SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 339 - Sep/19/24

Mr. Scott Aitchison (Parry Sound—Muskoka, CPC)

Sep/19/24 10:04:41 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I move that the 13th report of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, presented on Friday, October 27, 2023, be concurred in. I will be sharing my time with the member for Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis. Colleagues may have noticed that it is a very brief motion. I will read it. The report is very simple. It is that “the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities recognizes Canada is in a housing crisis that requires urgent action by the federal government to end homelessness, and that this motion be reported to the House.” That is a fairly brief report, but we think it is a really crucially important report because housing is a crisis in this country right now. In short, that simple, brief, pithy report is to the point and more than appropriate today. We all recall when the Liberal government launched its national housing strategy in 2017. Everybody remembers that there was great fanfare. The Prime Minister was surrounded by many of his colleagues and his ministers in front of a big building that was being constructed. He announced a $40-billion program. It was going to be “life-changing”. An hon. member: Oh, oh! Mr. Scott Aitchison: My colleague should keep clapping, Mr. Speaker; they will love the change we are going to talk about. The Prime Minister said it was to be a life-changing, transformational national housing strategy. Of course, it has evolved over time to be more like $80 billion. Not all of it is from federal money; a lot has been from matching provincial dollars. However, the Liberals continue to talk about this national housing strategy being a great thing. If people are living in housing that is unaffordable, that does not have enough bedrooms or that needs major repairs, and they cannot afford to live somewhere else in the community, they are described as living in core housing need. In fact, that is a statistic that the CMHC, the government's own bureaucrats, tracks and reports on regularly. Those in core housing need are obviously some of the most vulnerable in our society. In 2018, just after the Liberal government started this national housing strategy, 11.3% of households in Canada were in core housing need. In 2022, the Canadian housing service survey, which is the latest data from CMHC on core housing need, said that core housing need is now at 11.6%. It has actually gone up a little bit. This means that the national housing strategy, when it comes to core housing need and homelessness, has done nothing. There is an $80-billion plan, but core housing need in this country is effectively the same. This is not just about the numbers. This is not just the data. We see the results of the Liberals' ineptitude all across the country. There are tent cities in every single community in this country. It used to be just a big city thing. Now they are everywhere. When I was the mayor of Huntsville, housing was already a crisis there. We had done all kinds of things as a municipality, but it was not enough. Parry Sound—Muskoka has often struggled with people in what we call “hidden homelessness”. It is not always visible. Maybe they are sleeping on couches of friends and family. Living in a van is not entirely uncommon for seasonal workers and resort staff. I will give the example of Lions Lookout in Huntsville. It is a beautiful hill from which we can see the whole town. It is gorgeous. Periodically there would be a van parked up there overnight. People would be staying there. Today this happens all the time, and not just with one van, but with multiple vans. Rental vacancy rates in my community of Huntsville and my neighbouring communities of Bracebridge, Gravenhurst and Parry Sound have been close to 0% for over a decade. The government talks about affordable housing and homelessness, but after nine years, the situation is worse. More than 235,000 people are estimated to be homeless in Canada. From the core housing need, now we are talking about people who are actually homeless, who do not have a home. In addition to these visibly homeless individuals, 450,000 to 900,000 are among the hidden homeless, so they are staying with family and friends because they have nowhere else to go. In 2018, the Parliamentary Budget Officer said that the number of homeless people in Canada has increased by 20%. The Auditor General said that the federal government does not really know if its initiatives aimed at reducing chronic homelessness are actually working. What a stunning indictment of the Liberal government's record. The Liberals are very good at having photo ops and talking points. They are very good at announcing big ideas. However, they are absolutely inept at the follow-through. The price is in the suffering. It is not just in the big cities. As I mentioned, there are encampments everywhere. Northern Ontario is pretty cold in the winter. There are a lot of hard-working folks in northern Ontario. Sudbury, as an example, sees the situation getting worse and worse as well. According to the report card on homelessness for 2023, the number of homeless encampments in Sudbury jumped from 25 at the end of 2022 to 113 at the end of 2023. Canadians are feeling it. It is reported that 28% of Canadians said they are considering moving to another country for greater affordability. One-quarter of Canadians say they are reconsidering whether they can start a family. The number of young people in this country who have given up on the dream of ever owning a home is shocking. What are we doing on housing starts? If the Liberals have not really done a very good job on homelessness, what about market housing and obtainable housing? Housing starts are down. Across Canada, we had a total of 16,857 housing starts in August. In August 2023, it was 19,459. That is a 13% drop in one year. In Ontario, the drop was 25%; in British Columbia, housing starts are down 31%. These drops are in the same time period. In Quebec, housing starts have dropped 9%. If we narrow in on places such as Toronto, the housing starts have had a 48% drop in the same time period. In Vancouver, there has been a 34% drop. In Victoria, it is a 33% drop. In Montreal, it is a 4% drop. What is the government's plan when it comes to housing? The Liberals know that, apparently, we need to speed things up in cities. Therefore, they came up with something really well-named called the “housing accelerator fund”. It is borrowed money. They use that fund to give money to cities. What do cities do in return when they get their money? They increase their fees and charges, making it more expensive to build. The City of Toronto, where housing starts have dropped 40%, got $471 million from the housing accelerator fund. Then it turned around and increased its development charges by 42%. It has increased its development charges by over 1,000% in a decade, yet the government gave it $471 million to accelerate housing. The City of Vaughan, just north of Toronto, got $59 million, and its development charges are up 400% since 2010. Ottawa just introduced an 11% increase in its development charges. It got $176 million from the government. If talking points and photo ops could solve problems, there would not be a problem in this country. The government has shown that it is long on performance and dismal on results. We need to hold cities accountable, and we need to start making sure that they not only move the process along faster and get development approvals done quicker but also make it cheaper. This concept that growth can pay for growth means that young people will be paying the bill forever. Now the Liberals have made this great move to extend the length of amortization. They have missed the point. We do not want to saddle young people with more debt for longer and longer in their lives. We need to make it cheaper. Nobody makes more money on housing than governments. Governments make the most. We need to get government out of the way and reduce the fees and charges, and the government does not understand that. It just keeps doubling down, giving more borrowed money to cities that make it more expensive and slow it down. The housing accelerator fund is little more than a pay-for-promises fund and a photo op fund. We need results in this country. We need a federal government that will hold cities accountable and get the job done. On this side, Conservatives are ready to do that. We are ready to deliver for Canadians because they cannot wait any longer.

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Mr. Mark Gerretsen (Kingston and the Islands, Lib.)

Sep/19/24 10:14:13 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I found the comments very riveting from a Conservative. The member and I were both elected to city councils at the same time during the Harper years. He would be very aware of what Stephen Harper's government did for affordable housing. My community got absolutely nothing from the federal government between at least 2006 and 2014, when I was on city council. Since 2015, when the government was elected, over $40 million has come into my community alone to build housing at 40 Cliff Crescent, 1316 Princess Street, 68 Cowdy Street, 1 Curtis Crescent and 805 Ridley Drive, to name a few. They are finished constructed housing where people are living right now.

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Mr. Dan Mazier

Sep/19/24 10:15:24 a.m.
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Five houses.

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Houses
Five

Mr. Mark Gerretsen

Sep/19/24 10:15:24 a.m.
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No, Mr. Speaker, they are actually buildings.

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Buildings

The Deputy Speaker

Sep/19/24 10:15:24 a.m.
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Order. I remind folks to go through the Chair. Let us keep the conversation going, but let us do it appropriately. The hon. deputy House leader has the floor.

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Mr. Mark Gerretsen

Sep/19/24 10:15:37 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, apparently Conservatives are not aware that a unique physical address could represent an entire apartment building, but I digress. My point is, can the member name just one project that the former Conservative government built in his riding when he was a city councillor and later the mayor? I want just one.

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Mr. Scott Aitchison

Sep/19/24 10:15:59 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I always find it entertaining when the member for Kingston and the Islands starts talking in here, because it is clear he does not understand the math. If announcing billions of dollars could solve the problem, we would not have a problem in this country. However, I have just given the Liberals' own data, which shows the situation is worse today than when they started. I do not care how much money they spend; they make the situation worse. Cities make it more expensive every single year. The charges cities charge to get homes built have gone up exponentially every single year, and the government just rewards them instead of making them reduce those charges and make it cheaper for people to buy homes.

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Mr. Mario Simard (Jonquière, BQ)

Sep/19/24 10:16:47 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, indeed, we cannot ignore the fact that there is a housing crisis, and our out-of-control migration policies have something to do with this. In Quebec we know this only too well, since we are the ones receiving the majority of the temporary residents. These policies certainly have something to do with this. I do not believe, though, that the solution proposed by the opposition leader, namely to insult city mayors who are in a position to build housing, is ideal. What Ottawa could do is reach an agreement with Quebec and transfer funds that would be used to build homes. I would like to hear what my colleague has to say about the insults his leader has directed at mayors. Does he think they are constructive?

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Mr. Scott Aitchison

Sep/19/24 10:17:27 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is a question of whether we hold other levels of government to account or not, and cities have made it more expensive to build homes in this country. On average, 33% of the cost of every single dwelling unit built in this country is government. Nobody makes more money on housing than governments, so it is sanctimonious to stand in this place and say we need to give more money. We need to reduce the charges. We need to reduce the fees. We need to make it easier to get homes built so young people are not saddled with debt forever and they can actually get into the market. That is the solution.

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Ms. Lisa Marie Barron (Nanaimo—Ladysmith, NDP)

Sep/19/24 10:18:05 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are all very aware there is a huge housing crisis happening right now. In my riding of Nanaimo—Ladysmith, people are being particularly hard hit. For example, a two-bedroom in Nanaimo right now costs $2,459 per month. Who can afford that? Not many Canadians can. Unfortunately, a problem that both the former Conservative government and the Liberal government have been allowing is for large corporations to swoop in and buy up affordable homes, yet the Conservative member is now saying he has the solution. When the leader of the Conservatives was the minister of housing, he built zero affordable homes in British Columbia. When will the Conservatives actually take the problem seriously and build affordable homes that people can live in, not just allow rich developers to be propped up?

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Mr. Scott Aitchison

Sep/19/24 10:18:55 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will just simply say that it gets a little tiring listening to the NDP demonize private sector developers, because we need literally trillions of dollars of investment in housing in this country. We are not getting that done without the private sector. I think it is time that the NDP and its friends stop demonizing private sector investment. Let us start finding ways to attract that investment to this country.

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Mrs. Dominique Vien (Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, CPC)

Sep/19/24 10:19:26 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend my colleague from Parry Sound—Muskoka for his excellent contribution. He did a good job explaining and presenting what we are discussing today. This subject is of interest to a great many Canadians and Quebeckers too. The housing crisis we are facing today was caused by this government, which has mismanaged its files since it came to power in 2015. My colleague spoke about this government's incompetence, which I believe takes many forms. I hope to have the opportunity to point to some of the factors that led us to this housing crisis, which has sadly affected all of Canada and all of Quebec, including in places where homelessness would have been unthinkable. This has caused terribly unfortunate situations in our cities as well as in our small towns. As my colleague was saying, people are having to sleep on couches. This is a hidden form of homelessness, and even our small towns are not immune to it. In fact, this is happening in my riding and pretty much across Quebec. Other forms of homelessness are increasingly visible, and that is so unfortunate to see. It is truly sad that people in Canada, a G7 country, a G20 country, are not even able to put a roof over their heads. Plenty of ordinary Canadians are now finding themselves on the streets, homeless. This week I heard a man on a call-in show describe his situation, which was pretty cut and dried: He was forced out of his home because the landlords were taking over the property. This is allowed in Quebec. He found himself on the street because there is no housing. He bought himself a tent and that is where he lives today. Does anyone think we have palm trees and sunny skies year round in Canada? October is coming. November too. In December the snow comes, along with temperatures in the negative twenties and thirties. These people will be sleeping outside. As parliamentarians and members of this legislature, we cannot simply look away. It borders on the criminal to do so. Thomas Mulcair, a well-known former politician who used to lead the NDP, is now a high-profile political commentator in Quebec. He said that the Prime Minister and his government promised affordable housing in 2015. They promised they would build homes so that everyone would have a roof over their head. Where are we today? The situation, as my colleague pointed out, is worse than it was nine years ago, when this Prime Minister came to power. Many people of all backgrounds and circumstances have entered our country in recent years, and it was the Liberals who did this. However, they built less housing. How can it be that they did such a poor job? Let us crunch the numbers. Fewer homes were built in 2022 than in 1972, despite the population having doubled. How can they have done such a poor job? I repeat, fewer homes were built in 2022 than in 1972, despite a doubling of the population. In my opinion, someone somewhere is not doing their job. Someone, somewhere, on the other side needs to wake up, because this is not working. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, or CMHC, has indicated how many homes must be built by 2030 if we are to try and get a handle on the situation. We will need 8.5 million housing units. I am not the one saying this. It is the CMHC. They are the experts. Here are some figures. I do little summaries like this on every sector in Canada. I can also talk about the budget and a whole host of other things, but since I only have four minutes left, I am going to focus on the housing question. Rent has doubled since 2015. Mortgage costs have doubled since 2015. Of all the OECD countries, Canada is the slowest to build. Of the G7 countries, based on our land mass, Canada has the fewest homes, and yet, if one looks at a map of Canada, it is not for lack of space. In Toronto, it takes 25 years to save for a down payment, when that should be the repayment period. That is unbelievable. I repeat: Fewer housing units were built in 2022 under this government than in 1972. Something is not working. Right now, money is being spent left and right. We do not know what is happening with that money. Right now, we are seeing just how overwhelmed Canada's big cities are with what has been happening, especially in Montreal. Does anyone feel like going to Montreal these days? Shots are being fired, there are guns everywhere and people are sleeping outside. That is the current situation. Our leader introduced a bill to build housing and encourage the use of federally owned surplus buildings and land, but it was voted down. The bill stipulated that municipalities would have to build 15% more housing and meet housing construction goals. How could anyone think that voting against that bill was a good idea? I will tell the House why they voted against it. They voted against it simply because it came from the Conservatives. That is the only reason. It is a matter of partisanship, when what we are trying to do here is to take care of Quebeckers and Canadians, to put a roof over their heads. That is what we are trying to do here—

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The Deputy Speaker

Sep/19/24 10:28:28 a.m.
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The member for Drummond on a point of order.

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Mr. Martin Champoux

Sep/19/24 10:28:32 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I just want to remind my colleague that interpreters have devices in their ears that enable them to interpret speeches, and when members knock on the desk in the middle of their speech, it can cause problems that are best avoided.

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The Deputy Speaker

Sep/19/24 10:28:45 a.m.
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That is a good reminder. The hon. member for Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis.

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Mrs. Dominique Vien

Sep/19/24 10:28:50 a.m.
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Re: Bill C-356

Mr. Speaker, that is an excellent comment. I apologize. I can be quite intense, and I get fired up with tough subjects like this. I am now seeing homelessness in Lévis, which was never the case. I had never seen it before, but it is there now. We see homeless people. There are young people sleeping in shelters, under bridges or in their cars. That is not normal. It is unacceptable. Our leader introduced Bill C-356, which was defeated. I do not understand how anyone could have possibly thought it was not a good idea. How could they think it was a bad idea? The bill died at second reading. I only have 10 seconds left, so I will end on this note: When we are sitting on the other side of the House, we will get this done.

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Mrs. Brenda Shanahan (Châteauguay—Lacolle, Lib.)

Sep/19/24 10:29:57 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we can be passionate about the issues, but we have to respect the people who work here. I thank my colleague for his point of order. Where I am from—

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The Deputy Speaker

Sep/19/24 10:30:15 a.m.
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The member for Mégantic—L'Érable on a point of order.

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Mr. Luc Berthold

Sep/19/24 10:30:18 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague's comments are completely unacceptable. To suggest that my colleague, the member for Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, disrespected the interpreters despite the fact that she apologized is shameful, unacceptable and should not be accepted in the House. I would ask her to withdraw that comment.

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The Deputy Speaker

Sep/19/24 10:30:36 a.m.
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I understand. The member has already apologized. Questions and comments. The hon. member for Châteauguay—Lacolle.

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