44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 9, 2021 10:00AM
- Dec/9/21 5:40:12 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, my colleague from Mirabel kind of gave it away, but I would like to recognize the presence of my mother in the House. It is quite moving to be able to—
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- Dec/9/21 5:40:31 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I apologize.
Instead, I will say that I thank a woman present in the House, who really inspired me, especially with respect to the issue of social housing. My mother was a source of political inspiration for me. When I was young, she participated in the bread and roses march. All these calls to action became part of my young activist DNA, and I salute her.
The reality is that families across Quebec and Canada are finding it increasingly difficult to find adequate affordable housing. The demand for housing is high, and the demand for affordable housing is at a crisis level. In Quebec, statistics show that there is a need for 50,000 new social housing units in the next five years to address the current housing crisis.
In my region, there is a desperate need for social housing. In 2019, the vacancy rate for housing was only about 1% in certain towns in Abitibi—Témiscamingue. From 2005 to 2013, in towns such as Rouyn‑Noranda, Amos and Val‑d'Or, the vacancy rate ranged from 0.8% to 1%.
It gets worse. Sometimes, after a fire, or when a newcomer arrives, homeless families are unfortunately forced to move temporarily into schools. Today, in 2021, the vacancy rate is still hovering around 1%.
In Rouyn-Noranda, in my riding, when a decent place to live charging reasonable rent is advertised on social media, it is practically rented in less than 30 minutes. Landlords receive 20 to 30 applications for viewings within the first hour that the unit is advertised. This housing crisis is in part directly related to federal inaction on social housing over the past 20 to 25 years.
I believe that every resident in my region deserves safe and affordable housing. That is why the Bloc Québécois supports the Conservative motion, given that action is urgently needed.
The current housing situation in Abitibi—Témiscamingue, in Quebec, and in Canada is the result of a deep-rooted problem, mostly caused by the chronic shortage of available housing. This makes it imperative that more housing be built immediately.
We know that demand for housing will most likely continue to rise in the coming years. The federal government needs to quickly find innovative ways to encourage the construction of housing, particularly social, community and actually affordable housing. Increased supply will keep a lid on rents for different types of housing. Ultimately, all Quebeckers and Canadians would benefit from lower costs, especially the less well-off.
I would now like to say a word about the labour shortage. For the Bloc Québécois, it is clear that the lack of affordable housing is one of the main barriers to attracting and retaining workers in Quebec’s regions, particularly in my region of Abitibi—Témiscamingue.
Every day, economic development stakeholders and organizations in various sectors tell us about the seriousness of the housing shortage, which discourages workers from settling in our region for the long term, particularly when some of our businesses are forced to turn down contracts because of a lack of employees.
Several municipalities and organizations are working hard to recruit people from outside the region. More and more recruitment campaigns are being organized, but when it comes to actually retaining residents, it is becoming harder for communities to keep them. One of the main reasons for this is the inability to find decent housing.
It goes without saying that the recovery and the growth of our communities are also about development and land use. This situation also affects us on a more human level, because several groups in our society, including immigrants and newcomers, do not necessarily have a network of contacts and therefore might struggle to settle here. It also affects seniors with more precarious incomes, young families who cannot find appropriate or large-enough housing, and the less fortunate, who have to put more than 30% of their income towards housing.
I would be remiss if I did not mention that, in Abitibi—Témiscamingue, in northern Quebec and elsewhere in Quebec, the housing situation is particularly worrisome in our indigenous communities. Housing is a fundamental right, and I believe that the federal government has simply forgotten that.
In Pikogan, for example, the community receives funding from the federal government for one and a half houses per year, although, in reality, over 60 houses are actually needed for community housing. In Lac Simon, 90 new houses are needed, while the community is growing in numbers and some households have 15 or even 20 people living in the same home.
In those homes, no one ever sleeps. They take three- or four-hour shifts at night, going from the bed to the couch in front of the television. That is not how you create healthy development in a community, given the psychological impact this has.
Children in Pikogan and Lac Simon sleep away from their home and community, and stay with friends because there is not enough room. Unfortunately, I dare say this reality is shared by all the indigenous communities in Quebec.
The housing crisis has an impact not only on their quality of life, but also on their dignity. Many social problems stem from the lack of space and the overcrowding. According to the statistics, there is a shortfall of 40,000 to 80,000 housing units on the reserves. The federal government knows all that. There is not enough funding to deal with the deteriorating housing stock and the population explosion on the reserves. The government knows all that too.
We also have to talk about the everyday reality. I must remind the federal government that the latest report of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, entitled “Federal Program Spending on Housing Affordability in 2021”, indicates that the federal government is not achieving its objective of considerably expanding the affordable housing stock in Canada, even though it invested several billion dollars more in housing.
I also want to point out that 84% of Quebeckers consider the lack of affordable housing available for vulnerable populations to be a problem. Statistics Canada reports that 34% of renter households in Quebec spend more than 30% of their income on housing.
The federal government has been disengaging from social housing.
How did Quebec end up in the midst of the acute housing crisis we are facing today? Negotiations with Quebec surrounding the new national housing strategy dragged on because of the federal government's actions. It took far too long to come to an agreement. The negotiation period lasted three years. In the meantime, no money was disbursed in Quebec, since the funds were frozen until both levels of government found some common ground.
Quebec went from being underfunded to having no funding at all for three years. As is usually the case in negotiated agreements, the federal government wanted to impose its conditions. As usual, the federal government's objective was to see its maple leaf logo on the cheques given to Quebeckers. Quebec has been dealing with the federal government's approach for a long time. The federal government holds Quebec taxpayers' money in one hand behind its back, while it dictates conditions and points the finger at Quebec with the other. When I say that the government was holding Quebec taxpayers' money in one hand behind its back, I am referring to disengagement of the federal government, both Liberal and Conservative, from social housing between 1995 and 2016.
The government spent more than 20 years withholding a portion of Quebec's money, neglecting needs and diminishing Quebec's rental stock when demand for social housing was just as critical then as it is today.
What is more, it is rather maddening to see the Conservatives table a motion that calls on the government to take immediate action to increase the housing supply in Canada given the skyrocketing cost of housing, when they bear a large share of the responsibility for this housing crisis. They are just as responsible as the Liberals for the serious deterioration of the housing situation in Quebec and Canada. The number of housing units subsidized by Stephen Harper's Conservative government drastically decreased between 2006 and 2015.
Inaction hurts a lot. The minute the Liberals and Conservatives got comfortable in the seat of power in Ottawa, they disengaged from the social housing file. That had a negative impact on socioeconomic development in Quebec and its regions.
In closing, regardless of whether the party in power is Liberal or Conservative, I would just like to remind my colleagues that they are in the seat of power. The Bloc Québécois welcomes the Canada–Quebec Housing Agreement signed on October 6, 2020, for $3.7 billion over 10 years, and it supports the Conservative Party's motion, but the Liberals' decision to delay negotiations in order to impose their conditions on Quebec is bad for Quebeckers. The Conservatives' attempt to balance the budget by further impoverishing the most disadvantaged Quebeckers is bad for Quebeckers. For more than 15 years now, we have only been making up for lost time, and the crisis is getting worse.
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- Dec/9/21 5:51:02 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I obviously agree. In that sense, I support the motion. However, we will have to take it further.
At the time of colonization, and this was a defining moment in Abitibi, there was what we call the “plan Vautrin”. I am not saying that the federal government has to do this, but at some point, it has to give it some thought. We have to drastically speed up housing construction. If we want to lower inflation and lower prices, then we need to build more houses, invest in our domestic market.
We are currently going through a softwood lumber crisis with the Americans. Can we take advantage of that and invest in the secondary and tertiary processing of our wood here at home?
We would be adding value so we could sell it more directly to the Americans duty-free, and at the same time we could develop our economy and ensure that the wood produced in Abitibi-Témiscamingue is used for building homes in the region and elsewhere.
Why not have a Quebec version of IKEA near La Sarre? How amazing would that be?
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- Dec/9/21 5:52:59 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, in answer to my colleague from Winnipeg North, what I would have liked to vote in favour of would be a throne speech that made access to social and affordable housing a priority. The government has a responsibility to take action on that file.
The Bloc Québécois's approach is constructive. We put forward proposals, such as allocating 1% of the government's annual revenue to housing construction from now on. Knowing that there is money available to build that housing could send a message to the housing construction industry. That is one potential solution.
The national housing strategy could also include an acquisition fund that would enable co-operatives and non-profits to acquire housing unit buildings so as to protect that housing stock from speculation and ensure it remains truly affordable.
Those are two solutions that I hope the government will implement, and I would be very happy to support them.
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- Dec/9/21 5:54:47 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Shefford for her eloquence.
This shows how important it is to take action on this issue. It is truly appalling that the last strategy has sat on a shelf for three years.
Of course, no one could have foreseen the COVID-19 crisis or the skyrocketing prices, especially for basic building materials.
However, the government bears some responsibility in this. I will not go so far as to say that people have blood on their hands, because I do not want to be overly dramatic, but if we had not ignored the problem for so many years, perhaps more people would have a home and a roof over their heads. It is a matter of dignity.
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