- Member of Parliament
- Prime Minister
Leader of the Liberal Party
- Liberal
- Papineau
- Quebec
- Voting Attendance: 54%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $79,187.97
- Government Page
- May/29/24 2:51:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition mentioned the history lesson. Since he was the housing minister, he should know that the way we solved the housing crisis after World War II was by putting forward a catalogue of homes that builders could access to build extremely rapidly right across the country. Yes, that is one of the measures we are bringing back.
The Leader of the Opposition's mockery of concrete initiatives that are going to deliver for Canadians is exactly what is wrong with his approach. He would rather mock and insult than roll up his sleeves and get solutions built for Canadians.
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- May/29/24 2:49:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition's criticism is that there are too many measures in our housing plan. Housing should be solved by a simple, one-size-fits-all solution according to the Leader of the Opposition. That is perhaps how he managed to build only six affordable homes when he was the minister of housing.
We have a broad range of initiatives that are delivering on housing, like topping up the housing accelerator fund with $400 million and a new $6-billion Canada housing infrastructure fund to help communities build. We are leveraging transit funding to build more homes. We are launching a housing design catalogue. We are also incentivizing more skilled trade workers.
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- May/29/24 2:48:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the leader opposite speaks of 2015. We took office with a commitment to getting the federal government back in the business of building housing. We launched a national housing strategy in 2017, which put 2.5 million Canadians into new or refurbished homes, and we have continued to invest ever since. We are building homes on public lands. We are converting underused federal offices into homes. We are taxing vacant land to incentivize construction. We are building apartments, and bringing rents down with top-ups to the apartment construction loan program. We are scaling up modular housing. We are also launching Canada Builds to lead a team Canada effort to build more homes and more.
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- May/29/24 2:46:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canada is facing a housing crisis and we need to take real action towards it, which is what we have done with the most ambitious and achievable plan that this country has ever seen. However, that is not to say we have not had housing crises before, and it is not to say that we have not solved housing crises before. At the end of World War II, there was a need for massive new housing, and Canada stepped up and got that housing built. Indeed, when the boomers came of age, there was a need for massive housing. We made investments, and the federal government helped build housing across the country for boomers. We are doing that now as we build housing for every generation.
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- May/29/24 2:43:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, just like when he was housing minister, the Leader of the Opposition's solution is to do less to help Canadians, to invest less in supporting municipalities as they build housing, and to get out of the way and leave Canadians to fend for themselves. That is his political philosophy. It is a political philosophy; it is just not the one that supports Canadians. It is not the one that is delivering for Canadians as we step up with the most ambitious and achievable housing plan this country has ever seen.
We will continue to be there to invest in housing accelerators. We will be there to continue to take the GST off purpose-built apartments. We will be there for Canadians.
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- May/29/24 2:41:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we criticize, rightly, the Leader of the Opposition, who when he was housing minister built only six affordable homes for Canadians across the country. It is understandable, because he was part of a government that took the federal government out of the building of affordable housing. It chose that the federal government would have nothing to do with housing across the country. Those 10 years of non-involvement of the federal government left echoes.
We have stepped up and invested in communities and invested in partnerships. We are getting the homes built. We are delivering for Canadians.
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- May/29/24 2:40:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are leading on the efforts to solve the housing crisis with a plan that is ambitious and concrete. Meanwhile, after having his housing bill panned by experts as being an “exceptionally weak response to the housing crisis, riddled with loopholes”, the Conservative leader has chosen to repeatedly delay debate in the House since October on his bill. That is is because he just does not care. When he was minister, he lost 800,000 affordable apartments and built only six affordable homes.
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- May/29/24 2:38:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are leading efforts to address the housing crisis with an ambitious and achievable plan.
Let us talk about how housing experts have characterized his housing bill. They said it was an exceptionally weak response to the housing crisis and that it was full of loopholes. Perhaps that is why the Conservative leader has postponed the debate on his non-plan for several weeks.
The reality is that he does not want to have that debate, because when he was housing minister he lost 800,000 apartments and built only six.
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- May/29/24 2:37:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, unlike the member opposite, we have a solid approach that involves working in partnership with the municipalities and provinces to invest and to build more homes in the most comprehensive and ambitious way that this country has ever seen. When he was the minister responsible for housing under the Harper government, he created six affordable housing units for Canadians. That is not going to help. According to the experts who analyze these plans, the plan he is now proposing is extremely weak.
We have a concrete plan. He refuses to invest in helping Canadians.
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- May/29/24 2:35:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, instead of attacking elected officials, as the Conservative leader is doing, we choose to invest in reducing red tape and speeding up the process.
That is what we are doing with our 179 housing accelerator agreements that we signed with municipalities across the country. This will deliver more housing more quickly. These are agreements that the Conservative leader plans to cancel.
That is not going to help Canadians get more housing faster. We certainly did not see that when he was the minister responsible for housing.
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- May/28/24 2:27:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the so-called plan that the Conservative leader has put forward on housing does absolutely nothing to address homelessness or encampments.
We are investing hundreds of millions of dollars to help municipalities across the country build more housing rapidly and create the wraparound supports necessary to support people facing homelessness. We continue to be there with the most ambitious and comprehensive housing plan this country has ever seen.
This is part of what we are doing to make up for the lost years for which he was housing minister 10 years ago, not creating housing for Canadians and not investing in our future.
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- May/28/24 2:25:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is shameful that the Conservative leader continues to exploit the very real anxieties of Canadians.
As the Conservative leader was housing minister, let us talk about his record. He withdrew the government from co-operative housing. He supported the construction of zero new apartments. He gutted affordable housing initiatives and created new bureaucracies.
His housing proposal today continues to fall short. The Conservative leader is simply all slogans and no answers.
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- May/28/24 2:24:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we see the Conservative leader's hypocrisy on full display.
Let us talk about their housing proposal, which the Conservative leader has been delaying debate on for months because he knows it's not ambitious enough. His proposal will not build homes fast enough, does not reach enough cities and creates unnecessary bureaucracy. The Conservative leader would also rip up the 179 housing accelerator agreements and put the GST back on apartment construction. His clear lack of ambition on housing is partly how we ended up here in the first place.
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- May/28/24 2:23:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Conservative leader is preying on Canadians' genuine concerns.
When the Conservative leader was the minister responsible for housing, he withdrew the government from co-operative housing. He supported the construction of zero new apartments and he gutted affordable housing initiatives.
Today, his housing proposal continues to fall short. The Conservative leader is all about slogans, not real solutions.
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- May/28/24 2:21:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, once again, the Conservative leader's hypocrisy is on full display.
Let us talk about his housing proposal, which he has been delaying debate on for months. His proposal would not build homes fast enough, would not reach enough cities and would create unnecessary bureaucracy. The Conservative leader would also rip up the 179 housing agreements and put the GST back on apartment construction. His clear lack of ambition on housing is how we ended up here in the first place.
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- May/22/24 2:58:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have an opportunity to talk about our plan, which ensures fairness for every generation.
Our housing plan will build 3.87 million new housing units across the country by cutting red tape, reforming zoning, lowering construction costs and using public lands and vacant government offices.
We are going to put the dream of home ownership back within reach of young Canadians by helping them to save up, tax-free, for a down payment and by allowing renters to use their monthly payment history when they apply for a mortgage. We will help those who are struggling to afford housing and put and end to—
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- May/22/24 2:51:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, no one in this country thinks that a Conservative government that does nothing but offer cuts and austerity is going to help address the homelessness crisis in the country. That is not how it works. It takes investment in affordable housing. It takes investment in programs to support the people who are homeless. It takes investment in programs that are rooted in compassion and backed by data to deal with addictions. Those are the investments that are needed. He is proposing nothing but cuts and austerity while Canadians are suffering. We are here to invest in vulnerable communities.
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- May/8/24 3:14:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I agree with the member for Vaughan—Woodbridge that more needs to be done for renters. That is why we are unlocking well over 600,000 new rental homes across the country for the middle class, investing $1.5 billion to keep affordable apartments affordable and introducing a new renters' bill of rights to protect renters.
The Leader of the Opposition does not seem to worry about renters. He was housing minister in a government that pulled out of housing. Now, he wants to raise the taxes on apartment construction, and he continues to delay debate on his own housing proposal because he knows it does not measure up.
We will not rest until we level the playing field for renters.
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- May/8/24 2:51:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as people are well aware, it takes years for investments in housing to have an impact.
When he was the minister responsible for housing and his former government was in power, they spent virtually nothing on housing. They made no investments in housing for 10 years. Then the Conservatives were surprised to see a housing crisis beginning in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Of course that was because the Conservative government had underinvested in housing for so long.
We have been there to invest in communities and to help Canadians.
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- May/8/24 2:50:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have invested $900 million in Quebec alone through the housing accelerator fund. It has been so well received by Quebeckers that the Quebec government chose to add $900 million to the federal investment, because it knew the program would deliver housing across Quebec.
We are here to work in partnership with municipalities and provinces to invest in more housing, while the ideologically driven Leader of the Opposition calls for austerity and cuts, saying that if the government spent less, people would have more homes.
That is not true. He is wrong.
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