44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 21, 2023 02:00PM
- Jun/21/23 6:19:09 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I can assure the member that homelessness did, and always has, existed in her riding. It is nothing new. Maybe she is just realizing it now, but I can assure her that homelessness in her riding is most likely something that is not unique.
What I would say is that we have an obligation to support Canadians in the best way that we can. We have seen the various different measures that have come forward, whether it is the grocery rebate, the housing top-up or child care. We have brought countless measures into this place to help Canadians.
I hope the member realizes that the Conservative motion put forward today calls on us to balance the budget, which means that a number of those measures would have to be eliminated. The Conservatives have yet to tell us which measures it would be. I certainly would like to know because I am sure that would impact those who are homeless in her community.
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- Jun/21/23 6:50:11 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am lucky to be here this evening. Our colleague is pretty funny, but he talked about several very serious topics. He also talked about a very specific issue, housing. What is the Bloc Québécois's solution for addressing the homelessness problem? I am just curious.
It would be interesting to hear the perspective of my colleague on that specific issue, seeing as it is the last day of Parliament. I have never actually asked the member the question.
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- Jun/21/23 6:50:55 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I commend the work of my colleague.
People often say it is a question of supply and demand. Often, the people who talk about supply and demand do not understand the concept. I am not throwing stones at anyone, but that is what it comes down to.
What is happening now is that, with the higher salaries and the growing population, the demand for housing has increased significantly. If we allow the price of homes to go up, at some point there will not be housing for everyone because the population is growing. What is more, there are people who now have the means to go live in an apartment who may not have had the means before. We need to work on supply.
If we do not work on supply, we are doomed to have shortages because we will not have enough housing to offer to people as demand keeps growing. Demographics are important and they are not being taken into consideration right now. Let us work on supply. That is the best way to ensure that people can have housing, but also that they can afford it.
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- Jun/21/23 7:22:41 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I worked with the member on the Standing Committee on Finance quite well. I would simply like to ask about his views on building more housing. He seems to be completely against real estate investment trusts or other private entities, but ultimately, if we are going to see more purpose-built rentals to give people a roof over their heads, it is going to take an incredible amount of money. Some of these larger corporations are able to do that. They are doing it in places like Westbank First Nation. Quite honestly, municipal gatekeepers are preventing private, public or not-for-profit entities from building more affordable housing—
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- Jun/21/23 7:23:36 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is an important opportunity to correct the record. We are not against private developers creating new housing, but that is not what is going to fix the housing crisis. They have been doing that for decades, and it is not helping. We have been on a track to destruction for a long time.
What we think is a real problem is when a big corporate landlord buys a building that used to provide affordable rents, renovates the premises, kicks out all the tenants who needed those affordable rents, jacks up the rents and then invites in other people with more ability to pay. They are not creating new units. This leaves the other people destitute and without a place to live. We will not solve the housing crisis by kicking the poor out of existing affordable units and then allowing those big corporate landlords to make mad profit off new tenants. We need a different plan now.
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- Jun/21/23 8:10:22 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we have heard the Liberals say that they have everybody's back. I do not know about other members, but where I live, when I drive around, I see more homeless people than I have ever seen in my entire life. It can be seen right across the country. At least with the Conservatives, we know they are not going to build purpose-built housing. However, that is what the government promised. It is building approximately 7,000 units a year, on average. There are 300,000 people who have core housing needs right now. How is that having people's backs?
This is a crisis. When is the government going to stop propping up its wealthy friends and its real estate income trusts and make sure it invests that money into making sure people have a place to live?
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- Jun/21/23 8:11:05 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, housing is a core issue for all Canadians. What we are seeing here in Canada is what we are seeing worldwide. As part of the Canada-Europe delegation when we were in France two weeks ago, I saw the headline on Le Monde was “La crise du logement...”. It is an issue not only here in Canada.
We are addressing it. We have the $4-billion accelerator fund. We have the rapid housing initiative. We are working with municipalities. We are working with provinces to ensure they receive the resources they need. We do know there are a lot of issues with zoning and housing that are at the city level. The cities are the creatures of the provinces. We understand it is in our Constitution.
We ask members to please understand that our government is seized with this issue. We have been for many years. We will continue helping Canadians to ensure that, if they wish to purchase a home and have a roof over their heads, that we will be there for them.
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- Jun/21/23 8:25:56 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I notice that my colleague said the “support” of the NDP, and I would like to say the “leadership” considering that only a few years ago, in the last government, he voted against that same dental care bill. However, I am really glad to see that he is now for it and sees the value of it.
One of the issues we in London share, which is shared across the country, is the issue of affordable housing and renovictions. In my riding, which is very close to his, tenants at the Webster Street apartments have been facing renovictions, and there are serious consequences.
We have called on the government to create a housing acquisition fund to ensure that rent remains affordable so that not-for-profits or cities can buy buildings that are being bought up by large market-based corporations. This is another great idea by the NDP. Could he comment on that?
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- Jun/21/23 8:27:02 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is always interesting to hear from my colleague down the way in London—Fanshawe.
First of all, on the specific issue she just raised, I need to see more in the way of that. We all care about housing here, and I did see her and the leader of the NDP in London raising this idea, but there is not much detail. There is precious little detail, so one cannot comment on that in any meaningful way.
On the other issues raised, when the NPD raised dental care in the past, it was not an approach that left a lot of detail. I could not support it then. There is more detail now and I support it of course.
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- Jun/21/23 9:58:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we keep hearing from the Conservatives about their corporate and free market-driven housing policies. Nowhere in the world has the free market solved an affordable housing crisis. We even heard from the member that his own city council rejected the Conservative Party's Ottawa-knows-best proposals.
Will the Conservatives get on board with building non-market housing to solve the housing crisis to ensure that people have affordable, safe and secure housing in the long term?
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- Jun/21/23 9:59:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I do not know where my colleague got that fact about the city council in Calgary and Conservative policy, because we are all about building affordable houses.
I will point out to the member that there was a solution before there was a problem. There was not a housing crisis for either affordable housing or housing for Canadians who had the money to buy houses eight years ago. How did this problem arise? Let me figure it out. What happened eight years ago?
I will ask my colleague who asked that question why he is supporting a government that has created the problem that Conservatives need to get in power to solve.
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