- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- NDP
- Port Moody—Coquitlam
- British Columbia
- Voting Attendance: 68%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $129,260.13
- Government Page
- May/21/24 4:54:05 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we know economists have been saying for years that there is going to be a need for more rental housing. The capitalist society realized this very quickly, and corporations started buying up more affordable apartment buildings. I think about REITs and about one specific REIT, Boardwalk, which recently made its profit announcement. It talked about the fact that it is using CMHC funding and is taking advantage of low interest rates through CMHC that average Canadians do not have access to.
My question to the member is this: Why is the Liberal government continuing to put the needs of corporate Canada ahead of people who need a place to rent?
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- Feb/1/24 2:49:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, rent is due today. For workers in Port Moody—Coquitlam, that rent will cost over 50% of their monthly paycheque. Some seniors are facing renoviction and homelessness because corporate investors are buying up their affordable homes. The out-of-touch Liberals created this mess alongside the cut-and-gut Conservatives, who work for greedy corporations. Why are the Liberals dragging their feet when Canadians desperately need affordable rental homes now?
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Mr. Speaker, the government member just said that, since 2015, the Liberals have recognized that the federal government needs to be involved in housing. That is not true.
I am the representative for the NDP on HUMA. The housing minister of the very recent past refused to acknowledge that the Liberals have a market-driven lens on their take on housing. I can tell members that it has been damaging to my community of Port Moody—Coquitlam, and they are still doing it.
I think about the rents right now and the seniors in my community who are being displaced by the gentrification. There has been luxury condo after luxury condo that the federal government has loaned money for. It has not spent a dollar on operating, when it needs to subsidize and help those seniors stay in homes. We have seniors living in tents.
I am not going to let the Liberals take a victory lap on the work they have done since 2015 because they have done nothing.
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- Dec/14/23 7:04:13 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank the member for the comments. I certainly appreciate him for highlighting the work of SHARE in our community. SHARE is one of the largest organizations in our community and has so many services for people. I really appreciate the work SHARE does in the Tri-Cities.
The member talked about the rapid housing initiative, and at this point in time, I am trying to reach Infrastructure Canada to talk about modular housing with regard to the rapid housing initiative. The member knows that the rapid housing initiative is well oversubscribed, with many denials because it is not enough.
I want to go back to the fact that a one-bedroom apartment in Coquitlam is renting for $2,350 right now. We cannot ask people to wait for homes. They cannot afford homes right now. They need action.
Again, will the government front-load its investments into co-ops and purpose-built rentals, immediately match the B.C. rental protection fund and help those who need to get into a home today?
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- Nov/23/23 11:25:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I raise my hands to the member for Nunavut, who has stood up so many times in this House to explain to the Liberal government why it is so important that it live up to its human rights commitments, especially in regard to housing. There are absolutely unacceptable conditions in Nunavut, and there is a partner there ready to go.
I will follow up on the question from the member, though. We know food prices are extremely high across the country. We know this is about food price gouging. This is about profits. Because there is not competition in the grocery chains, they are taking home extreme profits. They are not being taxed fairly, and they are taking advantage of Canadians. That is why this bill is so important: We need to get serious about addressing that competition.
The other thing I will talk about is the fact that the rental, co-op and not-for-profit housing in this country needs extreme investment, and this is a tiny move forward. We are hoping for more from the Liberals. We need more from the Liberals. Affordability is just so important across the board.
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- Nov/23/23 5:06:05 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to follow up on the last points the member made around rent and who is really going to benefit from the GST exemption.
Of course I believe that the GST exemption is a good idea. I wish it had happened many years ago. Would the member mind just expanding on what we need to do for renters?
In British Columbia, there are above-guideline rent increase papers being served to people. I know that, for one of the residents in my riding, their rent went from $1,100 to $1,400, and they were asked to sign one of these above-guideline rent increases. Could the member expand on what he thinks would be helpful to make sure renters are protected?
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- Nov/23/23 3:41:14 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is good to stand in the House today to talk about a very important bill. It is the idea that we are going to get some purpose-built rental housing built. To the member's point, it is not going to be as fast as we need, and that is why we need other measures outside of this bill. However, on this bill, there are people in my community waiting for purpose-built rentals, so I would like to see this go through, but I would like to see more than what is in this bill.
Can the member share some of the solutions they have? I believe that the Conservatives can support this bill and improve it. Let us see what they have.
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- Oct/26/23 2:31:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the minister keeps talking about solutions that are not going to happen for this winter.
As my colleague from Edmonton said, people are already sleeping out on the streets. Students are sleeping in tents, couch surfing or living in overcrowded conditions because they cannot find affordable housing. It is beyond unacceptable. The lack of affordable rental options for students in B.C. is leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and homelessness today.
However, the Liberals and the Conservatives are too busy blaming each other and other levels of government instead of getting to work. When will the Liberal government invest in affordable and safe student housing for today?
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- Oct/23/23 6:53:10 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am rising tonight to talk about the rising rates of rents in my communities and the inability for people to find a home to rent.
In my riding of Port Moody—Coquitlam, rent is rising at an alarming rate. As of October 2023, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Coquitlam is $2,465. This is a 23% increase compared to the previous year. Rentals are priced beyond what many people can afford. With the prices of homes being even further out of reach for many, rental is their only option.
The number of people who have not been able to secure safe and affordable rental housing is now causing a homelessness crisis in the Tri-Cities. In Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody, there has been an 86% increase in homelessness. The Tri-Cities Homelessness and Housing Task Group released its records this month. The local figures show that 160 people in the Tri-Cities indicated that they are homeless. We have seen their affordable housing being taken down and replaced with luxury condos that are unaffordable to most of our community.
Families are being pushed out of their neighbourhoods. Seniors and persons with disabilities are unable to find a new place to live as their long-term housing has been taken down. We have seen this government promise to invest in affordable housing, but its approach is just not working. The lack of affordable housing is hurting people, especially those living on fixed incomes.
Something has got to change, but this government has only just started talking about housing affordability and, really, there has been no talk about how we get people into affordable rentals now. Our communities do not need more expensive condos. They cannot wait for the much-needed GST rebate. The housing accelerator fund is not helping renters fast enough.
Will this government step up and work now to get some affordable housing in the community of Coquitlam?
I will close with another question. Right now in my riding, there is new development happening almost every day, and there is a large development coming up in my riding. I am wondering how we can get the federal government to come to the table early, to start the discussions on how we can get more affordable housing replaced in my community.
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- Oct/23/23 3:11:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the City of Coquitlam has had to foot the bill to save affordable homes because the federal government is missing in action. Renters in my community are being displaced at alarming rates as their homes are being sold off to for-profit developers. Homelessness in Coquitlam is soaring. We cannot afford to lose more co-ops and rentals. The Liberals are turning their backs on local governments that are doing their best to protect low-income renters.
How many more people need to go homeless before the Liberals take this housing crisis seriously?
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- Jun/21/23 6:04:56 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the member and I are neighbours; we share a border. Today in our local newspaper, one of the headlines said that rents are unaffordable for 40% of Coquitlam renters. While the Conservatives continue to try to deny children dental care, the NDP is working on solutions to get people in homes and stay in homes.
One thing that is happening in B.C. is a housing acquisition fund. The B.C. government has put forward a housing acquisition fund that would allow the province to work with not-for-profits and co-op housing to maintain housing in our communities. I wonder if the member can talk about whether the federal government is going to come forward with a housing acquisition fund, as has been requested over and over again by the member for Vancouver East.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to take a moment to share some things that happened in my riding this weekend and why it is so important that in this chamber, we understand how our decisions impact people on the ground.
On Friday, a caller from outside of my riding, from Victoria, phoned in and said they considered taking their life on Wednesday of last week. It was only because the House passed Bill C-22 that they felt hope. That kept them going.
On Sunday, I was at a community event and a similar situation happened. A woman approached me and said that if it was not for the support of her family and her parents around her as she managed the system of income supports for the disability she is dealing with right now, she would have taken her life by now.
Today, the newspaper in British Columbia talked about 100,000 renting families being at risk of losing their home in our community. Some of that is due to corporate ownership of housing.
I wonder if the member opposite would share some of the impacts of being able to get work done in this House. That matters to people on the ground. As we talk about our privilege, we are not at risk of losing our housing and we are not at risk of not having coverage when we get a disability. People in Canada are. It actually turns my stomach and makes me feel a little ill to think that we would sit here while people consider taking their life because we do not want to advance legislation.
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- May/29/23 2:50:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Halifax is over $2,500. That is a 25% jump from last year, and workers' wages are not keeping up. People can no longer afford to pay rent because the Liberals are allowing big housing corporations to buy up rental units and jack up the rents.
Families should not have to compete with multi-million dollar corporations to find a place to call home. When are the Liberals going to stand up for Canadians and make rent affordable?
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- May/18/23 2:46:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the average rent in Coquitlam is now $2,800, the third-highest in the country. Seniors, single mothers and people with disabilities are being evicted, as their long-time rental homes are being replaced with luxury condos. I met a single mom whose rent went up 50%, just so she could stay in her community after she was displaced by a for-profit developer. This is unacceptable.
What the Liberals are doing now is not working. What are they going to do to keep rents affordable?
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- May/17/23 12:13:56 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the Liberals do not understand the housing crisis in this country. The Prime Minister said this week that “we have taken significant steps on supporting low-income renters, including a $500 housing benefit top-up”. Five hundred dollars is is supposed to end the housing crisis in Canada? I could not believe my ears. I have some news for the Prime Minister, the price for an unfurnished one-bedroom rental home in Metro Vancouver has climbed to $3,000 a month. Families, persons with disabilities, single mothers, students and seniors in Vancouver can no longer afford to live there. The housing crisis has only gotten worse under the Liberal government.
A study out of UBC this week says that B.C. renters are the most likely to be evicted, 10.5% of B.C. renters have been forced to move in the last five years due to sales of their rental home and renovictions. That is compared to 5.9% in the rest of Canada. The Prime Minister said, “We are introducing measures to end rent evictions.”. News again to the Prime Minister, whatever those measures are they are not working and they are doubly not working in B.C.
At Winsome Place apartment building in Surrey, the low-income residents got a surprise in their mailboxes this month. The landlord delivered them a document labelled "agreement to above guideline rent increase". The landlord said that if they did not sign and accept a $400 increase in their rents their units would be sold in the next few months. These were seniors who have lived in that apartment building for a very long time. This is the reality in the rental housing market right now.
The government is more than halfway through its 10-year national housing strategy, with more than $31 billion spent, yet the costs of housing are not going down. More people are going homeless and CMHC says that we need more financialization of housing to solve the problem. Really, more financialization of housing? They want more investors to use the luxury condos as investment vehicles? The government is subsidizing developers and corporate investors with its low-interest loans. This is not a solution to the rental housing crisis for mid- and low-income Canadians.
What the Liberal government continue to not understand is that this is a housing crisis and it is causing other social crises in our communities. It is causing homelessness. It is causing opioid overdoses and it is increasing social problems in the lives of Canadians. The lackadaisical attitude of the Liberals to truly fix this crisis and instead hold on to their market-driven solution of trickle-down “condo-nomics” is hurting people. Just consider the disgusting comments in QP today from the Conservative leader in regards to ending clinically proven safe supply. If the government does not get serious about creating affordable housing and getting Canadians into homes, more people will die.
When are the Liberals going to take the housing crisis seriously and make housing truly affordable for all Canadians?
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- May/10/23 2:55:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the price for an unfurnished one-bedroom rental home in metro Vancouver has climbed to $3,000 a month. Families, students and seniors in Vancouver cannot afford to live there. The housing crisis has only gotten worse under the Liberal government. The government has allowed greedy corporate landlords to buy up homes, hike rents and make it impossible for Canadians to secure affordable housing.
When are the Liberals going to crack down on corporate landlords and make housing truly affordable?
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- Mar/20/23 3:14:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, caregivers are at a breaking point as the Liberal government fails to solve the health care crisis. This is putting increased pressure on families to care for their loved ones.
The important job of caring for parents, grandparents and children is most often left up to women, and this work is unpaid. The government can support caregivers by immediately making the Canada caregiver credit a refundable tax benefit to put money back into the pockets of people.
Why is the government delaying this benefit for those who care for their loved ones?
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his question, because I did want to talk very quickly about rent banks.
This legislation would make a huge difference to renters in my riding, in Port Moody, Coquitlam, Anmore and Belcarra. A rent bank came into being during COVID. A rent bank was necessary in my community, and the usage of that rent bank continues to increase.
The same thing is happening all across the country. We know in Ottawa the usage of the rent bank has gone through the roof. This legislation would stop people from having to visit the rent bank and having to go and visit the payday loans. They are almost impossible to return, so I also want to thank the member for his private member's bill on the interest rates of payday loans.
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Mr. Speaker, what price would the member be immediately comfortable with so that parents across Canada could have the same peace of mind that the member enjoyed to make sure that their kids are healthy?
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