Scenario Note for Minister of Finance and National Revenue on the occasion of his appearance at House of Commons Committee of The Whole

June 10, 2025 – Approximately 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Description:

The House of Commons will debate the Department of Finance's 2025-26 Main Estimates for four hours in a Committee of the Whole. The Minister of Finance and National Revenue will participate in the debate for the Government. They will be supported by Chris Forbes, Deputy Minister of Finance Canada.

Location:

Chamber, House of Commons, West Block.

Time and Arrival:

Debate will begin around 7 p.m. and end around 11 p.m.

Background

• Due to the timing of this year's election, the House and its committees were unable to review the main estimates within the usual timeframe (i.e., before May 31). As a result, the House adopted a motion on May 27, 2025, to consider the 2025-26 Main Estimates in Committee of the Whole (CoW) over four separate evenings before June 23, 2025, with sessions lasting four hours each day. The motion also sets the parameters for the debate, such as how long participants may speak.
• CoW will convene on June 5, 9, 10 and 11. The Minister of Finance and National Revenue is planned to appear on June 10, 2025. We understand that Maninder Sidhu, Minister of International Trade, Wayne Long, Secretary of State (Canada Revenue Agency and Financial Institutions), will also attend this evening, and possibly other ministers and/or Parliamentary Secretaries to be determined.
• CoW is an opportunity for all members of Parliament (MPs) to ask a minister questions about their department's main estimates, including the department's spending plans and priorities. As the estimates cover all aspects of a department's mandate, questions may cover a wide range of issues—the chair is unlikely to disallow any questions based on relevance.
• Once debate has concluded, the CoW rises, the estimates are deemed reported, and the House immediately adjourns until the next sitting day. Unlike standing committees, there is no opportunity for the CoW to reject or reduce amounts in the estimates. Final decisions by MPs are made on the last allotted day in the supply period ending June 23 when the corresponding appropriation act is voted on by the House. Therefore, there is no formal procedural outcome of this CoW debate.
• The rules of debate were set out in the May 27 motion and the chair may exercise discretion and flexibility in their application.
  • No member will be recognized for more than 15 minutes at a time. Within this time, members can give speeches up to 10 minutes, with any remaining time allocated to a question-and-answer period. In practice, opposition members tend to use all their 15 minutes for questions and answers.
  • MPs may split their time with one or more members.
  • No quorum calls, dilatory motions, or requests for unanimous consent will be received by the chair.
  • The chair will usually moderate the debate by providing an amount of time to answer each question that matches the amount of time used to pose it (e.g., a short question will be permitted only a short answer).
• In the opening round, each recognized party gets a 15-minute slot, in the following order:
  • Conservative Party
  • Liberal Party (Government)
  • Bloc Quebecois
• The remaining speaking slots will follow a rotation that match the strength of each party's seat standings. Approximately half will go to the government, and the opposition will get the other half (Conservatives getting most opposition speaking slots followed by the Bloc Quebecois).
• If any deviation from the above-noted rules have been agreed upon by the political parties in advance of the debate, the Speaker will announce this at the outset.

Officials' Role

• Chris Forbes will be seated on the floor of the House chamber at a small table in front of the ministers' seats.
• Officials are not allowed to address the Chamber directly but may discretely provide information and advice to ministers, including by passing documents or notes.