Susan Delacourt: Inside François-Philippe Champagne’s balancing act delivering Mark Carney’s agenda - Toronto Star
The federal finance minister on how to say no, the empty chair and his mother test.
“Masters of Our Destiny” will be the title of the federal budget presented by Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne this week. “I think that we’re kind of rediscovering who we are as Canadians,” Champagne says.
Susan Delacourt is an Ottawa-based columnist covering national politics for the Star. Reach her via email: sdelacourt@thestar.ca or follow her on X: @susandelacourt
François-Philippe Champagne says he often drops a real-world reminder into discussions he’s having with colleagues on the big decisions that loom before Mark Carney’s government these days. Call it the “mom test.”
“I say: ‘I’m not sure my mother would understand what you just said,’ ” the finance minister explains. “I use that at cabinet. I’ve used that at caucus … It’s becoming like a symbol because it’s grounding.”
It is also a relief to hear that the mom test is occasionally inserted into a government that has become fixated on investment, big projects and courting business. Champagne, who heads the department at the centre of those efforts, is making the case that this financial policy is also social policy.
Over a 90-minute, exclusive sit-down with me — time carved out of the pre-budget flurry — Champagne talked a lot about the human side of what the Carney government has been trying to tackle as it adjusts its sights on being more friendly to business and investment.
We’re sitting at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, across the road from his office, its panoramic windows looking out on some of the capital’s rich heritage buildings and the Rideau Canal. The venue was a deliberate choice, to underline what Champagne has already flagged as a theme in the coming budget of Canadian heritage and identity.
“Masters of Our Destiny” will be the title of Budget 2026, a nod to this government’s constant refrain about sovereign autonomy here at home, but also in the face of the Canada-U.S. trade war.
“I think that we’re kind of rediscovering who we are as Canadians,” Champagne says. “I’m only 56, but I’ve never seen a level of patriotism as you see now.”
