- Member of Parliament
- Minister of Tourism
Minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec
- Liberal
- Hochelaga
- Quebec
- Voting Attendance: 63%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $108,332.48
- Government Page
- Jan/30/24 2:47:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my opposition colleague and I can see he is very passionate about this.
Having said that, I am happy to be on this side of the House, with a government that began rolling out the very first national housing strategy in 2016 to put a roof over the heads of Canadians across the country, rather than with a party that wants to insult the mayors of our cities, because when someone insults mayors in Quebec, they are insulting all Quebeckers.
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- Oct/18/23 3:05:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, affordability also means putting a roof over the heads of all Canadians. That is exactly what we are doing on this side of the House. Just this morning, CMHC reported a 98% increase in housing starts. The programs we have implemented will help all Canadians have a roof over their heads. That is exactly what we are going to do.
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- Oct/16/23 3:02:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question.
I look forward to the day when the Conservative Party will finally vote for measures that put a roof over the heads of people who really need it. I hope the Conservatives will vote in favour of eliminating the GST on new housing, a measure welcomed by the Association des professionnels de la construction de l'habitation du Québec and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. That is going to help us put a roof over people's heads.
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- Sep/18/23 3:09:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, allow me to thank the Prime Minister for his trust. This is the first time I rise in the House as a minister. I thank him.
What Quebeckers need is a Prime Minister who keeps them in mind and who works collaboratively with the municipalities. They do not need a condescending, arrogant Leader of the Opposition who treats municipal officials like incompetents. As a former municipal councillor for Montreal, I am deeply offended by the Leader of the Opposition's disregard for elected municipal officials, people who are duly elected—
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- Jun/20/23 2:53:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. Across the country, Canadians are having a hard time paying the rent or even just finding housing they can afford. We pledged not only to build more housing faster, but also to deal with renovictions through legislation.
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- Jun/20/23 2:46:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my colleague that housing is a provincial jurisdiction, and that we are very pleased to be able to work with the provinces and municipalities.
Unlike a party on the other side of the House that insults municipalities, we want to work with all municipalities and stakeholders to build the housing that everyone needs.
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- Jun/20/23 2:45:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. I would like to tell him that I have toured a number of regions in Quebec and that I am very aware of the vacancy rates.
That is why we have put in place a housing accelerator for municipalities, and they are very happy to have this fund. They can start sending in applications immediately.
We will continue to increase the supply of affordable housing across the country, including in Quebec.
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- May/29/23 2:51:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I agree with my colleague on the fact that speculative investments in real estate contribute to higher prices. That is why our government imposed a tax on residential real estate owned by non-Canadians. We have imposed a moratorium to stop foreign investments in this country.
We will continue to work with all the provinces because it is a shared responsibility.
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- May/29/23 2:33:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question.
I would like to remind him that, since our initiative with the national housing strategy, Quebec has received more than $5 billion to build or renovate thousands of housing units. We will continue to work with the Government of Quebec, particularly on the third round of the rapid housing initiative that we have just come to an agreement on with the province.
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- Nov/1/22 12:41:41 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is my turn to rise today and to reiterate several things that have already been heard in the House but are still worth repeating.
Our government understands that many Canadians are struggling with the rising cost of living and continue to face higher prices when they go to the grocery store or pay their rent. For many families, it is increasingly difficult to make ends meet.
Inflation is a global phenomenon and a lingering result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine and by disruptions in supply chains. This phenomenon affects people and businesses around the world. Although Canada’s inflation rate is less severe at 6.9% than that of many of our peers, such the United States, where inflation is now at 8.2%, the United Kingdom, at 10%, and Germany, at 10%, we know that many Canadians are struggling and that we are not out of the woods yet.
Many Canadians will continue facing tough times. Our friends, our families and the people around us will continue to struggle to pay the bills at the end of the month. Every day, we see the cost of groceries rise dramatically. Our economy will slow down, as will economies around the world, while central banks act to fight inflation. There will be people whose mortgage payments will increase, companies or entrepreneurs whose businesses will not do as well as they have since the end of the lockdown. It is quite likely that our unemployment rate will no longer be at its lowest level.
Canadians are worried, and that is why we are moving ahead with measures to support those who need it the most, when they need it the most. Our plan is to make life more affordable, with measures totalling $12.1 billion to help Canadians make ends meet and provide for their families.
Our plan includes an enhanced Canada workers benefit, which will put up to $2,400 more in the pockets of low-income families; an average reduction of 50% in child care costs by the end of the year; a 10% increase to old age security for people 75 or older, which has already been in place for four months; dental care for Canadians with a family income under $90,000 per year, starting with children under the age of 12; an additional one-time payment of $500, coming this year, to help tenants who have trouble paying the cost of housing; doubling the GST credit for six months, which will give additional targeted help to about 11 million individuals and families. Of course, we cannot forget our main support programs, including the Canada child benefit and the GST credit, which will be increasing, as they are already indexed to inflation.
The measures we are putting forward in our affordability plan do not add fuel to the inflation fire. They simply provide targeted and fiscally responsible help to those who need it the most.
Unfortunately, we obviously cannot support every Canadian as we did during COVID-19. We implemented exceptional emergency measures that ensured the safety and solvency of people at the height of the pandemic. We cannot fully compensate every Canadian for the inflation they are now facing, inflation that is, again, fuelled by the global pandemic and Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Canadians fully understand that doing so would only aggravate and prolong inflation, and that is clearly not what we want. That would also force the Bank of Canada to raise interest rates even higher.
While we are emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic and we support those who are hardest hit by inflation, we continue to pursue a tight fiscal policy. Indeed, this year, the International Monetary fund, the IMF, expects Canada to have the lowest deficit, as well as the lowest net-debt burden, of all governments among G7 countries as a percentage of GDP. This is a track that our country is forecasted to maintain over the coming years.
While many Canadian families have to tighten their belts and make difficult decisions because of inflation, our government is doing the same thing to ensure we do not make the situation worse. We are acting responsibly.
Our government believes that everyone should have a safe, decent and affordable place to live.
That goal was seen as a given for generations, but it is increasingly unattainable for many Canadians. Rents continue to rise across the country, pushing people further and further away from the places where they work and live. There has even been an increase in both visible and invisible homelessness.
That is why Bill C-31 proposes a one-time top-up to the Canada housing benefit that would consist of a tax-free payment of $500 to provide direct support to low-income renters.
That payment would provide direct help to the people most exposed to inflation and those experiencing housing affordability challenges. It is estimated that 1.8 million low-income renters, including students who are struggling with the cost of housing, would be eligible for this new support.
This one-time top-up is part of a broader suite of initiatives introduced in budget 2022, which will invest over $9 billion to make housing more affordable, including by addressing supply shortages, one of the main factors making housing more expensive.
With many families grappling with the rising cost of living, our government understands that it can be hard for them to pay for the dental care they need. Unfortunately, a third of Canadians currently do not have dental insurance, and the 2018 Canadian Community Health Survey suggested that Canadians without insurance were about three times as likely as those with insurance to avoid seeing a dental professional because of cost.
That is why, with Bill C‑31, which is moving through the legislative process, we are proposing to help uninsured families with children under the age of 12 get the dental care they need.
The Canada dental benefit would provide parents with children under the age of 12 who do not have access to dental insurance with direct payments of up to $650 per year, for a total of $1,300 per child over the next two years for dental care beginning this year. It is estimated that 500,000 Canadian children would benefit from this targeted investment of $938 million.
Our government knows that these are tough times for everyone, for all Canadians and all Quebeckers. That is why we are implementing our plan to make life affordable for the most vulnerable.
On Thursday, our colleague, the Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister, will be presenting the fall economic statement, which will outline our government's plan to continue building an economy that works for everyone.
Canadians can count on us to continue managing our finances responsibly, while supporting those who need it the most, when they need it the most.
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- Oct/3/22 6:51:39 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. I would like to remind him that he himself voted against this measure, which was in our most recent budget. I hope he will now be able to support initiatives like the one-time $500 top-up that I hope we will pass soon.
All the measures that were recently announced in the budget will be implemented soon. Thanks to the new national housing strategy that my colleague is very familiar with, we have invested almost $29 billion to help people and create more than 380,000 housing units across the country.
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- Oct/3/22 6:47:01 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the government recognizes the pressures faced by Canadians with the current housing market. We recognize that home ownership is out of reach for far too many Canadians. That is why we made housing a cornerstone of our last budget. The government presented the most ambitious plan that Canada has ever had to increase the supply of housing and make it more accessible for everyone in the country.
My colleague dismisses this government's past and present housing efforts, but his constituents may not. Twenty families from the Cook's Ferry Indian Band and the Leq'á:mel and Splatsin First Nations have housing as a result of the rapid housing initiative, and some 1,000 other units and beds have become available in this riding alone with federal funding. These success stories are happening in ridings across the country.
This government is proud of the efforts it has made to date and we are committed to doing even more. Our plan includes many provisions that will help people who are trying to get into the housing market for the first time. These provisions include the extension and expansion of the first-time home buyer incentive.
First-time homebuyers can also take advantage of a new tax-free savings account. This homebuyer incentive will help them save up to $40,000 for the purchase of their first home. We have also doubled the first-time homebuyers' tax credit to $10,000, providing up to $1,500 in direct support to homebuyers.
One of the drivers of rising house prices is simply that supply is not keeping pace with demand. That is why we have increased funding in our budget to double residential construction over the next decade. To that end, we will invest $4 billion to create a new fund to accelerate housing construction with the goal of building 100,000 net new units within five years. This fund and other related measures will help provinces, territories and municipalities build more housing faster.
We will also accelerate the construction of housing by providing $2.9 billion in funding through the national housing co-investment fund. This will enable us to support the creation of up to 4,300 units and facilitate the repair of up to 17,800 units for the people who need them most in this country.
Our government made housing a priority. As soon as we took office, we realized the extent of the impending crisis. During this time, we have brought in a wide range of strategic measures, including the first-ever national housing strategy.
These strategies include the first-time homebuyer incentive as well as other successful programs, such as the rapid housing initiative. Our budget provides $1.5 billion over two years to extend this very successful program, which constantly exceeded its affordable housing construction targets.
Far too many people in this country struggle to find safe and affordable housing. Although the government has already taken excellent measures that we can describe as historic to help these people, we know that we still have a lot of work to do. I would invite my colleague and all opposition members to support the measures we will be presenting over the coming weeks and months.
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- May/3/22 11:56:13 a.m.
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- Re: Bill C-8
Madam Speaker, I find my hon. colleague’s question a bit ironic. In the last election, his party called for a lot more spending than what the government is planning.
I will put this question to him: If his party were in power and made all the investments it wanted to make, what would it have done?
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- Apr/29/22 11:34:36 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, we agree with everyone that Canadians are finding it difficult, if not impossible, to buy a house right now.
For that reason, the budget we just presented includes major investments, including $200 million to develop and scale up rent-to-own projects, because we must give Canadians an opportunity to buy their first home. The tax-free first home savings account will also help.
On this side of the House, we take this issue seriously and we are working on several programs to address it.
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- Apr/26/22 7:32:10 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, our government is proud of its record on housing. We are proud to have helped hundreds of thousands of Canadians find a safe and affordable place to call home, and we are proud of the plan laid out in our new budget to continue helping Canadians find a suitable and affordable home.
I hope the member will support our budget. It may not be perfect, but we are more than trying. We have helped get over 400,000 homes repaired, created and protected. We have helped over two million Canadians with their housing costs and helped them to buy a house. I hope the member opposite will support the measures in the budget in the next voting session.
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- Apr/26/22 7:27:34 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, this government recognizes the housing affordability challenges that Canadians are facing today. Too many in this country are struggling to meet even their most urgent housing needs, and as my colleague points out, too many are struggling to achieve their dream of buying a home. However, unlike what my colleague said in the House earlier this year when he said that we should be done with the issue, we believe that the federal government needs to do its part. In fact, I think he owes Canadians an explanation for why he opposes investment in affordable housing and opposes supporting those who dream of owning a home.
Our government has prioritized housing since the beginning of its mandate. My colleague mentioned earlier that the system is broken, but since 2015, we have invested nearly $30 billion to support, create and repair 440,000 homes across the country from coast to coast coast. We launched the national housing strategy in 2017, the first of its kind. Is it broken? It helped over two million Canadians across the country. We have made housing affordability a central pillar of our new budget, pledging billions to boost supply and put housing within reach of everyone in this country. That includes expanding and extending programs with proven records of success, such as the rapid housing initiative to quickly build more affordable housing and the first-time homebuyers program.
My colleague's constituents are well aware of the impact the first-time homebuyers incentive has had, as 24 families in Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry alone are now homeowners thanks to funding from that initiative. Other federal programs have funded nearly 1,000 new units in his own riding, and those successes are repeated across the country.
Our new budget proposes a new tax-free first home savings account. This would allow people to save up to $40,000 for the purchase of their first home. We will also work to develop a homebuyers' bill of rights to protect homebuyers. Our plan includes support for people across the housing continuum, especially the most vulnerable in our country.
The member should tell Canadians now if he believes, like many of his colleagues, that the government should not play a role in making housing more affordable. Does he not believe that housing is a human right? Canadians deserve a clear answer from him and his party.
Meanwhile, our government believes that we can and should be in the business of helping Canadians meet their housing needs. Canadians expect us to get the job done. We hope that he and his colleagues will get their story straight. Do we need to make sure that housing is a human right? Do we need to give support to homebuyers regarding affordability? On this side of the House, that is what we are doing and that is what we are going to do.
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- Apr/8/22 11:35:16 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, budget 2022 contains concrete measures.
We will invest $10 billion over the coming years to increase the housing supply and ensure that everybody, including seniors, has a place to live.
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- Mar/22/22 6:51:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I do not want to get into the political rhetoric that we should do more. We have to do more. I agree with the member.
I hope the member and the party opposite will support all of the measures that will be put in place in the next months and years to come. We agree with the member that there is an issue in housing and the government has made a plan with the national housing strategy, ownership initiatives and a rent-to-own program coming. I hope the member will support these measures when they are presented in the House.
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- Mar/22/22 6:47:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am happy to talk about our government tackling housing affordability. My colleague asked for a plan, and we have one. We launched the national housing strategy in 2017, the first of its kind in Canada's history. It is an ambitious 10-year plan backed by more than $72 billion in investments.
I was deeply disappointed to hear the Conservative member for Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry yesterday say in the House that we should pull back on the national housing strategy. I could not disagree more. Unlike the Conservatives, we believe we need to make historic investments in affordable housing, and that is exactly what we are doing.
Through the national housing strategy, we have invested over $20 billion. That is thanks to a range of programs that address the different housing needs of Canadians, from shelters to community housing, to market rentals and ownership. One of those programs, the rapid housing initiative, exceeded all expectations through two rounds of applications. It has been very popular with our partners and will ultimately result in the quick construction of more than 10,000 new affordable housing units, including more than 200 units in my colleague's city of Hamilton, but we recognize that we still need to do more.
Since the last election, this government has set out an ambitious new agenda with further activities to make housing more affordable for all Canadians. We have planned for new initiatives such as the housing accelerator fund to help cities speed up development processes, and we have expanded access to funding to support green home retrofits. We will be working with the provinces, territories and municipalities to develop a fairness in real estate action plan to ensure there is more protection and transparency for homebuyers and renters.
We will also be collaborating with indigenous partners to codevelop a new urban, rural and northern indigenous strategy and Canada's first-ever national indigenous housing centre.
For young people working hard to get a foot on the property ladder, we introduced the first-time homebuyer incentive, which helps reduce their monthly mortgage payments without adding to their financial burden.
I was also disappointed to hear my Conservative colleague, the member for Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, say in the House yesterday that we should not be helping first-time homebuyers. On this side of the House, we believe that first-time homebuyers need more support. That is why we continue to make the first-time homebuyer incentive more accessible, with more adjustments to come.
To help make it easier for renters to get on the path to home ownership, we are also working on creating a fund to test, develop and scale up rent-to-own projects across the country.
We are proud of our success in improving housing affordability, even as we look forward to doing more with the support of this House and, I hope, the support of the member, and with our plan for making housing more affordable and creating more home ownership in this country.
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- Mar/22/22 1:41:49 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question.
I just returned from Chile, where I had the pleasure of representing Canada, our great country, at the swearing-in of the new Chilean president. The people of Chile are facing the same challenges, since this is a global reality.
We are very fortunate to live in a country where the government has introduced measures to help all Canadians. I am very pleased to continue this work with all members of the House.
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