44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 13, 2023 10:00AM
- Jun/13/23 11:25:52 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, these are fundamental questions.
Fortunately, they are questions that come up when we discuss these matters at the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities and here in the House, when someone dares to ask them, that is.
Our communities are full of non-profit organizations, community co-operatives that do amazing work. We must leverage those groups with Quebec and the other provinces. Our goal can be achieved, as long as the appropriate means are used. My colleague is entirely right.
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- Jun/13/23 12:08:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege for me to rise in the House to speak to the report tabled by the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities. It is also a privilege to be the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Housing, because we know that the housing problem is a concern today and has also been a long-standing concern for many of us here in the House and for many Canadians across the country.
It was certainly a concern for me, my family and my mother. For a long time, I lived with my disabled brother in a third-floor apartment. I often had to carry my brother on my back up three flights of stairs, set him down in the hallway of our small two-bedroom apartment, and then go back down for his wheelchair and carry it up to the third floor, in a building that was not designed for persons with disabilities who need accessible housing. I lived in low-rental housing, where the rent is set at 25% of the household income, because my working-class family could not afford to pay for housing at market prices.
My story would be familiar to many Canadians, especially in my riding. The government recently invested in my riding, including in projects to help people experiencing homelessness. For example, the organization L'Anonyme has a unique and innovative program for making rooms available to people experiencing homelessness. Les Auberges du coeur is a shelter network that gets young adults off the street and into a suitable apartment, with the community support they need. There are numerous similar examples across the country, such as the project recently implemented by Sen̓áḵw in Vancouver, in the home province of my colleague who just addressed the House. It is a 6,000-unit project in which $1.7 billion was invested thanks to the national housing strategy.
We have invested in recent years. Critics claim that we have not built enough housing units, but we have made sure to renovate many units to maintain affordability. We recently announced that 58,000 housing units in Vancouver would be renovated thanks to a $1.3‑billion investment. Just last year, we also announced that 4,000 units in Montreal would be renovated. These are units that are currently boarded up and inaccessible to families. To maintain affordability, it is just as important to renovate as to build.
Many of us have mentioned that each order of government has a role to play in housing. It is a shared responsibility. I used to be a city councillor for one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Montreal, Saint‑Michel. The neighbourhood had one low-cost housing complex known as Habitations Saint‑Michel‑Nord. In our first two or three years in power, our government invested in the “Saint‑Michel plan” to remodel the entire complex in order to give these families a decent place to live.
Responsibility for the project was shared with the municipality and the province. We cannot do it alone. The federal government does not have a magic wand. It takes leadership, and that is exactly what we provided with the national housing strategy. However, insulting the municipalities and calling them incompetent is certainly not going to get more housing built. We need to sit down with all stakeholders, including the different orders of government, community organizations and the private sector, to make sure that we are working not only on social and affordable housing, but also on the entire housing spectrum. We need to consider the most vulnerable, as well as those hoping to purchase a property.
I have a 22-year-old daughter, and all I hear from her is that it is impossible for her to get on the property ladder. Right now, the generation gap between our children and the people who bought property years ago is immense. We need to make sure that people have shelter and do not have to live in the street, but also that young families can buy a home. Between the two ends of the spectrum, we must ensure that there is social and affordable housing for everyone. Offering funding to build and renovate housing is one thing, but this is the first time that a government has introduced legislation on the right to housing.
We do believe that having a roof over one's head is a human right. We wrote that right into law though the act that created the position of federal housing advocate.
Our government is ready to be held accountable for the actions it is taking through the national housing strategy. However, a federal housing advocate does not necessarily create a right in the provinces and municipalities. How can we work with the provinces and municipalities so that they also take measures that will protect Canadians, especially tenants?
As I have said, we have put in place measures concerning the right to housing, including the federal housing advocate. However, we particularly want to work on the issue of renovictions. Speculation is making it all too easy to force people out of their homes to financialize housing.
I should take this opportunity to say that I will be sharing my time with my colleague from Nepean. I want to thank my colleague for reminding me.
No one should lose their home, and no one should lose an affordable home because of housing financialization. The measures we want to take and work on will require collaboration with the provinces. As we know, housing is a provincial jurisdiction.
Several of my colleagues have spoken about the various programs under the national housing strategy. The committee report mentioned the housing accelerator fund for municipalities. This program aims to increase the housing supply by 100,000 new units across the country. We want to be sure to give to municipalities—which I hope will no longer be called “gate keepers,” “incompetent” and “woke”—the means to be real partners and work together with various levels of government to build more housing. What does that mean?
That means that if the municipalities want to access this fund, they will need to increase housing density and ensure the sustainable development of units and their affordability. Through the CMHC, the government will give money and invest in these municipalities based on their performance. That is exactly what the opposition is asking us to do.
We are already doing that. I do not understand why the opposition members are criticizing the program—actually, they are not criticizing it, they are just not voting for it—and are asking us to do things that we have already done. I would invite them to read the program information and, among other things, attend the webinar provided by the CMHC. I think that it may shed some light on the details of this program.
I would also like to talk about the co-investment fund. We are talking about forcing the levels of government to work with us to build more housing. The co-investment fund does exactly that: It stimulates partnership. To access the co-investment fund, an organization must have partners from the municipal, provincial or other levels to carry out projects. At this time, the average rent for the co-investment fund is $718 in the country. The co-investment fund ensures that housing in this country is affordable.
The committee report outlines several excellent recommendations. They are already part of the program that was announced. In addition, I invite all my colleagues in the House to talk with their municipalities so that they are prepared to work with the federal government and submit projects shortly.
We recognize that there is a whole lot of work to be done. However, one thing is certain: Through all the programs under the national housing strategy, the federal government returned to the table with leadership that will stimulate partnership and collaboration. The government wants to ensure that, across the country, the supply of affordable housing will increase, that young families will get access to home ownership and that no one is left out on the street. The right to housing is a human right.
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- Jun/13/23 12:22:00 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague and fellow member of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities. I also thank her for all her comments at committee that advance the cause of social and affordable housing.
As for her question, I would like to reassure her by noting that a regional county municipality, for example, can apply to the housing accelerator fund. One of the concerns that we had was about serving the vast majority of municipalities, particularly here in Quebec. That is part of the program, and I would be pleased to discuss it with her personally as well.
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Mr. Speaker, in Canada, no person with a disability should live in poverty. That is why we are creating the Canada disability benefit and income supplement, which has the potential to seriously reduce poverty and increase financial security for hundreds of thousands of working-age persons with disabilities.
In February, this House unanimously adopted Bill C-22, and Bill C-22 is now on the calendar for debate tomorrow. We are looking forward to getting this legislation past the finish line.
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- Jun/13/23 3:20:25 p.m.
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It being 3:20 p.m., pursuant to order made on Thursday, June 23, 2022, the House will now proceed to the taking of the deferred recorded division on the motion to concur in the fourth report of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities.
Call in the members.
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Mr. Speaker, I am back to continue following up on advocacy for the Canada disability benefit in the early morning hours as it comes back up for debate.
I would like to start by reading an email from a constituent with a disability that I received earlier this evening:
I was once extremely proud of being a Canadian, but that pride has been crushed under the boot of poverty. It has been absolutely demolished by the Liberal Party and years of suffering. We do not want platitudes, we don't want condescension, we don't want empty promises or assurances that we “just have to be patient”. People have died. People are dying, and still they don't show any care in the world for our wellbeing.
For my part, I will reiterate what I have said in this House before. It is that if the governing party were serious, it would have done what it did with child care when it was serious. It put funding forward first, then agreements with provinces and territories, and then came legislation.
Of course, with the Canada disability benefit and people with disabilities, it was the opposite.
All that being said, this is still a milestone we are at today. Bill C-22, the Canada disability benefit bill, will finally be back up for debate, having come back from the Senate, and it is my hope that parties will agree to support unanimous consent for it to move forward more quickly.
We are going to need to continue to push, though, first of all for the amendments from the Senate to be supported, including one that would prioritize people with disabilities ahead of the insurance industry. The government's response should be public shortly after I finish this speech.
We need to continue to push for strong regulations once Bill C-22 passes into law, hopefully within a matter of days. It would make most of the decisions about the benefit. We are going to have to continue to push for the government to budget the benefit, which it has yet to do.
With my remaining time tonight, I just want to thank the people and organizations that got us to this point. Any progress made on the Canada disability benefit is because of them.
First are the federal organizations: Disability Without Poverty, with people like Rabia Khedr, Michelle Hewitt, Clare Li, Sabrina Latif, Al Etmanski and the rest of their team; the March of Dimes, with Amanda, Victoria and their team; Inclusion Canada, with Jeff Ferguson and the rest of the team; the MS Society, with its strong advocacy from Julie Kelndorfer and others; StopGap Ottawa with Kenzie McCurdy; Citizens for Public Justice, with Natalie Appleyard; Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance, with David Lepofsky; Leadnow, with Ellen Trottier, Jesse Whattam and Shanaaz Gokool; Spinal Cord Injury Canada, with Bill Adair; Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network, with Rebecca Pauls; Canadian National Institute for the Blind; La Société québécoise de la déficience intellectuelle, with Samuel Ragot; and Michael Prince and Vincent Calderhead. They all pushed, among so many others.
In my community, there is Extend-A-Family, with Al Mills and their team; KW Accessibility, with Edward, Ron and team; Bridges to Belonging, with Donnamarie Dunk; Independent Living Waterloo Region, with Janet, Sheri and others; The Social Development Centre, with Aleksandra Petrovic; and Christian Horizons, with Janet and Dave and team; and people with disabilities in my community and their allies, like Michael K, Alex Y, Mike Ashkewe, Rebecca Munzy, Marina Wahab, Anne Jensen, and Lorna Aberdein.
We are here because of all of you.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Kitchener Centre for his continued advocacy on behalf of Canadians with disabilities.
All of us are working hard and working together to make sure we restore the pride the member had mentioned, and restore financial security for Canadians with disabilities.
I would like to especially acknowledge the work and advocacy of the hon. Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion. The minister has been working tirelessly throughout her career to promote the rights of persons with disabilities.
I assure my colleague that we share his sense of urgency in seeing Bill C-22 passed into law. We are doing everything we can to ensure it is passed before the summer recess. We are working with all parties to get it done.
The passage of Bill C-22 will be a major milestone in our strong and unwavering commitment toward creating a barrier-free Canada. That work began in 2015, with the appointment of Canada's first-ever minister responsible for persons with disabilities.
In 2016, Canada became the 20th country to sign the Marrakesh Treaty, and did so with the support of all provinces and territories.
In 2018, Canada acceded to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
In 2022, Dr. Laverne Jacobs was elected to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It was the first time that a Canadian has held a seat at this important international table.
In 2019, the Accessible Canada Act came into force. The passing of this landmark legislation has undoubtedly been one of the most significant achievements for disability rights in the history of our country. The act has been the foundation for National Accessibility Week and for the establishment of Accessibility Standards Canada.
In October 2022, we released Canada's first-ever disability inclusion action plan. The action plan has four pillars: employment, accessible and inclusive communities, a modern approach to disability and financial security.
Throughout all of our consultations we kept hearing the same thing, that financial security is by far the most urgent priority for persons with disabilities. It is through the pillar of financial security that we will create the historic Canada disability benefit to help significantly reduce poverty and improve financial security for hundreds of thousands of persons with disabilities. That is why we need to get this legislation passed quickly.
I would once again like to thank the member opposite for his question, his continued advocacy and his teamwork.
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