I would like to thank the Associate Minister of Housing, Minister Flack, for his visit in Glengarry–Prescott–Russell last week. We had the opportunity to participate in the inaugurations of two new senior citizens’ housing projects in St-Albert and Vankleek Hill. Our government did provide close to $3 million to help create affordable housing units in the united counties of Prescott and Russell to support our seniors.

The new building at the Résidence Lajoie in St-Albert consists of a two-storey building with 26 units, six of which are fully accessible. Residents have access to fitness equipment, a shared recreational space and a meeting room. The new three-storey building at the Vankleek Hill Senior Citizens Manor includes 30 housing units. The building is also energy-efficient and designed to meet VisitAbility standards with accessibility features such as wide doors and everything.

It was nice to meet with the new tenants that had moved only a few days prior to our visit. We were able to reiterate on our commitment to helping more Ontarians find a home they can afford and that meets their needs. I would like to thank the board members from both non-profit organizations. They have some opportunities from different governments for funding, but it takes their implication, through these volunteers on the boards, to do the work and make it happen.

Me and the minister stopped by the St-Albert cheese factory to get some cheese curds and also stopped by Beau’s beer and Dunrobin Distilleries in Vankleek Hill to shop for Christmas presents. It was a great day.

The challenge is that I actually did not have a round table with municipalities this week on housing. I had a housing forum that included municipalities, not-for-profits, that included home builders, that included representatives from modular building. It was a round table—it was actually a forum with 300 people from across the province of Ontario who are focused on building homes, Mr. Speaker. That was what it was all about, not just the municipal sector.

We had a lot of very productive meetings, and they were focused on one thing. They said the same thing to us: “Help us get shovels in the ground by removing red tape. Remove obstacles.” And we heard time and time and time again that the federal government has to step up to the plate and help us with infrastructure, to enable housing to be built faster across the province of Ontario. So, that is what we’re up to, Mr. Speaker.

Unfortunately—it was an open forum—the NDP did not send anybody to participate in that forum. I would have thought the critic for the NDP would have been there, maybe the Leader of the Opposition, but they didn’t show up. But that is consistent. They haven’t showed up since they’ve been in this place, Mr. Speaker.

Interjections.

Let me unpack it for the member opposite: It was a public forum. Anybody could have applied to it, but in order to do that, you’ve actually got to read the public pages, and apparently the member didn’t do that.

With respect to infrastructure, in about—I don’t know—45 minutes the member opposite is going to have the ability to vote for infrastructure for our municipalities to get shovels in the ground faster. I’m hoping that the member opposite will vote for that, Mr. Speaker. We’re bringing forward a use-it-or-lose-it policy so those developers, those home builders that don’t get shovels in the ground after doing all of the work with their municipal partners will lose that allocation.

But here’s the big thing: The member opposite could call 1-613-JAGMEET and bring down the federal government if they don’t redirect that $15 billion worth of spending to put housing-enabled infrastructure in the ground. That’s what we need, Mr. Speaker.

My question is to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Earlier this week, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing hosted a housing round table with municipalities. Municipalities told the minister very clearly that they were ready to cut red tape to get more housing built, but they needed more funding for growth-related infrastructure.

They asked the minister to allocate funding under the Building Faster Fund, based on housing permits, which they can control, rather than housing starts, which developers control. Why did the minister say no to these municipalities?

My question is back to the minister. Earlier this year, the Regional Planning Commissioners of Ontario pointed out there were hundreds of thousands of development-ready homes in Ontario that were approved for construction but remained unbuilt. No matter how fast a municipality issues a housing permit to a developer, they cannot force the developer to build.

This is my question to you, Minister: Why is this minister withholding infrastructure funding from municipalities for something they cannot control?

Interjections.