Michael Chong

Mr. Speaker, it is clear that all sectors of the Canadian economy need significant investment, including aviation, forestry, aluminum and other sectors. However, investment has declined over the past year. On May 29, Statistics Canada reported the following: “Business capital investment fell 0.7% in the first quarter of 2026, the fifth consecutive quarterly decline.” Could my colleague comment on that?

Mr. Speaker, reports indicate that the Palestinian representative in Canada met with the Canadian Museum for Human Rights during the development of its upcoming Nakba exhibit. This should be a Canadian museum for Canadian human rights stories, not foreign agendas. The museum is a Crown corporation reporting to the heritage minister. Is the minister aware of these meetings? Does he consider these meetings appropriate, and will he delay the exhibit's opening, pending a full investigation?

Mr. Speaker, Canada mourns the loss of Constable Marc Pinizzotto. The Globe has reported that a search warrant executed yesterday related to the shootings at a synagogue and the U.S. consulate. U.S. prosecutors linked these shootings to an IRGC‑backed terrorist network that is behind 18 attacks in the U.S., Canada and Europe. A year ago, the government identified nearly 30 Iranian regime operatives who should be deported. Since then, only one has been deported. What action is the minister taking to protect Canadians from IRGC operatives on Canadian soil?

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the fact that the government is carrying out a great deal of analysis. The death of Constable Marc Pinizzotto is not an isolated incident. Canadians are afraid. People are shooting bullets at synagogues, community centres, businesses and, now, the U.S. consulate in Toronto. Public safety is a national security matter. Canadians deserve answers. What new action is the government taking to protect Canadians and foreign diplomats from IRGC operatives operating here in Canada?

Mr. Speaker, U.S. prosecutors have linked the U.S. consulate and synagogue shootings to an IRGC terrorist network. In 2023, Global News reported that upward of 700 regime‑linked associates could be operating in Canada. A year ago, the government said that nearly 30 Iranian regime operatives who were here in Canada should be deported. Since then, reports have indicated that only one has been deported. Can the government confirm if more than one individual has been deported in the last year?

Mr. Speaker, a year ago, the Prime Minister said that the PRC's foreign interference was the greatest threat to the security of Canada. The government now has a strategic partnership with the PRC. A year ago, the government said that nearly 30 operatives linked to the Iranian regime were here in Canada and should be deported. A year later, only one has been deported. How can Canadians believe that the government is treating foreign interference seriously and taking actions to protect them here on Canadian soil?

Mr. Speaker, perhaps somebody on that side over there can answer this question. For weeks, the Prime Minister and government ministers have insisted that strong measures are already in place to combat the importation of products using forced labour into Canada. If that is the case, why did the government give the House notice that it is going to introduce a bill entitled “An Act respecting the prohibition of the importation of goods produced by forced labour”?

Mr. Speaker, the government granted a visa to a former IRGC commander who arrived at Toronto Pearson airport on April 28 to attend the FIFA World Cup. The government also failed to deport an Iranian regime supporter who has been convicted of sanctions violations and has been here so long that he is suing the government. The government has said for a year that dozens of senior Iranian officials are here, but exactly one has been deported, as was previously mentioned. When will the government treat foreign interference threats seriously and protect our Persian community?

Mr. Speaker, a recession can be defined as two consecutive quarters of flat or negative GDP growth. By that definition, Canada is in a recession. The government has downplayed the seriousness of these two consecutive flat to negative quarters of growth and painted a picture of an economy with underlying strength. However, that fails to take into account the bigger picture. Here is the bigger picture: In three of the last four quarters, aggregate GDP shrank. That comes on the heels of years of shrinking per capita GDP. Per capita GDP is a more important measure than aggregate GDP. Here is why. Decades from now, it would be far better to live in a country of 40 million Canadians making double what they make now than to live in a country with 100 million Canadians making the same as they make now. The first country would have a smaller economy than the latter, but it would be more cohesive, more prosperous and more environmentally sustainable, with higher levels of individual income. Many corporate CEOs would prefer the latter country, because the total accessible market would be larger, but the average Canadian would be poorer for it. Looking at the last three years, the picture of per capita GDP is grim. Canada was effectively in a per capita recession in 2023 and 2024. In 2022, per capita GDP stood at $60,735. In 2023, it shrank by $458. In 2024, it shrank, yet again, by $539. Over a two-year period, per capita GDP dropped by almost $1,000 per person, a drop of about 1.6%. Looking at the last six years, the picture is not much better. Before the pandemic began, per capita GDP stood at $59,681 in 2019. Last year, it stood at $60,073, an increase of only $392 over six years. This is a compound annual growth rate of 0.1% per year, effectively zero. All the while, the cost of living skyrocketed. The picture is just as bad when we look at last year. While per capita GDP edged up slightly in the last quarter, the first quarter of 2026, by 0.2% quarter over quarter, the fact is that per capita GDP shrank in Q2 and Q4 last year. As a result, per capita GDP last quarter was up only 0.2% year over year, effectively zero. In other words, per capita GDP in the first year of the new Liberal government follows the same trajectory as it had under the old Liberal government. Part of the bigger picture is not only declining GDP, but productivity. As a Nobel Prize-winning economist once said, “Productivity isn't everything, but, in the long run, it is almost everything. A country’s ability to improve its standard of living over time depends almost entirely on its ability to raise its output per worker.” The picture of productivity looks grim. When we look at Statistics Canada's annual measures, labour productivity has declined in each and every one of the last four years for which we have full-year data. Productivity dropped from $67.70 an hour worked in 2020 to $63.20 in 2024, a decline of almost 7%. Two years ago, on March 26, 2024, the senior deputy governor of the Bank of Canada, Carolyn Rogers, called Canada's lagging productivity an “emergency”. Since then, productivity appears to have flatlined, if not declined. The emergency appears to have become even more dire. When we look at Statistics Canada's quarterly measures, business sector labour productivity declined over the last year. In the first quarter of 2025, it measured on an index of 100 at 104.7. Last quarter, it stood at 104.074, a decline of 0.5% in just one year. Under the new Liberal government, the productivity emergency has gotten worse than it was under the old Liberal government. At this point, I will remind the House that I will be splitting my time. When the Bank of Canada rang the alarm bells on productivity, it cited low levels of business investment as one of the root causes. Business investment has plummeted over the past decade. According to a recent analysis by Steven Globerman of the Fraser Institute, business investment in plants, capital, equipment and IP, expressed as a percentage of GDP, dropped from 13.8% in 2014 to 11.1% last year, and under the new Liberal government, the decline has continued. According to Statistics Canada's release of May 29, “Business capital investment fell 0.7% in the first quarter of 2026, the fifth consecutive quarterly decline.” Steven Globerman has called this a “business investment emergency”. We have not only a productivity emergency but a business investment emergency. The word “emergency” is not my word. This is the word of the Bank of Canada and a reputable research organization. The fundamentals have not gotten better in the past 12 months under the new Liberal government: not on per capita GDP, not on productivity growth and not on business capital investment. In fact, in many cases, it has gotten worse. The data I cite in this speech is taken from Statistics Canada, including tables 36-10-0706-01, 36-10-0480-01 and 36-10-0206-01, unless I have specified otherwise. In my assessment, nothing the new Liberal government has done with the new Prime Minister in the past year fundamentally changes the trajectory of the economy, and the early data that has come in over the past four quarters confirms that assessment. Canada's per capita GDP continues to flatline, if not decline. Canada's productivity continues to flatline, if not decline. Canada's business capital investment continues to flatline, if not outright decline. That is because the government has failed to introduce the fundamental reforms necessary to turn the economy around. It has failed to introduce wholesale tax reform to our personal and corporate income tax systems. We need tax reform of the scale and ambition that we saw in 1971 or in the 1980s under the government of Brian Mulroney. It has failed to introduce fiscal reform of the scale and ambition of former prime minister Chrétien and finance minister Martin, who, in 1995, introduced a revolutionary budget that refocused the federal government and balanced the budget in 36 months. It has failed to introduce desperately needed competition reform to address the oligopolies and the uncompetitiveness of our economy, which are making our goods unattractive for export to global markets. Export expressed as a percentage of our GDP has plummeted, from about 43% of GDP in the year 2000 to about 33% today. The government has also failed to introduce the regulatory reform needed. We need to reduce the regulation that is strangling business investment and growth. The government implicitly acknowledged that its regulatory approach is not working. Not only has the government not used the national interest designation under Bill C-5, but it is engaged in yet more consultations to introduce yet more legislation to change its regulatory approach. Until early April, the government could argue that it did not have the power to enact these fundamental reforms because it did not have a majority. That excuse no longer holds. The early data coming in over the past 12 months is that the new Liberal government is on the same course as the old Liberal government on per capita GDP, productivity and business capital investment. The government has a choice: to acknowledge how bad things are, reverse course and introduce fundamental reforms in taxation, competition, and regulatory and fiscal policies, or to continue to preside over Canada's continued economic decline. If the government does not acknowledge the very real and serious fundamental challenges our economy is facing, it will not fix the problem.

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite is making the mistake of looking at flows, in other words at the P&L, rather than at the balance sheet. The balance sheet is clear. Business capital investment has declined in each and every one of the last five consecutive quarters. That is the more important measurement, because as capital is deployed, it depreciates, and the fact that business capital investment has failed to keep up with the capital depreciation in this country and has declined over the last five quarters is a much more alarming statistic than the flows he is citing.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his question. It was not me who used the word “emergency”; it was the deputy governor of the Bank of Canada. It was a central banker who used the word “emergency”, which is strong language for someone who is normally quite opaque about the direction of the economy. It was not me who used the word “emergency”; it was Steven Globerman at the Fraser Institute, a reputable research organization and one of the largest economic research organizations in the country. The fact is that nothing has addressed the fundamental problems facing our economy, and that is why Canadians continue to struggle with the cost of day-to-day living and other essentials.

Mr. Speaker, one of the dangers of denial is that we are going to see a brain drain from this country to our neighbour to the south. According to the TD Bank study that was released on May 21, Canada's top-skilled workers are leaving for the United States in droves for lower taxes and higher pay. It says, “Canada is not hollowing out; it is spilling out at the top” and “Absent progress on this front, Canada will continue to be a feeder system for the U.S. innovation economy.” Statistics Canada confirms that in 2023 alone, 18,590 Canadian residents immigrated to the U.S. permanently, and a 2024 Bank of Canada study found that 40% of Canadians who would rank in the top 1% of earners have already left Canada for the United States. It also found that up to half of the top 2% to 10% of income earners have also already left.

Mr. Speaker, the text of the MOU signed by the Liberal government with Beijing's Ministry of Public Security remains secret. Considering that Beijing abused the previous MOU signed by the Harper government, including by coercing some 25 Canadians to return to the PRC under Operation Fox Hunt and considering that a year ago, both the public inquiry into foreign interference and the Prime Minister said that Beijing presented the greatest threat to the security of Canada, will the Liberal government release the new MOU to assure Canadians Beijing will not coerce others to return to the PRC?

Mr. Speaker, if Beijing's foreign interference and transnational repression are the greatest threat to the security of Canada and if the government is confident about the MOU between itself and Beijing's Ministry of Public Security, the government should simply release the MOU and let Canadians decide for themselves. Will the minister raise the issue of transnational repression and foreign interference when she meets with Foreign Minister Wang Yi this week?

Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak to Bill S-217, which was introduced by my friend and colleague in the other place Senator Percy Downe. I thank him for his perseverance in pushing this issue forward. I believe this is the third time the bill was introduced and adopted in the other place and the third time the bill has been sent to the House for consideration. I know Senator Downe has put a lot of work into this. To be clear, we support this bill. It would, broadly, do three things. First, it would have the CRA publish a list of people who are criminally convicted for tax evasion, which I think is an important part of public disclosure and transparency. Second, it would require the CRA to estimate the tax gap between taxes owed and taxes collected. Third, it would require the CRA to provide data to the Parliamentary Budget Officer so that the Parliamentary Budget Officer can independently assess the tax gap between taxes owed and taxes collected. Those are, I think, three very good goals of the bill. I would encourage my colleagues to support this legislation. It is important to maintain the integrity of our income tax system. This will give the institutions of state the tools they need to do that so that we can ensure lower taxes for everyone, because when we close the tax gap and reduce tax evasion, taxes can go down. I look forward to the further debate and vote on this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I am raising the alarm bells about Ontario's auto sector. The sector depends on access to the U.S. market. The sector has paid $5 billion in tariffs over the last year. Passenger, car and light truck exports to the United States are plummeting. The Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association has said, “You cannot have a commercially viable automotive plant in Canada facing tariffs of that size.” Toyota has said that tariffs have made manufacturing in Ontario “unsustainable”. However, the government has given no date for formal negotiations on section 232 tariffs, unlike Mexico, and no explanation for the decision to go slow on the tariff negotiations. The auto sector and its workers are worried about the status quo. They need to know when tariff relief is in sight. Bleeding $5 billion a year is unsustainable. Something is going to break. The auto sector is running out of time while the government goes slow on its approach to the tariff negotiations.

Mr. Speaker, Reuters reports that Mexican President Sheinbaum is eyeing an early deal, ahead of the completion of the review of CUSMA, on autos, aluminum and steel. Is the government working in coordination with Mexico to secure an early deal on autos, aluminum and steel? If not, why not?

Mr. Speaker, Mexico is clearly at the negotiating table, providing formal updates. Yesterday, President Sheinbaum and U.S. Trade Representative Greer formally met in Mexico City. The joint statement said that Mexico and the U.S. will hold talks this week on resolving trade irritants, and that Mexico and the United States will begin the first official negotiating round for the review of CUSMA the week of May 25. When will talks between Canada and the U.S. take place to resolve irritants? When will the first official Canada-U.S. negotiating round for the review of CUSMA take place?

Mr.S peaker, work is under way to celebrate the founding of Guelph in 1827. Next year marks 200 years since the city was founded at the confluence of the Speed and Eramosa rivers, in the province of Upper Canada, by Scottish poet and novelist John Galt. The Guelph 200 community working group has already begun planning. On April 23, the city will launch its official bicentennial logo, marking the beginning of year-long celebrations, including an anniversary weekend and a summer homecoming. Guelphites are proud of the Royal City and its 200 years of history. It has produced John McCrae of In Flanders Fields, Nobel Prize winners and so many other great Canadians. The slogan of the bicentennial, “rooted deep, growing together”, speaks of a community proud of its past and confident in its future. I ask all colleagues to join me in marking this historic occasion.