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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 263

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 6, 2023 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 263 - Dec/6/23
Mr. Daniel Blaikie (Elmwood—Transcona, NDP)
  • Dec/6/23 7:34:41 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, all of us in this place know that Canada is facing a housing crisis and it looks different for different people. For some seniors it means pitching a tent in the community park that used to be the place they would go for recreation. For some families it means cutting back on food in order to make the rent payment. We know that we got here because we had decades of Liberal and Conservative governments that did not invest in non-market housing for a very long time. Now we are trying to address this crisis. I think the most important number for Canadians to bear in mind with respect to the success or failure of the national housing strategy is from Steve Pomeroy, who said that for every one unit of affordable housing we build in Canada today we are losing 15. That should give everyone a very clear picture of how inadequate the federal government's efforts so far have been in addressing the housing crisis. In the fall economic statement the government announced a replenishment of some funds, like the rental construction financing initiative and the co-investment fund, but it put that off for another two years. That money is not even going to begin to flow until 2025, which means that the construction of those units is even further down the road when Canada is currently experiencing a housing crisis. My question is very simple. Instead of regaling me with things that have been built under the national housing strategy, and there are some but they are decisively inadequate, I want to hear a simple answer as to whether or not that money that has been announced for these programs that already exist will be moved up from 2025 to 2023.
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