QUESTION PERIOD — Finance
State of the Economy
February 10, 2026
My question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate.
Government leader, the numbers do not lie. For the past three years, Canada’s economy has barely kept its head above water. According to the International Monetary Fund, Canada’s real GDP growth has stagnated, reaching an anemic 1.2% last year. This is the legacy of the Liberal government over the last decade: stagflation, spiralling debt, declining productivity, a weakening Canadian dollar, investment fleeing our country and investment not coming into our country.
Given these results, do the Carney Liberals still believe in the failed debt-financing strategy of the last 10 years, trying to spend their way to economic growth by indebting the country?
You are right, Senator Housakos. The numbers don’t lie.
The facts are that total employment is up by 134,000 over the last year. The government is committed to strengthening our economy, diversifying it and making sure that Canada gets through this tough time in the best way possible. What the Prime Minister has been doing over the last nine months is bringing the Canadian economy to a high level by diversifying it and by establishing commercial agreements with other countries in order to open new markets to the Canadian economy.
I guess from that non-answer, you agree that you’re going to continue indebting the country in an effort to grow the economy.
If your government will not listen to Conservatives because we are too partisan, perhaps you will listen to Liberals. Former Liberal finance minister John Manley reiterated just last week the same warning he gave Trudeau three years ago. I quote the former Minister of Finance: “We can’t keep borrowing our way to prosperity.”
Why can’t your government learn from these past mistakes and finally pull Canada’s economy out of this downward spiral and come with a fiscal anchor —
Senator Moreau.
As far as fiscal anchors are concerned, let me tell you what the fiscal anchors are. The Canadian government has a mandate to spend less and invest more, capitalize private capital, unleash investment and build the strongest economy among the G7. The government will cut waste and reduce government spending so that it can make the big, generational-investment promise to Canadians.
