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Decentralized Democracy

Deputy whip of the New Democratic Party

Laurel Collins

  • Member of Parliament
  • Deputy whip of the New Democratic Party
  • NDP
  • Victoria
  • British Columbia
  • Voting Attendance: 61%
  • Expenses Last Quarter: $127,392.53

  • Government Page
Context: House Hansard - 200 - May/18/23
Ms. Laurel Collins (Victoria, NDP)
  • May/18/23 2:47:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the average rent for a one-bedroom in Victoria is a whopping $2,000, and a two-bedroom is $2,600. Young people, seniors and those on fixed incomes cannot afford these enormous rents. People in my riding are being hit hard. Many are without a home, are in housing that does not meet their needs, are facing renoviction or are unable to save for the future. For every one affordable unit built, we are losing 15 affordable homes. Why do the Liberals refuse to take on giant housing corporations and why are they failing to increase the supply of affordable rentals?
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Context: House Hansard - 188 - May/1/23
Ms. Laurel Collins
  • May/1/23 4:17:37 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-47 
Madam Speaker, I agree that all levels of government need to tackle this crisis. I am very proud of the work the City of Victoria and the Province of British Columbia have done on housing. However, the Liberal government has had eight years in power. My community is seeing skyrocketing rents. When I sat down with non-profit housing providers, they told me that CMHC is where projects go to die. This is unacceptable. We need a government that takes the housing crisis seriously, that acknowledges that we have people who are living on the street, people who are struggling just to make ends meet and people who are afraid of losing the roof over their head. So many people have given up on the idea of ever owning a home. This is unacceptable. In a country as wealthy as ours, we need our federal government to do better.
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Context: House Hansard - 103 - Sep/27/22
Ms. Laurel Collins
  • Sep/27/22 11:48:13 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his excellent question. I would say that, absolutely, it is not enough. Five hundred dollars to support 1.8 million Canadians will help the lowest-income Canadians when they are struggling to pay their rent, which is important. However, we also need to be investing in social housing, non-profit housing and co-operative housing. It has been decades, and it was the Liberal government that cut the housing investments. We used to build co-ops. We used to build housing. This is job creation, and it is providing decent housing. It is treating housing as homes rather than investments. The Liberal government is comfortable letting real estate investment corporations and wealthy investors run rampant in our housing market, which hurts communities and it hurts families.
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