44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 4, 2022 11:00AM
- Apr/4/22 12:22:33 p.m.
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- Re: Bill C-8
Madam Speaker, this economic update is a masterpiece of vacuousness. There is not much in it.
As members of the Bloc Québécois have said many times, however, it does contain a major development worth noting, and that is an attempt by Ottawa to meddle in property taxes, something that it has never done before. That is extremely serious, even though we must admit that real estate speculation is a real problem and that something must be done about it.
I think that the real problem with real estate is that more investments are needed. Ottawa has backed away from the construction of social and affordable housing in a big way. Do our Conservative colleagues believe that more money needs to be invested in the construction of such housing?
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- Apr/4/22 12:23:28 p.m.
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- Re: Bill C-8
Madam Speaker, I believe my colleague pointed out one of the problems that we have here in Canada, specifically the fact that we do not have enough affordable housing. However, we cannot build more affordable housing when it is more expensive to build.
Inflation is having a real impact on people who are already struggling to make ends meet. We need to work together and really figure out what is important. One thing that is extremely important is controlling inflation.
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- Apr/4/22 12:39:43 p.m.
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- Re: Bill C-8
Madam Speaker, I have a question for my Conservative colleague, who gave a good analysis of how Canadians are struggling these days, since housing is so expensive and groceries are getting increasingly expensive.
Why not look at where the money is, in order to help people? The banks made record profits last year, totalling $60 billion, an increase of nearly 40%. While so many are struggling, we have CEOs earning $8 million, $10 million or even $16 million a year.
Why not be bold and courageous, and find some money by going after the superwealthy and the big corporations, like the banks, which are making obscene profits?
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- Apr/4/22 12:52:56 p.m.
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- Re: Bill C-8
Madam Speaker, Bill C-8 barely skims the surface on the issue of housing.
This morning, the Radio-Canada website had a scathing article about the Liberal government's housing strategy. According to the federal housing advocate, who was appointed by the Liberal government to ensure its major national housing strategy is followed, the housing crisis is directly related to the neo-liberal policies that have been in place in Canada for the past 30 to 35 years. I do not think she is talking about the agreement between the NDP and Liberals, but rather the right-wing policies of governments during that time.
I simply wanted to draw my colleague's attention to the fact that a lot of money is being spent on the housing file in Canada these days, yet the targets are not being met. Does he not think that we should be investing heavily to bring the housing crisis to an end?
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- Apr/4/22 12:53:59 p.m.
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- Re: Bill C-8
Madam Speaker, to the hon. member's point, the government has spent the most to achieve the least when it comes to the housing issue here in Canada. It is simply a fact that the average price of a home has now doubled from when the Liberals were elected in 2015, making it more unaffordable for Canadians and people in my riding of Niagara Falls to find a place to live.
The Liberals talk about returning all those jobs back to the economy, which is great to see, but in a tourism community such as mine there are still labour shortages that exist. Stats Canada, in its January report, still found over 900,000 jobs were left unfilled in this country. We have to do a better job of getting those people back to work and allowing them to earn money so that they can once again afford a place to live.
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- Apr/4/22 12:54:55 p.m.
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- Re: Bill C-8
Madam Speaker, I was listening intently to the member for Niagara Falls speak about the need to address the housing crisis. The existing underused housing tax in this bill would already exempt every Canadian and every Canadian corporation. It is down to only 1% on its own. I am having a hard time getting a sense of how that would actually influence speculators. If the member is not supportive of this with the number of exemptions it already has, what is he supportive of to help deal with the housing crisis that we are in?
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- Apr/4/22 12:55:25 p.m.
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- Re: Bill C-8
Madam Speaker, what I was alluding to in my remarks with regard to the 1% underused housing tax was the impact it would have on specific local residents in my community, such as those American visitors and local residents who live there during the summer months. We have yet to get further clarification on how this tax may or may not impact their residences. That is what I was alluding to in my remarks. I wrote to the minister and I await further comments back from her so that we can supply that information to those residents who are impacted.
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- Apr/4/22 1:08:00 p.m.
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- Re: Bill C-8
Madam Speaker, I will continue with the question I asked another Conservative colleague earlier about the housing crisis.
This morning, Radio‑Canada posted a very interesting article on housing, which reads as follows:
The largest program under the national strategy is the rental construction financing initiative. This program has a budget of nearly $26 billion, or 40% of the national housing strategy....According to the initiative's rules, 20% of the units have to be affordable....The problem is that only 3% of the units funded by the initiative meet the needs of low‑income households.
We are spending 40% of $26 bilion on this affordable housing program, but only 3% is effectively being used to build affordable units.
My Conservative colleagues are always worried about inflation, but how can we both house people and prevent inflation from rising?
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- Apr/4/22 1:08:59 p.m.
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- Re: Bill C-8
Madam Speaker, I believe that in this specific case the federal government needs to give up some of its programs under the national housing strategy and turn the construction of housing for young families over to Canada's provinces and territories.
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- Apr/4/22 2:41:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, promises of housing affordability are a complete joke under this government. For example, housing prices in Toronto are up over 36%. In Montreal and Vancouver, they are up over 20%, and in Calgary and Ottawa, they are up 16%. All of these urban centres are full of hard-working young people who just want to get out of their parents' basements.
When will the spend-DP-Liberal MPs join Conservatives and demand a real housing affordability plan that will actually help these young people and these first-time homebuyers?
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- Apr/4/22 2:42:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the problem is that they talk about home ownership, but, every single program we have in place to help first-time homebuyers, they oppose it. They have actually said this publicly.
The hon. member for Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry wants to end the first-time homebuyer incentive. The hon. member for Calgary Centre spoke about his opposition to the measure to put a tax on foreign and non-resident homebuyers, and just recently the hon. member for Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon tried to table the Conservative platform in the House, which did not contain the words “affordable housing”.
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- Apr/4/22 2:44:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, a billboard in Toronto reads, “Can't afford a home? Have you tried finding richer parents?” As sarcastic as it is, it gets our attention on the out-of-control state of our housing market. The cost of housing under the government has doubled since 2015, and Canadians who are lucky enough to own a home pay almost 50% of their income to service their mortgage.
Does this minister have a plan for anyone without a trust fund trying to buy a house in the country, or is it just the CMHC bonuses that get his attention?
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- Apr/4/22 2:45:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, maybe the hon. member should speak to another colleague, the member for Simcoe North, who said that the government should not be in the business of helping Canadians access their dream of home ownership.
What kind of party is this that it cannot get its story straight? One day they talk about affordable housing, but it is not in their opposition motion or their Conservative party platform. They talk about first-time homebuyers, but they voted against that. They talk about the first-time homebuyer incentive program, but they speak down about it all the time. They have no credibility on this issue. We will do everything possible to make sure that every Canadian can have access to a safe and affordable place to call home.
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- Apr/4/22 3:03:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am happy to share with the House all the good work our government is doing to address labour shortages. This includes attracting talent from around the world to Canada, including additional measures announced today under the temporary foreign worker program. It is about investing in the next generation of workers through the Canada student loans and grants program. It is about maximizing workforce participation of workers who are in this country and ready to work, such as indigenous youth and persons with disabilities. It is about investing in things like child care, transit and housing so people can live and play near where they work. There are so many things we are doing that I will need another question.
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- Apr/4/22 4:00:30 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, in my riding of North Island—Powell River we are seeing a lot of folks without housing. This is a growing concern. The market in our region is very hot. People are coming from all over the country to live in the beautiful area, but it is just making it so hard for local folks to be able to afford housing. At the same time, as those houses are being bought up, we are seeing fewer and fewer available rentals.
I am wondering if the member could speak to why we need to see affordable housing across this country. I am also wondering if he has any thoughts about when the government is going to do what it promised and ban blind bidding.
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