44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 8, 2024 11:00AM
- Apr/8/24 2:51:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the NDP-Liberal government, Canadians cannot achieve the goal of owning a home and continue to struggle amidst this crisis.
According to a recent report in The Globe and Mail, Canada needs to complete 320,000 housing units annually from now until 2030 to meet the demand. Canadians have had enough and must see this crisis managed properly. The Prime Minister is not worth the cost or the corruption.
Will the Prime Minister stop basing the budget on bureaucracy and photo ops and actually build the homes?
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- Apr/8/24 2:51:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is quite the contrary. I have had the opportunity to speak with many moms and dads across this country about the programs that we have been putting in place to support them.
I recently spoke to Chris, who lives in Peterborough. She is a Trent University student. She shared the impact of our waiving of the interest on student loans. She shared the impact of being able to access $10-a-day child care, as well as the Canada child benefit.
These programs have saved her tremendously and helped her and her daughter get ahead.
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- Apr/8/24 2:52:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians need homes and Canada has built fewer homes than it did back in the 1970s, when the population was half of what it is today. We need 320,000 units built annually before 2030. This requires a record pace of construction, which will exhaust an already burnt-out workforce. Canadians need solutions. The Prime Minister is not worth the cost.
Will the Prime Minister stop making announcements and just get the houses built?
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- Apr/8/24 2:53:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, do members know what helps moms and dads across this country afford a home? It is being able to have access to $10-a-day child care and get back into the workforce. We are seeing record numbers of women, of moms, getting back into the workforce, giving them the opportunity to contribute to their family finances and afford a safe place to live.
In contrast to the Conservatives' continued fearmongering, on this side of the House we are doing the hard work to support families.
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- Apr/8/24 2:53:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of this Liberal government, finding housing in Canada is a nightmare. It was actually kind of funny and a bit ironic to see the ministers and the Prime Minister strutting around the country last week talking about how incompetent they have been when it comes to housing. The proof is that the CMHC confirmed last week that average home prices doubled between 2019 and 2022. That was all under the Liberals.
Is next week's budget going to build housing, not just create even more red tape?
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- Apr/8/24 2:54:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, obviously, next week's budget is going to build even more housing. Consider these two numbers: six and 8,000. They are clear. During his reign as minister responsible for housing, the Conservative Leader created six affordable housing units in the entire country. In recent months, we signed an agreement with the Quebec government for a total of $1.8 billion that will build 8,000 affordable housing units, in Quebec alone, over the next few years.
Unfortunately, my Conservative colleagues from Quebec do not seem to be aware of the projects being carried out in their own ridings. If they would like more information, they can easily contact us.
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- Apr/8/24 2:54:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the minister must know that when the member for Carleton was minister, all housing was affordable in Canada. Now, the Liberals have doubled the cost of housing for all Canadians. Young families are losing hope of becoming homeowners, and seniors can no longer afford to pay their rent and are forced to stay in substandard housing. Some 80% of people who are due to renew their mortgage fear that they will not be able to make their payments.
Again, will the Liberals show some common sense next week and announce that they are going to build housing, not just create more red tape?
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- Apr/8/24 2:55:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our colleague is right. The six affordable housing units built by the opposition leader were indeed affordable. Over the past few years, we have built hundreds of thousands of affordable housing units. The construction of another 750,000 units will be accelerated over the coming years. In Quebec alone, 8,000 affordable housing units will be built in the coming months under an historic agreement, the biggest investment in housing in the history of Quebec, that we signed with the Government of Quebec.
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- Apr/8/24 2:56:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, while the federal government spends its time interfering in Quebec's jurisdictions, the situation in its own jurisdictions is getting serious. The Prime Minister is in shock after finally discovering that immigration levels have exceeded our integration capacity.
Who was oblivious enough to have increased permanent and temporary immigration without thinking about housing, schools or health? Who was irresponsible enough to have branded everyone who talked about integration capacity a xenophobe? If only we knew. Who knows, it could well be the same person causing the debt to skyrocket. Does the Prime Minister know who this reckless person might be?
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- Apr/8/24 2:56:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what the member opposite refuses to acknowledge is that we have a good relationship with the Government of Quebec. I even visited Minister Fréchette two weeks ago to discuss our shared issues and find common ground. We have agreed to work together on reducing the number of people who are here temporarily, but we need to do it the right way.
I look forward to doing so, not only with Quebec, but with all the other provinces and territories across the country.
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- Apr/8/24 2:57:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, since the Prime Minister is responsible for the largest population increase since 1957, many are likening him to a pyromaniac firefighter in the housing crisis. It is true that he is setting fires, but is he really trying to put them out? Is he lowering permanent immigration targets? No, he is not.
Is he spreading out the intake of asylum seekers among the provinces, to give Quebec some relief? No, he is not.
Is he reducing temporary immigration? No, he wants to increase it to two million, the highest level in history other than in 2023-24.
Now that he recognizes the problem with integration capacity, will he fix it?
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- Apr/8/24 2:57:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois should pay attention to the news. We made it very clear that we are going to reduce the number of people who are here on a temporary basis from 7% to 5%.
I have a question for the Bloc Québécois members. Where would they make cuts? I want them to be very specific, because I know there are many temporary workers in their ridings who work with farmers. Are they going to tell the farmers to reduce their numbers?
I would ask them to give a clear, definitive and precise answer.
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- Apr/8/24 2:58:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians are clear on the two most important economic issues we face, inflation and high interest rates.
They understand that government deficits cause inflation. Runaway deficits cause runaway inflation. This year's deficit is expected to be $47 billion, $7 billion higher than forecast. To say this is a runaway is an understatement. The Bank of Canada's governor has been clear that deficits are the main factor keeping interest rates high.
Will the Prime Minister cap his runaway spending with a dollar-for-dollar rule to bring down interest rates and inflation?
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- Apr/8/24 2:59:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is important for a responsible government to address issues around affordability, address issues around environmental sustainability, invest in growing a clean economy and have a sound fiscal management strategy. We are doing all of those things.
On the other side of the House, we have a Conservative Party of Canada that simply wants to cut and cut. It will cut affordable child care. It will cut dental care. It will cut the national school food program. It will cut the entire climate program. It will actually cut investments in growing a clean economy for the future.
My goodness, it is such an irresponsible position that these folks are taking—
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- Apr/8/24 2:59:48 p.m.
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The hon. member for Calgary Centre.
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- Apr/8/24 2:59:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government is just throwing taxpayer money at a wall without any thought about execution, and it is making matters worse for Canadians.
It is a whack-a-mole approach to economic policy. Obviously, after eight years of the NDP-Liberal government, Canadians cannot afford the Prime Minister, his excess spending or his corruption.
Scotiabank says that rate cuts could be delayed by high government spending.
Next week, the Minister of Finance will table her budget. It is time for the deficits to stop. Will the minister commit to a dollar-for-dollar reduction in order to bring inflation and interest rates under control?
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- Apr/8/24 3:00:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we will always be there to support Canadians, especially vulnerable Canadians, while maintaining a prudent fiscal position, including a AAA credit rating and the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7.
We have been there for seniors with increases in the GIS and the OAS. We are there for school children with a national school food program. We are there for millennials and Gen Z with affordable housing and rental accommodation.
On this side of the House, we know how to do prudence as well as providing for the most vulnerable in this country.
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- Apr/8/24 3:01:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what is keeping interest rates so high is Liberal deficit spending. That is what. Now we can add Scotiabank to the long list of economists saying that after eight years, the NDP-Liberal government is not worth the cost. Record-high deficits are keeping housing, food and fuel at record-high prices.
Will the Prime Minister fix the budget and adopt our common-sense Conservative policy by bringing in a dollar-for-dollar rule to bring down inflation and interest rates?
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- Apr/8/24 3:01:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, unlike the party opposite, we actually know the role of the independent Bank of Canada, which is to set monetary policy.
While we are prudently managing taxpayer dollars, we will continue to invest in Canadians. Because of our policies, 86% of women between the ages of 25 and 45 are in the workforce. That is the Canada child benefit and that is $10-a-day child care.
Every single time the party opposite has an opportunity to support Canadians, it votes against it. That is not common sense at all.
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- Apr/8/24 3:02:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, young Canadians in my community of Richmond and across Canada are struggling to find housing that fits their budget.
We are scaling up our efforts to build more homes and to build them faster at prices Canadians can afford. Through the housing accelerator fund, the federal government is investing over $35 million in the city of Richmond to fast-track the construction of 1,000 homes over the next three years and 3,100 homes over the next decade.
Can the minister share, with my community of Richmond and communities across British Columbia, how the government is supporting housing in budget 2024?
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