44th Parl. 1st Sess.
September 21, 2023 10:00AM
- Sep/21/23 2:02:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I spent my summer knocking on constituents' doors, connecting with them at community events, and visiting their small businesses and local organizations that are making a positive impact on the lives of many Frederictonians.
As a member of Parliament, my duty is to bring their voices and concerns to Ottawa to represent them to the best of my abilities and fight to ensure their needs are met. At a time when global inflation has driven up the cost of necessities such as groceries and housing, people are worried about their families. That is why I am focused on bringing forward solutions.
We are taking action to build homes more quickly, drive down the cost of housing, stabilize the cost of groceries and support families at a time when they need it the most by implementing universal $10-a-day child care. We are removing the goods and services tax on the construction of new apartment buildings for renters, and we are helping small businesses stay afloat by extending the CEBA loan repayment deadline. These are immediate, targeted measures to provide relief.
I am so proud to be part of a team that invests in the well-being of all Canadians. There is always more work to do to build a more inclusive, equitable Canada where everyone can thrive, and we are ready to face these challenges together.
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- Sep/21/23 2:16:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the current Prime Minister, Canada is in housing hell. He is just not worth the cost. While he simply offers apologies and photo ops, by contrast, our Conservative leader is offering solutions, with the building homes not bureaucracy act to fix what the Liberals and NDP broke. As a former mayor, I can say that this is exactly the type of leadership we need in this country right now.
We would reward cities that actually build homes and penalize gatekeepers that block them, remove GST on affordable rentals, sell 15% of surplus federal properties for housing and, finally, force federal executives in housing to meet a 60-day standard by scrapping their bonuses or even their jobs if they do not get it done. It is common sense to give performance bonuses only when someone delivers results.
There used to be a deal in Canada that if someone worked hard, they would get a home. The Liberals and NDP have broken that, and Conservatives will be the ones to fix it for them.
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- Sep/21/23 2:23:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is fascinating that, after we started talking about housing, the hon. member put forward a plan that tinkers around the edges, which experts have indicated demonstrates a lack of understanding of the urgency and scale of Canada's housing crisis.
For example, we have advanced a measure that would get rid of GST on apartment construction. He has now made a commitment to put it back on for middle-class homes. He has made a commitment to cut the program that is now changing the way that cities build homes in London and Calgary and will impact many cities across the country.
We will advance policies that make a difference, not just hang something in the window and be a pretender as he is.
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- Sep/21/23 2:24:49 p.m.
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The hon. Minister of Housing.
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- Sep/21/23 2:24:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member is concerned about building affordable homes, he should talk to the people who advocate for the building of affordable homes. They are telling us to advance a full GST measure, not a half measure, because that is what is going to get homes built in this country.
The Leader of the Opposition plans to cut the housing accelerator fund, which is changing the way that cities build homes. He would literally cut money that would build homes and is planning to tax the people who build them. If he cannot see that this would not work, he should go back to his image consultant and tell them that he needs to start wearing glasses again.
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Sep/21/23 2:26:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the minister responsible for housing admitted that there are strings attached to the $900 million Quebec is supposed to get to build social housing. The thing is, social housing is not his responsibility.
Is he telling people in distress, who may soon be unable to pay their rent or who are at risk of ending up homeless, that they are being held hostage by the Liberals' desire to centralize?
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- Sep/21/23 2:26:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question.
Yesterday evening, I had a productive and positive conversation with my Quebec counterpart, Minister Duranceau. We are working in partnership with Quebec to establish programs to support people who need more affordable housing.
We are going to continue to work with provinces and our partners at different levels of government to establish programs that support vulnerable people, including in Quebec.
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- Sep/21/23 2:28:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the housing crisis is the result of Liberal and Conservative budget cuts to social housing and co-operative housing programs. Now we are learning that the elimination of the GST on housing construction does not include a definition of affordable housing. It is absolutely ridiculous, insulting even. What planet do the Liberals live on? Housing is a fundamental right. People's lives are at stake.
Will the Liberals put people before profits and build two million social and co-operative housing units?
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- Sep/21/23 2:29:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question.
I would like to remind him that, for the first time, the federal government has not only adopted a national housing strategy but has also appointed a federal housing advocate.
On this side of the House, we believe that all Quebeckers have the right to housing. That is why we have made historic investments with Quebec, to ensure that all Quebeckers have a roof over their heads.
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- Sep/21/23 2:29:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals finally listened to the NDP and tabled their housing plan to remove the GST from building new homes, but people in London are getting evicted by rich developers. Liberals and Conservatives have spent the last 30 years creating this housing crisis and have caused people in my riding, like the tenants of Webster Street, to be pushed out of their buildings so a corporate landlord can be even greedier.
The Liberal plan does nothing to stop profiteering landlords from throwing people onto the streets, so please, will the government steal another idea from the NDP and announce a housing acquisition fund so co-ops and non-profits can keep people in their homes?
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- Sep/21/23 2:30:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I am sure the hon. member knows by now, we had the opportunity to visit her community in the city of London, where I met with non-profit housing providers who are doing extraordinary work on the ground to support people and prevent them from falling into homelessness. She may have also seen that we worked closely with the city and council under Mayor Josh Morgan's leadership to invest $74 million, which is going to change the way the City of London builds homes going forward. In the next few years, it will add thousands of homes to the supply in that city, which will drive down costs, make housing more affordable and allow people to enjoy life in a complete community in the city of London. We are proud of that work.
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- Sep/21/23 2:32:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I think members can see how thin-skinned the Leader of the Opposition can get when he gets a piece of his own medicine.
International students are a credit to this country. They are the future of this country and are an asset that is very lucrative, and we cannot let them down. Clearly we need to work with the provinces to make sure they have proper housing, and we have to crack down on agents who are giving them false hope across the country, but let us not make this a partisan issue.
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- Sep/21/23 2:32:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the question was how one loses a million people. How is it that the Prime Minister scoured his entire front bench, and hopefully he even gave a little attention to his beleaguered back bench when he was shuffling the cabinet, and the one guy he could find to fix the doubling of housing costs that he incurred as Prime Minister was the guy who lost a million people, the guy who who will go down in history in the Guinness Book of World Records as having lost more people than have ever been lost in the history of the world? How is it possible they could not find anyone better than that to put in charge of housing?
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- Sep/21/23 2:35:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what I heard from Canadians, what every member of our government heard from Canadians, is that they want lower rent and lower grocery and food prices.
Today we introduced legislation that will help do just that. The affordable housing and groceries act will remove the GST from the construction of rental housing in order to build more homes in this country faster. It also strengthens Canada's competition laws in order to help stabilize prices for all Canadians.
We are laser-focused on the needs of Canadians and we are responding substantively. What are the Conservatives doing?
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- Sep/21/23 2:44:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I share my hon. colleague's concern about the real, serious pain that families are feeling across this country, but let us not ignore the sources of some of these challenges: global inflation as a result of the war in Ukraine, as a result of climate change and other global factors. We are going to support Canadians through these times, including by helping them with the cost of housing.
One of the major initiatives that we launched last week is to remove federal tax on home building in Canada. This is the kind of thing that will add to Canada's national housing supply and reduce inflation when it comes to the cost of living for many Canadians.
I hope the Conservatives will join us by advancing a full measure, not a half measure that tinkers around the edges.
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- Sep/21/23 3:20:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for his warm congratulations, and as this is my first time at providing the Thursday statement, I would also like to say that I look forward to working with him and the other House leaders to advance legislation.
This afternoon we will continue with second reading debate of Bill C-33, which deals with strengthening the port system and railway safety in Canada.
I actually have some good news for my hon. colleague. When it comes to affordable housing, debate on the the bill we introduced today on eliminating the GST for rental housing will begin at noon on Monday. I am sure he is very much looking forward to that. It was introduced this morning by the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. We will continue with this legislation on Tuesday as well, and I hope we can count on the support of all parties in this House to advance it for Canadians to bring down the cost of housing and the cost of groceries.
On Wednesday we will resume debate on Bill C-49, amending the Canada–Newfoundland and Labrador Atlantic Accord Implementation Act.
Finally, I would like to inform the House that next Thursday, September 28, shall be an allotted day, which I am sure the member will be pleased about.
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- Sep/21/23 5:45:00 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the hon. member is right: We need to do better. Our government is taking steps to protect Canadians from the impacts of climate change. Extreme weather events brought on by climate change pose risks to Canadians' homes, their sense of security and their financial futures. We are helping them access flood insurance that protects them now. We are investing in climate-compatible housing and that will contribute to a safer, more climate-friendly future.
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