- Member of Parliament
- Liberal
- Humber River—Black Creek
- Ontario
- Voting Attendance: 65%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $134,163.57
- Government Page
Mr. Speaker, I am really pleased this morning to stand and reference various areas in the fall economic statement. It was a very good statement that gave us an opportunity to see a focus on some of the areas that the government and all members of the House, I am sure, are concerned about and supportive of, especially for the residents of Humber River—Black Creek. The help for the cost of living, for dental care, for rent and for numerous other issues has been received very well by the residents of Humber River—Black Creek.
When the government released the 2022 fall economic statement, it talked about making life more affordable, which is something we hear a lot about and something we know is very important, and how we continue to grow an economy that works for absolutely everyone. The statement outlines a plan for continued support to help all Canadians with the cost of living and to build a Canada where no one is left behind. We are committed to continuing to help families cope with the increasing costs that we hear about every day and that we see every day when we go to the grocery store and to checkout counters.
Part of this is about making housing more affordable, which is another issue. Even in this morning's news, the top story was talking about housing affordability, and I believe the fall statement tries to address some of that. It also tries to strengthen and build a thriving net-zero economy with opportunities and jobs of the future. Amid global economic uncertainty and a reckless trickle-down economics approach pushed by some here in the House that benefits the wealthy, we are staying focused on making life more affordable for everyone and building an economy that will work for everyone.
We are investing in Canadians, including by eliminating interest on student loans and apprentice loans. I have been here long enough to have met many times with student unions from all universities across the country. They continually talk to us about how difficult it is to get student loans and how the interest continues to climb. Finally taking some action on that is extremely helpful and is very appreciated by that particular part of the community. Apprentice loans are another issue, and giving people time to get a job and additional time before they have to start repaying loans is important. With interest rates rising, eliminating the interest on those loans would be very much appreciated.
We are also talking in the economic statement about helping people buy their first home. I can say how important that is. We all know that. We all have grandkids or kids who are looking to buy their first home, and the fact that now they will have a $40,000 tax-free first home savings plan will really be a boost for the housing industry. It will be very helpful for many young people who are trying to buy their first home. It will also continue to attract investment in our clean economy and help create good, solid jobs.
Everyone should have a safe and affordable place to call home, and this is one of the reasons that with the 2022 fall economic statement, our government would deliver $500 in additional support to low-income renters. I have many renters in my riding, as others have, and the struggle to keep up with the increased cost of rental accommodation is very difficult. Some people will say that $500 once is not enough, but $500 is helpful as they move forward to try to deal with inflation, which hopefully is coming to an end, here in Canada at least.
The $500 is additional support under the Canada housing benefit specifically for low-income renters. This federal benefit would be available to all Canadians with an adjusted net income below $35,000 for families, so we are talking about families that are truly struggling to make ends meet, or below $20,000 for single Canadians who pay at least 30% of their income toward rent. In Humber River—Black Creek, I know lots of families that are struggling in that situation.
We are also creating a new refundable multi-generational home renovation tax credit to provide up to $7,500 in support for constructing a secondary suite, which will help families who take care of an aging grandparent at home or help parents afford to support a child with a disability moving back home, starting in January 2023. That is another step forward, when we talk about affordability and the lack of housing in so many different parts of our urban and rural centres. To be able to do some renovation of one's home that would allow one to have a second suite that would either provide rental income or enable an aging parent to age at home, is much appreciated.
The fall economic statement is also big news for students, as I mentioned earlier. It proposes to permanently eliminate interest on Canada student loans and Canada apprenticeship loans, including those currently being repaid, beginning on April 1, 2023. This would save the average borrower $400 per year. Recent graduates could also wait until they make $40,000 a year to start repaying their federal loans. These things seem like common-sense issues. If we are trying to encourage Canadians and our young people to take additional courses, whether it is apprenticeship or advancing their education, so that they can earn a better income and contribute better to moving Canada along, then we all want to see that they are not penalized at the end of the day, so helping them in a variety of different ways is quite helpful.
Our government is also doubling the GST tax credit to put hundreds of dollars in the pockets of those who need it the most. Starting November 4, 2022, so it is already moving forward, single Canadians without children will receive up to an extra $234, and couples with two children will receive up to an extra $467. Again, some people might say that is not enough, and ask why we bother. When we are stretching from one dollar to the next dollar to the next dollar, $234 is a lot of money, as is $467, to help feed the family and put the food on the table. Seniors, whom we talk about a lot and care immensely about, will also receive on average an extra $225.
We are also delivering much-needed relief for parents who cannot afford dental care for their kids under 12. That is an issue we have talked about for many years that I never imagined we would actually deliver, so I am glad we have started a program that truly is going to help our young children, because there are many of them who do not have any kind of coverage, so they do not see a dentist until something starts to hurt and they are forced to.
A third of Canadians do not have dental insurance, and in 2018 more than one in five Canadians reported avoiding dental care because of the cost, because it is very expensive. Our job is to help parents who struggle financially, by investing in their children's health care. Canada's dental benefit will provide parents or guardians with direct upfront tax-free payments of up to $1,300 over the next two years to cover dental expenses for their children under 12 years old.
Canada needs to also build the technology, the infrastructure and businesses to help reduce our carbon reliance, but this will not occur without rapidly increasing, and then sustaining, private investment in activities in sectors that will strengthen Canada's position as a leading low-carbon economy. That is why the 2022 fall economic statement launched the Canada growth fund, which will help bring billions of dollars in new private investment required to reduce our emissions, to grow the Canadian economy and to create well-paying jobs.
This fall economic statement also has support for hard-working Canadians, and that is in the new quarterly Canada workers benefit. We are moving this to an advance payment, because people who work really hard for really low pay cannot wait until the fiscal year is over to get a top-up. They need it while they are working, and they deserve it. We should be rewarding them for doing those hard jobs and encouraging them to continue.
I am very pleased to have had the opportunity this morning to speak to the fall economic statement, and I look forward to hearing comments from my colleagues in the House.
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Mr. Speaker, I absolutely did not mean to offend the hon. member. I know her passion when she speaks in the House, and I quite often applaud it and agree with many of the comments. However, I am very proud of what our government has done when it comes to housing. We have invested billions and billions of dollars across Canada with our rapid housing initiative, but all these things take time. They do not just materialize overnight.
I was told recently that a house that used to take eight months to build now takes 22 months to build. We cannot create them in mid-air, but the funds are there. It is happening all the way across the country, and I look forward to seeing some of those housing developments in the riding of my hon. colleague.
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Mr. Speaker, I will try to bring the temperature down a bit. We are here to debate and to discuss, but I do not want anyone to have a heart attack in the sense of trying to get a point across. The issue of housing—
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- Feb/1/22 3:49:00 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, my colleague has made it very clear in the time he has been in the House that these are issues that he cares very much about.
I think together we will move forward to ensure there is housing that is affordable. Whatever name we want to put on it, we have to ensure that rental housing is being built that is affordable for all Canadians. As well, we need an avenue to give people the opportunity to get a foot in the door, as I like to refer to it, so they have a chance to start building some equity in their own home. Those are certainly the intentions of the programs we have through the national housing strategy. We have a Minister of Housing, so we have a lot of people in our government who are focusing on how we are going to make sure that housing is available and readily available.
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- Feb/1/22 3:36:41 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it's a great pleasure to speak following the hon. member for Scarborough—Guildwood. The hon. member and I have spent many years together arguing about various issues. I have tremendous respect for him on the issue of modernization and other issues that he has championed for a very long time, and I look forward to working with him until completion on some of the bills he wants to move forward.
Happy new year to all. It seems like we have not been here for forever and a day, yet this is just February 1. It is good to be back.
To begin my comments on the Speech from the Throne, I want to take a moment to acknowledge my former chief of staff, who has left the Hill for private practice. He got married, has a wonderful little boy named Charlie and is enjoying the private sector. I want to acknowledge Teddy Markey for the years he was in my office. I very much appreciated his work, and I wish him well with where he is now.
As we talk about the throne speech, which again seems an eternity ago, we had not yet heard of omicron. Many Canadians were looking forward to the future and a recovery from COVID-19. All of us were, actually. We thought we had turned the corner from what had been a terrible year for so many, with the loss of the lives of so many people in Canada and throughout the world. Fortunately, the government was able to see that and establish some protections, but many others did not. The government saw that we needed to prepare for the possibility that this was not over, so it put forward legislation to continue to protect Canadians in the event that we would face more lockdown situations and need to continue to support Canadians and Canadian businesses.
Those in opposition thought that was never going to be necessary and that we would not need those mechanisms. We did, and most Canadians are very grateful that the government put forward the extra support, which some Canadians are using as a lifeline as we go through this. The government was able to put mechanisms in place to support provincial and municipal health decisions, giving them the support that they very much needed, as we found ourselves in a semi-lockdown position yet again. The Liberal government has proven time and time again that we will support Canadians throughout this pandemic in a responsible manner. The Prime Minister indicated that we have Canadians' backs, and all parliamentarians want him to make sure that we have the backs of the Canadians who are struggling to get through this difficult time.
Our legislation for those supports went beyond just financial support, because we all learned about the kinds of abuse many nurses and doctors were having to endure. The legislation did more than just help Canadians financially. It made a point of putting protections in the legislation for nurses, hospitals, etc., from protests that impede their work and their safety. It also included the procurement of rapid tests and vaccinations. At this point, we have one of the highest vaccination rates in the world and the lowest mortality rate of any country in the world. If we look at both of them, Canada has done a very good job of balancing and dealing with difficult things.
All children five years and up can now access vaccinations and any boosters they need for free, and we will make sure that future boosters are available to Canadians as they continue to protect themselves against this pandemic. We are also working to support other countries in receiving doses of the vaccine, because we need to end this worldwide. We need to make sure we reach out and provide vaccines to other poorer countries around the world at a much faster pace, I would say, than we have in the past. We are never going to end this pandemic without those measures. To get through the current situation, we need to reach the point of getting past it and putting this behind us.
I will move on to some of the issues that were raised in the Speech from the Throne that I think are very important for the residents of Humber River—Black Creek and all Canadians. One of those issues we are currently dealing with is the issue of housing. We hear about it in the House all the time. We hear about it in committee, and we hear about it from Canadians.
As our population grows in size and our immigration levels grow, more homes are needed. It just makes sense. We have our communities and our country is growing. People want to come to Canada, and they have a lot of skills to bring to our country, but they need to have a place to live when they get here, and that cannot be just in large urban centres. People want housing, and that means that even in small rural communities, there is a great need for affordable housing where people can have a different quality of life than what they could possibly have in an urban centre.
Whether it be via renting or buying, Canadians are feeling the pressure as costs rise, and these things feel more and more out of reach for those who have not been able to get a foothold in the market. This is why the government is taking measures to help those who want to own and who want to get their foot in the door of ownership.
As the cost of living continues to rise around the world, saving a 20% down payment while renting seems impossible to many. However, programs such as rent to own are exactly how my husband and I got our first house, and those are the kinds of programs that are going to help many Canadians get their foot in the door. Then there is the first-time home buyer incentive, which would make the dream a reality, and Canadians would literally use their rent to put toward the down payment of their home.
However, it is not just future homebuyers who are feeling the pressure. We have come to realize that the renters are in a similar situation. This pandemic has highlighted just how difficult renting is for Canadians. I would like to share a story about a family who is currently struggling along those lines.
This family was living in a house that went up for sale when the homeowner decided to take advantage of the high prices and the high value of his home. It took them three months, 14 applications and applying everywhere while they were looking for a rental home. There were many bidding wars and, yes, I said “bidding wars” over rental properties. I never would have believed that would happen, but it has clearly become a really big problem for people who are trying to keep a roof over their heads. Finally, this family got a plea from the realtor to the owners of their new home to help them find a place to live.
Now, the cost of rent is so high that it takes four adult low-income earners to pay the rent and the bills. Four adults and two children in a three bedroom home with an unfinished basement is the best this family could do with a rent between $2,500 and $3,000 a month. It is very difficult, and it takes all of the money of the four adults to be able to pay the rent and put food on the table.
Sadly, there are far too many Canadians who find themselves in the exact same predicament, some even becoming temporarily homeless. It is situations like this that need to be stopped. This is why our government intends to help with creating more homes, specifically more affordable homes, so that families do not have to worry about which bill they are going to pay and whether or not they will have a roof over their heads next month.
Many are women who find themselves in these situations of low-income, marginalized groups. Women are more often than not the ones who end up having to be the main caregiver, whether single or not, and it is women who often take care of the children. This is why our Canada child care benefit is so important, along with our $10-a-day child care, which is going to open the door for thousands of women to be able to go back to school, improve their education and, more importantly, have the opportunity to have a better life and a better future for themselves and their families.
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- Dec/9/21 6:05:26 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is good to see my colleague back in the House. I have to say that I disagree with absolutely everything he said. I do not recall, in the years we have both been here, ever hearing the official opposition talk about establishing a national housing strategy or ever seriously talk about the need for affordable housing. I can tell members there have been millions of dollars spent in the Toronto area specifically for affordable housing. I can practically knock on the doors of many that have been built in the last two or three years.
Is it the intention of the official opposition to establish a national housing strategy, if they ever get back in as the governing party?
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