THE STANDING SENATE COMMITTEE ON BANKING, COMMERCE AND THE ECONOMY
EVIDENCE
OTTAWA, Wednesday, June 17, 2026
The Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Commerce and the Economy met with videoconference this day at 4:15 p.m. [ET] to study Bill C-20, An Act respecting the establishment of Build Canada Homes; and, in camera, to examine and report on access to credit and capital markets for small- and medium-sized businesses as a basis for growth and improved productivity in the Canadian economy.
Senator Clément Gignac (Chair) in the chair.
[Translation]
The Chair: Good afternoon, honourable senators. My name is Clément Gignac. I am a senator from Quebec and chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Commerce and the Economy.
I would like to welcome everyone with us today, as well as those listening to us online at sencanada.ca.
Before proceeding any further, I would kindly ask my fellow committee members to introduce themselves.
[English]
Senator Varone: Senator Toni Varone, Ontario.
Senator McNair: Senator John McNair, filling in for Senator McBean.
Senator Fridhandler: Senator Daryl Fridhandler, Alberta.
Senator Loffreda: Senator Tony Loffreda, Montreal, Quebec.
Senator Henkel: Senator Henkel from Quebec.
Senator Yussuff: Hassan Yussuff, Ontario.
[Translation]
Senator Ringuette: Pierrette Ringuette from New Brunswick.
[English]
Senator LaBoucane-Benson: Patti LaBoucane-Benson, Treaty 6 territory, Alberta.
Senator C. Deacon: Colin Deacon, Nova Scotia.
Senator Wallin: Pamela Wallin, Saskatchewan.
Senator Martin: Yonah Martin, British Columbia.
The Chair: Before we begin our session of clause-by-clause consideration of Bill C-20, An Act respecting the establishment of Build Canada Homes, I would like to provide some context for the thousands of Canadians who watch us via sencanada.ca. Millions of Canadians, maybe, watch us, live or recorded, to follow our work.
Yesterday, the Senate received Bill C-20 from the House of Commons and referred it to this committee. Today, we are conducting a clause-by-clause review, meaning that Banking Committee senators already studied this bill a few weeks ago. Although this stage may appear to move very quickly to people, since it was referred here yesterday and we will analyze it clause by clause today, it was based on several weeks of work.
On May 27, the committee met for three hours and heard from seven witnesses. On May 28, the committee met for another two hours and heard from eight additional witnesses. In total, senators spent seven hours hearing from 15 witnesses on Bill C-20 and the broader housing availability challenge. Senators then continued their work outside the committee sitting, including over the weekend, by reviewing evidence and submitting some recommendations.
On June 3, the committee met again for two hours to debate and finalize recommendations. The committee’s pre-study observations on Bill C-20 were tabled on June 4. Today, we will be doing a clause-by-clause review, which is the result of several weeks of work, just to be sure that people understand why we are moving to clause by clause today when we received Bill C-20 yesterday. It was a pre-study.
Colleagues, we are ready to start the clause-by-clause analysis on Bill C-20. Before we begin, I would like to remind senators of a number of points.
[Translation]
If at any point a senator is not clear where we are in the process, please ask for clarification. I want to ensure that at all times we all have the same understanding of where we are in the process.
In terms of the mechanics of the process, when more than one amendment is proposed to be moved in a clause, amendments should be proposed in the order of the lines of a clause.
If a senator is opposed to an entire clause, the proper process is not to move a motion to delete the entire clause but, rather, to vote against the clause as standing as part of the bill.
Some amendments that are moved may have consequential effect other parts of the bill. It is therefore useful to this process if a senator moving an amendment identified to the committee other clauses in this bill where this amendment could have an effect. Otherwise, it would be very difficult for members of the committee to remain consistent in their decision-making.
Because no notice is required to move amendments, there can, of course, have been no preliminary analysis of the amendments to establish which ones may be of consequence to others and which may be contradictory.
If committee members ever have any questions about the process or about the propriety of anything occurring, they can certainly raise a point of order. As chair, I will listen to arguments, decide when there has been sufficient discussion of a matter or order and make a ruling.
The committee is the ultimate master of its business within the bounds established by the Senate, and a ruling can be appealed to the full committee by asking whether the ruling shall be sustained.
I wish to remind honourable senators that if there is ever any uncertainty as to the results of a voice vote or a show of hands, the most effective route is to request a roll call vote which, obviously, provides unambiguous results. Finally, senators should be aware that any tied vote negates the motion in question.
[English]
Do you have any questions, or can we proceed? You agree that we can proceed?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
[Translation]
The Chair: Is it agreed that the committee proceed to clause-by-clause consideration of Bill C-20, An Act respecting the establishment of Build Canada Homes?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Shall the title stand postponed?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
[English]
The Chair: Is it agreed, with leave, that the clauses be grouped according to the 14 parts of the bill, as described in the “Table of Provisions” of Bill C-20?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Shall Part 1 related to the “Short Title,” which contains clause 1, carry?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
[Translation]
The Chair: Shall Part 2, “Definitions,” which contains clause 2, carry?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Shall Part 3, related to the “Designation of Minister,” which contains clause 3, carry?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
[English]
The Chair: Shall Part 4, related to “Purpose,” which contains clause 4, carry?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Shall Part 5, related to the “Establishment of Build Canada Homes,” which contains clauses 5 and 6, carry?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
[Translation]
The Chair: Shall Part 6, related to the “Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer,” which contains clauses 7 to 19, carry?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Shall Part 7, related to “Powers,” which contains clauses 20 to 26, carry?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Shall Part 8, related to “Financial Provisions,” which contains clauses 27 to 30, carry?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
[English]
The Chair: Shall Part 9, related to “Miscellaneous,” which contains clauses 31 to 34 carry?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Shall Part 10, related to “Transfers and Reorganization,” which contains clauses 35 to 43, carry?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Shall Part 11, related to “Transitional Provisions,” which contains clauses 44 to 48, carry?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
[Translation]
The Chair: Shall Part 12, related to “Consequential Amendment to the Financial Administration Act,” which contains clause 49, carry?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Shall Part 13, related to “Coordinating Amendments,” which contains clause 50, carry?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Shall Part 14, related to “Coming into Force,” which contains clause 51, carry?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
[English]
The Chair: Shall the title carry?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Shall the bill carry?
Some Hon. Senators: Agreed.
Some Hon. Senators: On division.
The Chair: On division.
Does the committee wish to consider appending observations to the report? It could be a copy and paste of what we did in the pre-study.
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: It was the observations that were made in the pre‑study, so it will be copied and pasted after the discussion that we had.
Is it agreed that I report this bill with observations to the Senate in both official languages?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Colleagues, I think that is done.
Now, we will move to the in camera portion, as we have some housekeeping to talk about.
(The committee continued in camera.)