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House Hansard - 297

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 10, 2024 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 297 - Apr/10/24
Mr. Mark Gerretsen (Kingston and the Islands, Lib.)
  • Apr/10/24 4:52:46 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the problem with the member's assertion is that he is assuming that all military personnel want to live on the base. I can tell him that, when I was mayor of Kingston, every summer I would get together with the mayor of Watertown, which is right next to Fort Drum in the United States. The one thing the mayor of Watertown always talked about was how jealous he was, because Fort Drum was its own base with people living on it outside of Watertown and not really connected to the city. He would come to CFB Kingston and see the way it integrated so well into the community. When I was younger and in high school, all those in the military community lived around the base on the east side of Kingston. Now they live throughout the entire community. My kids quite often are coached on a team by a military spouse who has children on the same team. We get a certain level of integration when we encourage those in the military to live and participate in our community. I am wondering if the member can comment on whether he sees the benefit in that or if he thinks all military members should exclusively live on the base.
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Context: House Hansard - 297 - Apr/10/24
Mr. James Bezan
  • Apr/10/24 4:54:05 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would remind the member for Kingston and the Islands that he has not been mayor for over 10 years. For the last 10 years, he has been part of the Liberal government that has created the housing crisis we are seeing in every community across this country, including in his own. I am not advocating that all military bases have enough housing for all members who currently live there. A lot of them want to live in communities. The problem is that, for those in Esquimalt, in Halifax, in Toronto and even here in Ottawa, they cannot find the homes they can afford to raise their families in. That is the problem. That is because of the government's inability to get homes built. The number of houses getting built in this country continues to decline. We are building fewer homes this year than we did back in 1970 under the Liberals. That is because there is not the money, the regulation or the commitment to ensure that life can be more affordable and that houses can be more affordable for Canadian families, including those who serve in the Canadian Armed Forces.
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