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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 42

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 21, 2022 11:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 42 - Mar/21/22
Mr. Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre, GP)
  • Mar/21/22 12:40:25 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to start by letting everyone know that the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands and I intend on strongly supporting this motion for many of the reasons we have heard this afternoon already. We recognize that this encourages the government to do what it already said it intended to do. It is very constructive in that way and it goes further to point toward ways that we can not only address wealth inequality but do so in a way that actually strengthens our social safety net at the same time. The member for Burnaby North—Seymour mentioned the underused housing tax in his speech. I and others in this place have raised that issue also, recognizing that the cost of housing in Kitchener, for example, has gone up almost 34% in the last year alone. There are some sizable exemptions to what the government has proposed. Could he provide his personal opinion on going further and maybe reducing the exemptions so that Canadians and corporations too would be able to contribute to ensure that we remove this kind of opportunity for folks to speculate on homes in place of living in them?
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Context: House Hansard - 42 - Mar/21/22
Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)
  • Mar/21/22 3:50:34 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the Prime Minister and the government have been up on this particular file from day one when we introduced a tax, a special tax on Canada's 1% wealthiest, shortly after taking the government back in 2015 to just a couple of months ago. I would ask the member to reflect on what we voted on just a couple of months ago, which was to have an annual percentage tax on individuals who purchased properties in Canada yet are not using them as their residences. Could she provide her thoughts? She talked about the importance of housing and taxation. What the government needs to do is to look at the ways in which we can ensure that people are paying their fair share of tax. In this situation it is a real tax. It is going to be a real income coming in, making homes hopefully even that much more affordable going forward.
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Context: House Hansard - 42 - Mar/21/22
Mr. Francesco Sorbara
  • Mar/21/22 5:10:57 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, where there are overlapping regulations in place, where there are access-to-development charges put in place, where there is red tape to put shovels in the ground, we must always look at eliminating those, with the caveat of ensuring safety and protection for all standards that are put in place. We need to do that in Ontario. I think the estimate is that we need 1.5 million houses to be built. Houses are not just houses. They are homes for Canadians and for our families, and they are where we create our memories. We need to put the shovels in the ground to actually build them. We need all levels of government working co-operatively together, and we also need to eliminate layers where we possibly can.
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