- Member of Parliament
- Prime Minister
Leader of the Liberal Party
- Liberal
- Papineau
- Quebec
- Voting Attendance: 52%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $79,187.97
- Government Page
- Jun/19/24 3:18:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Vaughan—Woodbridge for his extraordinary hard work.
For decades, governments have ignored the important role the federal government has to play in housing. That is why we brought the federal government back into the business of homebuilding, working through an ambitious plan to build four million more homes, and as we just saw this week, Canada's housing starts are going up with more homes being built right across the country.
While the Conservatives would abandon the most vulnerable so their rich friends can pay less, we will not rest until we ensure fairness for every generation.
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- Jun/19/24 3:00:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, here is a concrete example of how one makes the math work to build more homes.
Last year, we made a decision to take off the GST on purpose-built, middle-income apartment buildings, the kind of apartment buildings we need more of right across the country. Within a few days after having announced that we would no longer be charging the GST on new apartment buildings, thousands of new units were being announced by developers across the country, because, suddenly, they were able to bring projects onto the table that had not been on it before. That is how to invest in housing. That is how we deliver for Canadians.
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- Jun/19/24 2:58:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the challenging fact that the Leader of the Opposition is trying to avoid is that just last week it was demonstrated that housing starts are up across this country. That is part of where we have been investing with communities across the country in the housing accelerator fund that is delivering more homes built faster. Indeed, we are going to see close to four million new homes in the coming decade because Canadians know that more density, better use of public lands, better protection for renters and better math for home builders to be able to build more affordable homes are the things that are going to make a difference in Canadians' lives.
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- Jun/19/24 2:52:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are pleased that we have been able to contribute to a massive number of seniors' homes across the country over the past years, but we also know we get to do even more with the most ambitious plan on housing this country has ever seen. From increased density to more affordable homes and to using public lands and federally held lands like post office buildings and Department of National Defence properties to build more homes that are affordable for Canadians, this is our plan to ensure that we are delivering for seniors and for future generations.
While the Conservatives want to sell off public lands to the highest bidders, we are going to make sure long-term leases give affordable homes for seniors and all Canadians.
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- May/29/24 2:51:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition mentioned the history lesson. Since he was the housing minister, he should know that the way we solved the housing crisis after World War II was by putting forward a catalogue of homes that builders could access to build extremely rapidly right across the country. Yes, that is one of the measures we are bringing back.
The Leader of the Opposition's mockery of concrete initiatives that are going to deliver for Canadians is exactly what is wrong with his approach. He would rather mock and insult than roll up his sleeves and get solutions built for Canadians.
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- May/29/24 2:49:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition's criticism is that there are too many measures in our housing plan. Housing should be solved by a simple, one-size-fits-all solution according to the Leader of the Opposition. That is perhaps how he managed to build only six affordable homes when he was the minister of housing.
We have a broad range of initiatives that are delivering on housing, like topping up the housing accelerator fund with $400 million and a new $6-billion Canada housing infrastructure fund to help communities build. We are leveraging transit funding to build more homes. We are launching a housing design catalogue. We are also incentivizing more skilled trade workers.
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- May/29/24 2:48:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the leader opposite speaks of 2015. We took office with a commitment to getting the federal government back in the business of building housing. We launched a national housing strategy in 2017, which put 2.5 million Canadians into new or refurbished homes, and we have continued to invest ever since. We are building homes on public lands. We are converting underused federal offices into homes. We are taxing vacant land to incentivize construction. We are building apartments, and bringing rents down with top-ups to the apartment construction loan program. We are scaling up modular housing. We are also launching Canada Builds to lead a team Canada effort to build more homes and more.
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- May/29/24 2:41:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we criticize, rightly, the Leader of the Opposition, who when he was housing minister built only six affordable homes for Canadians across the country. It is understandable, because he was part of a government that took the federal government out of the building of affordable housing. It chose that the federal government would have nothing to do with housing across the country. Those 10 years of non-involvement of the federal government left echoes.
We have stepped up and invested in communities and invested in partnerships. We are getting the homes built. We are delivering for Canadians.
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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 2:24:34 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 2:21:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, once again, the Conservative leader's hypocrisy is on full display.
Let us talk about his housing proposal, which he has been delaying debate on for months. His proposal would not build homes fast enough, would not reach enough cities and would create unnecessary bureaucracy. The Conservative leader would also rip up the 179 housing agreements and put the GST back on apartment construction. His clear lack of ambition on housing is how we ended up here in the first place.
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- May/22/24 2:51:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, no one in this country thinks that a Conservative government that does nothing but offer cuts and austerity is going to help address the homelessness crisis in the country. That is not how it works. It takes investment in affordable housing. It takes investment in programs to support the people who are homeless. It takes investment in programs that are rooted in compassion and backed by data to deal with addictions. Those are the investments that are needed. He is proposing nothing but cuts and austerity while Canadians are suffering. We are here to invest in vulnerable communities.
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- May/22/24 2:48:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, whether it was the pandemic, whether it was global inflation, whether it was international economic situations, we have seen more and more Canadians suffering, including from the opioid and toxic drug epidemic that the Leader of the Opposition continues to attack and vilify.
The reality is that we have invested billions in countering homelessness. We are going to continue to invest in eliminating encampments and supporting Canadians in communities and in vulnerable communities across the country. The Leader of the Opposition's solution is to do less to fight homelessness, to invest less in vulnerable people. That is what he is doing when he votes against our current budget.
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- May/1/24 3:02:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our housing accelerator program, our comprehensive plan to build more homes to make sure Canadians can see themselves in home ownership once again, is exactly what we are continuing to invest in. Yes, I pointed out that we cannot build homes alone and that we need partners in the provinces and the municipalities, but I never denied that the federal government needs to continue to act on housing. That is why we have done that since 2017; that is why we are continuing to do it now. We need to make sure that young Canadians have opportunities that their parents and grandparents had. That is what we are stepping up for. That is what the leader opposite refuses to do.
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- May/1/24 3:01:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the government that was in place before I became prime minister had a housing minister who is now the Leader of the Opposition in a government that explicitly said that the federal government had no role to play and no responsibility toward building affordable housing across this country, so for 10 years there was almost no federal involvement in building homes across this country.
We turned that around, starting in 2017, and we will continue to invest to create opportunities and to create fairness for millennials and gen Zs, so that they can buy—
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- May/1/24 2:58:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the housing plan is focused on fairness for every generation. We, over the coming years, will be unlocking 3.8 million new homes by cutting red tape, by rezoning, by lowering the costs of homebuilding and by using public lands and vacant office buildings to build affordable housing for Canadians.
We will be reviving the dream of home ownership for young Canadians by making it easier to save up, tax-free, for a down payment and by giving renters credit for their monthly rent payments toward the ability to get a mortgage. We have put forward the most comprehensive and ambitious housing plan this country has ever seen.
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- Apr/30/24 2:40:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is precisely why, in our latest budget, we focused on ensuring fairness for every generation.
A lot of the investments in budget 2024 are specifically focused on homes and affordable housing to ensure that young people, millennials and gen Z can envision someday buying a house and can have their rent actively count toward a credit score that will enable them to get a mortgage.
We are here to make those investments with the most ambitious housing plan Canada has ever seen.
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- Apr/17/24 2:56:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in 2017, we created the national housing strategy, which put millions of families into homes across the country. We have continued to step up with investments, including last year with the housing accelerator, which has delivered increased densification and is going to be building thousands upon thousands of homes over the coming years. We are continuing to step up in this budget, which is focused on fairness for every generation to make sure young people can again see a pathway to home ownership and can be able to afford rents in the cities in which they work. These are things we are continuing to do because Canadians need it.
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- Apr/17/24 2:45:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am happy to talk about the housing accelerator program, because it stands in direct contrast to any plan that the Leader of the Opposition has put forward to pick fights with municipalities and provinces on housing. We are actually stepping up with investments and allowing for more densification, for four units as of right, to make sure there is better use of public lands, including by municipalities and provinces. We are making sure we are changing the math around building affordable homes to unlock millions of homes over the coming years.
This is the work that we are doing right across the country with people who are ambitious about solving the housing crisis. If the Leader of the Opposition does not want to help solve it, he needs to keep getting out of the way.
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- Apr/17/24 2:42:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I was in Vancouver a few weeks ago to speak with young people about the fact that we are supporting renters with greater protections and by making sure that the money they spend every month on rent actually gets counted in their credit scores to help them get a mortgage in the future.
Our housing plan will unlock 3.87 million new homes by cutting red tape, by reforming zoning, by lowering the costs of homebuilding and by using public lands and vacant government offices for housing. We are making it easier to save up for a tax-free down payment. We are helping end chronic homelessness and making homes more affordable.
We are going to continue doing the work—
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