it coming in at $40 billion or lower.
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Context: House Hansard - 201 - May/29/23
Hon. Chrystia Freeland
  • May/29/23 8:35:59 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, our current Parliamentary Budget Officer also, in testimony before the finance committee, described the conversation he had with Moody's, a credit rating agency. The current PBO said that Canada's deficit should make us, and I am quoting him, “quite happy because by European standards that's very low.”
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Context: House Hansard - 201 - May/29/23
Hon. Chrystia Freeland
  • May/29/23 8:37:25 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, that is simply not true. Canada's deficit is forecast, this year, to be 1.4%. That is low not only by world standards; it is low also by Canadian historical standards. Our debt service charges, even in this time of high interest rates, are lower than they were for most of the Harper era.
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Context: House Hansard - 201 - May/29/23
Mrs. Dominique Vien (Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, CPC)
  • May/29/23 8:37:56 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, this budget has disappointed us and has disappointed a lot of people. Everyone knows that the debt has exploded under the Liberals. The budget has not been balanced in the last eight years. This is despite the fact that the minister made a nice promise in November that filled us with hope, announcing a return to balanced budgets in 2027-28. What we have seen in the budget documents is that, instead, there will be a deficit of around $14 billion in 2027-28, so there is no return to balanced budgets in sight. My question is this. Who asked the minister to go back on her promise to return to a balanced budget?
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Context: House Hansard - 201 - May/29/23
Hon. Chrystia Freeland
  • May/29/23 8:41:21 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, once again, it is important to tell Canadians the truth. The truth is that Canada has the smallest deficit of all G7 countries.
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Context: House Hansard - 201 - May/29/23
Hon. Chrystia Freeland
  • May/29/23 9:37:24 p.m.
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Madam Chair, again, here is what David Dodge had to say, and I think it will be illuminating for people in the House: “because it was obsessively focused on reducing the federal deficit...the Harper government”—
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