44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 28, 2024 10:00AM
- May/28/24 2:18:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there is “not a chance” that the housing minister will reach his housing target promises. That is a direct quote from Richard Lyall, president of the Residential Construction Council of Ontario. He testified yesterday at the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities. He went on to say, “we're staring into a pit. What we're saying is that when cranes come down, they're not going back up.”
After nine years of the Liberal-NDP Prime Minister, housing costs have doubled. Yesterday's testimony from housing experts confirmed what Conservatives have been saying, which is that “first-time homebuyers are pretty much extinct”, said Lyall. He said, “We effectively tax housing like alcohol and tobacco. It's like a sin tax. It doesn't make sense”.
Clearly, there is no chance the Prime Minister can or will help Canadians. It is time for common-sense Conservative policies, where development fees are not the highest in the continent and where we restore the dream of home ownership.
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- May/28/24 2:19:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this week marks the 25th anniversary of the arrival of the Kosovo refugees who fled the brutal conflict there in 1999. Today, the Canada-Kosovo Parliamentary Friendship Group welcomed a delegation from Kosovo to celebrate the occasion.
Twenty-five years after their arrival, we celebrate the invaluable contributions of Kosovo Canadians to our society. They are contributing as doctors, business owners, as members of the Canadian Armed Forces, in music and as cultural leaders, as scientists and so much more.
The generosity of those Canadians who welcomed and who helped them has been returned many times over. This anniversary serves as a reminder of our shared humanity and our duty of compassion toward those seeking refuge.
We are committed to continuing to support those fleeing war and oppression and to honour the stories of courage and resilience that inspire us to be more inclusive as a society.
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- May/28/24 2:21:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the incompetence of this Prime Minister and the Liberal mayor of Montreal, who is blocking construction, has caused rents to triple in Montreal.
We learned the worst today. Under the headline “Major holdup”, La Presse reported that, “since 2019, [building] permit wait times have more than doubled.”
Why is the Prime Minister continuing to send $95 million to politicians and municipalities that are blocking construction?
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- May/28/24 2:21:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, once again, the Conservative leader's hypocrisy is on full display.
Let us talk about his housing proposal, which he has been delaying debate on for months. His proposal would not build homes fast enough, would not reach enough cities and would create unnecessary bureaucracy. The Conservative leader would also rip up the 179 housing agreements and put the GST back on apartment construction. His clear lack of ambition on housing is how we ended up here in the first place.
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- May/28/24 2:22:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, everything the Prime Minister said is false.
When I was the minister responsible for housing, we built 200,000 new housing units. In Montreal, the average rent was $700 a month. Now it is $2,000. What is more, the wait time for construction permits has more than doubled.
Why does the Prime Minister not follow my common-sense plan, which involves penalizing Montreal politicians by giving that money back to Quebec municipalities that are accelerating housing construction?
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- May/28/24 2:23:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Conservative leader is preying on Canadians' genuine concerns.
When the Conservative leader was the minister responsible for housing, he withdrew the government from co-operative housing. He supported the construction of zero new apartments and he gutted affordable housing initiatives.
Today, his housing proposal continues to fall short. The Conservative leader is all about slogans, not real solutions.
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- May/28/24 2:23:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, because of the incompetence of the Prime Minister and the Liberal City Hall in Toronto, rent there has more than doubled over the last nine years. What is worse is that the Prime Minister's so-called housing accelerator fund has given half a billion dollars to Toronto, and only months later, the politicians in that city hiked up homebuilding taxes by 20%. Now 30% of all homebuilding costs are government taxes alone.
Why does the Prime Minister keep sending our money to build bureaucracies that block homes?
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- May/28/24 2:24:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we see the Conservative leader's hypocrisy on full display.
Let us talk about their housing proposal, which the Conservative leader has been delaying debate on for months because he knows it's not ambitious enough. His proposal will not build homes fast enough, does not reach enough cities and creates unnecessary bureaucracy. The Conservative leader would also rip up the 179 housing accelerator agreements and put the GST back on apartment construction. His clear lack of ambition on housing is partly how we ended up here in the first place.
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- May/28/24 2:25:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when I was housing minister, we built 200,000 homes in one year, rent was only $900 and mortgage payments were half of what they are today.
Fast-forward to the present, and the Prime Minister has given half a billion dollars to Toronto City Hall to jack up new taxes on homebuilding. It is no wonder. When the president of the Residential Construction Council of Ontario, Richard Lyall, was asked whether the Prime Minister would keep his promise for 3.9 million new homes by the end of the decade, he said, “Not a chance.”
Why does the Prime Minister not stop funding bureaucracy so that we can get out of the way and build homes?
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- May/28/24 2:25:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is shameful that the Conservative leader continues to exploit the very real anxieties of Canadians.
As the Conservative leader was housing minister, let us talk about his record. He withdrew the government from co-operative housing. He supported the construction of zero new apartments. He gutted affordable housing initiatives and created new bureaucracies.
His housing proposal today continues to fall short. The Conservative leader is simply all slogans and no answers.
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- May/28/24 2:26:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my common-sense plan to build homes would reward municipalities that speed up permits and punish the politicians who get in the way. The Prime Minister's approach has not only doubled housing costs, but built up Toronto City Hall with monstrous financial transfers so that it can block construction.
There have been 50 new tent encampments added in the city of Toronto in six weeks. There are 250 tent cities in Toronto alone. Is that his plan, to block homes and put up tents?
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- May/28/24 2:27:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the so-called plan that the Conservative leader has put forward on housing does absolutely nothing to address homelessness or encampments.
We are investing hundreds of millions of dollars to help municipalities across the country build more housing rapidly and create the wraparound supports necessary to support people facing homelessness. We continue to be there with the most ambitious and comprehensive housing plan this country has ever seen.
This is part of what we are doing to make up for the lost years for which he was housing minister 10 years ago, not creating housing for Canadians and not investing in our future.
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- May/28/24 2:28:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, a report on foreign interference that included the 2019 and 2021 elections reveals a serious lack of coordination and rigour. I would even venture to say that the Prime Minister's Office swept everything under the rug.
The Prime Minister probably does not know the whole story, because he himself admits that he did not read the reports. He is just not interested, and that is not leadership.
How does the Prime Minister plan to stop this kind of complicity in foreign interference, particularly from his own office?
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- May/28/24 2:28:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we thank the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency for its report and its diligent work, of course.
The report made a number of recommendations, and we are currently following up on them. During the various conversations and investigations into foreign interference, a number of challenges were highlighted with respect to internal communication within our intelligence agencies. We will continue to implement the recommendations and proposals that will improve how we respond as a government to foreign interference.
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- May/28/24 2:29:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, those were not challenges; they were monumental failures resulting from ignorance and carelessness. All parties participated in creating the Hogue commission. Naturally, the commission is calling for information in order to remedy these failures, but the Prime Minister's Office literally withheld information and documents that the commission struggled mightily to obtain. The Hogue commission itself called for the documents, and now it has to make sense of all the pieces.
Will the Prime Minister promise to co-operate fully and unconditionally with the commission from now on?
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- May/28/24 2:30:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our government has shared more cabinet confidences with various commissions of inquiry than almost any other government in the history of our country.
We know how important it is to show Canadians that they can have confidence in our public service, our intelligence services and our government to counter foreign interference. That is why we have been transparent and open with the commissioner and with all the other commissions. We have to keep being transparent about the work this government is doing.
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- May/28/24 2:30:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the hospital in Moose Factory was built nearly 70 years ago. The wood roof is caving in. There are no elevators. Patients and staff deserve better.
For two decades, the community of James Bay has been pushing the federal government to build a new hospital. The Liberals promised funding, but in the last budget, there was not a single cent for the hospital. The province and Weeneebayko Area Health Authority are ready to go.
Will the Prime Minister finally fund the new James Bay hospital? Yes or no?
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- May/28/24 2:31:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, over the past years, we have made historic investments in first nations and indigenous health care right across the country. We recognize there is more to do. We are going to continue to be there as partners to indigenous communities and provincial health authorities to make sure those investments show up for vulnerable Canadians from coast to coast to coast.
We know how much more there is to do on the path to reconciliation, but we are there to be a partner every step of the way, and we will continue to work to respond to the important needs of first nations communities around health care.
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- May/28/24 2:31:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister continues to break his promise to the community and needs to build that hospital.
Montreal's public transit system is in crisis. The experts are clear: There is not enough money.
The longer this crisis goes on, the more people will lose public transit. This government is doing nothing. The Liberals are turning their backs on Montrealers.
What is the point of having Liberal MPs in Montreal if none of them are fighting for their city?
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- May/28/24 2:32:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is pure nonsense. Our government has been there to invest in public transit more than any other government.
As a proud Montreal MP, I can say that our actions in support of the blue line and the REM and of continued investment in public transit in Montreal, Quebec City and across the country are not going to stop.
We set up an infrastructure program to invest in public transit on a permanent and ongoing basis for decades to come. We will continue to be there for Montreal, for Montrealers and for all Quebeckers and Canadians when it comes to public transit.
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