44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 22, 2022 10:00AM
- Mar/22/22 10:22:01 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the reality is that a huge part of the extreme gas prices we are seeing is the egregious price gouging by the huge oil companies, yet this motion from the Conservative Party would do nothing to address the windfall profits that the big oil companies are making.
Could the member please inform the House why he has entirely missed dealing with the primary source of this affordability issue?
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- Mar/22/22 10:52:07 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is true. There is an immediacy to this crisis and we need to make sure that we are tackling inflationary pressures right away. Certainly we had economists come and speak at the finance committee who talked about making sure that expected inflation is not anchored into the economy.
We have taken concrete measures that have helped with affordability and are going to help Canadians deal with these inflationary pressures. They include reduced costs of child care, which is going to not only reduce costs for families but give those children a better head start. That is going to provide benefits to Canadians in the long term, but it is also going to help those family members get back to work and give them more flexibility around their jobs.
We have implemented real changes that have helped seniors and students, and we have a national housing strategy that is working to make life more affordable and allow individuals to be able to afford their first homes as well. Those are some of the measures. There are many more and hopefully I will be able to talk about them in further questions.
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- Mar/22/22 10:55:05 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member for Burnaby North—Seymour's thoughtful response to this motion this morning. I appreciate his focus on measures that would address affordability. If we are talking about affordability in this place, we should be talking about affordability for those who need it most and recognizing that it is Canadians with disabilities who are disproportionately living in poverty. Up to 40% of those living in poverty across the country are Canadians with disabilities.
I wonder if the member would comment on the need to go further and to fast-track a Canada disability benefit or any other measure he would put forward in order to meaningfully address affordability for a group of people across the country who need it most.
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- Mar/22/22 11:27:56 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Abitibi—Témiscamingue for his speech and his calls for action concerning the climate crisis.
If members of Parliament were really serious about addressing affordability and climate change, what could they do with the $18 billion that goes toward subsidies for fossil fuels?
How could we use that money to make life more affordable for Canadians and Quebeckers?
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- Mar/22/22 12:15:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I certainly agree with the member that there are so many people in our country who are struggling with the cost of living. The Conservative motion really focuses on people who use diesel and gasoline, who admittedly are a large portion of the population, but many of the people who are struggling the most with affordability are people who do not drive. They are people who are living in poverty, people working minimum-wage jobs or seniors who are not able to drive for a whole host of different reasons. Those people are also struggling with the cost of living, in many ways more than the rest of the population.
Why did my hon. colleague's party not put forward or craft a mechanism that would more broadly help people who are struggling with the cost of living?
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- Mar/22/22 12:59:55 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I mentioned the old age security, the Canada pension plan and the child benefit in my speech because I wanted to remind everyone that all of these supports are actually indexed to inflation, which will help the most vulnerable in our society. This is not the case in many other countries.
In terms of what additional supports we will be providing to Canadians, we have and continue to implement the national child care plan and we continue to provide support for our seniors. As I mentioned, we increased the guaranteed income supplement and we plan on supporting and increasing old age security for those seniors 75 and older. We are also looking at the housing affordability issue and we are looking to take urgent, concrete steps to help resolve this issue moving forward.
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- Mar/22/22 1:56:47 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the hon. member for Red Deer—Mountain View.
It is hard to think of a more appropriate debate to expose the consequences of what transpired between the government and the NDP this morning. While today it might seem politically expedient in the moment, Canadians lost out on having a voice in the NDP, who once played a critical role in championing issues like this, issues of affordability. I am actually rather surprised at some of those members, and I will be even more surprised at their silence as time goes on.
With the fallout from the broken trust with their constituents, coupled with a fire sale of their principles in exchange for what amounts to broken promises from the government year after year, it is far more important that Canadians understand the consequences of a bad deal, not only for the two political parties in the House but a bad deal for them.
To simplify this transaction, the NDP members of the House have agreed to never hold the government to account. In turn, the government has agreed to never control spending: higher spending, higher taxes. While I believe this to be a disingenuous attempt by politicians to protect themselves, I am far more concerned with the devastating impact this deal may have: higher spending, higher taxes, higher prices.
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- Mar/22/22 2:48:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let me talk about some facts about affordability that this side of the aisle is putting into place. A single mom with two kids will receive $13,600 from the Canada child benefit. The average family in Saskatchewan will get almost $1,000 in their carbon price rebate. Seniors received an extra $500 this summer. A student will save $3,000 through our changes to student loans. These are real facts on affordability, not political gimmicks.
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- Mar/22/22 4:08:38 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the residents of my community in Edmonton Griesbach are also suffering from this affordability crisis. It is hurting them not just in everyday rent, gas and groceries; they are also scared for their kids. What I want to hear the member talk about is how this country's economy is truly going to help these folks in a real way.
This proposal in many ways is temporary, but we know that this crisis may be long-lasting. These companies are profiting. Suncor, for example, profited by $4.1 billion, paying out $3.9 billion to its shareholders. CN Rail had $7.7 billion in profit. Would the member agree that we need to tax profiteers who have made unjust amounts of money and reinvest the money in the people who need it most as a real plan for affordability?
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- Mar/22/22 4:21:34 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, at 19 times the size, I can appreciate the challenges of getting to every corner of his riding and what that would represent. Even 5,000 square kilometres in Kings—Hants can sometimes feel daunting.
I do not have specific information to answer his question vis-à-vis the intergovernmental aspect of Saskatchewan versus New Brunswick. I will talk about affordability writ large. I think it is an important conversation to be had. We are seeing challenges, as I mentioned, because of the war in Ukraine, around food supplies and around fertilizer for farmers, which I know that member would know a lot about given the concentration he represents in his riding, so I do think we need to have conversations about affordability.
My issue is that the text of this motion is about eight cents per litre. I take notice that for some people that is a very big deal. However, the text of the motion is not very targeted. I think there are better ways to go about having targeted measures for Canadians who actually need the support, as opposed to having that member benefit from eight cents a litre. I think he would suggest he does not necessarily need it at this point.
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- Mar/22/22 4:23:58 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank the member for bringing up child care. I can say that I am standing here today because of the Quebec model for $5 day care. In 1998, I was happy to take advantage of that. If the federal government had invested in day care many years earlier, there would be more women sitting in this chamber tonight.
I just want to mention to the member that what we are really talking about here is an affordability crisis in the country. With child care, it is a wonderful opportunity for families. Unfortunately, young people are deciding not to have families due to the rising cost of housing, food and living in Canada.
Could the member tell us why the Liberals continue to protect wealth-accumulating corporations and not do enough, very little or almost nothing, to ease the pressures on average Canadians who are struggling to make ends meet with the price of housing, the price of food and the cost of living?
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- Mar/22/22 4:24:58 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, that is a lot to try to answer in 30 seconds.
Let me just say, as one of the younger members in the House at 31 years old, I have friends in that same situation of trying to be able to own a home and start a family. That resonates with me.
I do not have time to properly address the question vis-à-vis the larger policy context of whether or not it is prudent to continue to spend to try to create the affordability and support that Canadian families need or what other measures that are non-spending in a world of 5.7% inflation right now are going to be crucial to be able to make affordability important for Canadian families. I think it is an important conversation to be had, and I do think we will be hearing more about it in the House in the days ahead.
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- Mar/22/22 4:53:37 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I share her concern about the affordability crisis and the cost of living in our country. I do find, however, that the Conservative policy proposal is rather narrow in its scope. She mentioned that everybody needs a break and I cannot agree more, yet this motion only deals with people who drive.
There are so many people who are struggling with the cost of living who cannot afford to drive. The average cost of car ownership the last time I checked, which was several years ago, was $9,000 per year. There are seniors who do not drive. There are young people who do not drive. There are people who do not drive gas vehicles. None of those people benefit from this motion.
Why did my colleague and her party not consider a more broad initiative that would truly help every Canadian with the affordability crisis?
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- Mar/22/22 5:04:39 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, just a quick note, I have many constituents who have either made their start in life in Fort McMurray or are still residing there, so I think there are a lot of common connections between our two provinces.
In my remarks earlier today, I thanked the member for Abbotsford for bringing forward a conversation about affordability, but I did say that I was concerned about the text of the motion. Eight cents a litre is important, particularly for residents who are very vulnerable. This is something that could provide immediate relief. My worry is that it is not very targeted.
Would my colleague opposite agree that, by going with this approach, it is providing eight cents to everyone across the board? We as members of Parliament make about $180,000 a year. There are other people who are quite wealthy. I do not think that they need eight cents a litre or four dollars on a tank of gas. I would rather actually have more support by government collecting the money and redistributing it on the basis of need.
Would she agree with the idea that the way it is currently worded, it is actually going to reward people that really do not need the help at this point?
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- Mar/22/22 5:07:50 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am trying to understand the Conservatives' position on affordability. I was in the House when the Conservatives voted against raising the minimum wage for Canadians, when the Conservatives voted against raising corporate taxes on the windfall profits of corporations making billions of dollars per year, when Conservatives voted against pharmacare that would save the average family in this country over $600 a year and businesses about $700 a year and when Conservatives voted against a dental care plan that would allow Canadians to fix their teeth and not have to pay out of pocket with their hard-earned dollars.
Can the hon. colleague explain to me how any Canadian can take the Conservatives seriously on affordability when their record of voting stands so starkly against positive, constructive measures that would help average Canadians actually save money in their real lives?
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- Mar/22/22 6:47:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am happy to talk about our government tackling housing affordability. My colleague asked for a plan, and we have one. We launched the national housing strategy in 2017, the first of its kind in Canada's history. It is an ambitious 10-year plan backed by more than $72 billion in investments.
I was deeply disappointed to hear the Conservative member for Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry yesterday say in the House that we should pull back on the national housing strategy. I could not disagree more. Unlike the Conservatives, we believe we need to make historic investments in affordable housing, and that is exactly what we are doing.
Through the national housing strategy, we have invested over $20 billion. That is thanks to a range of programs that address the different housing needs of Canadians, from shelters to community housing, to market rentals and ownership. One of those programs, the rapid housing initiative, exceeded all expectations through two rounds of applications. It has been very popular with our partners and will ultimately result in the quick construction of more than 10,000 new affordable housing units, including more than 200 units in my colleague's city of Hamilton, but we recognize that we still need to do more.
Since the last election, this government has set out an ambitious new agenda with further activities to make housing more affordable for all Canadians. We have planned for new initiatives such as the housing accelerator fund to help cities speed up development processes, and we have expanded access to funding to support green home retrofits. We will be working with the provinces, territories and municipalities to develop a fairness in real estate action plan to ensure there is more protection and transparency for homebuyers and renters.
We will also be collaborating with indigenous partners to codevelop a new urban, rural and northern indigenous strategy and Canada's first-ever national indigenous housing centre.
For young people working hard to get a foot on the property ladder, we introduced the first-time homebuyer incentive, which helps reduce their monthly mortgage payments without adding to their financial burden.
I was also disappointed to hear my Conservative colleague, the member for Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, say in the House yesterday that we should not be helping first-time homebuyers. On this side of the House, we believe that first-time homebuyers need more support. That is why we continue to make the first-time homebuyer incentive more accessible, with more adjustments to come.
To help make it easier for renters to get on the path to home ownership, we are also working on creating a fund to test, develop and scale up rent-to-own projects across the country.
We are proud of our success in improving housing affordability, even as we look forward to doing more with the support of this House and, I hope, the support of the member, and with our plan for making housing more affordable and creating more home ownership in this country.
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- Mar/22/22 6:50:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the 200 more affordable housing units in Hamilton, although that is against a supply deficit of 110,000 homes, as I mentioned. The government's responses to any question on housing are formulaic, predictable and insufficient.
I will ask again. What is the government doing for Roseanne, a young woman in her twenties in my constituency in Upper Stoney Creek? She laments the fact that she has witnessed an exodus of her peers leaving the country for better affordability elsewhere. The brain drain is real in this aspect and the initiatives the government is continuing to repeat are like trying to fix a sinking ship by using a bucket. Canadians still find themselves drowning.
When the government's plan is to build fewer units across all of Canada than just the deficit in Hamilton alone, clearly more needs to be done. When is the government going to unveil a real plan to stabilize the housing market so that all Canadians can afford a home, not just the 700 households per week that are fortunate enough to be part of an announcement that is really too little, too late?
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