44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 13, 2022 10:00AM
- May/13/22 11:30:15 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals make big promises on housing affordability, but the changes in their budget law on GST for assignment of sale make a terrible situation even worse. The GST is already charged by the builder of a duplex or fourplex, but under these changes, if the purchaser of the units then sells one to a family, that family must pay the GST to the government again.
Can the tax-and-spend Prime Minister please explain to the House how taxing families more and raising the cost of housing help anyone but him?
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- May/13/22 11:30:53 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the member's question gives me an opportunity to again talk about our housing measures, which his party has voted against several times.
In budget 2022, we have a lot of measures to help access a new house and build more affordable housing. I hope this time around members will support the measures this government is presenting.
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- May/13/22 11:31:21 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, they are raising the cost of housing and the member has nothing to say about that. I guess the truth hurts.
Let me say that what is truly cruel, though, is when the Liberals propose a shiny, new first-time homebuyer savings account and young families with dreams of home ownership actually believe them. What they do not say is that it will take five years to max it out at $40,000, if they have the money to save. Even then, they must qualify under the Liberal stress test.
What will the Minister of Housing do when those few but earnest millennials open up the account, save $40,000 and then are bounced by the stress test? Will he at least send them a “we are sorry” card?
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- May/13/22 11:32:04 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question.
I myself have children who are millennials. I myself am having these discussions with my children about buying their first home.
The Conservatives only ever talk about buying a first property. Yes, that is important. However, they never talk about social housing. They never talk about affordability.
Ensuring that people can buy a house must not be our only focus. We also need to respect renters' rights to have a decent place to live. We need housing, not just home ownership.
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- May/13/22 11:32:38 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we absolutely are talking about affordability, and I will tell the member that the average home price in the GTA reached $1.25 million last month. That means an average homebuyer needs to have an income of $223,000 just to afford one of those houses. Families do not make that kind of money.
Is the minister proud of creating a class of permanent renters because of the government’s lack of action on the housing affordability that the member is talking about?
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- May/13/22 11:33:42 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the minister is living in fantasyland. I will repeat this. An average house in the GTA is $1.25 million. The minimum required down payment for that house is $250,000. What is the average income for an average family in the GTA? It was almost $94,000 the last time we checked.
When will the minister join us in the real world instead of fantasyland and admit that under the government's leadership, we are in a housing crisis?
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- May/13/22 11:34:16 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, again, I thank my colleague for her question.
I live in Canada, not in fantasyland. What I can tell her is that we need to work not only on access to home ownership and increasing the number of housing units, but also on buyers' rights and unfair practices in the real estate market.
The national housing strategies operate on several levels. I hope the Conservative Party will vote with us for once.
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- May/13/22 11:34:48 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Housing continues to insist that his programs are keeping up with rising home prices, but in Kelowna—Lake Country, in just the first two months of this year, the average price of a single-family home increased by $92,500. That is more than $10,000 a week. I was speaking to a 15-year-old from my riding who said the dream of home ownership is only a dream.
Will the minister finally admit that his failing housing policies are absolutely not working?
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- May/13/22 11:36:05 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the cities in metro Vancouver need 25,000 new houses every year just to keep up with population growth projections, but we are building only 20,000 new homes. This supply and demand imbalance is hurting a lot of Canadian families that just want a safe home and financial security.
Clearly, the government's housing policies over the last six years have not been working. Why should Canadians have any confidence in its newest set of promises?
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- May/13/22 11:36:36 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are well aware that there is a housing crisis across the country, in every riding of every member of Parliament.
There is no silver bullet.
However, we have taken concrete action in this budget, and the Conservatives have voted against it every time. It is all well and good to say one thing and then say something different, but there are concrete measures in this budget, such as doubling construction across the country and helping people buy their first home and get into housing.
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