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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 262

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 5, 2023 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 262 - Dec/5/23
Mr. Daniel Blaikie (Elmwood—Transcona, NDP)
  • Dec/5/23 12:29:57 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-56 
Madam Speaker, one of the principle things Bill C-56 would do is that it would remove the GST off purpose-built rentals. That is a policy that is very much designed to incent the building of more market-based rental units. One of the ways the government could incent the building of more units with affordability conditions would be to release land and tie affordability conditions to released land to ensure that, if there is going to be new units built, that a specific percentage, whether it is 15%, 20%, 30%, 40% or whatever it happens to be, of the new units built on that government land are either affordable or social housing. In the Leader of the Opposition's bill on housing, he has not attached any affordability conditions to the release of public land. I wonder why that is. We have a measure here that is meant to incent the building of market rentals by removing the GST. We need accompanying measures for affordable and social housing, and it seems to me attaching conditions to land release is one of the best ways to do it.
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Context: House Hansard - 262 - Dec/5/23
Ms. Bonita Zarrillo
  • Dec/5/23 1:32:39 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, first of all, it is not “these people”. It is people who live in Canada that we are standing up for. I would say that the Conservatives are refining their social media game more than they are bringing forward policies. I think about how successful the NDP has been for Canadians in these past two years. It is because of the NDP that we are debating this today. If it were not for the NDP, we would not be looking at the corporate greed act. We would still be dealing with exorbitant grocery prices and no GST exemption on purpose-built rental housing.
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Context: House Hansard - 262 - Dec/5/23
Hon. Sean Fraser (Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, Lib.)
  • Dec/5/23 3:06:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when it comes to getting gatekeepers out of the way and reducing red tape, I will point the hon. member to the fact that we recently signed an agreement with the City of Moncton so it can change the way it allows homes to be built in that city. We are going to see thousands of new homes in the city, and now we are working with other cities across New Brunswick and rural communities as well. It is fascinating that, if the Conservatives were concerned about reducing the cost of rent, they would abandon their plans to put the GST back on rental construction. They should avoid the mistakes of the past by abandoning their commitment to stop investing in affordable housing. We will get—
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