44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 26, 2022 10:00AM
- Apr/26/22 2:38:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question. I also thank the Commissioner of the Environment for his work.
I have been following the work of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development for more than two decades. This work is certainly very important to our government and should be important to all governments since it helps us to do better.
We want our climate change plan to be one of the best in the world and we want our strategy, including our hydrogen strategy, to be one of the best in the world. We will work on doing exactly that.
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- Apr/26/22 2:39:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to move on to another equally concerning report that came out this week on the environment, this one from the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.
The UN office is projecting that, by 2030, the number of natural disasters per year will reach 560. We are talking about floods, major droughts and extreme temperatures. All of these will increase by 40% in just eight brief years. The UN has called it a spiral of self-destruction.
Did the Minister of Environment consider the increase in natural disasters before approving the Bay du Nord project and its billion barrels of oil?
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- Apr/26/22 2:39:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we take climate change adaptation very seriously, which is why last year we started working with expert panels to design Canada's first national adaptation strategy, which is expected to be adopted this year.
We are working with the provinces and territories, indigenous peoples, municipalities and other stakeholders to develop Canada's first national adaptation strategy.
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- Apr/26/22 2:40:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Earth Day was last Friday.
The Minister of Environment issued a news release for the occasion, saying, and I quote, “Canadians join people around the world to...focus on everything we do to keep our shared home healthy.”
Could the minister explain and share his thought process on how approving Bay du Nord and its billion barrels of oil will keep our shared home healthy?
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- Apr/26/22 2:40:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I suggest that my hon. colleague take a look at the latest official greenhouse gas emissions inventory report, which shows that in 2019, before the pandemic, Canada's greenhouse gas emissions went down, even though oil production increased by 700,000 barrels.
It does not end there. There were 100 measures, $110 billion in investments and a huge number of regulatory measures to make Canada a leader on climate change.
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- Apr/26/22 2:41:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, from the Liberal government that brought us a disastrous air passenger bill of rights, which has been panned by consumer groups as completely useless, the government now wants to do a so-called homebuyer bill of rights. Page 47 of the budget says this is under provincial jurisdiction. Could the Minister of Housing please enlighten us as to exactly how the government will protect consumers in a home sale under provincial jurisdiction when it cannot even protect a passenger from a cancelled flight under its own jurisdiction?
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- Apr/26/22 2:42:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our government has always believed in collaboration with all orders of government to benefit Canadians. The member opposite should know that we have a strong track record on provincial, federal, territorial and municipal collaboration. The news flash is that we now have affordable child care in Canada. That is as a result of collaboration between our government and 10 provinces and three territories.
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- Apr/26/22 2:42:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, rather than tackling the supply issues driving the housing and affordability crisis, the NDP-Liberal government has doubled down on its failed approach. The NDP-Liberal budget promises the same failed programs that will not see any additional houses built this year or help a Canadian family afford a home who otherwise could not. The average home price in Canada is now $868,000, up nearly 30% in the last year alone. Canadians need help now. When will the Liberal government take this housing crisis seriously?
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- Apr/26/22 2:43:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what Canadians do not need is a mishmash of conflicting policies from the official opposition. The leader of the official opposition believes that we should download the costs of housing to municipalities. The member for Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon believes that we should download the costs to provinces. The member for Calgary Centre believes that we should not ban foreign owners. The member for Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry believes that we should pull back from federal investments in housing. The member for Calgary Centre does not believe in building multi-unit buildings for affordable housing. That party does not get its story straight on housing.
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- Apr/26/22 2:43:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in Canada, as we just heard, the average price of a home is $868,000, but in South Surrey—White Rock the average price is $1.2 million, and that is not even for a detached home. Rather than dealing with a supply shortage, the government is doubling down on its failed policies and programs. Canadians do not want to co-own their homes with this tax-and-spend government. They do not trust the government. When is the government going to get serious, abandon its failed policies, increase supply and cut red tape?
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- Apr/26/22 2:44:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the best way to deal with housing affordability is to increase housing supply and to do it faster. Unfortunately, if the member opposite is so concerned about housing supply, she should talk to her leader, who opposes our collaboration with municipalities to increase housing supply. She should talk to her colleague from Calgary Centre, who opposes a ban on foreign ownership. She should talk to her colleague from Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, who believes we should just download the costs to provinces. She should talk to her colleague from Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, who believes we should just get out of the whole national housing strategy.
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- Apr/26/22 2:45:30 p.m.
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Zack has a job offer in my riding of Peterborough—Kawartha, but he cannot find affordable housing. This is a common theme across the country. There are a lot of job vacancies, but no housing. How can we fix the employment crisis when we have a housing crisis?
People need a place to live. It is a basic human need. How is Zack supposed to pay off his student debt if he cannot accept job offers? Will the housing minister continue to roll out one failed program after another, and is Zack the latest victim of his housing policy failures?
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- Apr/26/22 2:46:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the hon. member talks about housing as a basic right. When we brought forward the National Housing Strategy Act to recognize housing as a human right, that party voted against it. That is not—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Apr/26/22 2:46:30 p.m.
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Order. Are we ready to continue?
I will allow the Minister of Housing to restart his answer.
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- Apr/26/22 2:46:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the solution to housing affordability is housing supply. We are collaborating with municipalities through the housing accelerator fund to build 100,000 new homes in the next two years and double the number of new homes built in the next 10 years. We are also extending supports through the first-time homebuyer incentive and the tax-free savings account to first-time homebuyers. We are also tackling speculation by banning foreign ownership of Canadian residential real estate in the next two years, and we are building more affordable housing.
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- Apr/26/22 2:47:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, today the environment commissioner released another series of scathing reports on the Liberals' climate failures. He showed that they are failing on carbon pricing, letting big polluters off the hook while indigenous communities pay the price, failing to reduce emissions, relying on non-existent policies that undermine their credibility, and failing on climate infrastructure. They cannot even keep track of the impacts of their projects. On a just transition, they are leaving workers and communities behind.
How can Canadians trust the government's promises when we see failure after failure after failure?
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- Apr/26/22 2:48:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, we welcome the commissioner's latest report and thank him for his findings. I do not know what is so controversial about that.
Over the last six years, we have made major progress on everything from putting a price on pollution to protecting historic amounts of our lands and water. As we have planned in budget 2022 and the emissions reduction plan, we are transitioning to a clean economy. We are putting a cap on emissions from Canada's oil and gas sector, and we are putting a price on pollution through to 2030.
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- Apr/26/22 2:48:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, God help our little planet with a minister like that in charge, because if he read the environment commissioner's report, he would point out that energy workers are facing a potential economic upheaval as devastating as the collapse of the cod fishery in the 1990s.
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Apr/26/22 2:48:58 p.m.
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I know the member for Timmins—James Bay has a big voice, but I am having trouble hearing it all the way up here.
This is what I am going to do. A lot of times I am getting ministers to repeat their answers. I am going to ask the member for Timmins—James Bay to repeat his question and start from the beginning.
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- Apr/26/22 2:49:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, God help our planet with answers like that from the minister, because the environment commissioner today warned that energy workers are facing a potential economic upheaval as devastating as the collapse of the cod fisheries in the 1990s. Slogans and promises about a so-called “just transition” just will not cut it. The commissioner reminds us that the government has broken every environmental promise it has made, and now it is breaking faith with energy workers and their families.
It is simple. The climate crisis is here. How can the minister stand in the House and continue to show such a dismal record of failure?
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