Kent MacDonald

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the witnesses for coming today. I'm going to start off by asking about measures that may be in the next policy framework to deal with farm succession. It's quite obvious that as we look at an aging population of farmers, some of us have reinvented ourselves here on Parliament Hill, but we all can't do that. There has to be a transition of farms. There has to [more]

For instance, when you look at the cost of acquiring acres of farmland, something that might work is new farmers getting more ITCs for buying up farmland, to allow for the intergenerational transfer. It would be a specific benefit to those individuals who are turning their farms over to a new generation of farmers. That's something that I would suggest you take a look at. It would help those [more]

Will an average Canadian understand your analysis?

I just wanted to see what the overlap would have been in that role and in now entering this role. The other question I would have for you today is in terms of the changing economic landscape that we're going through right now, with the war in Iran and the trade war with the U.S. It's a very—

I have another line of questions. I've been intrigued by the way parliamentary budget officers have become a household name in the past two decades. That probably wasn't the case or the intention starting out. The role of the Parliamentary Budget Officer is to be impartial and to make analyses of government decisions to help Canadians overall and parliamentarians understand our fiscal position. [more]

Thank you.

Thank you. Most recently you've been working for FINTRAC. That's another topic that we discuss quite extensively here at committee. We know that FINTRAC has been tracking and reporting and that we're having increasing fraud in all types of activities around the world. Can you elaborate on how those experiences will help you in your PBO role, or if there's an overlapping connection that's going [more]

Thank you, Madam Chair. Ms. Ryan, we were getting to your answer on a question from quite a few minutes ago now. We were talking about Parliament's understanding of fiscal issues and the economic landscape that we're under right now. I referenced the Iran war, oil prices and the trade wars with the U.S. What role do you feel the PBO will play in advising parliamentarians of probable policy [more]

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Ms. Ryan. Ms. Ryan, over the past number of months here at committee, we've been discussing a lot of budget-related items: fiscal sustainability, affordability for Canadians, financial sector resilience and, just in general, the policy support in the government's programs. Obviously, these discussions have underscored the importance of credible and [more]

Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege to rise here today to represent the people of eastern P.E.I. Like many residents of Canada, they are frustrated by the trend of increasing banking fees and charges. Our government has taken action by capping non-sufficient fund fees. These can run as high as $50, and they impact mostly low-income Canadians. In many cases these fees add up to hundreds of dollars over [more]

Good morning, Madam Chair. Good morning to all the witnesses attending this morning. I'll direct my first question to Ms. Vega. C-15 Billhas consumer-driven banking provisions and provisions for the development of real-time rail. It's obviously intended to modernize our banking system in Canada. It may be long overdue. On the other side of this, many rural Canadian seniors rely on that [more]