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Mr. Chair, I would like to know how the Conservatives plan to cut supports for renters and then stand here and pretend to care about renters.
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Madam Chair, the member made an S.O. 31, but when it came time to actually doubling investments to help people experiencing homelessness, including in Peterborough, she voted against it. It is pretty rich and hypocritical for her to talk about homelessness now and pretend they are the ones with a plan.
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Madam Chair, the hon. member's logic is to do less on housing but somehow produce more housing. How does that make sense?
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Madam Chair, if the hon. member cared about housing supply, why did she and her party vote against the housing accelerator fund, which is about building more housing supply?
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Madam Chair, the Conservatives do not even believe that Canadians have a human right to housing. We are the ones who legislated a human right to housing.
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Mr. Chair, I can give him the numbers. In Halifax, in 2022, the average was $541,790.
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Madam Chair, if the party opposite had its way, it would not even offer any supports to first-time homebuyers to access their dream of home ownership.
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Madam Chair, their plan does not include any mention of homelessness. Their plan does not really prioritize affordable housing.
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Madam Chair, the Conservatives do not believe in the right to housing. They have no plan. All they have are gimmicks and buzzwords.
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Mr. Chair, that is the party that believes in cuts. We believe in federal leadership on housing.
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Madam Chair, does the official opposition actually believe that Canadians have a right to a safe and affordable place to—
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Mr. Chair, I am thankful to be invited to rise in the committee of the whole to speak to the main estimates for the CMHC, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, and to discuss the Government of Canada's priorities for housing, ongoing activities and our plans for the future to give more people a place to call home. Housing affordability is one of the most important issues to Canadians. Every…
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Mr. Chair, I did not interrupt the party opposite. I would appreciate it if the members did not interrupt me. I have the right to respond, as I have been asked a question, and it is becoming routine now. The fact of the matter is that when it comes to housing supply, he has voted against measures to increase housing supply. When it comes to housing affordability and the measures to help homebuyers…
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Mr. Chair, the Conservatives do not have a plan. All they have is gimmicks and buzzwords.
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Mr. Chair, we on this side of the House believe in the right to housing. They do not.
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Mr. Chair, the hon. member should talk to members of her caucus, who believe we should do less on housing.
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Mr. Chair, do the Conservatives have a plan for housing, or do they just have rhetoric and buzzwords?
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Mr. Chair, we are witnessing the biggest gatekeeper in this House. He has voted against every measure to build more supply, to support homebuyers and to build affordable housing. He talks about the gatekeepers and red tape. Why did he vote against the housing accelerator fund, a $4-billion program to do precisely what the leader just mentioned, which is to help municipalities increase their capaci…
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Mr. Chair, I do not interrupt the other side. It is interfering with my right to reply to the questions from the leader.
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Madam Chair, the Conservatives released a housing plan with no mention of homelessness.
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Mr. Chair, on this side of the House we believe in the right to housing, and they do not. The leader is two years behind schedule. We introduced the concept of combining infrastructure investments for housing two years prior. We introduced the housing accelerator fund, a program to do exactly what he is claiming he will do in the future, which is to connect infrastructure and also make sure that l…
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Mr. Chair, I will take the party opposite's rhetoric on housing seriously when it actually produces a real plan on housing.
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Mr. Chair, I do want to speak about housing. The problem is the Conservatives have no plan, and they stand here, pretending to care about Canadians and getting help to them, but they vote against all the measures we bring to this House.
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Madam Chair, I know the answer. The party opposite spent a meagre $250 million on housing—
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Madam Chair, does the hon. member believe that every Canadian has the right to housing? None of the Conservatives have said that Canadians have a right to housing.
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Mr. Chair, we know that one of the solutions to higher housing prices is more supply. We brought in measures to create more supply. The Conservatives voted against it.
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Mr. Chair, why did the Conservatives vote against supports for homebuyers?
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Mr. Chair, that is a very good question, and it points to the fundamental difference between this side of the House, our government, and the official opposition. The Conservatives do not believe that Canadians have a human right to a dignified place to call home, but we do, and the evidence is there: Whenever we bring investments to the floor of the House to invest in Canadians, they vote against …
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Mr. Chair, we know that rents have gone up. We are doing everything we can to support renters. In terms the average rental rates, again, there is a regional breakdown. I am happy to provide those numbers.
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Madam Chair, we believe in the right to housing; they do not.
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Mr. Chair, we have. We have shown leadership and here is the proof. We have invested over half a billion dollars to continue doubling the annual funding for Reaching Home, which is Canada's homelessness strategy. We have gone from just over $2 billion to almost $4 billion in response to the urgent need on the ground. Our investments are paying off. We have prevented over 62,000 people from experie…
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Madam Chair, why does the hon. member not believe there is a federal leadership role in housing?
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Mr. Chair, the CMHC is an independent Crown corporation and no minister of the Crown will determine the compensation of employees of an independent Crown corporation.
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Madam Chair, I would like to know why the party opposite does not believe the federal government should help renters.
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Mr. Chair, we have spent over $30 billion on housing investments, creating 118,000 new units and repairing almost 300,000 units of affordable housing.
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Mr. Chair, the Conservatives have all the questions tonight, but they have no plan on housing, and they have no help for Canadians who actually need help with housing.
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Mr. Chair, if the Conservatives are serious about rental supports, why did they vote against the Canada housing benefit, which is delivering real supports to Canadian renters?
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Mr. Chair, almost half a million homes built or repaired is a significant impact. Almost two million Canadian households helped through the national housing strategy is a significant impact. Is the hon. member denigrating that number and minimizing the impact?
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Mr. Chair, I really appreciate this question, because it gives me an opportunity to talk about the divisiveness of the leader of the official opposition in calling the mayors, the elected officials in this country, “woke”, and denigrating them and calling them “incompetent”. We need to work with local governments, we need to work with mayors and we need to work with municipalities to increase hous…
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Mr. Chair, that is absolutely correct. I found the mayor of Surrey, as well as the members of Parliament from the region of Surrey, to be very open to working with our government to meet the needs of all types of housing advocates in Surrey. Surrey has benefited greatly from the rapid housing initiative. While I was there to announce the third round of the rapid housing initiative in Surrey, I was…
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Mr. Chair, I have provided the hon. member with the current numbers based on all the investments that we have made. I have made those numbers clear, twice, in my answers. What is rich is that this is the party that has voted no all along, to all those investments that have delivered all the units that I just mentioned.
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Mr. Chair, it is called the federal lands initiative. We have had this program for a number of years. The hon. member has come around to the utility of this program, and I congratulate him for coming around to this idea, but he is a number of years late into this program.
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Madam Chair, the Conservatives do not believe in Canadians' right to housing. They believe the federal government should cut investments in housing, yet they want more housing supply. How does that make sense?
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Mr. Chair, what I do know is that the Conservative Party, when in power, did nothing to help Canadian renters. We introduced the Canada housing benefit, which is helping renters.
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Mr. Chair, average down payments are also regional in nature. That is my answer.
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Mr. Chair, the average down payment on a home, again, depends on the region. Those are the numbers I have. I am happy to provide them.
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Mr. Chair, it is a regional number depending on what part of the country one lives in.
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Mr. Chair, everyone deserves a place where they can raise their family, plan for the future and belong to a community. Unfortunately, families across the country are struggling with the rising cost of living, especially the rising cost of housing, both for homeowners and for renters. Housing is a basic human need. It is also an economic necessity. Our economy is built by people, and people need ho…
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Mr. Chair, I agree with the hon. member that speculative investments in real estate are contributing to pushing housing prices higher. That is why we have legislated a number of measures that can deal with this, including an annual 1% tax on the value of vacant residential real estate that is not owned by Canadians or Canadian residents, as well as a two-year ban on foreign investment in Canadian …
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