SoVote

Ms. Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, NDP)

Nov/3/22 2:49:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals are failing to fix the urgent, unmet housing needs of urban, rural and northern indigenous communities. The money it allocated is not even enough to meet the needs of the Downtown Eastside, let alone for the rest of the country. It was a cruel joke when the Prime Minister said record investments are being made. Over 80% of indigenous people live away from their home communities. Indigenous peoples are dying on the street. Will the Minister of Finance make the necessary investments in the fall economic statement to address the urgent, unmet housing crisis of indigenous peoples?

101 words

Context: House Hansard - 124 - Nov/3/22

Hon. Ahmed Hussen (Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion, Lib.)

Nov/3/22 2:49:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am puzzled by the hon. member's comment. We have doubled the investments to tackle homelessness, including in the hon. member's riding of Vancouver East. Coming to the issue of urban, rural and northern indigenous housing, we are committed to working with indigenous peoples to codevelop an urban, rural and northern indigenous housing strategy. Budget 2022 is investing over $4 billion in indigenous housing, including $300 million to codevelop an urban, rural and northern indigenous housing strategy following the for indigenous, by indigenous principle.

88 words

Context: House Hansard - 124 - Nov/3/22

Mr. Daniel Blaikie (Elmwood—Transcona, NDP)

Nov/3/22 5:48:08 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. I am going to talk a bit about housing. Earlier we heard the official opposition leader say that government spending contributed to the housing crisis. I think it is plausible that it threw fuel on the fire that was already burning, even before the pandemic. However, we know that there are a lot of people who have a lot of money and who will continue buying properties to rent them out to Canadians who have enough money to pay rent, regardless of whether the government continues to spend or not. Today the government is presenting some targeted measures to respond to the problems in the housing market. However, they all presuppose that housing is a commodity and that we should be using market tools to fix this problem. Housing is considered solely in the context of the market and there is no mention of the investments that we need. Could my colleague say a few words about that?

167 words

Context: House Hansard - 124 - Nov/3/22

Mr. Daniel Blaikie

Nov/3/22 6:27:43 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am certainly happy to do that. In this time when we are seeing companies making extraordinary profits well beyond what they were making prepandemic, in a time of massive need, that is a lost opportunity to ensure people who are struggling, and who do not have the extra money in their bank accounts, can continue to do well. That is important from a moral point of view, but it is also important from a financial point of view. Allowing large corporations to accrue larger and larger surpluses to pay out to their already rich shareholders means that people do not get the help and support they need. They are the people who end up homeless or who do not get access to health care, so they end up in emergency rooms, on the streets, in the justice system and in difficult circumstances that are themselves very costly to remediate. Everyone ends up worse off. That is why having a fairer tax system with proper investments in people who need that investment is a smarter way financially over the long-term too.

184 words