Finance minister highlights cost of living measures in budget

François-Philippe Champagne is the Federal Finance Minister with us now, sir. Thank you for joining us. It's a great pleasure to be in Halifax. Listen, I know there's so much to talk about in this budget document. It is a weighty document, to say the least. But for a lot of people, it comes down to the grocery bill, it comes down to the heating bill, and I know there are provisions in the budget for them. How will it directly help them? Well, affordability is front and center. You know, people are concerned about the price of rent, the price of food, the price of gas. If you look at the measures we've put, you know, let's start with, you know, grocery. You know, we decided to do a top-up for the 2027. So if you're a family of four, that's what, $679 in addition to the benefit we have provided. Then you're looking at the price of gas. And we said, okay, we're going to extend. The suspension of the federal excise fuel tax, that's what you're saving about $5 when you fill your tank. Then you're looking at heating, which is a big issue here in eastern Canada, in Atlantic Canada. So we said, okay, with the National Heat Pump Program, if people move to heat pump, they're going to save about $120 a month. And then we said for the caregivers, you know, we have caregivers in our community, They're doing such an important work for families in our community. We said listen, we had a tax credit before, we said we're gonna make it refundable. So it's up like to $1,260 if you're a caregiver. So this is on top of the housing pillar which I call. If you look at the pyramid of affordability, the first one is finding a safe and affordable home and we're doubling down and I'm going to meet the mayor. Later on today and I've exchanged with the premier because that and homelessness, you see, we said we're going to have a. We have a national mission to tackle homelessness over the next 10 years, you know, to put an end to homelessness. And so if you look at the housing piece plus the affordability piece, I think we're really where people are because the pain point of people is really grocery. That's every other day, every week, and then housing is every month. So we try to be where people are at the same time to grow the economy to make sure. I want to ask you about housing a little bit more, but before we leave the heat pump mentioned. Heat pumps are great, but there's the upfront cost. I know there's provisions in your budget for people helping fund the heat pump. But if they need heat this winter, that may not be an answer for them, a solution for them. So what do you say to those folks? We made it as quick as possible. Honestly, we've been looking. We don't want people to spend a lot of time filling forms and all that. We try to make it as seamless as possible and providing support to people. Right now, because you say you think $120 a month on average, that's really significant. And that's every month for the rest of the time that you have a heat pump. So so I would say that's that's priority number one. But I would say if you go, we've redesigned also the process so that for people it is seamless in a way to say, OK, you want to install a heat pump. You can do it. You can do it quick. And I think that's going to help a lot of people at the same time. We had your concern in mind, you know, it's for this season, subject to, obviously, people need to install it, order it, but from our side to support people, we try to make it as seamless as possible. You mentioned homelessness there. On the ground, we keep hearing it's great to try and get people accommodated in shelters and that kind of stuff, but they need wraparound services. What does your government, what does this budget do to enhance that? Well, that's the new model. You may have heard we talk about the Winnipeg model. I was just in Winnipeg. You're exactly on it, you know, we've seen historically, we've looked at Nordic countries and other cities where they've not, building is not enough, you know, the infrastructure, what you need is to help people to move in transitional housing, to provide the services, social services, mental health, addiction services, so that people feel. That they can transition there. And that's why this is a real partnership. You know, a federal government can build, the province can offer, the social services around the municipality will help with permitting and certainly making sure this is well integrated in the city. So it's really a national endeavor. For me, there's something inspiring to see a nation as rich as Canada will support what we have about 65,000 people across the nation who suffer from homelessness. And I've seen it here in Halifax. I come from rural Canada. It's not just in our major urban center now. You see that in different rural parts of the country. So for me, if you ask me, the flagship measure to put an end to homelessness over a decade is certainly one of them. Because that as a nation, you need to have the social goal to say we're going to make sure that every Canadian can find a safe and an affordable place to live. Your government, your budget encourages Canadians' industry to dream big, to think big. There's some projects on the list here in Nova Scotia, Wind West is one of them for sure. I know the federal government is bringing some money to the table to do initial research for what the capacity is there, but how committed is your government to a project like Wind West, where there's need for transmission lines and so on, to help get that electricity, if it comes to be, to the rest of the country? Well, you're right, I mean, this budget speaks to people from Halifax and Nova Scotia, because if you look at the pillar, you know, I would say, Not only Halifax or Nova Scotia will benefit from the budget, but I think you're in a position to lead. You're looking at, for example, the defense industrial strategy with shipbuilding and our defense infrastructure in Halifax. But you're looking at energy, which is going to be key. We're going to double the energy, the electricity production in this country. And if you look at the megatrends of the world, energy is one of them. Talk about the new digital economy, whether it's AI or quantum, electricity is fundamental. And what I'm very pleased about. I just mentioned WindWest. We had some investors in the country and they said this is the, I would say, Eastern Canada answer to that challenge and where Nova Scotia can lead. And yesterday I was exchanging with Premier Houston and that's the kind of thing where this budget speaks for the province because if you look at the fundamental pillars of growth, you're front and center. So in my view, this is going to be, we're going to support that. I've been talking to Minister Arjun, as well, of natural resources. So this is part of the nation building. You know, when we say we're going to change the growth model in the country, obviously generating more electricity, and you may have seen in the budget, the countries which produce electricity are the ones which have the highest growth. You know, it's just that if you look at the... Over decades, you know, you see a correlation between generation of energy and electricity and growth and GDP per capita. So this is the essence of our prosperity, and I'm glad that Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canada will be at the center of that prosperity that we're bringing to the country. And just finally, before I let you go, there's big spending in this budget. Can we afford, can this country afford this? I mean, your government, if it's not already paying as much on interest on the debt as it is in health care, it's coming pretty close to that. How sustainable is this approach? Well, first of all, deficits are down, so that's the good thing. The second thing is that expenses are under control. If you look at over the last decade, our expenses were around 8.1%. We're bringing that down to less than 2%. We have the strongest fiscal position in the G7. And the fundamental thing we're doing, which is a major shift, In public policy in this country, as we say, after 27, you know, in 27, 28, we're going to balance our revenue with our operating expenses. And what we borrow from there is only to grow, you know, is capital investment. So that, for me, is the major shift we're doing. You know, people don't understand that, you know, expenses is the day-to-day expenses. But if you borrow. To grow, it's a very different definition. It's like people going to the bank and saying, I'm taking a mortgage to buy a home or to buy an apartment. You're creating capital. That's a capital investment, and that's what we're seeing in this country. And so having our deficit down, having the fiscal discipline to lower our expenses, but at the same time, just I'll leave you with that. But if you look also at the size of the economy, we're, what, a $3.4 trillion economy. By the end of the decade, we'll be at $4 trillion. So it's always a matter of size. My mission is to increase the pie. So the bigger the pie, the more prosperity, obviously, we're going to have. And with the revenues, you can afford to make these kinds of investments in this country. Sir, we appreciate your time today. Thank you. Thank you very much for having me.