44th Parl. 1st Sess.
September 20, 2023 02:00PM
- Sep/20/23 2:04:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my community of Windsor—Tecumseh is rising. Hundreds of workers are building the Stellantis battery plant that will soon employ 3,000 people.
Last week, I joined the Minister of Housing to officially open Meadowbrook Lane, the first affordable housing project in our community in 30 years. That same day, the minister and I stood on the deck of the Gordie Howe International Bridge as it nears completion. Over 9,000 workers have now worked on the largest infrastructure project in Canada.
This summer, the iconic Parks Canada beaver appeared in Ojibway with a sign that said, “Soon to be the home of Ojibway National Urban Park”.
With strong Liberal investment, my community is thriving. At the heart of that optimism are workers. As our auto workers mobilize to fight for their fair share, we stand with them today, tomorrow and always.
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- Sep/20/23 2:30:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have had many conversations with the people of Quebec. I have spoken with my counterpart, and my team is speaking to his team. We exchanged messages this morning. I hope to get a call this evening.
The fact of the matter is we both see building housing in Quebec and across the country as a priority. We must work together to achieve those objectives. I will keep working on this. I will continue to work with my counterpart and with Quebec.
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- Sep/20/23 2:31:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as long as Canada is bent on interfering, it should help the least fortunate cope with the rising cost of living and housing. It should also rein in its own spending so that it does not further contribute to inflation, yet Ottawa is giving billions of dollars to the oil industry.
Would it not be better for Ottawa to end oil subsidies and use that money to increase seniors' pensions, end discrimination against people between the ages of 65 and 75, and support social housing?
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- Sep/20/23 2:33:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I share the hon. member's concern about making sure some of the most vulnerable Canadians have a safe and affordable place to call home. That was in fact the motivation for the national housing strategy where our government re-entered the social housing space after decades of governments, I should say of different partisan stripes, vacated it.
In reality, we know we need to do more. That is why we moved forward with eliminating GST on apartments that are going to be rented to Canadians. Part of the solution to the housing crisis is to build more homes, and that is exactly what we are going to do.
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- Sep/20/23 2:33:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, “I should have” is not what people want to hear. People want the job done.
Right now, finding affordable housing is impossible because there is none. Affordable rent for someone looking for housing or an apartment is non-existent.
What is this Prime Minister going to do to ensure the construction of housing that people can afford?
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- Sep/20/23 2:34:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, people unable to find a home they can afford are struggling. That is why we started implementing national housing strategies decades ago. These investments are necessary. We are starting to build affordable homes again.
In addition, he wants to see action. Last week, we eliminated the GST on the construction of apartments in this country. This is going to add to the supply. This is going to reduce the cost for people to rent and will provide protection for people who are struggling to find a place to call home. It is the right path forward. We are going to continue.
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- Sep/20/23 2:37:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, eight years of the Prime Minister has punished Canadians with an NDP-Liberal government that spent billions of dollars to double the price of a home, to double the rent and double the mortgage payment, all because of the Liberals' inflationary spending. They are building fewer homes this month than they did last month. Inflation is up; homebuilding is down.
When will the housing minister stand up and admit that the Prime Minister is just not worth the cost?
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- Sep/20/23 2:37:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, with enormous respect for my hon. colleague, when her party leader was the housing minister, he advanced a program with $300 million that he said would build 25,000 homes. Fewer than 100 were built.
We have advanced programs that are going to build homes and that have been building homes. The reality is that we know we need to do more. That is why we are eliminating the GST on apartments to be constructed. That is why we are advancing a plan to change the way cities build homes. It is working.
We cannot do it alone, but we will bring communities and provinces with us. It is the right path forward. I hope the Conservatives join us.
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- Sep/20/23 2:38:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the cost of a home has doubled in this country. The minister who made international students sleep on the streets and lost track of a million people is now in charge of building homes in this country. How does one lose a million people? He is recycling broken campaign promises from eight years ago that will not fix the fact that buying a castle in Europe is now cheaper than buying a family home in Kitchener.
Are Canadians supposed to trust the guy who broke immigration to fix housing, or anyone over there to fix inflation?
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- Sep/20/23 2:39:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, welcoming an ambitious level of newcomers is not breaking the immigration system, and we want to make sure communities are equipped to welcome them. We are not going to take lessons from the Conservatives, who failed miserably when it came to housing, by doing absolutely nothing. We have removed taxes on home construction. We are changing the way cities build homes.
We are going to build Canada and we are going to advance the measures to make it happen.
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- Sep/20/23 2:50:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Conservatives and Liberals caused the housing crisis by cancelling the national co-op and social housing program 30 years ago. Canada is now among the lowest of the G7 countries in social housing stock. Seniors, families and everyday Canadians need a home that they can afford.
Under the Liberals' national housing strategy, it will take at least 125 years to build the community housing that we need. Talk is cheap. Bold action is needed. Will the Liberals put people before profits and commit to building two million units of co-op and social housing?
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- Sep/20/23 2:50:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I share my hon. colleague's perspective that we need to build more housing in this country, including subsidized housing for low-income families. I also agree with the NDP that the reason we find ourselves with such an extraordinary housing shortage is that federal governments of different partisan stripes for decades have vacated the space.
We re-entered the sector in 2017 with the advancing of the national housing strategy. We are seeing hundreds of thousands of subsidized homes provide safety and security for low-income families. We will continue to advance more measures to build housing stock, including tax incentives to get builders building and to change the way that cities build homes, but we will not forget the most vulnerable along the way.
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- Sep/20/23 3:40:58 p.m.
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moved for leave to introduce Bill C-356, An Act respecting payments by Canada and requirements in respect of housing and to amend certain other Acts.
He said: Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise today to introduce the building homes not bureaucracy act, and now, more than ever, it is necessary. After eight years, the Prime Minister had doubled the national debt, which has ballooned mortgage rates, and he has funded local bureaucracies to block homebuilding. We have the fewest homes per capita of any country in the G7, even with the most land to build on. Now he has a program that will add even more bureaucracy. It has taken a year and a half for the first announcement and has not built a single home.
My common-sense plan is based on the success I had when I was minister, when housing costs were half of what they are now. The approach that I take in this bill is to keep the existing GST rebate on purpose-built rentals, but also extend it to all new construction of rentals for which the rent is below average to encourage affordable home building, not $2-million penthouses.
Second, we will cut the bonuses of CMHC officials if they do not provide decisions on financing new homebuilding construction within the promised 60 days.
Next, we will make it a legal requirement that municipalities approve and allow construction of affordable housing around every single federally funded transit station, and the dollars will not move until people are moved into those apartments.
Finally, we will incentivize cities to speed up and lower the cost of building permits and free up land by linking the federal dollars they get to the number of homes that actually get completed. There will be a target of 15% more homebuilding per year, which would double home construction within five years at a compounding rate. Those that beat the target by 1% will get 1% more money; those that miss it by 1% will get 1% less. It is a simple mathematical formula for which no new forms, no new bureaucracy and no new delays are required.
It is common sense of the common people united for our common home. Now let us build some homes.
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