Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I just want to quote our colleague from the NDP who said calling the minister here opens up a range of issues. I would say this is within the range of issues.

Once again, as I was saying before I was interrupted, Mr. Turnbull, parliamentary secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister, said two weeks ago in the House, when explaining the high cost of groceries, that Warren Buffet is not uncomfortable putting his money into Canada, quoting the American billionaire as if that's evidence the government's inflationary spending is good for Canadians.

This actually raises the question of how this government, how the parliamentary secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister, how the Minister of Finance, is measuring what a successful and progressive economy looks like. Is it Warren Buffett's opinion? Is it the economic outlook of an American billionaire, or is it much more serious measures?

For example, there's increasing demand at food banks, which I would say is a much more serious measure of whether the carbon tax economy is actually good for Canada. It would be very important and I think helpful to the Canadian people when the Deputy Prime Minister is called before this committee to have a fulsome discussion of how exactly the economy is being measured, how exactly this government is determining that this is a good economy for the Canadian people.

On this idea of measuring the economy, how do we know that things are as bad as some would say they are? I do think that food bank demand is a very good measure. We have millions of Canadians accessing food banks, many of whom never accessed a food bank before. Again, I'd like to go back to the Deputy Prime Minister's parliamentary secretary, Mr. Turnbull, because on May 2, in Whitby, a new food bank opened up. It's a new food bank, an innovative model styled after a grocery store.

That occurred on May 2. On May 3, just the day after, Mr. Turnbull rose in the House defending the Deputy Prime Minister's policies, and I'm going to quote this because it is shocking stuff. He said, “I know that the member opposite feels that grocery prices are too high, and they have been, certainly. However, the CPI index has shown that food prices are stabilizing in our economy, which is good news for Canadians.”

There are a couple of important things here that the Deputy Prime Minister may want to respond to. First, is it good to stabilize high food prices? Most Canadians have made quite clear that we want grocery costs to go down, not to keep them high, as the parliamentary secretary to Chrystia Freeland would suggest. I couldn't believe it when I heard it. It sounds quite illogical and warrants some dialogue, some questions and some answers, some Q and A.

If these prices for food continue to stay high, as Mr. Turnbull is thrilled to report, the food bank lines in Whitby will continue to grow. The food bank lines in many other parts of Canada will continue to grow and that is not good news.

When we talk about ministerial accountability there are some very serious questions embedded in this. They are questions that warrant a fulsome two-hour meeting at least, to answer questions and to make clear to the people of Canada what exactly the measure is that this government is using when putting forward this year's budget. What exactly do they mean when they say this is good for Canadians? Is the measuring stick they're using just fundamentally broken, and is that why they're able to put this budget forward with such glee and enthusiasm?

Certainly the Deputy Prime Minister shall have to answer for this. Canadians want to know that the Liberal government actually understands the challenges before us, given the evidence that they do not. Making excuses for very serious economic problems in this country as Mr. Turnbull has done, and is busy doing, is not helping.

Fundamentally, it comes down to this question. Should the Deputy Prime Minister have to answer this committee's questions and stop running from accountability? I hope the committee's answer to that question is yes.

Jamil Jivani