44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 15, 2022 10:00AM
Madam Speaker, my colleague spoke about both housing and seniors. It is impossible to talk about poverty among seniors without also talking about housing.
Housing is a huge issue in my riding. Some 2,000 people are on a wait list for low-income housing.
My colleague is familiar with the rapid housing initiative because I believe we already talked about it at a Zoom meeting. The federal government launched this program two years ago during the pandemic. It is not a bad program for creating social housing, but it is unfortunately very underfunded. The program had a budget of just $1 billion, but it received applications for projects totalling $4 billion.
Given that the federal government's existing affordability programs are creating so-called affordable units costing $2,000 a month in Montreal, does my colleague agree that this makes absolutely no sense? Should the federal government not be investing more in social housing?
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- Feb/15/22 4:55:44 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, my colleague talked a little earlier about the Canadian flag. I would like to take this opportunity to say that in Quebec, on February 15, we celebrate Patriots' Day and their tricolour flag.
My colleague may not be aware of this, but on February 15, 1839, five freedom fighters in Quebec were hanged by the British authorities. Just before he was hanged, Chevalier de Lorimier cried out, “Long live freedom, long live independence!” That is what we are celebrating today in Quebec.
Getting back to the motion before us, my colleague is accusing us, the Bloc Québécois, of delaying the process. That is rather fascinating. Vulnerable seniors have been waiting for a cheque for a year, but it is the Bloc Québécois that is delaying the process.
Let us talk about employment insurance. There are 90,000 households in Quebec waiting for a cheque because the government is paralyzed, but we are the ones delaying the process.
Let us talk about immigration. There are hundreds of thousands of family reunification cases. There are some in my riding, including families from Haiti. The mother is here, the father is over there and there is no reunification. There have been delays for the past year or two because the government is paralyzed, but it is the Bloc Québécois that is delaying the process.
Is my colleague not a little embarrassed today to hear about all these vulnerable people who are unable to get their due because the government is paralyzed?
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Mr. Speaker, when we talk about seniors, we are talking about the segment of the population that has been hardest hit by the pandemic. Seniors were more likely to get seriously ill from COVID‑19, more likely to die and most affected by isolation.
Canada and Quebec have one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, and Quebeckers and Canadians have been among the most compliant with health guidelines. Despite all of that, we are one of the last countries to ease restrictions, in large part because our health care system is so weak.
The Bloc Québécois has long been calling for an increase in health transfers. We saw this coming. The federal government has been underfunding provincial health care systems for years, and now these systems need fixing. If the government had done so a few years ago, we would no doubt already be out of lockdown. We would probably already be freer, and what is going on in Ottawa right now might never have happened.
Does my colleague agree that the government could have better funded provincial health care systems and that it must do so now to prevent other tragedies like what we have been going through recently?
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Mr. Speaker, I agree with my colleague from Berthier—Maskinongé. I found it frustrating listening to my Liberal colleagues earlier as they told us that we need to rush this through, that they are there for seniors, that they are going to take care of seniors and that they are going to solve the problem. We warned the Liberals about this a year ago.
When it comes to the vulnerability of seniors, housing is a major challenge and one of the biggest indicators of poverty. Right now in Quebec there is a shortage of 50,000 social housing units to deal with this crisis. This shortage is a direct result of the federal government's withdrawal from social housing for the past 30 years.
I often rise in the House to talk about this issue. I asked the minister about it on Monday and told him that major investments are needed. The province, as well as cities like Montreal and Quebec City, are waiting for investments. This is affecting thousands of people, and our seniors are the most vulnerable when it comes to housing.
When will the government tackle the housing crisis head-on, as it has done with the current health crisis, and fix the problem?
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