44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 6, 2021 11:00AM
- Dec/6/21 2:33:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Public Health Agency of Canada reported an 88% increase in opioid-related deaths last year. The Prime Minister has repeatedly said we need to listen to public health officials to get through the pandemic. However, when it comes to the overdose crisis, he is ignoring those same health officials who are clearly saying that decriminalizing personal possession of illicit drugs and providing a safe supply are essential first steps in ending stigma and saving lives.
The stigma starts with the Prime Minister. It has been six years, and over 20,000 people have died from a poisoned drug supply. When will he finally take action?
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- Dec/6/21 2:34:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our government recognizes that substance use is a health issue. We are looking at ways to divert people who use drugs away from the criminal justice system and toward supportive and trusted relationships. We will carefully review any request to decriminalize the personal possession of drugs on a case-by-case basis, as well as new ways to address the toxic drug supply. We will continue to use every tool at our disposal to end this national public health crisis.
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- Dec/6/21 2:34:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, do you know how many buildings the federal government owns? It owns 37,246. Do you know how much land the federal government owns? It owns almost 41 million hectares. Conservatives had a plan in the last election to tie infrastructure dollars to housing prices. The Liberals' plan creates more housing inflation.
Can the minister tell us how a 20% rise in housing prices is actually helping Canadians?
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- Dec/6/21 2:35:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, every Canadian deserves a safe and affordable place to call home. With respect to the hon. member's question, I would point out that is precisely why our government brought in the national housing strategy, which has seen more than $72 billion planned to help ensure Canadians get the housing they need. Since 2015, in just the past six years, our government supported the creation of nearly 100,000 new units and has repaired over 300,000 more across all housing programs, representing $27.4 billion.
There is no shortage of investments we have made to make sure Canadians have places they can afford and that are safe to call home.
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- Dec/6/21 2:35:38 p.m.
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That is unreal, Mr. Speaker. Does the member not realize that in downtown Toronto, the average price of a single detached family home is $1.8 million?
Let us compare Canada with the rest of the G7. Housing supply is the highest. It is the lowest, but housing inflation is the highest. New builds are up. They are down 5.2%, and house prices are up 20%. Under what metric in the world is this plan working?
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- Dec/6/21 2:36:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is hard to figure out what metric the member is pointing to when we are confused about which is higher and which is lower.
With great respect, what has not wavered is our commitment to ensuring that we are investing in building supply and investing in programs. There is a new rent-to-own program so people who are renting can afford a place to call home, which will have generational impacts. These are investments that are going to make homes more affordable for first-time buyers.
Whether it is housing affordability or building more affordable housing, our government has been committed, like no other government in the history of Canada from the moment we first formed government, and that is not going to cease. We know it is a problem and we are going to continue to address it.
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- Dec/6/21 2:36:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, despite the fact that Canada has the second-biggest housing bubble in the world, according to Bloomberg, and Vancouver and Toronto are the second and fifth most unaffordable housing markets on earth, according to Demographia, the Liberal media and the Liberal government want me to stop talking about housing inflation. Who does not want me to stop talking about it? Raj, who is an IT worker from Brampton. He has had to drive Uber in order to save up over 15 years to make a down payment on the average house in his community.
Will the minister tell Raj and other Canadians whether we have a housing bubble, yes or no?
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- Dec/6/21 2:37:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have to acknowledge that there has been a rapid and serious rise in the cost of housing across Canada, but we were wise to this fact long before the pandemic. That is why we advanced the national housing strategy beginning six years ago, which did not seem to get the support of the opposition parties at the time. We are going to continue to make the kinds of investments that have already seen 100,000 new units constructed and 300,000 units retrofitted.
We are going to continue to make the kinds of investments that will increase supply and reduce costs so more Canadians like Raj can enter the housing market in Canada.
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- Dec/6/21 2:38:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is no surprise that the finance minister is running away from her record on housing inflation. After all, since she took the job, prices are up by 20%. Since this government took office, they are up 58%, almost $300,000. They really started to rise when the government started to flood financial and mortgage markets with $400 billion of easy money, which has raised not only house prices but also land prices.
Now that we have the second-biggest housing bubble in the world, will the finance minister finally recognize that Canada has a housing bubble, yes or no?
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- Dec/6/21 2:38:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, once upon a time, the Conservatives liked to cast themselves as the party of sound economic management, but now they have a finance critic who, as one columnist recently put it, “has breezily bent facts past the breaking point, notably by asserting that Canada has run the largest budget deficit in the Group of 20, and that Canada's inflation rate is far higher than all its peers except the United States.”
Neither assertion is true, of course, so why should we listen to anything the member for Carleton has to say?
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- Dec/6/21 2:39:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the member loves to quote the Liberal, state-funded media to defend herself. Well, let us do that. Let me quote The Globe and Mail, which wrote, “The Liberal government is asking Parliament to approve billions of new spending during a brief four-hour sitting in Ottawa but is facing questions because it has not released a full accounting of how it spent more than $600 billion last year”.
We do not know how this deficit ranks because the Liberals will not release the public account. All we know is that they have flooded the economy with over a half trillion of deficit spending, driving up housing prices to be the second highest in the world.
I will go back to the same question: Does Canada have a housing bubble, yes or no?
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- Dec/6/21 2:40:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, maybe the Conservatives' truth problem starts at the top. After all, a recent press conference by the Leader of the Opposition was littered with misleading statements about the economy. I will not get through all of them, but I will start.
He said that Canada has the lowest growth. The truth is that Q3 GDP numbers show our economy is growing faster than those of the U.S., U.K., Japan and Australia.
He said that Canada has the worst record on employment. The truth is that we have recovered over 106% of jobs lost since the pandemic, compared to just 83% in the U.S.
I could go on, but I have run out of time.
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- Dec/6/21 2:41:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I wish she would go on because she loves to quote Liberal media commentators. One of the articles she quoted earlier actually talked about how she put manipulative media on Twitter, making history as the first minister in Canadian history to be sanctioned by a social media company for sharing misinformation online, so enough with the misinformation.
The question was about housing prices. According to Bloomberg, we have the second largest housing bubble in the world.
Will the minister acknowledge that there is a housing bubble in Canada, yes or no?
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- Dec/6/21 2:41:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it turns out it is not just the member for Carleton or the Leader of the Opposition who have a truth problem. Last week, the member for Kootenay—Columbia claimed that we are experiencing hyperinflation, but hyperinflation happens when inflation gets to 50% a month. The member for Lambton—Kent—Middlesex claimed that we are experiencing stagnation, but in the third quarter, our economy grew by 5.4% a month.
The Conservatives are yet again showing Canadians that they just cannot be taken seriously.
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- Dec/6/21 2:42:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this morning, La Presse published some disturbing stories from anonymous people, including a mother who wants to get a firearm to defend herself. This mother said, “Guns have become so commonplace in my community, that I'm wondering whether I should learn about them and get one to stay safe at home”. Even mothers are now wondering whether the only way to protect their children is to get a gun.
Does the minister understand how urgent it is to do something about firearms trafficking?
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- Dec/6/21 2:43:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question, especially on this solemn anniversary. We must work extra hard to address this issue, which is why our government has already taken meaningful action, such as banning assault-style weapons, adding resources at the border and working closely with the Government of Quebec to create spaces that are safe for everyone.
That is our government's commitment, and we will continue with this approach.
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- Dec/6/21 2:43:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are at a crossroads. When members of the public come to believe that the solution to gun violence is to arm themselves, we have reached the limit. In this area, the federal government has failed miserably.
The minister consults, discusses, and sits back, while American gun culture takes hold in Canada. We are finally seeing our society sliding toward the ugliest aspect of our neighbour to the south because of the federal government’s inaction.
What will it take for the government to wake up?
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- Dec/6/21 2:44:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I share my colleague’s concerns. That is why, last week, I had two virtual meetings with my Quebec counterpart and the leaders of PolyRemembers. Especially today, when we must acknowledge all the challenges we face in this area, we must work even harder and keep searching for concrete solutions.
Our government is committed to working with all members of the House on this issue.
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- Dec/6/21 2:44:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this is urgent. Many assault weapons are prohibited, but everyone who owns one can keep it. This is urgent, but the government has not made a mandatory buyback one of its first priorities. This is urgent, but the government has not made banning handguns a priority either. The government wants to offload that responsibility onto the provinces.
Today, 32 years to the day after what happened at the Polytechnique, does the minister realize that the women who survived are sick and tired of commemorations and pious words that are not backed up by action?
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- Dec/6/21 2:45:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I can assure my colleague that mandatory buyback is one of the government's priorities. That was one of our promises during the election campaign. We will keep looking for other solutions, adding resources at the border, and finding and creating safe spaces for everyone. On this solemn anniversary day, in particular, that is our government's promise.
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