Senator Martin: CMHC says the gap between the amount of housing needed to restore affordability and the amount projected to be built by 2030 has gotten worse over the last year in my province of British Columbia. Statistics Canada said that in July residential housing permits in B.C. fell over 30% year over year. On Tuesday, it reported that investment in residential building construction also fell in B.C. in July.

Leader, the Trudeau government has been too late in acknowledging the housing crisis they created, and nothing they have put forward will come close to fixing it. If the Prime Minister believes he’s not responsible for housing, how can he bring homes to Canadians that they can afford?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. The government is considering many possibilities to address the affordability challenges that many Canadians are facing. Indeed, the government announced earlier this week that they will be introducing a bill in Parliament soon to address aspects of this issue. When that bill is introduced, we’ll have the opportunity to learn more about the plans and to study it.

It is public knowledge that, in addition to other measures, the bill will include modifications and amendments to strengthen our competition law, which is one aspect of ensuring that — through robust competition — prices can be controlled. But as for the specific question, all issues are being discussed, and when the government is in a position to announce further measures — whether through legislation or otherwise — it will be announced.

Hon. Andrew Cardozo: My question is for the Government Representative in the Senate, and it is on the topic of affordability. Let me start by painting the context of where we are.

I note several measures — from recent years — to help make life more affordable: the Canada Child Benefit in 2016; the National Housing Strategy in 2017; the increase to the Canada Pension Plan in 2019; and the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Plan, which is the national child care program that went into effect a couple of years ago, and we’re considering the bill related to this now.

Earlier this year, Parliament passed bills on the Grocery Rebate, the dental plan for children and the Canada Disability Benefit. All of these measures help Canadians in this affordability crisis. Perhaps you can tell your government to talk a bit more about some of these measures that they have taken so that we have a better idea of what they have done.

My question is simple: What other measures is the government planning? Would you consider price controls, perhaps, on basic Canadian groceries, or working with provincial governments to have strong national rent control?

Hon. Yonah Martin (Deputy Leader of the Opposition): Senator Gold, back in May, I raised with you the massive shortfall between the amount of housing the Trudeau government is promising and the amount Canada needs just to restore housing affordability by 2030. Earlier this month, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, or CMHC, said our country needs about 3.5 million more houses over and above what is already projected. This is roughly the same amount CMHC said we needed in a report released last year. So more than a year later, we haven’t seen progress.

Leader, your government first promised the Housing Accelerator Fund in 2021, yet it didn’t accept applications until this past July and it hasn’t built a single house. Why did it take so long for the Trudeau government to get an accelerator fund up and running during a housing crisis?

Senator Plett: Sounds like deceleration.