SoVote

Mr. Parm Bains (Steveston—Richmond East, Lib.)

Dec/1/21 6:00:25 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, congratulations on your appointment to the chair. Before I begin, I would like to recognize that I come from the unceded traditional territory of the Coast Salish, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh first nations. As we have all seen, my home province of British Columbia is experiencing yet another atmospheric river rain event. I want to thank all the residents, organizations and gurdwara societies for always stepping up in a time of need. Once again they have done that. I also want to thank our Prime Minister, the emergency preparedness minister and the Minister of National Defence for acting quickly to provide the necessary supports in our province. This is my first opportunity to speak in this House. As we all know, it takes a lot of people to get us here. I want to congratulate all my colleagues who are here, elected and re-elected, in this House on their successful elections. I want to take some time to thank all the friends and family members responsible for helping me to get here. It is truly an honour to be able to represent the great people of Steveston—Richmond East. I am very grateful to them for putting their trust in me. I want to thank my wife for putting up with everything I do and for being the great mom that she is. I want to thank my parents, Daljit and Gunwant Bains, for their guidance and support, and for teaching me the importance of community and education. I want to thank my sister Nav. I have the best big sister in the world. She knocked on doors on the rainiest of the west coast days, and she has always been there for me. I thank my extended family, cousins, nephews, nieces and childhood friends. I also want to thank the sign team and all my volunteers once again. My daughter Hasina was recently selected to her high school basketball team. I am looking forward to seeing her play. This is the first time in 40 years that I am not either playing or coaching soccer, so I will miss coaching my son Daya while I am here and away from the beautiful game. I will have to take solace in the fact that the field in this theatre of dreams is at least green. Before I discuss my topic with respect to the throne speech, I also want to recognize two childhood friends who passed away during my election campaign, Sanjay Johal and Vernon City councillor Dalvir Nahal. They were two of my biggest supporters, and I dedicate my maiden speech to them. My topic or theme regarding the throne speech today is with respect to housing. We have all heard a lot about housing in the last few days and weeks in the House, but it is a topic I have become extremely passionate about. In Richmond, the city I grew up in, housing has become very unattainable for working professionals and many families. Friends I grew up with have left the city to chase that home with a back yard in other jurisdictions. This has been happening for years now, and it is one of the main reasons I entered public life. I was always looking for ways and solutions to create more affordable housing options. I tried to work with the municipality on these issues to look for different options that do not exist, the missing middle options. I believe every Canadian deserves a safe and affordable place to call home, and that is exactly why I am extremely excited to work with this government's plan. Huge investments have already been made in the national housing strategy, the first of its kind, to help ensure Canadians get the housing they need. More homes ultimately will bring more families, which will build healthier communities. These investments have helped over a million families get the housing they need, and we are not stopping there. Budget 2021 already invested in construction to repair thousands of affordable housing units, and ours is the only party that has taken action to create more affordable housing. The $70 billion in the national housing strategy includes programs like the rapid housing initiative and the rental construction financing initiative. We brought in the first-time homebuyers incentive and the Canada housing benefit. All of this will help families, young people, low-income Canadians, people experiencing homelessness, and women and children fleeing violence to find a safe and affordable place to call home. This is a long-term plan for a fast-growing Canadian economy, and it must include housing that is affordable for working Canadians, especially young families. Stable housing is critical, as I mentioned, for communities and for a strong middle class. The government is also introducing Canada's first national tax on vacant or underused residential property owned by foreign non-residents, which will come into effect in January of next year. Since coming into office, we have helped over one million families get the housing they need, but we know there is more work to do. This week's throne speech outlines the government's continued commitment to make housing more affordable, including bringing in a housing accelerator fund, ending chronic homelessness, and introducing a more flexible first-time homebuyers incentive and a rent-to-own program to help renters become owners. As I said, there is more progress to be made, but these are some measures that we will take to ensure that every Canadian has a safe and affordable place to call home, and I look forward to working with everyone in this House on these measures.

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All Topics

Context: House Hansard - 8 - Dec/1/21

Mr. Parm Bains

Dec/1/21 6:09:31 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, there are a tremendous number of measures in the throne speech to help the agricultural sector and small businesses. As well, during this very trying time for Canadians throughout the pandemic, this government was the only one that not only allowed for businesses to keep their doors open, but also made the investments to ensure that there is growth for businesses.

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Context: House Hansard - 8 - Dec/1/21

Mr. Parm Bains

Dec/1/21 6:11:38 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to continue the work they are doing in Quebec, and I look forward to working with the member to share ideas and make sure we can stop violence against women. We will work together toward rooting out any type of violence toward women. In terms of the length of the program, it has to be an ongoing effort and we have to ensure that those supports are always there.

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Context: House Hansard - 8 - Dec/1/21

Mr. Parm Bains

Dec/1/21 6:14:17 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, congratulations to the member for Calgary Skyview for his election as well. It is an honour to serve with him here. With respect to projects in my riding, I am happy to say that as part of the Canadian national housing strategy, community partners like Habitat for Humanity have partnered in Richmond, and on Ash Street in my riding we have built purpose-built homes for eight families. It is a completed project and I am looking forward to doing more similar projects to those. It is just one simple example of a program that is working.

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