Juno News - December 09, 2021


Trudeau’s finance minister unable to answer questions about economy


Episode Stats

Length

8 minutes

Words per Minute

156.46124

Word Count

1,327

Sentence Count

105

Hate Speech Sentences

1


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Mr. Poliev, for five minutes.
00:00:03.960 Thank you, Minister.
00:00:07.740 Will Canada face a housing crash?
00:00:13.440 I don't think that it is wise for anyone with economic responsibility
00:00:20.660 to make predictions about what's going to happen.
00:00:24.060 But what I do want to say is what is very imprudent
00:00:30.180 and actually very irresponsible is to speculate.
00:00:34.840 Point of order?
00:00:35.540 Yes?
00:00:36.060 Sorry, I just want to clarify.
00:00:37.940 Is there not a conventional agreement that the length of the answer
00:00:42.280 will be equivalent to the length of the question?
00:00:45.500 Well, we have to allow the Minister the opportunity to answer the question.
00:00:49.080 The Minister was answering the question.
00:00:50.980 Yeah.
00:00:51.120 So, I would like clarity.
00:00:54.660 Yeah, I'd like some clarity on that just so that we're all aware
00:00:57.760 of what the conventional agreement of order.
00:01:00.480 Point of order on the point of order?
00:01:02.120 There is usually not a conventional agreement.
00:01:05.380 In my years, I've been here 13 years.
00:01:08.360 There actually is a conventional understanding.
00:01:11.340 The Minister has all the right to answer the question.
00:01:15.220 Point of order?
00:01:16.560 Just to be clear on that point, there is a convention.
00:01:19.560 I can quote the great Liberal Chair, Wayne Easter, on that point, who said,
00:01:24.400 I call it, each member's allocated so much time, we will stick to six minutes for a first round
00:01:31.460 and five for a second round for questions and answers.
00:01:34.040 As for the process, if there is an eight-second question, we expect the answer to be eight seconds.
00:01:39.480 So, that is a convention.
00:01:41.520 It is practice in all committees, including Committee of the Whole yesterday.
00:01:44.940 So, witnesses are entitled to make opening speeches.
00:01:48.980 And then we move to questions.
00:01:50.620 Mr. Chair, can we ask the Clerk whether there's a convention here?
00:01:54.960 Whether you can weigh in?
00:01:55.740 Clerk?
00:01:56.020 It is to the Chair's discretion.
00:02:08.320 And so, I would say that the Minister, you have the right to answer the question.
00:02:12.940 And I do not believe a question could be asked in two seconds or three seconds,
00:02:17.660 and that will not give sufficient time to answer the question.
00:02:20.440 So, allow the Minister to answer the question.
00:02:24.960 So, is the Minister's answer that – the Minister, I guess, has given her answer.
00:02:30.580 I actually wasn't finished.
00:02:31.840 I was cut off, in fact.
00:02:33.540 All right.
00:02:33.820 So, I guess the question was whether she thinks there will be a housing crash.
00:02:39.320 Yes.
00:02:39.820 And so, let me just say.
00:02:41.760 Yes.
00:02:42.200 I think that it is really incumbent on everyone in this committee.
00:02:48.040 We're all members of Parliament.
00:02:49.760 We have a higher responsibility, which is members of the Finance Committee.
00:02:53.860 And to speculate irresponsibly and to make assertions that could damage confidence in the Canadian economy,
00:03:03.280 is highly irresponsible.
00:03:06.240 So, let me just assure Canadians that our housing market – that our banks are very, very stable.
00:03:14.620 Our government took measures last summer to further stabilize the housing market
00:03:20.740 and to ensure that Canadians were not taking undue risk.
00:03:25.660 OSFI did the same thing.
00:03:27.820 Is our housing market stable today?
00:03:29.820 As I said, I have great confidence in Canada's regulators.
00:03:38.220 I have great confidence in OSFI.
00:03:40.320 Is it stable?
00:03:40.880 I have great confidence in the prudent measures that the government and OSFI put in place last summer
00:03:48.460 to ensure Canadians did not take on undue risk.
00:03:52.560 Is it stable?
00:03:53.440 And I just want to reiterate that for anyone, particularly someone from a party that aspires one day to form government –
00:04:05.440 Is the housing market stable?
00:04:06.740 – to make such irresponsible assertions –
00:04:10.240 Point of order, Mr. Chair.
00:04:10.820 Point of order.
00:04:11.440 Point of order.
00:04:11.940 We don't –
00:04:12.260 Point of order.
00:04:13.040 Ms. Zerowitz.
00:04:13.720 Yes.
00:04:13.980 Can we please allow the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance to respond
00:04:18.020 without repeating the question over and over again?
00:04:20.960 Point of order.
00:04:21.820 Point of order, Ms. Bergen?
00:04:22.820 Chair, you've ruled that you want to give the Minister the ability to respond to answer the question.
00:04:27.500 I think the Minister is now wading into telling opposition members how to do their job.
00:04:32.340 So respectfully, I've chaired a committee before.
00:04:35.140 That's not a point of order.
00:04:36.260 It's absolutely a point of order.
00:04:37.860 Ms. Bergen, what I'll say is it is very difficult with crosstalk for the interpreters.
00:04:41.820 It is difficult.
00:04:42.340 For one, for the interpreters.
00:04:43.920 Then, you know, do your job and allocate the time accordingly and let us get on with the questioning.
00:04:49.720 And that is what is being done, Mr. Poliev.
00:04:52.100 So allow the Minister to answer and then ask your next question and allow the Minister to answer.
00:04:59.080 And then we will continue in that format.
00:05:01.280 So we're not going to get an answer on whether the Minister thinks the housing market is stable.
00:05:05.220 My next question is, what is the total amount of public and private debt in Canada today?
00:05:10.280 We are going to give a full report on Canada's public finances on Tuesday.
00:05:20.000 But I am happy to say that the net worth of Canadian households is up 22% from the beginning of the crisis.
00:05:27.120 And that in Q3, the household savings rate was 4%.
00:05:30.740 The question is the total debt of Canadians today.
00:05:31.740 Sorry, it was 11% compared to 3.4% in…
00:05:36.960 Sorry, Minister, just for the interpreters, it is very difficult, the crosstalk that happens when you interject and not allow just the finishing, at least, of a sentence.
00:05:47.940 So allow the Minister just to conclude her remarks.
00:05:51.580 The question was, what is the total debt level, public and private, in Canada today?
00:05:56.940 Just looking for that particular number.
00:05:58.860 And I am happy to say that on Tuesday, just a few days from now, we're going to give a full public accounting.
00:06:08.180 But I am pleased also to remind the member that the savings rate of Canadians was 11% in the third quarter, up from 3.4% between 2010 and 2019.
00:06:20.580 Question for Mr. Leswick.
00:06:22.180 Does he know the total debt, public and private, that exists in Canada today?
00:06:26.040 I believe that the rule is that the questions go to me here.
00:06:32.020 Is he a witness?
00:06:33.200 He is a witness.
00:06:34.220 I thought he might have the number.
00:06:39.160 Witnesses do have…
00:06:39.640 Questions can be posed to him.
00:06:40.940 Okay, Nick, go ahead if you wish.
00:06:44.080 I apologize to the member.
00:06:45.340 I don't have that number at my fingertips.
00:06:47.380 That's a pretty important number.
00:06:49.380 I'm amazed that a Minister of Finance and a senior finance official would not know how much debt there is in Canada today.
00:06:54.760 What would be the total cost for if there were a 1% average increase of interest rates on Canada's national debt per year?
00:07:05.160 Just the number.
00:07:06.780 And here, just let me say, when we publish the economic and fiscal update on Tuesday,
00:07:15.140 we will include, as we did in the budget, as we always do, downside and upside risk scenarios.
00:07:22.880 And those will include a careful accounting of the impact of higher than expected interest rates.
00:07:29.600 The question was really how much it would cost if interest rates went up even 1% on Canada's national debt.
00:07:35.000 The Minister, this is sort of a number we would expect the government to know on any given day, not to have to wait for a report.
00:07:42.040 So what would it cost for a 1% increase in interest rates on Canada's national debt?
00:07:46.740 Just the number, please.
00:07:48.020 The information that is published in the economic and fiscal update, which will be on Tuesday, is market sensitive.
00:07:56.260 We publish it all at the same time, and I have not come to this committee for an early reveal of the economic and fiscal update.
00:08:06.120 But all the numbers are there, and I do want to say, because it is important to say to Canadians that the Minister is to be allowed to answer the questions.
00:08:18.940 And once again, Mr. Poliev was not allowing the Minister to answer the question.
00:08:22.440 Just a quorum, Mr. Poliev, and your time is actually up, so we are going to be moving now to the Liberals.