44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 28, 2024 10:00AM
- 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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- May/28/24 2:33:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after nine years of the NDP-Liberal government, Canada's housing crisis is only getting worse. The Liberals claim, in budget 2024, that they are going to build 3.87 million homes by 2031. That would mean a new home completed every 57 seconds, every day. At the housing committee, I asked Richard Lyall, a home-building expert, if this was realistic, and he said not a chance. The Prime Minister is not worth the cost of housing.
Will the Prime Minister stop funding photo ops and start building the homes that Canadians desperately need?
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- May/28/24 2:33:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, with the recent housing plan, we have set out to build the number of homes actually required to solve the housing crisis. With respect, it is disappointing in the extreme that Conservatives will not even set a goal that will solve the problem.
What is more interesting is that the member who posed the question has had her community benefit with a $31.5-million investment to build more homes in Kelowna. She is advocating for that money to be taken away from her city and replaced with a program for which Kelowna is ineligible. Most MPs advocate for investments in their community. It is disappointing that my colleague is doing the opposite.
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- May/28/24 2:34:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it was announced just this morning that, in fact, housing starts are down in my community and across the country.
In 2015, people could actually afford a home. Nine years of the NDP-Liberal government has only brought us a housing crisis.
The head of the Residential Construction Council of Ontario said that construction is down there. We are seeing this across the entire country. He said that high financing costs and development charges mean homebuilders are sitting at home instead of building homes.
Since the Prime Minister has no meaningful plan, will the Liberals vote for our housing bill put forward by the Conservative opposition leader to build the homes, not bureaucracy?
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- May/28/24 2:35:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if the member argues that housing starts in her community are down, why is her solution to cut funding for housing in her community? It is endemic to the Conservative approach. When we look at the plan that Conservatives have put forward, it includes a tax hike on new apartment construction. It includes cuts to the programs that fund affordable housing, that fund cities to build housing and that allow young people to get into the market for the first time. The cuts are so extreme, even Conservative premiers are crying out, threatening to call snap elections in order to avoid the prospect of Conservative cuts. Cuts will not build homes.
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- May/28/24 2:36:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after nine years of the NDP-Liberal government, Canadians are hungry and homeless. Yesterday, it was confirmed at committee what Conservatives have been saying all along, that the housing minister will never meet his targets.
In Saint John, New Brunswick, the lack of housing options is leaving a family in a leaky, mouldy apartment. Cory Hamilton, the father of four, is worried about the health and safety of his family. Ten new people a week are going homeless in Halifax in the minister's own backyard.
When will the Liberals stop funding photo ops and start building the homes Canadians desperately need?
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