By Pepper Parr
November 5th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
Minister of Finance François-Philippe Champagne stood for close to an hour accepting wave after wave of applause from the Members of the House of Commons.
He had them on their feet at least 25 times – probably more – it was difficult to count.
The Members of the House of Commons were on their feet, applauding many times during the one-hour event.
Minister of Finance François-Philippe Champagne addressing the House of Commons
What many do not realize is that the Members of the House would not have seen the budget until the Minister began speaking.
Clerk delivering a copy to Members of the House.
At that point, Clerks moved from desk to desk, handing each Member a copy of the Budget
Champagne was on his feet to assure Canadians that the government had a firm grip on dealing with the strains on the economy and just who Canadians are going to be trading with in the future.
Champagne: “I made the shoes I am wearing.”
A Canadian tradition is for the Minister of Finance to acquire a new pair of shoes. Champagne went one better than previous Minister’s of Finance. He flew to Saint-Tite, Quebec, (on a government jet) to a shoe manufacturing company makes footwear, and took part in making the pair of shoes he wore in the House.
The cost of the trip was never mentioned.
Champagne did say that the company made boots for the RCMP adding that the Members were surely jealous that they didn’t have such a nice pair of shoes.
During his speech, Champagne said the government was basically rebuilding Confederation to keep Canada Strong.
The budget will be given First reading today – and then the debate begins. Can a minority government (The liberals are two seats short of a majority) get its budget passed without the calling of a federal election if the budget does not have the confidence of the House of Commons?
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My affectionate nick name for this clown is the “petit franco chihuahua”
Champagne reminds me of An old time Carney Hustler.
Carney as in Carnival.
I stopped counting how many times he used the word “Canadians”. I think we know who we are. Maybe he should buy a new belt next time and tighten it a bit on deficit spending. How much better prepared would we have been, if not for the past 10 years of reckless spending and self balancing budgets. Lets hope this works.