Sitting 11 — June 9, 2025

The sitting was dominated by a Conservative opposition motion demanding the government table a spring budget to reverse what the Conservatives called Liberal inflationary policies driving up food prices. The central political argument was whether the government’s refusal to produce a budget until the fall was fiscally irresponsible or a prudent delay given trade uncertainty with the United States. The government also introduced its main estimates and supplementary estimates (A) for 2025-26, which were debated in committee of the whole.

The main item of Government Orders business was the opposition motion on food inflation and budgetary policy, moved by Jasraj Hallan (CPC). The motion called on the government to present a fiscally responsible budget before the summer adjournment, arguing that food inflation had forced the average family to spend $16,834 on groceries this year, an increase of $800. Conservatives argued that Liberal deficit spending and the industrial carbon tax were driving up costs for farmers and consumers, and that the government was hiding the state of its finances by not tabling a budget. The Liberals countered that they were taking immediate action through a middle-class tax cut for 22 million Canadians, removal of the GST on new homes for first-time buyers, and elimination of the consumer carbon price, and that a fall budget would be more accurate given ongoing U.S. tariff negotiations and the need to incorporate new defence spending commitments. The Bloc Québécois supported the call for a spring budget, arguing the government could not justify new spending without a fiscal plan, while the NDP pressed for an excess profit tax on grocery chains. The motion was not voted on during the sitting; a recorded division was requested and deferred.

Later in the day, the House resolved into committee of the whole to consider the main estimates and supplementary estimates (A), 2025-26. The Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Julie Dabrusin (Lib.), faced repeated questions from Conservatives about whether the government would build new oil pipelines, whether provinces or First Nations held a veto, and whether the government would abandon the single-use plastics ban and the oil and gas emissions cap. She consistently replied that her role was to ensure environmental considerations were taken into account, not to choose specific projects, and that the government was committed to net-zero emissions by 2050. The Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Lena Metlege Diab (Lib.), outlined investments in platform modernization, biometric collection, and the interim housing assistance program for asylum seekers, noting that overall funding decreases reflected a planned reduction in immigration levels.

Oral Questions focused overwhelmingly on the absence of a spring budget and rising food and housing costs. Conservatives repeatedly asked why the government would not table a budget, citing Statistics Canada data showing food prices rising faster than overall inflation and record food bank usage. The government’s answers, delivered by the Minister of Finance and National Revenue, François-Philippe Champagne (Lib.), and other ministers, emphasized that a tax cut for 22 million Canadians would take effect July 1, that the consumer carbon price had been eliminated, and that the government was taking action on affordability through child care, dental care, and the school food program. A secondary theme was the government’s announcement that day of a $9.3-billion defence investment to meet NATO’s 2% target, which Conservatives dismissed as insufficient after a decade of Liberal underfunding.