44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 28, 2024 02:00PM
- Feb/28/24 2:51:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, no party in the House is about to take any lessons from the Conservative Party on helping people in need.
The Conservative Party is still the party that lowers taxes for the rich and gives benefits to the wealthy. Whether we are talking about food banks, dental care, child care or seniors, its goal is not to help the vulnerable. We know that the Conservatives offer nothing but austerity and cuts to programs that Canadians need.
We will continue to be there for people by fighting climate change and by providing them with direct support.
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- Feb/28/24 2:52:07 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, northerners continue to experience the worst housing crisis in the country. Overcrowding is so bad that families sleep in shifts. One home was cracking in half from the melting permafrost and was only held together by duct tape. This cannot continue. For years, the government has ignored the territories' calls for investments to housing. They need the housing funding now.
Will the Prime Minister respect the territorial governments and deliver the funding they need to build homes?
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- Feb/28/24 2:52:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my thanks to the hon. member for her work as she speaks up for the people in the north. We are always going to be there to invest in housing, to work hand in hand with Premier Akeeagok and others, to make sure we are delivering for people in a situation that is extremely difficult for them.
We recognize these challenges, which is why we have sent millions and millions of dollars to the territories for the building of new housing. We will continue to be there with even more.
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- Feb/28/24 2:53:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, sky-high food prices are driving people to food banks. This did not happen overnight. It is because consecutive Liberal and Conservative governments put the profits of rich grocery CEOs before people. Visits to Nanaimo's Loaves & Fishes food bank were up 44% in just six months. Loaves & Fishes is beyond capacity and requires federal support in building a distribution centre to keep up with demand.
Will the Prime Minister provide this funding so that people on Vancouver Island are not left to go hungry?
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- Feb/28/24 2:53:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have stepped up our supports, as a federal government, to food banks and organizations serving the most vulnerable right across the country, and we will continue to.
In terms of grocery prices, more competition means lower prices, more choices and more innovative products and services for Canadians. We are going to continue to work on our new legislation that empowers the Competition Bureau to hold grocers accountable and to prioritize consumers' interests.
There is much more to do. We are going to continue to do it, working alongside anyone in the House who wants to tackle affordability and ensure that we are helping the most vulnerable across the country.
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Mr. Speaker, I have heard loud and clear from unionized workers in my riding about how excited they are about the government's bill to ban the use of replacement workers in federally regulated workplaces. Yesterday marked another significant step in the right direction as Bill C-58 received unanimous support in the House. Workers know that our Liberal government stands with them, because the best deals and the most powerful paycheques are made at the bargaining table.
Will the Prime Minister update the House on progress on this historic legislation to ban replacement workers?
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Mississauga East—Cooksville for his continued advocacy for Canadian workers. Indeed, the best deals are made at the bargaining table.
However, when Canadian workers see Conservative politicians like the members for Battlefords—Lloydminster, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan and Louis-Saint-Laurent parrot corporate talking points, they know that the Conservative Party of anti-union bills, Bill C-377 and Bill C-525, is still alive and kicking.
Canadians will not be fooled by the Conservative leader caving to pressure after a steady 19-year political career opposing unions.
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- Feb/28/24 2:55:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our common-sense plan will axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has doubled housing costs since he promised to bring them down. A National Bank report, out Thursday, revealed that in Victoria and Toronto, it now takes an astonishing 25 years for the average family to save for a down payment. In Vancouver, it would take 29 years. This is after he has created $80 billion of new housing spending that has been vaporized by bureaucracy.
Will the Prime Minister finally follow our common-sense plan to cut the bureaucracy and build the homes?
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- Feb/28/24 2:56:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we just announced two more housing accelerator agreements today in Whitehorse and in Saskatoon, adding to the dozens of agreements we have signed across the country to fast-track the construction of housing, over 600,000 homes. The Conservative Party's plan, which he is talking about, is to insult mayors and to cut critical infrastructure funding. It will not get any more homes built.
Cities understand that we need to change the rules to get more homes built faster. Indeed, the only one gatekeeping this progress is the Conservative leader himself.
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- Feb/28/24 2:57:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister pretends he has not been in government for the last eight years. He acts like this is his first day on the job. The fact that he has to read off notes would suggest it is his first day on the job.
The reality is that housing costs have doubled since he promised to lower them. Yes, he has created massive programs with wonderful new agreements and beautiful photo ops, where politicians pat each other on the backs and smile while they cut ribbons. The problem is that after eight years, nothing is getting built.
Why will the Prime Minister not get out of the way and cut the bureaucracy so that we can build the homes?
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- Feb/28/24 2:57:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, 19 years as a politician is the Leader of the Opposition, including some time as the housing minister, and his plan to fix housing is anything but a plan. It will not build homes fast enough. It does not reach enough cities, and it creates unnecessary bureaucracy. He would also, get this, rip up the housing accelerator agreements, which are unlocking over 600,000 new homes, and he would put the GST back on apartment construction.
Housing experts like Mike Moffatt say that the Conservative leader's plan is exceptionally weak, and it is a sign that the Conservatives do not understand the urgency or the scale of the housing crisis.
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- Feb/28/24 2:58:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister brags that there is a housing crisis after he has been in power for eight long years. He quotes the same failed Liberal academics who gave him the advice that helped him double the price in the first place.
The Conservatives' common-sense plan will incentivize cities to speed up and to lower the cost of building by requiring that they permit 15% more homes as a condition of getting the money. The more they build, they more they get; the less they build, the less they get. We pay builders based on the number of homes they build and realtors for the number that they sell. We should pay municipalities based on the number they permit.
Is that not common sense?
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- Feb/28/24 2:59:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, slogans and buzzwords do not get housing built; constructive deals with municipalities and provinces do. We see time and time again that Conservatives have nothing to propose but cuts, conditions and fights with municipalities, fights with community organizations, crossing their arms and tossing insults at people, instead of actually proposing a real plan.
We are busy working on delivering hundreds of thousands of new homes over the coming years. This is the work that needs to get done. The Conservative leader just needs to get out of the way.
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- Feb/28/24 2:59:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this just goes to show once again that the Prime Minister is not worth the cost of housing. He says that housing will be built over the coming years. He has been the Prime Minister for eight years. What has happened? He has doubled the cost of housing. Housing prices in Montreal have actually tripled in eight years.
My common-sense plan will incentivize municipalities to build more housing by giving them bonuses if they build more and penalties if they build less. That is just common sense.
Will the Prime Minister finally follow through on a plan for more housing and less red tape?
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- Feb/28/24 3:00:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Conservative leader is offering budget cuts, austerity and disputes with municipalities and non-profit organizations, or NPOs, across the country. We are choosing to work hand in hand with the municipalities, the provinces and NPOs to build more housing, lower rents and create more opportunities for families and young people to purchase a home.
We have a concrete plan that we are implementing. He has nothing to offer but insults, attacks, budget cuts and austerity.
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- Feb/28/24 3:01:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the government is mired in one of the worst financial scandals in the public service. It happened somewhere in the public service, yet to be determined. It is the worst scandal since the sponsorship scandal, which relegated the Liberal Party to obscurity for many years.
We have made four clear requests: that the Prime Minister acknowledge his responsibility; that he call an independent inquiry in addition to, but more limited than, that of other authorities; that he recover the money, for goodness' sake; and that he put the CBSA under administrative supervision after this massive mistake.
Let us start with the first. Will the Prime Minister admit that, as Prime Minister, he is accountable and responsible to the people of Quebec and Canada?
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- Feb/28/24 3:01:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, obviously this situation is unacceptable. That is why the authorities are looking into this procurement project, which obviously did not work as it should have. We expect anyone who took advantage of and personally profited from the activities of a government, whose priority was to save lives during the COVID‑19 pandemic, to face the consequences. We are ensuring that the authorities can do their work.
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- Feb/28/24 3:02:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, at least there is one thing we agree on: This is unacceptable. That means that the Prime Minister is responsible for something unacceptable. Take some action, please.
What is he going to do to recover the tens of millions of misspent dollars? Will he put the Canada Border Services Agency under administrative supervision and launch an independent inquiry, one that has the added appeal of going back as far as the Harper years?
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- Feb/28/24 3:03:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I said, we agree. This situation is unacceptable. That is why the authorities are closely examining the procurement process and looking at all the years when individuals involved in these companies may have benefited from government procurement projects. This is something that we obviously have to take seriously and that the authorities are taking seriously.
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- Feb/28/24 3:03:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have to wonder what was going through the mind of the Bloc Québécois leader when the Prime Minister asked him to spend $24 million on an app that was supposed to cost $80,000. He said that he would vote yes, regardless of the cost. That is what the Bloc Québécois said.
In fact, the Bloc Québécois House leader said that it is not the Bloc Québécois's job to scrutinize everything the government spends. Its members just tell the government, “Go ahead”.
What is the point of the Bloc Québécois?
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