QUESTION PERIOD — Finance
State of the Economy
June 9, 2026
Government leader, whatever label you choose to put on your poor economic performance and the fact that your government always blames, of course, the United States for every dead sparrow that falls from the sky, and despite the fact that every day we still trade billions and billions of dollars of products that they buy from us to keep our economy afloat, the truth is that your immigration-broken policies have created a scarcity crisis in this country, and the results speak for themselves.
Canada has experienced years of declining GDP per capita, nearly $1 trillion in lost investment, rising food insecurity and youth unemployment approaching 15%, which is something we have never heard about before in the past in Canada.
We all acknowledge that today in 2026 if young people in this country don’t have parents or grandparents with means, they’re having a hard time finding shelter and getting a start in their lives. Prime Minister Carney recently described the challenges as a bumpy period.
Senator Moreau, do you acknowledge that Canadians, particularly young people, are experiencing a decade-long erosion in their standard of living, and will you disagree with the Prime Minister that this —
Thank you, Senator Housakos.
I generally don’t disagree with the Prime Minister. I agree with him that we have to work very hard to make sure that the economy is growing. That’s what the government is doing by diversifying our economy, by having trade agreements with many other countries, by creating jobs — as a matter of fact, we are creating jobs — by ensuring that children at school have healthy food and by ensuring that affordability is there for the people in need and that the homeless are taken care of.
We are acting on housing. We are acting on affordability as a whole, and that’s why this government was elected. We’re working on it, and we’re delivering for Canadians.
Those are great talking points when a government gets in at the initial stage of its term. It has been over a year. We are now into the thirteenth or fourteenth month, and, actually, the housing starts have declined. Youth unemployment is increasing. Young people are finding it more difficult to feed their children and give them the kind of start that young Canadian people of our generation and the generations before took for granted.
After a decade of poor management, will this government agree that we need to take action today?
The National School Food Program is now permanent and helping 400,000 children. Those are facts, and those are actions that the government is taking to help Canadians in need. That’s what the government will do.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer confirmed that the federal government will have a declining deficit-to-GDP ratio over the medium term. It is not only the government that says that, but those confirmations also come from very credible bodies.
