00:01:18.980Mr. Chair, Mr. Chair, I can provide a high-level response, but I'm afraid I won't be able to answer directly the Honorable Member's question because we're here to discuss.
00:01:36.480And what I can say with regards to the cost of the measures in terms of Part 1, the three first programs that I mentioned, the Tourism and Hospitality Recovery Program, Heart Hit Businesses Recovery Program, and the Local Lockdown Program have a cost of $3.2 billion.
00:02:00.140And where's – sorry, Mr. Baylor, where's the money coming from?
00:02:05.820Well, Mr. Chair, that is within the government's broader macroeconomic framework, and I'm not – I can't speak to that.
00:02:15.880So you don't have anyone – it's just that we're being asked to vote in favour of another $7 billion of spending.
00:02:24.220The obvious question is, where is it coming from?
00:02:29.620Mr. Chair, as I indicated, I can discuss the contents of the bill, and I appreciate the question, but I can't answer that question.
00:02:37.820Mr. Well, if somebody's paying for it, who is it?
00:03:16.300There's a lot of – a lot of people are willing to talk about how they're spending the money, but no one wants to talk about where it comes from.
00:03:56.780I'm just worried that the answer is not one my constituents are going to want to hear.
00:04:03.220Because right now, I have 30-year-olds living in their parents' basement because housing inflation has priced them out of the market.
00:04:09.700I have single moms in my neighborhoods that can't afford a healthy basket of groceries to feed their kids.
00:04:17.420I have seniors whose savings are being vaporized by inflation.
00:04:23.360And now we have the prospect that deficits are going to drive up interest rates.
00:04:30.680So, you can forgive me if my focus today is not on all the wonderful things the government is spending money on, but instead on where the money comes from.
00:04:40.840So far, all the money seems to be coming out of the pocket of working-class folks who are paying record inflation.
00:04:50.280Point of order, Mr. Chair, I believe we have officials here who are speaking specifically to C2.
00:04:56.340I believe that the question that the member from the opposite side of the bench is asking questions that I think is more appropriately directed at our Deputy Prime Minister or our Minister of Finance.
00:05:07.120And I think he'll have that opportunity to ask her that question when she comes before us this Thursday.
00:05:15.360You know, the officials that are before us are here to speak to C2 and any of the technical matters within C2, any of the questions that should be posed to the Ministry of Finance or the ESDC.
00:05:29.440And, yes, there shouldn't be political questions to non-political witnesses.
00:05:34.040And one more point of order. I'm so sorry. One more point of order.
00:05:38.300I believe that the phone line is down. Can someone from the technical end of our team sort of look into that, please? Thank you.
00:06:03.920That's the technical question I'm asking. I appreciate the Liberals across the way don't want it answered.
00:06:08.440As much as I love to hear the opposition member talk about this, I do think that we have wonderful officials here who are here to answer very specific questions around C2.
00:06:18.920Again, it seems like these questions are excellent questions.
00:06:23.440I think they could be directed to either our Deputy Prime Minister of Finance and or our Minister of Finance, who is scheduled to come before us this Thursday.
00:06:32.780Yeah, these excellent public servants are here not to answer political questions.
00:06:38.800I do agree with that, Mr. Poliev. I just want to let you know you've got a minute left of time.
00:06:43.820Well, I haven't asked a political question. I've asked strictly a technical question.