44th Parl. 1st Sess.
September 29, 2023 10:00AM
- Sep/29/23 11:23:08 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I find that rather rich, with all due respect to the member, when it was the Leader of the Opposition's responsibility to put forward constructive policy. When he was in government as the minister responsible for housing, he put forward a plan for $300 million, with fewer than 100 homes built. His plan on housing today is full of holes. If he taxed builders, for example, nothing would get built under his watch.
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- Sep/29/23 11:25:18 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, talking about common sense, it is a shame the member was not at yesterday's finance committee. Witnesses from the Ministry of Finance confirmed that if the Conservatives' idea for housing were to be put in place, fewer homes would be built compared to our particular plan, which is a plan that takes taxes off. The GST comes off, for example, which incents greater building. Combine that with the approach they have taken to municipalities, to provinces. When it comes to ending things like exclusionary zoning, we want to work with those municipalities. We are doing that through the housing accelerator fund, which will continue, and the result will be 200,000 to 300,000 homes built as a result.
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- Sep/29/23 11:36:41 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would remind my hon. colleague to look at the actual record and at the actions of the opposition leader, who this summer, while presenting himself as some sort of champion of the working class, stood in front of a Canadian's home, took a video and called that home a shack. If he is serious about dealing with affordability, the housing crisis and the supply crisis that underpins it, I want to hear from him and his party serious plans along the lines of what we have presented on this side. We are going to continue to fight for Canadians.
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- Sep/29/23 11:39:14 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I remind the hon. member that Canada has the lowest deficit and debt in the G7, but times remain hard. We see that and understand that.
On housing affordability, what are we doing? The supply crisis that underpins the housing crisis facing the country is one that requires building. That is why we have lifted GST for the purposes of rental construction on apartments, and that is why we have made changes to the borrowing limit of the Canada mortgage bond. I do not want to get into the technical details, because they are vast, but the result is more homes built for Canadians, and that is what we are going to continue to do.
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- Sep/29/23 11:50:14 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I know the member has a passion for dealing with homelessness and addressing issues of affordability more generally. This government has put substantial investment forward through the national housing strategy to combat homelessness. It is a difficult challenge for sure, but one that we are getting results on.
It is not over. That fight continues and is combined with efforts to build more by lifting GST from rental construction, for example, and to make changes to the Canada mortgage bond borrowing limit. All of these things combine, and the bottom line is that we are going to see more homes built. Affordability is the result from that.
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- Sep/29/23 11:51:34 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, we have been there for cities like Hamilton and other Canadian cities and towns through programs like Reaching Home and the rapid housing initiative, and in other ways, to help not-for-profits that are on the ground doing the very hard work.
I know the member cares very much about this issue. I am happy to have further discussions with him, but I go back to the point that we are going to advance issues around this through collaboration with the private sector, the not-for-profit sector and municipalities as well.
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