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

Sep/19/24 11:02:56 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, first off, we have a beautiful country in Canada. I appreciate the member's comments about his own riding, but there is something to be said when flying into Winnipeg and seeing these vast prairies full of food, the grain fields and canola fields, and there is a great deal of beauty. Canada is so rich in its diversity. There is a lot of non-profit housing out there, from different agencies. I was over at 800 Burrows at St. Mary The Protectress Villa, a seniors' complex, non-profit organization, which was celebrating 35 years with a mortgage burning. It was a wonderful event. I raise this only to underline that this building existed because governments, plural, got behind it and supported it. I think that the potential is real, it is tangible, but we have to have partners. The federal government has made it very clear that it is looking to expand in whatever way it can, and it is looking for partners. I think our actions speak louder than words. We have provided significant finances, and we have provided opportunities for those partners to be engaged. We will continue to do so. We want to ensure that we have a housing program that all of us can take pride in.

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

Mr. Ken McDonald (Avalon, Lib.)

Sep/19/24 11:05:03 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to give the member for Winnipeg North a chance to once again highlight what this government has done for housing in comparison to the previous government.

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

Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Sep/19/24 11:32:21 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, a big part of it is attitude. I have had a couple of discussions about the transitional fund and the accelerator fund. I met with the mayor of Winnipeg, and I do not see it as a territorial issue. What I see is governments working together for the betterment of the communities, which is something we should be promoting. This way there is more success, and the biggest beneficiaries are the people we collectively represent. Would the member not agree that it is much more preferable to have governments working together? That does not mean the federal government just giving cash blindly; it means governments working together.

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

Mr. Marty Morantz

Sep/19/24 12:48:13 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will note that my colleague from Winnipeg said in his question that the Liberals' policies made a difference, and he is absolutely right. Their policies made it far worse. I went through the litany of statistics proving that they made it far worse. I was not here back when the next prime minister of Canada was the housing minister, but I have heard him speak eloquently in this House about his formidable record of low housing costs, low interest rates, low mortgage payments and low rent. That is a pretty good record.

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

Hon. Pierre Poilievre

Sep/19/24 2:24:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the NDP leader was terrified he was going to lose a by-election in Winnipeg, an NDP stronghold, so he put out a Hollywood production where he claimed he had torn up the carbon tax coalition to which he had signed up, and that he was going to stop fighting for his pension and start fighting for the people. However, once the votes were counted, he betrayed them again. He is a fake, a phony and a fraud. How can anyone ever believe what the sellout NDP leader says in the future?

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

Ms. Rachel Blaney (North Island—Powell River, NDP)

Sep/19/24 6:32:43 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am proud to speak to the important piece of legislation before us. I want to start by thanking the member for Winnipeg Centre for doing a tremendous amount of work on the issue of a real universal basic income for people. The legislation is very simple in that it says it is about creating a wide framework to look at a lot of the issues that the Conservatives have expressed some concerns about: How do we do this, what is the best way to do it and would it be the most effective? When we look at the state of our society right now, we see an increase in poverty, and we see it in the numbers. We know that everyday people working hard are making a pretty stagnant income; the level of their income is staying where it has been for a very long time. At the same time, the wealthiest people in this country and in many other countries are seeing a huge increase. Our system is essentially becoming unfair. That is why we need to start looking at innovative programs like universal basic income. It says that we need a bar of dignity in our country that nobody should fall below. I am not unlike every other Canadian who lives in their community. More and more people are struggling. More and more people are living on the streets. I always say that it is easy to judge people who are living on the streets. I know who I am, but if I were put out on the streets with nothing, I have no idea who I would become. That is what is happening in this country. People are becoming disposable, but there are no disposable people, and it is wrong that we are at that point. Something like a guaranteed livable income would make sure people have the resources they need. I do not know whether members in this place are being as thoughtful on this as they might be. Today a veteran spoke to us at committee, and one of the things he talked about is how the system in Veterans Affairs under the Conservative and Liberal governments has become increasingly more frustrating. If a veteran comes home with trauma and illness and is suffering in some way, their partner has to fight for the money because it is a separate part of the bucket of money that goes to veterans. I do not know how many people have talked about the fact that they do not have enough time to work as much as they would like to because they are caring for their loved one. When we keep making little buckets of money and people have to find out whether they are available and whether they are allowed to receive it, the system fails for so many people. They are falling through the cracks, and by the time they have fallen through the cracks, the need is so high that addressing that need becomes overwhelming. This work has been done in different places. I can think of one place in Ontario where the Liberal government did it not too long ago. Mental health outcomes got better and people got to work. For people just trying to survive, who have absolutely nothing, it is really hard to dress nicely enough to go for an interview. It is really hard to find the time, if there is nobody to watch their kids, to get out there to do those things. When people have a stable income, it does not make them not work. I am tired of listening to the Conservatives say that. It is not true. People thrive in opportunity, but it is hard to thrive when people do not know how they are going to survive the next day. I think of people in my riding. I am going to be talking about this again and again. Right now, seniors have a guaranteed livable income in our system, which is the guaranteed income supplement. The CPP was raised for the poorest seniors in Canada. The government did not think about it for a minute, so what happened the next year? Their GIS got cut substantially, and now seniors are trying to make it through the month. They lost money because nobody plans. That is why we need a holistic program that serves everyone.

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

The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Sep/19/24 6:37:12 p.m.
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The hon. member for Winnipeg Centre has the floor for her right of reply.

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