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House Hansard - 243

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 31, 2023 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 243 - Oct/31/23
Mr. Alain Therrien (La Prairie, BQ)
  • Oct/31/23 1:36:03 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I commend the work and speech of my colleague, the leader of the Bloc Québécois. We often simplify things, and the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship did so by saying that immigrants arrive here and build their own homes. I have a problem with that, because the issue of integration capacity goes further than that. It is not simply a matter of labour. There is a town in my riding that has no more water. There is a moratorium in place, and not a single new home can be built there. Yes, there is a need to build more housing, but there is also infrastructure that cannot be neglected either. That is part of integration capacity. Another town in my riding is a farming community. This town has protected farmland where housing cannot be built. This is called green zoning. The town has no more lots where housing can be built, which we call white zoning. What can we do if we want to build housing to accommodate more people? My question is simple. When talking about integration capacity, are we also talking about infrastructure or land that is managed, in the case of Quebec, by the Quebec government?
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Context: House Hansard - 243 - Oct/31/23
Mr. Yves-François Blanchet
  • Oct/31/23 1:37:13 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we have to talk about everything. We absolutely have to talk about the consequences of having roughly two million immigrants with no specific status in a population of 40 million. I will bring up housing as an example. Recently, we saw a debate about a legislative slap on the wrist for municipalities that engage in odd zoning practices or that did not subject themselves to federal government rules that have nothing to do with municipalities. It is as though the government is putting pressure on municipalities—which have the problems my esteemed colleague described—although they are the most ill-equipped to manage it because their tax base is tightly controlled and they have very little leeway. Immigration is a fundamental policy, and the immigration policy of a country of Canada's demographic or economic stature requires a global vision. From our perspective, there also needs to be a vision for Quebec's policy, for the country it should be.
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