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Mr. Chair, the focus here needs to be on increasing supply across Canada. Building affordable homes people of all walks of life can afford, with less than 30% of their income, is our goal.
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Mr. Chair, I will remind the members opposite that they have not supported a single affordable housing initiative over the past decade. That was at a time when the federal government needed to deliver more and more, working in partnership with provinces, territories and communities.
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Mr. Chair, this government is currently delivering hundreds of thousands of affordable homes across Canada, and we will scale that up. We will double that.
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Mr. Chair, I am thankful for this opportunity to share some remarks and thankful to my colleague for giving me the space to do that. I am very pleased to be here and to have the opportunity to discuss the 2025-26 main estimates for the Department of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, and how these investments are supporting Canadians across the country. Housing and public infrastructure have…
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Mr. Chair, having one Canadian economy is really essential to meeting this moment, this great time of challenge for Canada with the unjust tariffs from the U.S. Housing is critical to our economy, and we need to scale up the housing industry across Canada to create jobs. We need to use Canadian materials and create the jobs that will turn our economy and make it stronger—
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Mr. Chair, I will respond in English. That is a very important question about making sure young people have the opportunity to find affordable housing across Canada. I will reference the largest, most ambitious housing plan that Canada has ever seen. We will see it take shape around “build Canada homes”, a new entity that will focus on scaling up construction and the building of affordable housing…
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Mr. Chair, it has been a challenging time across Canada for decades. Certainly, in Vancouver during my time as mayor, we were at the very front end of what has become a housing crisis across Canada. The lack of affordability has permeated the country over several decades. That is why, with this new government, part of the reason I am standing here, elected by my constituents, is to bring out the l…
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Mr. Chair, the member is asking questions he already knows the answer to, but it has been Liberal governments for three terms.
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Mr. Chair, again, the members opposite are asking questions that they have prepared and know the answers to.
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Mr. Chair, housing prices are historically high in Canada, and incomes need to be increased with a stronger economy.
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Mr. Chair, at this stage, we are designing the future for “build Canada homes”. It is not an entity that exists yet, but I hope the members opposite will support the investment to scale affordable housing—
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Mr. Chair, “build Canada homes” is not specifically in the infrastructure and housing estimates at this stage.
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Mr. Chair, at this point, we are dealing with the estimates for the current programs that the housing and infrastructure department is putting out.
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Mr. Chair, we have delivered a $50,000 savings to first-time homebuyers already with votes in the House, and we will continue to deliver affordability measures.
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Mr. Chair, I welcome the member. Infrastructure investments in the department are typically through provinces and territories, and their priorities are part of where that spending goes. Some of that is into roads. It is into all sorts of different infrastructure: water, waste water and transportation infrastructure.
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Mr. Chair, transportation infrastructure is a part of the housing infrastructure investment that happens through the department, working in partnership with provinces, territories and local governments that lay out the planning in the community scale.
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Mr. Chair, the department has funded, through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, hundreds of thousands of homes in these recent years. The scale is significant, and it needs to double from here.
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Mr. Chair, the department funds provinces, territories and local governments to help them in the process of building. The government is not directly building, but we should be in the business of that going forward to make sure affordable housing is getting built.
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Mr. Chair, the target around doubling housing construction in Canada is for the years to come. We need to scale up from the current level. The goal is to double construction across Canada, and we will use every tool we have available to us to do that.
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Mr. Chair, we want all Canadians to have access to safe and secure housing. Certainly the younger generation needs more opportunities to afford homes; that is why we are doing the doubling of construction across the country.
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Mr. Chair, that is not part of the current estimates, the budget estimates we are discussing here today. That is a commitment going forward that the government will tackle, and it hopes to have support on it from the members opposite.
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Mr. Chair, as said, we need to use every tool we can that is available to us. Certainly, federal land is an opportunity, working with partners.
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Mr. Chair, I can get the member that detailed answer shortly. I do not have it at my fingertips, but I can do that.
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Mr. Chair, the disaster mitigation and adaptation fund has already provided almost $3 billion in support across Canada to—
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Mr. Chair, the typical coverage across the country is per capita, but there are variations in that depending on the province and certainly the issues, the disasters.
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Mr. Chair, for this time period, $643.8 million is the amount that is put forward for the disaster mitigation and adaptation fund.
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Mr. Chair, certainly the government is committed to supporting communities. That is why the fund exists: to be able to make the infrastructure more resilient and to support communities—
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Mr. Chair, I used to farm very close to Abbotsford, so I am keenly aware of the challenges in the Fraser Valley and the disasters that have affected the region.
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Mr. Chair, I appreciate the member's pointing out the critical importance of the infrastructure in the Fraser Valley on the south coast of B.C. and how important it is to the rest of Canada.
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Mr. Chair, I am aware there has been funding allocated for disaster mitigation and adaptation in the Fraser Valley, which has obviously been through some tough disasters in recent years.
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Mr. Chair, I neglected to congratulate the member on her election and her constituents for electing her here to do the good work on behalf of Oakville. As with me, she is new in the House. The federal government has a responsibility to taxpayers to ensure that their money produces results, and that means we work with the provinces, territories, local governments and third parties directly, dependi…
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Mr. Chair, Canada is grappling with significant housing challenges. Housing needs vary across the country, depending on province, territory or neighbourhoods, and they are very distinct to those local needs. A collaborative approach is needed to address the current housing crisis where all the levels of government are participating. Housing and infrastructure are intertwined. They go hand in hand.…
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Mr. Chair, resilient infrastructure does not just make good economic sense, it is critical to keeping Canadians and our communities safe. That is why we have committed almost $4 billion, through programs such as the disaster mitigation and adaptation fund, the infrastructure Canada investment program and the national infrastructure fund, to help mitigate and adapt infrastructure to the impacts of …
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Mr. Chair, I am proud of the work the Vancouver affordable housing agency did in catalyzing thousands of units across the city. That is why I am focused now, here in the federal government, on delivering on behalf of all of Canada.
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Mr. Chair, Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada acknowledges the infrastructure gap in many indigenous communities that needs to be addressed. To help address that, we have many supports in our programming to ensure that indigenous communities can benefit from our programs. For example, programs have funding minimums that are dedicated to indigenous communities: higher cost shares, somet…
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Mr. Chair, the department has several programs that will benefit rural, remote and indigenous communities and organizations that consider their unique needs. Examples are programs that integrate flexibilities, such as rolling intakes for smaller communities, and flexibility for indigenous recipients. Our program officials work very closely with the potential recipients to provide application suppo…
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Mr. Chair, I thank the member for his question. I will answer in English. In terms of how many we are building, currently, 220,000 homes a year, approximately, is the pace.
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Mr. Chair, the goal across Canada for us is to build more homes and to be ramping up to doubling the current rate.
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Mr. Chair, approximately 225,000 units were built in the last year.
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Mr. Chair, I would be happy to provide the member with the detailed data on that as soon as possible.
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Mr. Chair, I would say, whether it is Hamilton or Vancouver, we need to bring the overall cost of housing down and do that by building affordable housing.
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Mr. Chair, that is not affordable to many Canadians. That is why we need to build more affordable housing and look for the support from the members opposite.
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Mr. Chair, across the country, we need to be able to see rents come down for Canadians. I am sure that is the case in Hamilton, as it is in many cities across Canada.
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Mr. Chair, it all depends on people's income, but for most Canadians, that is a challenge. That is why I hope the member will support us with our new housing plan.
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Mr. Chair, the housing accelerator has agreements with over 200 communities across Canada that will unlock over 800,000 homes in the future.
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Mr. Chair, the housing accelerator fund has invested $4.4 billion to eliminate the barriers to development and build homes faster.
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Mr. Chair, on this side of the House, we are very committed to transparency. We will be tracking and working with the local governments to see how they are progressing on delivering the housing units they are rezoning for.
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Mr. Chair, I have outlined the scale of investment that is happening through this department. We are talking about $16 billion of hard-working Canadians' money that is being invested in affordable housing and infrastructure. We hope to have the member's support for that.
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Mr. Chair, I am clear that the members opposite have not supported any of these affordable housing programs in recent years. I hope, based on these questions, that there is going to be a change of approach here, and the members opposite will support scaling up these investments in affordable housing.
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Mr. Chair, certainly we are looking forward to leveraging federal lands, going forward, to get a lot more housing built across Canada. Part of “build Canada homes” is to use federal lands. In this case, most of those units under development currently will be delivered in the years ahead.
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