44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 26, 2023 10:00AM
- Oct/26/23 2:27:57 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, CBC tells us that the federal government is considering the possibility of reviewing its immigration levels in 2026 because of the housing crisis. Finally, the Liberals have come to understand that there is a limit to welcoming families when they cannot be housed. The housing crisis is not in 2026, it is now. The Liberals are going to raise levels in 2024 and 2025.
Will the government actually be responsible and review its immigration levels as early as 2024?
82 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/26/23 2:28:29 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, it is possible to welcome newcomers and build housing at the same time.
I have good news for my colleagues: We have reached an agreement with Quebec to build housing in Quebec.
It is essential that we continue to embrace newcomers, as they are key to our economic growth. They are key to our health care system. We can build homes for Canadians at the same time, and that is precisely what we will do. I hope my colleague will join me in this effort.
88 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/26/23 2:28:59 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, the government must review its levels as early as 2024 and, above all, it must review them in co‑operation with Quebec and the provinces. It is currently working behind closed doors. It is right to be concerned about housing capacity. However, when it comes to health care, education, francization and transportation infrastructure, that is the job of the provinces and Quebec.
Are we going to ask them what their capacity is and set the levels accordingly?
81 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/26/23 2:29:36 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, as a Quebecker, I have my opinions on immigration. I am in favour of immigration. There will be plenty of time to talk about this on November 1. It is important for members to remember one thing: We need immigrants here in Canada. We need to build houses and we need 100,000 construction workers. They will not all necessarily come from here, so we need immigration.
If the Bloc Québécois is against immigration, then they should say so.
86 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/26/23 2:30:11 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, people need affordable homes now.
Canadians are exhausted with Conservative and Liberal governments making big announcements while families cannot afford homes. Tens of thousands are on waiting lists. They are sleeping in their cars, in tents and in sleeping bags on the streets in Edmonton, and it is snowing and freezing today.
The Conservative plan is to help their rich developers, and the Liberals are missing in action. How many more years will Edmontonians have to wait to get homes they can afford?
85 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/26/23 2:30:50 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for her concern for some of Canada's most vulnerable.
I am happy to inform her that we have been working for a number of years to build more homes to support them. In fact, we have doubled funding to the Reaching Home program to support some of Canada's most vulnerable.
We recently removed the GST on new apartments. We have seen thousands of new homes come online as a result.
I was recently in western Canada to make an announcement to change the way cities are going to build homes. We are going to pull every lever at our disposal to build more homes faster for Canadians, including to provide supports to some of the country's most vulnerable people.
129 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/26/23 2:31:28 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, the minister keeps talking about solutions that are not going to happen for this winter.
As my colleague from Edmonton said, people are already sleeping out on the streets. Students are sleeping in tents, couch surfing or living in overcrowded conditions because they cannot find affordable housing. It is beyond unacceptable. The lack of affordable rental options for students in B.C. is leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and homelessness today.
However, the Liberals and the Conservatives are too busy blaming each other and other levels of government instead of getting to work. When will the Liberal government invest in affordable and safe student housing for today?
109 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/26/23 2:32:14 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to share with the hon. member that as a result of the measures we put in place directly to support some of Canada's most vulnerable, we have prevented more than 120,000 Canadians from becoming homeless, and we have found permanent housing for almost 70,000 more who were experiencing homelessness.
We know there is more to do. That is why we continue to make investments through the national housing strategy, which has now created or retrofitted half a million homes for Canadians. We will do everything we can to build more homes. I am glad the NDP is alongside us. I invite the Conservatives to get on board.
115 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/26/23 2:32:50 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, the Governor of the Bank of Canada just slammed the incompetent Liberal-NDP government for failed economic policies. After eight years, even he knows the Prime Minister is not worth the cost. He said the government's deficits fuelled inflation. This caused 10 interest rate hikes in 19 months, the most rapid hikes in Canadian history. Mortgage costs have already doubled, and anyone renewing their mortgage now will see a minimum of double the interest rate. That is failure.
Will the Prime Minister rein in his spending and balance the budget so interest rates and inflation can come down and Canadians do not lose their homes?
108 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/26/23 2:33:28 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, our government is laser-focused on ensuring inflation can stabilize and that interest rates can come down. We are doing it with a fiscally responsible plan, one that has seen inflation come down from its peak at 8.1% in June 2022. It is also a pillar that our AAA credit rating has been reaffirmed.
The Conservative leader's plan is to fire the Governor of the Bank of Canada and attack the independence of our institutions. How on earth is that going to impact and help Canadians?
90 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/26/23 2:34:15 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, if being responsible is adding more debt than every government before it combined, I would hate to see what the Prime Minister on a bender looks like.
Robert Asselin, former Liberal adviser to the Prime Minister, admitted today at the finance committee that the Liberal-NDP spending is working against the Bank of Canada. Even the Governor of the Bank of Canada said government spending is making his job harder and is not helpful. While the Prime Minister has a tiff with the bank governor, Canadians and their homes are caught in the crossfire. After eight years, he is not worth the cost.
Will the Prime Minister finally rein in the spending so interest rates and inflation can come down and Canadians do not have to lose their homes?
131 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/26/23 2:34:57 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, we believe in the independence of our institutions. The Bank of Canada pursues an independent monetary policy that is best suited to Canada's economic circumstances. Keeping these institutions free from political interference is not a matter of principle. It is a matter of protecting Canadians' livelihoods, their businesses and our economy.
Canada's AAA credit rating was reaffirmed last month, and Canada still has the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7. The Conservatives can keep fearmongering all they want. Canadians expect and deserve better.
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
94 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/26/23 2:35:35 p.m.
- Watch
I am sure we all want to hear the next question.
The hon. member for Calgary Heritage.
17 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/26/23 2:35:54 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, after eight long years of the costly coalition's carbon tax and inflationary deficits, there is record food bank usage right across this country. In the past year, the Calgary Food Bank saw demand surge by 32%, its highest increase on record. Canadians go hungry, and the NDP-Liberals get rich.
When will the Prime Minister axe his failed carbon tax and admit he is not worth the cost?
71 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/26/23 2:36:30 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, we know that Canadian families are struggling to afford groceries, and we will continue to support families with programs such as the Canada child benefit. We have also made funding available to food banks and charities across this country, including through the $400 million invested in the community services recovery program.
We will continue to address food insecurity across the country and support Canadians in their time of need.
71 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/26/23 2:37:04 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, are the NDP-Liberals even hearing themselves? We had the arrive scam app, SNC-Lavalin and the WE Charity. They get rich by printing, spending and stealing our money. How do they do so? They quadruple the carbon tax, a tax on food, with two million Canadians using food banks.
Where do they think the food banks get the food from?
63 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/26/23 2:37:57 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, we value the role that farmers play in this country in providing food for our tables. However, if we want to talk about making sure that life is affordable for Albertans and Canadians for the long term, where are the 29 colleagues of that member of Parliament from the Conservative Party when it comes to protecting and preserving the Canada pension plan? I can say where they are: simply not on the job. Now, we have the Ontario finance minister concerned about this. We are going to have a special meeting over it. Albertans want to stay in the CPP. Where are the Conservative MPs? They are silent and absent on the job.
115 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/26/23 2:38:52 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the costly coalition, we hear things such as this from the Vancouver food bank: “We see parents who are skipping meals so that their children can eat. We see people who haven’t eaten in days. We see seniors who haven’t had produce in months”.
In my hometown of Kamloops, 225 children per week are getting community food support three times a day. When will the NDP-Liberal government wake up and recognize that it is sending Canadians to the food bank in unprecedented numbers?
96 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/26/23 2:39:39 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, while the Conservatives have stood against helping our most vulnerable, we have fought time and time again for tangible measures that help Canadians, such as the CCB, the workers benefit, child care, dental care, the grocery rebate, the increased OAS, the GIS and quarterly carbon price rebates. We are proud to have lifted over 2.7 million Canadians out of poverty. That is 2.7 million more Canadians who would be joining food bank lines if the Conservatives had their way.
83 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/26/23 2:40:26 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, is this not the member who told Canadians that carbon taxes would be painful? We have to remember that the Liberal-NDP government wants to quadruple the carbon tax, going from 14¢ to 61¢ a litre. The Liberals have had eight years to get it right, and they got it wrong.
I worry that, this Christmas, we will not be giving toys; people will be getting canned food. The Prime Minister is not worth the cost. Will the NDP-Liberal government end its costly inflation and carbon tax increases?
93 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
