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House Hansard - 254

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 23, 2023 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 254 - Nov/23/23
Mr. Denis Trudel (Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, BQ)
  • Nov/23/23 12:58:29 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-56 
Madam Speaker, as usual, the Liberal members are awfully pleased with themselves. They are bragging about their government's achievements. My colleague had a lot to say about housing. Unfortunately, the GST rebate in Bill C‑56 is not going to make much of a dent in the housing crisis in Quebec and Canada. It is a marginal measure, especially in Quebec. The government tabled its economic update two days ago. Unfortunately, many of the measures in it will not take effect until 2025 or 2026. Quebec has 10,000 homeless people. I have seen them in Longueuil, Saint‑Jérôme and Rimouski. There are people on riverbanks. This is going to be very hard. We asked the government to put an emergency fund in the economic update. Winter is coming, and it is going to be cold. We know that. It is going to be hard. I know people will die in Quebec, on those riverbanks, in small towns, all over the province. That is unacceptable. We asked for an emergency fund to help address the problem, but we got nothing. Most of the economic measures will not take effect until 2025 or 2026, but we need to build 150,000 housing units a year starting right now. If we do not build them this year, there will be a backlog, and they will have to be built sooner or later. When will the Liberal government get serious about this problem and come up with measures that will make a real difference?
259 words
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