44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 21, 2023 10:00AM
- Nov/21/23 2:22:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are well aware that the Conservative Party's approach is austerity and cuts.
We are investing in housing. We are investing to ensure that Canadians can live more affordably. We know that things are difficult for Canadians.
Austerity and cuts are not the answer. The answer is strategic investments to support families, create the jobs of tomorrow and build hundreds of thousands of new housing units in the years to come.
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- Nov/21/23 2:25:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our solution for Canadians who are having trouble affording housing is to build more housing. It is to invest in working with municipalities, to unlock more homes built and to bring down rents. These are the investments we are making.
It is interesting that the Leader of the Opposition talks about the damage we are doing to Canada by delivering $10-a-day child care, the damage we are doing to Canada by delivering dental care to kids who cannot afford it and the damage we are doing to Canada by continuing to step up for seniors and protecting their pensions.
If that is damage, then we really see what the Conservative leader is made of.
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- Nov/21/23 2:29:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, for the past eight years, we have been there for seniors with investments to increase their pensions. We have been there for the most vulnerable seniors with programs that have given them help and support in their communities. We have invested in housing for seniors. We will continue to be there for seniors.
During COVID-19, we were there to support small business and help entrepreneurs, and we are going to continue to be there. I look forward to sharing the contents of the fall economic statement with my hon. colleague, but he will have to wait a few more hours.
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- Nov/21/23 2:46:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister promised to make housing more affordable for Canadians, but we know that was not totally true. After eight years of the Liberal government, rent has doubled, housing prices have skyrocketed, doubling as well, and mortgage payments have gone through the roof. In fact, today, Scotiabank confirmed that mortgage rates have increased by 2% just due to the government's overspending.
With no other factors considered, just the government's overspending, mortgage rates have gone up by 2%, which means, on average, $700 a month extra on a family's mortgage. When will the government do the responsible thing and rein in its spending so that Canadians can afford to put a roof over their heads?
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- Nov/21/23 2:47:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in order to address the national housing crisis, we are making the investments necessary to get Canada building again. I have good news for my colleague: It is working. When we look at the Statistics Canada report from yesterday, we see significant increases in the investments in residential construction. In fact, the heading of the section from the report is “Strong gains in residential investment”, indicating a nearly 8% increase just this past month.
We have a plan to continue to cut costs for home builders and to make the investments necessary to get the homes built that the economy and families that live in them need.
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- Nov/21/23 2:47:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am not sure what Liberal report the hon. member is reading from, but the statistic is that fewer homes are being built and investment in the market is down by 14% for new construction. That is a fact. Added to that, rent is doubling for Canadians, mortgages are skyrocketing and housing prices have also doubled.
Canadians cannot afford to house themselves. Their mortgage rates are up by an average of $700 a month, and that is only due to the government's overspending. Just due to its overspending alone, with no other factors considered, mortgage rates are up $700 a month.
When will the government rein it in, do the responsible thing and allow Canadians to afford a roof over the heads?
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- Nov/21/23 2:48:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, with respect to my hon. colleague, she just does not have her numbers right. She is entitled to her own opinion but certainly not to her own facts. I will tell colleagues specifically what Stats Canada indicated. It is not some Liberal organization; it operates independently. It indicated this month that investment and residential building went up 7.3%, single-family home investment increased 6.4% and multi-unit construction rose 8.2%.
If the Conservatives are concerned about the housing crisis, why are they committed to cutting funding for homebuilding and to raise taxes on home builders?
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- Nov/21/23 2:49:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Prime Minister, rent has doubled, house prices have doubled and mortgage payments are up 150%. Just now, Statistics Canada shows that investment in housing construction is down 14%. It turns out that photo ops with the housing minister in a hard hat do not build homes. Who knew?
Will the government end their photo ops so Canadians can get houses built?
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- Nov/21/23 2:49:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I find it fascinating that there are accusations of using photo ops for political gain when the leader of the Conservative Party, when he was the minister, actually violated the election rules for a photo op when he showed up wearing a Conservative party logo when he was there on behalf of the government at that time.
With respect to my hon. colleague, he has the facts wrong. Stats Canada has indicated that we are seeing an increase in housing investments in the residential sector. Housing starts are up. In fact, we are on pace to build more than 50,000 additional homes, over and above the record that the Conservatives achieved while they were in government.
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- Nov/21/23 2:50:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when the Conservative leader was the minister of housing, a typical family home cost only $450,000. Investment in housing construction is down 14% under the minister today. Rent has doubled. House prices have doubled, and mortgage payments are up 150%.
Will the government end their photo ops so Canadians can get houses built?
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- Nov/21/23 2:51:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we know that the Conservatives like to make up facts, but I did not realize that they were trying to make up a new way of doing math. When Statistics Canada says that housing starts are up 7%, that does not equal a decrease of 14%. I would encourage the members opposite to look at the Stats Canada report, but we understand that they do not have a lot of respect for Stats Can. They were the ones who cut the long-form census when they were in government.
They do not like to make policy based on data because then they would have to realize that they are making bad policy.
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- Nov/21/23 4:29:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am going to say what I think is urgent.
I think it is urgent to build housing in Quebec and across Canada. That is why, in this fall economic statement, we are investing $16 billion in housing construction. It is urgent, and that is why we are doing it now.
We also feel it is urgent to have an economic plan for the jobs of today and tomorrow. That is why we are investing in the green transition. We have made the biggest investment in the history of Quebec, according to Premier Legault, who was very proud to partner with us. We are investing in the needs of today and the jobs of today and tomorrow.
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- Nov/21/23 4:30:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the minister mentioned in her remarks that we are facing a housing crisis, certainly a significant housing shortage. She talked about how Canada has the lowest debt in the G7. She talked about how it has the lowest deficit in the G7.
The Governor of the Bank of Canada said that spending on housing would not be inflationary. She announced some measures today for social housing, but they do not start until 2025-26—
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- Nov/21/23 4:31:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, with the government saying that it is in a good fiscal position, and with the Bank of Canada saying that spending on housing is not inflationary, I question why the new investments for social housing have been put off to 2025.
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- Nov/21/23 4:32:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for Elmwood—Transcona for his commitment to Canadians and for his hard work on housing.
We absolutely understand the urgency of investing in housing. We need to invest in housing today, and we need to have a plan to continue investing in housing going forward.
I am very pleased that our investments in housing right now include supporting the development of co-op housing and of lifting the GST from new co-op developments, along with providing new funding to get them built. As someone who has lived in a co-op, I can tell members that this is one of the best forms of affordable housing, and it creates great communities at the same time.
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- Nov/21/23 4:58:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, those houses cannot be characterized with any adjective other than “non-existent”. They do not exist. The Liberals stand up day after day and list off the thousands of houses that they have not built. They have had eight years. It would be one thing if they were still promising to build homes in their first year, maybe their second year; okay, we will give them three years.
It has been eight years and the only thing they have accomplished on housing since promising to make it affordable is they have doubled the cost. They have doubled the rent, doubled mortgage payments, doubled the needed down payment for a home. Now we have $900 billion of mortgages that are coming up for renewal. That is two-thirds of all mortgages. The IMF says we are the number one at risk of having a mortgage crisis.
It is disgusting to think of the families who did everything right and risk losing everything because of the irresponsible policies of this Prime Minister and his NDP government.
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- Nov/21/23 5:02:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canada is not going to get out of the housing crisis we are in without significant investments in social and affordable housing, and the Liberals simply have not been building enough of that. We saw today that even the recapitalization of a program to build affordable housing is being put off until 2025.
We never hear the leader of the Conservative Party talk about building new affordable and social housing. In fact, Canada is still losing way more affordable units than we are building. When he was housing minister, the government decided to cancel the operating agreements that made rents affordable in co-op and other forms of non-profit housing across the country. Will he finally start talking about the need to build more social and affordable housing in Canada to help address the crisis?
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- Nov/21/23 5:02:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have been talking about almost nothing but making housing affordable for the last three years. When the NDP and the Liberals and the entire establishment were dismissing me, I told the country we were headed for a housing crisis. Now everybody is playing catch-up.
Here is the problem for the NDP: The facts are that, when I was housing minister, one could rent the average one-bedroom for $950. Now, under the NDP-Liberal government, it is almost $2,000. One could buy an average home for a mortgage of $1,400 a month. Now it is $3,500 a month. The needed down payment for the average new home was $20,000; now it is well over $50,000.
The NDP has been in government now at least two years and supported the Prime Minister for long before that. Since they signed the coalition agreement, rent inflation has been at its worst in Canadian history. We do not need more bureaucracy. We need my common-sense plan to clear away the red tape and the gatekeepers to build millions of new homes Canadians can afford and allow them powerful paycheques to pay for them.
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- Nov/21/23 5:28:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there are things definitely worthy of note in the fall economic statement.
For me, personally, I look at the issue of inflation. Canadians have been concerned about inflation. Even though inflation around the world is significantly higher than here in Canada, the Liberal government has been focused on that. From a high of just over 8% back in June 2022, today it was announced that it is at 3.1%. This shows the government is serious about dealing with the issue of inflation.
The member spent a great deal of time talking about housing. The fall statement reaffirms a solid commitment and new monies towards housing co-ops. We all talk about the importance of non-profit housing. Housing co-ops are an excellent way to support growing demands on housing. It is affordable housing that is different than apartments. In a housing co-op, people are residents and co-owners, compared to an apartment.
Apartments are also being beefed up with purpose-built rentals—
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- Nov/21/23 5:29:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, inflation is affecting everyone, particularly the most vulnerable members of our society. It is really worrisome.
There is nothing in the fall economic statement to counter inflation. There is nothing to deal with it. The Liberals are just whistling past the graveyard.
The hon. member spoke about housing. Yes, the government should do more about housing. However, this year, it is making $37 million in cuts to housing. We see that on page 31 of the English version of the economic statement. It shows $37 million being subtracted. The member is talking about funding for co-operative housing. He does not need to explain to me or any member of the Bloc Québécois what co-operative housing is. There is plenty of it in Quebec. We believe in the co-op model. We are always telling the government to do more in the way of social housing, including co-operatives.
How much money is the government putting into housing co-operatives this year, in 2023-24? Zero dollars. However, the situation is urgent. How much money is the government putting into housing co-operatives next year, in 2024-25? Again, zero dollars. The situation is urgent. The situation was urgent this summer and last spring. We need to act now. Today, the government should not be making statements and commitments in principle about what it is going to do two, three, four, five or six years down the road. The situation is urgent now.
This government is truly out of touch with people's urgent needs.
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