Sitting 50 — November 4, 2025

Budget Day began with the House completing debate on Bill C-3, the Citizenship Act amendments responding to the Ontario Superior Court ruling on the second-generation citizenship cut-off. The bill, which needed to pass before a court-imposed deadline, generated significant debate over the balance between accommodating Canadians born abroad and maintaining meaningful connection requirements. Conservatives and the Bloc Québécois criticized the government for not adopting committee amendments that would have strengthened the substantial connection test, while Liberals argued the bill was a necessary and proportionate response to the court's constitutional concerns.

At 4 p.m., the Minister of Finance and National Revenue rose to deliver the government's first budget speech, tabling Budget 2025: Canada Strong. The budget featured a $78.3-billion deficit and was framed as a generational investment plan built on three pillars: build, protect, and empower. Key measures included a middle-class tax cut, $13 billion for factory-built housing, $81 billion in defence spending over five years, a permanent national school food program, $5 billion in health infrastructure, a $51-billion Build Communities Strong fund, and trade diversification initiatives aimed at doubling non-U.S. exports over the next decade. The minister described the budget as the most ambitious in a generation, designed to transform Canada from an era of reliance to resilience.

Question Period, held before the budget was tabled, was dominated by opposition anticipation of the fiscal document, with Conservatives pressing ministers on expected deficit levels, the industrial carbon tax, and hidden food taxes. Government ministers previewed the budget's themes of affordability and generational investment while dismissing Conservative claims about food packaging taxes as imaginary. The immediate post-budget responses from opposition leaders foreshadowed the intense debate that would follow in the days ahead, with the Conservative finance critic calling the deficit a sacrifice of young Canadians' futures and the Bloc Québécois questioning whether infrastructure spending figures matched the government's rhetoric.