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Hon. Michael Chong

Member of Parliament
Member of the panel of chairs for the legislative committees
Conservative

Wellington—Halton Hills
Ontario
Voting Attendance: 65%
Expenses Last Quarter: $120,269.09

Government Page

Context: House Hansard - 212 - Jun/13/23

Jun/13/23 1:07:07 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we support all sorts of housing, whether it be co-op, not-for-profit, for profit or affordable housing. To be clear, the source of our problem with the lack of apartment supply in Canada is not solely capital gains taxes. There is a range of problems. One other problem, which I did not mention in my remarks, is property taxes. I was talking to Jack Mintz, an economist who has done some research on this, and he told me something astounding. In most Canadian cities and provinces, property taxes on apartment buildings are way higher than property taxes on single detached homes in the suburbs. That is because over decades, municipal councils have decided they can increase the mill rate, the tax rate, per hundred thousand dollars of assessment on apartment owners in a way they cannot on homeowners of single detached homes. That is a problem that needs to be addressed, because many people who rent are of much lower income than those who own a home.

171 words

Context: House Hansard - 212 - Jun/13/23

Hon. Michael Chong

Jun/13/23 1:05:11 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for her question about the report's 14th recommendation. I agree that more affordable housing is needed across the country, including in my riding of Wellington—Halton Hills. At the same time, Canada is in a crisis situation. We cannot rely on only building affordable housing units. The only apartment units being built in Canada are being built with public subsidies. The private sector should be building much more than just affordable housing units that have been subsidized with public subsidies. They should be building apartment units for people to rent, but they are not because of some of the macroeconomic policies that I just highlighted as a problem at the federal level. While I support the construction of new affordable rental units, more than that, we need many more rental units to help drive down the cost of renting an apartment. That would be a far more powerful way to make housing more affordable for low-income Canadians than any single government program.

172 words

Context: House Hansard - 165 - Mar/7/23

Hon. Michael Chong (Wellington—Halton Hills, CPC)

Mar/7/23 2:43:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if the government treated the threat seriously, it would listen to the advice of CSIS. CSIS has said that an effective way to counter foreign interference is through sunlight and transparency, to build resilience by informing Canadians about interference threat activities. The government has done the opposite. First it hid behind excuses and accusations, and then it hid behind a secret committee and a special rapporteur. The government has been anything but transparent about this. It is burying the truth in process. Why?

85 words

Context: House Hansard - 164 - Mar/6/23

Hon. Michael Chong (Wellington—Halton Hills, CPC)

Mar/6/23 2:35:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, for years, CSIS has tracked Beijing's foreign interference and has said, “foreign interference is a serious threat to the security of Canada.” For years, CSIS has advised the Prime Minister that “Canada can make use of a policy that is grounded in transparency and sunlight in order to highlight the point that foreign interference should be exposed to the public.” Will the Prime Minister heed this advice, be transparent and let PMO officials testify before a parliamentary committee?

85 words

SoVote

Member of the panel of chairs for the legislative committees

Hon. Michael Chong