SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 219 - Sep/18/23

Hon. Sean Fraser (Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, Lib.)

Sep/18/23 2:53:11 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague well knows that Nova Scotians are hurting for a number of reasons, including that we are on the front lines of the fight against climate change. Over the course of the past year, we have seen hurricane Fiona devastate our communities. We have seen floods sweep our neighbours away. We have seen wildfires as we have never seen them before. These things come at a cost. One of the interesting things about this argument is that my colleague ignores the fact that one of the driving costs behind the increase in produce is climate change itself. Jurisdictions that produce food cannot do it for the same price. We will put measures in place to help Nova Scotians struggling with affordability, and we will fight climate change at the same time.

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Context: House Hansard - 219 - Sep/18/23

Hon. Sean Fraser (Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, Lib.)

Sep/18/23 2:58:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague, the member of Parliament for Brampton South, for her advocacy for her community. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the city of Brampton, where we worked directly with the mayor and members of council in the city to uncover some of the plans that they might advance to help grow the supply of housing in their community. One of the things we have been hearing about over the course of this summer is that we need to change the financial equation for builders to build. They are dealing with higher costs as a result of increased costs of supplies and materials, and they are operating in a higher interest rate environment. That is why I was thrilled when we were able to advance last week that we will be getting rid of the GST on apartment construction in Canada to build more homes for Canadians. What is more, we have seen provincial governments follow suit and—

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Context: House Hansard - 219 - Sep/18/23

Hon. Sean Fraser (Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, Lib.)

Sep/18/23 3:01:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I find it fascinating to watch the Conservatives' line of questioning. They certainly seem to think they have the solutions to Canada's housing crisis, but when we actually look at what they are proposing, they are just tinkering around the edges with half measures that would not make a meaningful difference. We are getting rid of the GST on apartment construction in this country, and provincial governments are following suit. We are advancing measures to change the way that cities build houses, so they build them next to transit stations, colleges and universities. We are going to require that they build them more densely. We have much more to come over the course of the fall, but if we put our plan against theirs, it will win seven days a week.

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Context: House Hansard - 219 - Sep/18/23

Hon. Sean Fraser (Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, Lib.)

Sep/18/23 3:03:29 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, if we want to add housing units in Canada, then we have to invest in building homes. The reality is that the Conservative Party likes to point out the problem. It likes to assign blame, but when it comes time to advance solutions, it is nowhere to be seen. The Conservatives are advancing half measures that would not make a meaningful lick of difference on the need to build housing at a rate that we have never built at before. We have removed taxes on home construction. We are changing the way cities build homes, and we have made years' worth of investments in affordable housing. We are going to continue to advance policies that make a difference. It is what Canadians deserve.

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Context: House Hansard - 219 - Sep/18/23

Hon. Sean Fraser (Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, Lib.)

Sep/18/23 3:12:33 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, let me begin by congratulating the hon. member on taking his spot in the House. Having only recently arrived, he can be forgiven if he is not aware that the party he now is a member of voted against many of the measures that, in fact, make a direct impact on having life more affordable for his constituents. This includes investments in the Canada child benefit. This includes new investments that reduce the cost of child care. This includes new benefits to provide dental care for low-income families. This includes a rebate that leaves eight out of 10 families in the province of Ontario better off as a result of putting a price on pollution. We can fight climate change and make life more affordable. It is what we have been doing for eight years and we are going to—

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