Freeland accuses opposition MPs of ‘bullying’ her with filibuster over length of her testimony

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OTTAWA – Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on Tuesday accused the House of Commons finance committee of trying to “bully” her to appear to answer questions on her budget for more than the hour she would allow, after two weeks of opposition filibustering, before eventually agreeing to slightly extend her appearance.

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Her testimony put an end to two weeks of filibustering by Conservative MPs after she had first declined invitations to appear and then limited her appearance to one hour.

The opposition still criticized her for seeing the work of Parliament as an “inconvenience.” And Freeland spent much of the 80 minutes she ultimately allowed the committee to question her relying heavily on government talking points.

At the time of Freeland’s appearance on Tuesday, Conservatives had been filibustering the finance committee for a total of 23 hours over the past two weeks because they wanted Freeland to answer questions from MPs on her most recent budget for no less than two hours.

Freeland was scheduled to appear for only one hour at the parliamentary committee on finance on Tuesday, and spent some of that time arguing with members about the length of her appearance.

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“One thing that I learned during the NAFTA negotiations is that appeasing a bully never works,” she said. “And that tends to be my approach in life.”

Freeland’s original hour of testimony was marked by tense exchanges with Conservative members, with the committee’s chair, Liberal MP Peter Fonseca, frequently interrupting to appeal for more order.

We’re sitting in this position because a minister of the Crown feels it’s an inconvenience to appear before a committee to answer questions

Freeland took partisan shots at Conservative finance critic Jasraj Singh Hallan when he suggested Freeland had misled Canadians in projecting a return to a balanced budget within five years in her fall economic statement presented in November 2022, given that her federal budget tabled just a few months later abandoned any plans to return to balance.

“The only people who are trying, I think, unsuccessfully, because Canadians are smarter than that, to mislead Canadians are the Conservatives,” Freeland responded.

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“If the Conservatives really are interested as they should be in the substance of what’s happening in the Canadian economy, I’m happy to answer,” said Freeland.

Committee member NDP MP Daniel Blaikie said that, given that members had spent quite some time arguing about the extra hour in her presence, he appealed to Freeland for “some more generosity” with her time in taking questions about the federal budget.

“Your presence has become, unfortunately, an issue in respect to the malfunction in this committee, and I think it’s Canadians that are missing out, because we do have an important job to do around this table,” he said.

“And conflicts about your presence, or lack thereof, are definitely getting in the way of that.”

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Freeland then agreed she would be ready to stay on a few minutes longer to answer MPs’ questions.

“I was taught as a child in Sunday school, as are many of us, that blessed are the peacemakers,” she said. “As much as I really believe appeasing bullies is a mistake, that’s an important lesson, too.”

Conservative MP Adam Chambers later said that Freeland’s reluctance to appear in front of MPs for more than an hour was to blame for the malfunction of the committee.

“The fact of the matter is we’re sitting in this position because a minister of the Crown feels it’s an inconvenience to appear before a committee to answer questions,” he said.

Chambers also said Freeland was refusing to answer members’ questions, such as what the government was spending on interest on the debt. Freeland kept on insisting that the answer needed some context, but did not offer a clear number when asked.

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Freeland had declined three previous invitations to appear at the committee, and now time is running out to pass the Budget Implementation Act, known as Bill C-47, before the House of Commons rises for the summer in late June.

Committee members may have to meet nearly every sitting day to hear from witnesses and rush through any amendments to make sure the bill is passed at the House of Commons before it moves on to the Senate.

After Freeland agreed to extend her appearance, the tone of the meeting proceeded more civilly.

In response to Conservative MP Philip Lawrence’s question about the disparity between Freeland’s optimism about the state of the Canadian economy and the record food bank usage among Canadians, in addition to the dismal forecasts recently made by several economists, Freeland said she understood his concern. She talked while tearing up about Ukrainians needing food banks at her local church in Toronto, and said she wished she could do more to help people in need.

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“I know we disagree about a lot of stuff, I think we are all people here of goodwill. I think all of us want there to be no single child in Canada that goes to bed hungry tonight,” she said.

But Freeland repeated her longstanding message that she needed strike a “balance” between spending and fiscal restraint.

Lawrence thanked her for appearing at the committee. “I think you’ve acquitted yourself very well today and I would invite you to come back,” he said.