44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 26, 2022 10:00AM
- Apr/26/22 10:18:04 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his question.
In the previous Parliament, under the rapid housing initiative, nearly 40% of the funding was allocated to Quebec. We have a strong partnership with the Government of Quebec to propose and deliver housing in Quebec. I am confident that this partnership will continue in the future.
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- Apr/26/22 10:32:07 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, early in my colleague's comments he referenced the robust economy that Canada was experiencing just prior to the pandemic, and later on he referenced that the budget was getting the debt and the deficit under control. I am wondering if he could comment on the wisdom of having the government add $112 billion to this country's debt prepandemic, and then how this budget gets our present debt under control, in the context of the Parliamentary Budget Officer's comments saying that stimulus funding was not required and the budget does not account for all of the other measures that have been promised but do not appear in the budget.
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- Apr/26/22 11:22:55 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure to rise today to speak in support of budget 2022: a plan to grow our economy and make life more affordable.
Let us talk about the budget, finally. What is this budget all about? It has become apparent that fiscal prudence and economic growth serve as two major themes throughout this plan, and there is a clear reason for that. With a prudent and responsible approach, this is a budget that acknowledges and addresses the biggest concerns for Canadians based on four pillars: housing, climate protection, affordability, and jobs and growth.
Before I get into my budget speech, I want to emphasize that the budget’s comprehensive approach to these concerns is not by accident. It is a result of numerous consultations, community feedback sessions, town halls, emails, phone calls and more. For that, I want to thank everyone who has participated in the process of developing this budget. I want to specifically extend my gratitude to my constituents in Richmond Hill, because they took the time to engage with this process by attending my five community councils or contacting my office with their concerns.
I would like to start by giving some context for the fiscal prudence of this budget.
Throughout the COVID‑19 pandemic and during the lockdowns, the economic downturns and more, our federal government quickly and effectively rolled out our major financial support programs that helped keep businesses, workers and families afloat. We have been at a 115% recovery in jobs since April 2020, over three million jobs have been created since the depths of COVID‑19, and our unemployment rate has declined to 5.3%. It is lower than it was prior to the pandemic, and lower than it has been since 1976. Our focus has been on keeping Canadians safe and financially stable, and that continues to be the case today, but we know that we need a different approach from the one that was necessary during the pandemic. In essence, budget 2022 outlines a fiscally prudent plan to reduce deficits, lower the debt-to-GDP ratio and drive toward a near-balanced budget within five years.
Now, we need to turn our attention to growing an economy that is still in recovery, but we know that we cannot strengthen our economy without first thinking about affordability. That is why this budget continues to highlight our investment in affordable child care while touching on new commitments for affordable housing and dental care.
The overarching pillars of this budget can be further broken down.
The housing measures focus on building and supply, saving, and the banning of foreign investments.
The climate pillar invests in zero-emission vehicles, clean electricity, oceans and fresh water, and clean technology.
Under the jobs and growth pillar, we are helping small businesses benefit from tax cuts, establishing the Canada growth fund, and focusing on supporting tradespeople across the country.
Lastly, affordability plays a role in all of these pillars, but its own particular investments are most explicitly seen in child care and dental care.
I am really going to hone in on housing, which is a topic I am passionate about, because I know that it will likely have the greatest direct impact on Canadians and the constituents in my riding.
Budget 2022 targets affordable housing through increasing supply and making it more obtainable for buyers, especially young and first-time homebuyers whose dream of home ownership is in jeopardy due to the continuing rise in costs.
On the supply front, we have made a commitment to doubling the number of housing units built over a 10-year period. This commitment is going to come to fruition in several ways, including with the launch of a new housing accelerator fund. The $4 billion investment for this fund will be put toward creating 100,000 new housing units over the next five years.
In order to further speed up the construction of housing, we are also investing $200 million in the affordable housing innovation fund, which will encourage new innovative building techniques in the affordable housing sector. In fact, this fund will dedicate $100 million to support not-for-profits, co-ops, developers and rent-to-own companies in building new rent-to-own units, and will turn the discussion of affordable housing into a reality for our communities.
We also recognize that increasing supply does not always work effectively unless it is accompanied by quick and timely execution. For vulnerable populations that are in urgent need of affordable housing, waiting years for the supply to increase is simply not an option. Thanks to the tireless efforts of housing support providers in my riding, such as Blue Door, Home on the Hill, Yellow Brick House, Sandgate Women’s Shelter and more, there are services in place to help address the housing needs of vulnerable groups, but we need to do more to reduce the burden on their shoulders.
That is why our government launched the rapid housing initiative with the goal of delivering affordable housing units for vulnerable people in an expedited manner. Budget 2022 highlights our $1.5-billion investment in this initiative, which will create at least 6,000 additional affordable housing units across Canada. This budget also proposes to advance $2.9 billion in funding on a cash basis under the national housing co-investment fund, which will speed up the creation of up to 4,300 new units and the repair of up to 17,800 units for the Canadians who need them most.
All of this is going to mean more generous contributions, faster approvals, and an overall quicker and more efficient process that will make affordable housing more accessible, sooner.
Now let us talk about our future homebuyers: first-time homebuyers and youth who are going to be saving up for places they call home. In my riding of Richmond Hill, the cost of owning a home is at an all-time high. First-time homebuyers in Richmond Hill are now faced with the difficult decision between staying at home in a community that they know and love and having to move further away to be able to afford a place that fits their needs.
Our federal government is aware of these issues, which is why we are proposing a series of new measures, starting with the tax-free first home savings account. Through this, we are giving prospective homebuyers under the age of 40 the ability to save up to $40,000. This could mean around $725 million in support over five years for Canadians who are trying to save their money by having it go in tax-free and come out tax-free. We are also going to be doubling the first-time homebuyers’ tax credit to $10,000, which means up to $1,500 in direct support to home buyers. This amount is not insignificant for young people: every penny towards their home matters.
Providing financial support is not the only way to address the rising costs. We need to implement preventative measures that will protect buyers and renters. Through Budget 2022’s commitment to prohibiting foreign investment in housing and the development of a homebuyers' bill of rights, we will tackle the issue of foreign commercial enterprises using homes in Canada for non-residential purposes such as parking their money, and we will also put forth a national plan to end blind bidding.
There is one more component to housing, and it is something that we see quite often in Richmond Hill. The concept of multi-generational homes is very important to my community, as families prefer to stay together and feel connected to their homes and to their relatives. This budget’s introduction of the multi-generational home renovation tax credit helps provide up to $7,500 for families hoping to construct a secondary suite in their homes for seniors or adults with disabilities. This means more money for more space, without separating families from one another.
In closing, all of these are targeted and responsible investments that align with the themes of fiscal prudence as well as economic growth, while giving more Canadians safe and affordable places to call home. This really is a responsible and responsive plan, and I hope that every member of the house joins me in supporting it, because its supports are necessary to build a more affordable and resilient Canada.
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- Apr/26/22 11:52:01 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I respect the question and where my colleague is going. The reality is that Canada has a shortage, and that is not going to be fixed with taxes. It is not going to be fixed with the home equity tax the Liberals seem to keep funding studies of, but by addressing the supply issue.
We need to get government out of the way. We need more supply built. We see it in our G7 peer countries that have proper supply. They do not have the housing crisis, the affordability crisis, we have now. The best thing we can do is get government out of the way and build more houses.
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- Apr/26/22 12:33:39 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to commend my colleague.
She has just made a remarkable speech. It was so very touching and inspiring. We do not hear enough speeches like this. I would like to commend her and sincerely thank her.
I would like to get back to something she mentioned that is a major concern, namely women who are victims of intimate partner violence.
Thanks to the funds allocated to housing, a frontline shelter for women who are victims of intimate partner violence was built in my riding. It will be able to take in nine women and their children. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of resources. Every day in Quebec, a woman experiencing intimate partner violence gets turned away from a resource and has to return home to a toxic relationship because of a lack of resources.
Does my colleague not think that we should work even harder to get the government to provide more funding for resources for families and women who are victims of intimate partner violence?
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- Apr/26/22 12:35:15 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to acknowledge what a moving and powerful speech my colleague across the way gave. I have shared some of the experiences, certainly as an indigenous woman, in terms of racism in this country. It takes a lot of courage to talk about those things in such a raw, open and giving way.
I have a question about the funding that has been provided specifically for gender-based violence. One of my concerns, and I have raised this publicly several times, is the fact that in this budget there were zero additional dollars provided for murdered and missing indigenous women and girls. This is something that has been acknowledged as a genocide, certainly by the Prime Minister of this country, and human rights groups have acknowledged it internationally.
I am wondering what my colleague thinks of that. Does she support the need to provide additional funding to address this ongoing genocide?
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- Apr/26/22 12:36:27 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I can actually attest to what my hon. colleague just described. I visited Winnipeg and saw what was going on there. I listened to the stories of those people impacted in her community.
As I mentioned, in the funding we are definitely going to be focusing on providing supports to women in that way. I look forward to this being the beginning of a very strong conversation to continue to advocate for that, and I will certainly assist her and other colleagues in the House in that fashion.
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- Apr/26/22 12:37:09 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I really want to thank my colleague for Mississauga—Streetsville for that very powerful speech today on the budget and for all the advocacy that she does for women and families in this country for funding and stronger supports.
How does the member feel this budget will have a positive impact on women, especially women who are suffering through violent relationships in communities across Canada?
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- Apr/26/22 1:37:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, last week I did some volunteering in a homeless resource called “La Halte du Coin”, which took over an old church during the pandemic and is open 24/7. It was very troubling. I was there from four hours to six hours and helped serve meals. At six o’clock, everyone is asked to leave.
They can serve 50 meals, but they have only 30 beds. People wait outside, but not everyone can get in. That night, it was raining. It was unbelievably sad. When I left at around 6:30 p.m., there were a lot of people waiting outside. Those who were unable to get in would sleep somewhere in the neighbourhood, in a park or near an ATM. It is a tragic situation.
The federal government was very reluctant to renew funding for these resources. According to the budget, they will continue to fund the reaching home program, in response to the pandemic, until 2026. People want predictability. Those who work there are not paid $150 an hour. We need predictability.
Why can we come up with 15-year plans for all sorts of things like climate change, but not to help the homeless? That is scandalous, in my opinion.
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- Apr/26/22 2:51:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will just thank him for his advocacy now.
All people in Canada deserve access to critical mental health resources. Yesterday, I was able to announce $2 million for the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health to help develop resources to assist distress centres in meeting the diverse needs of disproportionately affected people, as well as almost $1.8 million for 13 distress centres across Canada to help them better connect to appropriate supports. This funding is part of a $50-million federal commitment to distress centres and to building a network to ensure that people get what they need when they need it.
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- Apr/26/22 3:44:29 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I was happy to see an injection of about $25 million into the Experimental Lakes Area and an injection of about $8 million into creating the freshwater action plan.
This is one budget, but there will be others to follow, and I can assure the member that I will continue to advocate for greater and greater investments in freshwater science and protection. There is money for the Canada water agency. The agency will take a while to develop, so it is good to take a step-by-step approach to funding it.
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- Apr/26/22 4:19:31 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I also represent a mostly agricultural riding where there are many producers and processors. My colleague from Beauce mentioned the various trade wars, a reality that I think will become more and more frequent, unfortunately. Consider China, which closed its market to Canadian and Quebec pork a few years ago.
After reading the budget and the economic statements, I feel that we are not prepared for future trade wars. Would my colleague agree to having permanent funding to ensure that we will be prepared to compensate our producers in the case of future market closures?
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- Apr/26/22 4:35:16 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Salaberry—Suroît.
I voted in favour of the Bloc Québécois budget amendment specifically for the reasons she outlined in her question. The Bloc Québécois added that we must have a concrete program to combat the climate emergency. As for the question of funding for our seniors, I do not have an answer to her question. Ignoring the needs of our seniors makes no sense.
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- Apr/26/22 4:37:24 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague and friend from Saanich—Gulf Islands for sharing her valuable time with me.
If I had to describe the thin little budget that was tabled three weeks ago, the phrase that would come to mind would be “missed opportunity”. I am not just talking about one missed opportunity, I am talking about a slew of missed opportunities.
First, the pandemic should have alerted the government to the plight of seniors, to the fact that they are on fixed incomes and their purchasing power has been greatly eroded. I was hoping that the Liberals would understand, given that before the election, they had said it was urgent to send a $500 cheque to seniors aged 75 and over, to win their vote. Indeed, the plight of seniors was appalling back then, when it was time to win votes.
All of a sudden, we are presented with a budget that not only contains nothing for seniors, but includes a small graph that basically tells them to stop complaining and whining, that their lives are fine, that they need to stop asking for money, and that the government is tired of them, literally.
The budget should have been an opportunity for the Liberal government to show that it understands that there are major funding problems in the health care system. We are not making this up. For weeks now, the Minister of Health has been going around bragging about how, during the pandemic, he was forced to rush tens of billions of dollars to the provinces. The provinces—underfunded since the 1990s, thanks to the Liberals—started offloading, rescheduled surgeries and ran out of space, almost to the point of leaving people to die in the streets.
Instead of increasing health transfers and recognizing that reality, the minister says we should consider ourselves lucky that he bailed us out during the pandemic and would be wise to settle for what he has to offer, which is nothing.
We have a Minister of Environment and Climate Change who should have realized that, if he continues to allow increased oil production, it will have a negative impact on the future of the energy transition. This same minister boasted on social media last week about how Canada had lowered its emissions in 2020, in the middle of a pandemic, when cars were off the roads and planes were grounded.
The government is congratulating itself instead of acknowledging the sacrifices that will have to be made in the future to make this transition. The Minister of Environment is happy about the pandemic, the Minister of Health is happy about the pandemic and the Minister of Seniors is happy about the pandemic.
This budget is jam-packed with oil subsidies. When I checked the news and turned on my computer to see reactions the day after the budget was presented, I figured I could judge how good the budget was based on who liked it. The first reaction I saw was from the oil and gas industry, which was very happy with the budget. It obviously did not get everything it wanted, since the Liberals had to leave a little for Jean Charest and the member for Carleton, but oil companies still did well.
Legal and environmental associations, as well as the mayor of Montreal, whom the environment minister likes to quote, came to say that this is a bad budget. The organization West Coast Environmental Law told us that carbon capture is an experimental technology that could increase water and energy use, as well as our GHG emissions.
The budget includes subsidies for exactly this purpose, even though we have been calling on the federal government for years to abolish subsidies to oil companies. We are not talking about small amounts here, but about huge subsidies. For the next five years, $2.5 billion will go directly into the pockets of the oil companies each and every year. That means $12.5 billion in total over that period, but we have to remember that the government has no money for health care. For the next four years, $1.5 billion per year will go directly into the pockets of oil companies, for a total of $18.5 billion over nine years.
The government says that it is also making an effort and that it has done away with “inefficient” subsidies to oil companies. We have been waiting for many years for a definition of what an inefficient subsidy is. It is important to note here that the subsidy that the government has abolished is worth $9 million out of a total of $18.5 billion. Rounding up the figures, the difference between the two is therefore $18.5 billion more to the oil companies, no more and no less.
To get us to buy into that, they trot out their classic excuse, which is that, in western Canada and Newfoundland, people work hard to earn a decent living in the oil and gas sector. They call it the energy sector, which sounds better. They talk about these people who earn a decent living, families with mortgages.
That is true. There are people who are stuck in this situation, who work in that industry and did not ask to be stuck in it. The problem is that, as we produce more and more oil, we get more and more families in trouble because they depend on that industry. The more trouble they are in, the more complicated it will be to scale back the industry in the future.
From 1990 to 2010, Canadian oil production rose by 69%. From 2010 to 2015, it rose by another 31%. From 2015 to 2019—and this was under a Liberal government, our eco-friends across the way, Conservatives garbed in green—there was another 22% increase. Their recent announcement of an extra 300,000 barrels per day to save the world is another 13%. That is a 209% increase since 1990, the Kyoto protocol base year. The reason the Liberals use 2005 as their base year is to hide that.
Let us get back to the fact that the government is getting families in trouble and making the transition harder as a result. We have the numbers. From 1995 to 2012, as a barrel of oil went from $33 to almost $130, the number of people working in Canada's oil and gas industry and depending on it grew from 99,000 to 218,000.
We prefer a constructive approach. We believe there has to be a transition. It has to be done fast, but it has to be done right. We have not asked to shut everything down. We think production needs to be capped and there should be a gradual transition. We also think there should be green finance initiatives.
This plan has nothing but generic sentences such as, “the Sustainable Finance Action Council will develop and report on strategies for aligning private sector capital”. It is all hot air. The federal government's plan is nothing but hot air. It has no transition plan. That makes it hard to vote in favour of this budget.
There are solid proposals, like the train, the high-speed train that we have been wanting in the Quebec-Windsor corridor for years. The Minister of Environment and Climate Change has been bragging for years in interviews about not having a car and about how he likes the train. What we want is a high-speed train, a turtle that comes by twice as often.
In the budget, there is $400 million over two years. A person might think there may be a train. However, when we ask officials what the $400 million is for, they tell us it is to find partners. Partnership is expensive.
However, when it comes to the issue of western oil, then there is enough cash. That works.
When it comes to infrastructure, it is even worse. The government wants to again start using the Canada Infrastructure Bank to save the world. This bank was created by the Prime Minister in 2015 during the economic downturn. The bank took so long to get off the ground that when it did start operating the economy was in full flight. Today, the government wants to drag its feet a second time with the transition.
That is why this budget is against seniors, against our health care systems and against the transition. However, it is not too late to change it.
We have a Prime Minister who travels across Canada, from coast to coast to coast, who lectures us, who tells us that we need to purify our hearts. He tells us that we must change, and that we are to be better.
However, this budget contains irrefutable evidence that we have a tired government and a Prime Minister who does not intend to be better.
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Madam Speaker, I was remiss in not publicly thanking the hon. member for Victoria for working with me on this bill. I am very grateful for it. I drew a really good number. There is a lottery for private member's bills. Many viewers may not know that. I got a good number and that is why I am up early in this session of Parliament. We are going to get this bill passed, and I thank the hon. member for Victoria for her help.
In the U.S., at the EPA, they call it the EJ program. Everyone knows what it is. People go to the EJ program and get funding. They get support. It is a very robust, professional, scientific program within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and it has operated for almost 30 years.
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- Apr/26/22 7:27:34 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, this government recognizes the housing affordability challenges that Canadians are facing today. Too many in this country are struggling to meet even their most urgent housing needs, and as my colleague points out, too many are struggling to achieve their dream of buying a home. However, unlike what my colleague said in the House earlier this year when he said that we should be done with the issue, we believe that the federal government needs to do its part. In fact, I think he owes Canadians an explanation for why he opposes investment in affordable housing and opposes supporting those who dream of owning a home.
Our government has prioritized housing since the beginning of its mandate. My colleague mentioned earlier that the system is broken, but since 2015, we have invested nearly $30 billion to support, create and repair 440,000 homes across the country from coast to coast coast. We launched the national housing strategy in 2017, the first of its kind. Is it broken? It helped over two million Canadians across the country. We have made housing affordability a central pillar of our new budget, pledging billions to boost supply and put housing within reach of everyone in this country. That includes expanding and extending programs with proven records of success, such as the rapid housing initiative to quickly build more affordable housing and the first-time homebuyers program.
My colleague's constituents are well aware of the impact the first-time homebuyers incentive has had, as 24 families in Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry alone are now homeowners thanks to funding from that initiative. Other federal programs have funded nearly 1,000 new units in his own riding, and those successes are repeated across the country.
Our new budget proposes a new tax-free first home savings account. This would allow people to save up to $40,000 for the purchase of their first home. We will also work to develop a homebuyers' bill of rights to protect homebuyers. Our plan includes support for people across the housing continuum, especially the most vulnerable in our country.
The member should tell Canadians now if he believes, like many of his colleagues, that the government should not play a role in making housing more affordable. Does he not believe that housing is a human right? Canadians deserve a clear answer from him and his party.
Meanwhile, our government believes that we can and should be in the business of helping Canadians meet their housing needs. Canadians expect us to get the job done. We hope that he and his colleagues will get their story straight. Do we need to make sure that housing is a human right? Do we need to give support to homebuyers regarding affordability? On this side of the House, that is what we are doing and that is what we are going to do.
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