44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 25, 2022 11:00AM
- Apr/25/22 4:13:54 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, it is a true honour for me to speak in this House on behalf of the residents of my riding of Davenport on federal budget 2022. I am very pleased to be sharing my time with the hon. member for Winnipeg South.
Budget 2022 invests in three main things: people, economic growth and a clean future for everyone. Since the budget is almost 400 pages, I cannot relay everything that is in it, but I am going to focus on a few key things that I know are really important for Davenport residents. They include housing, climate action, immigration, support for workers, growing our economy and prosperity.
The first issue is housing. This is a huge issue for Davenport residents, like it is for all Canadians. The issue is not only affordable housing, but it is also housing affordability. It has become a huge stressor for so many Davenport residents that they cannot even imagine being able to afford a house or a condo in the city they grew up in. For those who do not know, my riding of Davenport is in downtown west Toronto.
I should mention a little context around housing. The issue around housing has been 30 years in the making. It is not going to be resolved overnight. Indeed, it does not matter how much money the federal government is going to give. All three levels of government have to work together in order to resolve this problem.
We have already committed $72 billion in financial support via the national housing strategy, and we have committed those funds over the last five years. In budget 2022, we have the most ambitious investment in housing ever at the federal level. We have introduced a number of initiatives that are very much focused on doubling the number of homes built over the next 10 years and also on providing a number of supports that will help Canadians save for their first home.
I will mention a few of the items that are in the budget. The first is that we are continuing our focus on housing our most vulnerable, with an additional $1.5 billion over two years to extend the rapid housing initiative, along with another half billion dollars for Reaching Home. These dollars, rightly, are focused on the vulnerable, because right now, we have to make sure that we are doing everything we can to eliminate chronic homelessness. We have made a promise to do so by 2030, although I am hoping that we will be able to do it much sooner.
The other thing I am really excited about on the housing front is that there is strong support for co-ops. Co-ops in my riding of Davenport are super popular, and we have a number of them. I will mention a few of them. We have the Tamil co-op, the Perth co-op and the Primrose co-op. I have a number of groups that have been saying for the last few years, “Julie, we would love to see the federal government put more money into helping to support the creation of more co-ops.”
Indeed, this budget has, in a very strong way, brought back a substantial amount of funding, so that we will create a new generation of co-op housing. We are estimating that we are going to be investing enough money that 6,000 units will be constructed. We will also be reallocating $500 million of the funding on a cash basis from the national housing co-investment fund to launch a new co-operative housing development program aimed at expanding co-op housing in Canada. In addition, we will be providing an additional $1 billion in loans to be reallocated from the rental construction financing initiative to support co-op housing projects.
Just to remind everyone, for generations, co-ops have offered quality, affordable housing to Canadians, while empowering their members through inclusion, personal development and security of tenure through their community-oriented model of housing. While co-ops are home to approximately a quarter of a million Canadians, nowhere near enough of these co-ops have been built in recent years. I am delighted at the strong support and strong investment in co-op housing in the years to come.
Another area that is maybe overlooked a bit and not mentioned enough in this House is the support in budget 2022 that is going to allow our federal government to incentivize cities to build more homes and create denser, more sustainable neighbourhoods while also increasing the housing supply. I will just mention a couple of funds. The first is the infrastructure fund, which we are going to use in budget 2022 to ensure that as we are giving the dollars to municipalities, we are going to create enough flexibility within the infrastructure programs to be able to tie access to infrastructure funding to actions taken by the provinces and municipalities to increase the housing supply where it makes sense to do so.
The other is that budget 2022 would also leverage transit funding to build more homes. The pandemic had a huge impact on public transit ridership. What we are trying to do, as we try to build up and create more public transit, is incentivize municipalities to also build greater housing and greater density along transit infrastructure lines.
I have a lot more to say on housing, but I want to get to some other topics. The key thing I want to leave everyone with is that we have made a historic investment in housing at the federal level, but it will take all three levels of government coming together to resolve this problem.
The next topic I would like to speak to is climate action. Climate change and climate action are super important to Davenport residents. They are one of the key reasons I ran for office. I wanted to be part of a federal government that was not only going to put together a plan but also commit the dollars and actions to implement that plan. Over six years, we have committed over $100 billion and over 100 actions, and budget 2022 would add an additional $13.2 billion.
Budget 2022 would focus those additional dollars on an emissions reduction plan, on expanding and extending the low-carbon economy fund, on new measures that would make it easier and more affordable for Canadians and Canadian businesses to adopt clean technologies, and on more funding to make zero-emission vehicles more affordable for Canadians. All of these measures taken together are going to ensure that Canada will continue to lead in global efforts to fight climate change, protect our nature and build a clean economy that would create the good-paying jobs of today and tomorrow.
As an aside, at the beginning of last week my heart was in the pit of my stomach when I read that the provincial Ford government was quietly altering its plan to hit its climate change targets. No matter how aggressive the federal government gets with $100 billion and 100 actions, there is no way Canada is going to be able to reach its climate targets if our largest province does not do its part. As our climate is changing more quickly than we had thought, to me these inactions are irresponsible, unconscionable and a crime against humanity.
The last section I am going to talk about is growing our economy. We are not going to be able to continue to provide the generous social welfare programs we provide, and are not going to continue to have a great quality of life, if we are not going to become more productive as an economy and if we are not going to invest in economic growth.
A key section of budget 2022 is child care. This is now a national program. It is not a social program. To me, this is an economic game-changer for women and families that is going to fully engage all Canadians in our workforce. It is going to help to add up to 4% to our GDP. It is huge for Davenport residents. It is huge for all Canadians.
I really love a lot of the investments we have made around immigration and supporting workers with more training and retraining. In 2021, we welcomed over 405,000 new permanent residents. We are going to be increasing that to 451,000 permanent residents, the majority of whom will be skilled workers who will help us address many of the persistent labour shortages we have.
On the worker front, the federal government, in budget 2022, talks about its commitment to work more closely with provinces and territories to adjust labour market transfer agreements, and to make sure Canadians have the training and retraining supports they need to help transition more workers and help local economies adapt and prosper.
I will end with one key idea I want to get across. We really need to work on harmonizing our regulations across provinces and territories, and we have to eliminate all barriers to people, goods and services. It is one of the key ways that we could increase our productivity and economic growth at no cost.
My time has come to an end. There is so much more I want to say, but I am going to end so I can answer questions. I am thankful for the opportunity to speak on behalf of the residents of Davenport on federal budget 2022.
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- Apr/25/22 4:42:07 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to begin by congratulating the hon. member for his 34 years of service and thank him for that.
I know that communities in his riding in Winnipeg are very much like mine in Hamilton Centre, yet Canada continues to see major losses in existing affordable housing as big corporations and REITs continue to scoop up housing on the market and renovict tenants. We have so many constituents who are living houseless, living in despair and dying needlessly in our streets.
Organizations such as FCM and the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness have been calling for the creation of an acquisition fund to support non-profits to rapidly acquire apartment buildings that go onto market in order to preserve and increase housing affordability. Will this hon. member and his government commit to the creation of such a fund to help combat the erosion of truly affordable housing in our communities?
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- Apr/25/22 4:43:15 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the question and the values that underpin it. This budget, as we heard from the member for Davenport just recently, and from other members, is actually almost dominated in some of its sections by the understanding that affordable housing is a basic value and that for too long now across various governments of different stripes we have not met the need of supply and the need of affordability.
We have to do a better job because without affordable housing it is nearly impossible for Canadians and their families to thrive. It is a priority that ought to become an even more major one.
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- Apr/25/22 5:28:33 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank the House for giving me the opportunity to share a little information about my Nova Scotia riding in connection with budget 2022.
I would like to begin by saying that our government, since 2015, has been a government focused on transformational changes. That is very important. This is not something that will happen tomorrow or next week, but in five, 10, 20, 30 or 40 years from now. It is so important to have a government focused on the needs of the future. By that, I am talking about the Canada child benefit and tax-free savings money for families. We encourage more growth, of course.
As well, there is the national housing strategy. Back in 2017, we brought forward the first housing strategy in Canada. That is transformational. There is more work to be done and I will talk about that. With child care, all of the 10 provinces, as well as the territories, have signed on. This is transformative. This is what was needed. This will benefit Canadians and bring more women into the economy as well.
The investments in dental care are extremely important. Again, over 30% of Canadians do not have access to dental care, and they will have it through this. Then there is pharmacare. We are taking steps forward in many, many areas that will make Canada even better.
In this speech I want to talk about, of course, the people. I want to talk about the businesses. I want to talk about clean energy. Those are key areas I want to focus on.
Before I begin, let us talk about where we were prepandemic. We were in a very good position economically. We had Canadians who had created 1.2 million jobs, which was very impressive in the time leading up to 2019. We had the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years. It was down to 5.4%. Those are very, very important numbers. Being in that position allowed us to get through this pandemic, invest in Canadians, invest in communities, and invest in families and businesses. Those are key areas of investment, of course, which are so important.
Where are we at now? Have we built back better? We absolutely have. How have we done it? Let us look at jobs, with 112% of jobs coming back. Three million-plus jobs are back here. We have 112%, whereas in the United States about 89% of the jobs have returned. The unemployment rate here is at 5.5%, which is 0.1% more than it was prepandemic, which was the lowest in 40 years. Those are very, very impressive numbers.
Now, let us talk about health care. Health care is very important. I think back. If the fathers of Confederation back in 1867 had known what we know now, they probably would have taken control of the health jurisdiction because it is very costly. We have many seniors. Provinces and territories are struggling, of course, to support Canadians through that avenue. That is why our government has been there, continues to be there and will continues to be there.
How are we doing it? We know that there is a need for more health care workers. The pandemic showed us a very important gap. What are we going to do to respond to that gap? First will be to provide the incentive to bring more doctors, nurses and health care workers to Canada. It is also helping those with student loans. Nurses can get up to 50% of their student loans back with rebates, which would be about $30,000. Doctors can get up to 60%. Those are very important numbers and incentives which will definitely encourage more to come.
Also, internationally, it is very important that we have the foreign accreditation program. We can improve that program. We feel that, with the improvements we are bringing forward, we will see about 11,000 more health care workers in Canada per year. Those are very, very important numbers that we need to see as we move forward.
Concerning the backlog of surgeries and procedures, which the minister has talked about on a number of occasions. I know lots of family members who have been waiting to have those procedures. Our government moved forward quickly last month to bring forward $2 billion extra for the provinces and territories so they can catch up on that backlog, which is so important.
Dental care is essential, as 30% of Canadians do not have dental care. I indicated that at the beginning of my speech. In 2022, we will see those under 12 years old receiving that support for dental care. In 2023, we will see it for those under 18 years old. By 2025-26, we will see all Canadians who do not have dental care today receiving that support.
The Canadian Labour Congress said that, “Canada's unions welcome the $5.3 billion investment in dental care that will give coverage to millions of Canadians, because everyone deserves a healthy smile.”
In the housing area, as I said, we have the first-ever national housing strategy, but now we need to continue to build on that, and these are the steps forward that we need to take. We are going to double our investments, which is very important.
What are some of the investments and programs we put in place that are working extremely well and that we are going to expand on? Let us talk about the new housing accelerator fund, which gives more flexibility to cities and municipalities to get affordable housing built. Also, we have the extension, if you will, of the rapid housing initiative, which has been working tremendously across the country. Within a year, we have affordable housing. For example, we might take an old school and renovate it, or we might see some improvements to buildings. These are structures that are already in place with permits that are already in place, and we can improve that access much faster.
I also want to talk about the tax-free first home savings account, which is very important. In my riding, I am hearing that young people are having trouble accessing housing, and this is one strategy. There are a number of strategies, but I want to talk about this one, because it is tax-free: It is deductible on the way in and tax-free on the way out. This is a little different from RRSPs, which of course are tax free on the way in but on the way out we have to pay taxes.
This would allow young people to build up to $40,000 as a tax-free investment. This is very important. As well, we would see the doubling of the first-time homebuyer tax credit, up to $10,000, for those building homes. These are all strategies to try to help young people get into the market.
Of course, for housing in general, we would ban foreign investments for two years in investment properties and also prevent the flipping of houses over 12 months. We should not let the Conservatives continue to tell the story that they have been telling since before the election, which is that we are going to tax principal homes. We absolutely are not. That is not the case at all.
The seniors file is very important. As I have talked about, in Atlantic Canada, we have the most seniors in the country. Let us look at some of the needs on the ground. It is always about what is happening on the ground and how we can help the people short-term, medium-term and long-term.
The multi-generational strategy is very important, because it looks at having a secondary suite in a home for grandparents or even young people with disabilities. One could get a tax credit of up to $7,500 on an investment of $50,000. There is also the doubling of the accessibility tax credit, which is extremely important. We want more people to stay in their homes. They are challenged, so we are going to help people have access in that area.
Veterans are very important. I am the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence. We have launched a new veterans homelessness program that will see services and rent supplements for homeless veterans. One veteran who is homeless is one too many. There is $140 million to help with reducing the wait time for veterans' benefits and $140 million ASAP for mental health treatment. While veterans' applications are waiting, they would be receiving the services.
Unions are very happy, of course, with the job growth, and we would see a labour mobility deduction of up to $4,000. Over the past 20 years, I have heard how some people have to travel for work or have to temporarily relocate and have not been able to claim that. We are doing that, and Canadian business and trade unions are very happy with that as well.
On climate change, there are two main areas that our government is focused on over and above all the good things we are doing, because we had the strongest green plan going into the election. There will be an extension of the zero emissions incentive program for vehicles and more charging stations for them, as well. These are key areas. Finally, there is the expansion of the ocean protection plan, which has many strategies to support our Canadian shores.
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- Apr/25/22 5:38:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I certainly appreciate the member's intervention here today. He specifically cited the tax-free first home savings account as being a measure that his constituents would utilize, so I have some questions for him.
First, what about the member's constituents who do not have $8,000 a year to set aside? Second, what happens over the next five years? Obviously, in the previous five years we have seen housing prices almost double. Last, many people, particularly young millennials, are getting bounced because of the Liberal stress test today. Let us say someone scrimps and saves, puts aside all that money, has $40,000 five years from now and then goes to apply and gets bounced. What will the member do? Will he send them an “I'm sorry” card?
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- Apr/25/22 5:55:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his mention of the new homebuyer program. We have listened at the finance committee to some of the very real problems that exist in the housing market.
This particular policy innovation, let us call it, is not something that we have heard a lot of people talking about or calling for. I wonder if the member would like to give some reflections on the kinds of housing policy items that would be constructive and would make a difference to make more housing available for more Canadians, versus the risk of a program that allows Canadians to save more money to put into a hot market with constantly escalating prices. The problem is that people continue to throw more money at the same houses in competition. What is the role of the government if not to try to tame that competition so that Canadians can get value for the money they have?
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- Apr/25/22 5:56:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I certainly appreciate the member's intervention. He is very thoughtful and I do appreciate his work at the finance committee.
Let us start with supply. Supply needs to happen, rather than giving CMHC $4 billion over the next five years for a program that says it is going to be flexible with municipalities but does not actually say what the money is supposed to do. One of the key aspects we need to do is to have that ready supply. I read in a book recently about the issue that if we do not have housing, then, with the constraints around that, the wealthiest take the best spots and then all the way down it is cruel musical chairs, except with housing.
We need to focus on the supply issue, and I believe that the Government of Canada and the provinces need to start pounding the table with municipalities and saying we have a societal goal here, and that is to get young people where they have that first chance. We need to deal with this. We already have rents that are going out of control. If there were no government controls at the provincial level, we would be having people who would not be able to afford where they are. That is a terrible state for a modern economy. We need to fix this. We are the second-largest land mass in the world. We have always been open to immigration, and yet we have allowed ourselves to be stuck into this problem.
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- Apr/25/22 6:12:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague talks a lot about inflation. She also talks about housing. Access to housing is a huge problem.
One way to combat inflation is to increase housing supply. I would like her to tell us about the measures announced in the budget, which, in my opinion, are still too weak.
I would like to hear her thoughts on this. What measures could we take to quickly increase housing supply, and in particular social housing?
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- Apr/25/22 6:12:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague is absolutely right on the issue of supply, when it comes to the government's housing plan. I think the government has lacked any creation of supply or any significant creation of supply within our housing market, which is why we are seeing unaffordable 50% rises in places like the GTA, where I am from. I think the government needs to get on an aggressive track to build more, and we know from this budget that not a single home will be built this year. I asked the minister about it earlier today and he certainly could not give an answer, so I agree with the member that this is a supply-side solution where more of the same programs are not going to get houses built.
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