Government Orders
Mr. Chair, I am certainly looking forward to speeding this process up. The idea with “build Canada homes” is that all the different departments and agencies of government are working in unison to deliver affordable housing across the country, leveraging federal land.
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Mr. Chair, I am buoyed by this interest in “build Canada homes”. Certainly, on this side of the House, we want to make sure this effort is quick and nimble. We are focused on building these affordable homes as soon as possible, using all the tools of government.
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Mr. Chair, I am certainly aware of this, and our department works with Canada Lands in some cases, to help with the development. We look forward to doing a lot more of that in the future.
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Mr. Chair, I think there is an opportunity to build affordable housing across the country, and there are many different tools needed to do that. Certainly, Canada Lands Company manages an inventory of lands and does some building activity there. CMHC does a lot of finance and mortgage work, but there remain gaps in the system to scale up the affordable housing we need to deliver.
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Mr. Chair, we are going to be focused on building in partnership with all levels of government, and with the public and private sectors and non-profit developers as well. We need a broad set of partnerships here. I am not talking about more bureaucracy; I am talking about great partnerships and more support for affordable housing.
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Mr. Chair, I think we have seen good success now with the housing accelerator fund and giving incentives to local governments, mayors and their councils to—
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Mr. Chair, we have housing accelerator fund agreements with over 200 communities in cities across Canada, and we are working on advancing those partnerships to deliver results.
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Mr. Chair, I think Canadians generally agree on the definition of affordable housing as being less than 30% of one's income, but there are certainly more specific affordability targets built into various programs that CMHC and the department have that are very focused on what those programs can deliver.
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Mr. Chair, it is really about the cost of housing, the household operations, relative to household income. That does change depending on the projects and the programs. That is why there are some different definitions depending on the projects or the programs.
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Mr. Chair, I thank the member for her question. I will answer in English. Affordability is defined as less than 30% of someone's income after taxes. That is the measure of all the shelter affordability, the cost related to housing, utilities, mortgage and rent payments, etc. That is the general guideline for affordability that gets applied to projects across government.
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Mr. Chair, we will stand by the affordability definitions as they have been applied, but the focus with “build Canada homes” going forward is going to be on doubling the amount of affordable housing. We have heard the Prime Minister speak very clearly about the need to focus that funding on solving homelessness, and the most vulnerable in our population will need that support. Members on this side…
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Mr. Chair, we will certainly be working with Canada Lands Company to ensure we can maximize the amount of affordable housing that we can build on federal lands. There is a big opportunity to increase the affordability and the opportunity for people to get deeper affordability on federal land.
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Mr. Chair, the government has had significant success in working in partnership with the Quebec government. I note that we have, through the national housing strategy, 365 projects in Quebec, worth over $3 billion, with over 26,000 units. Other programs as well are contributing significantly, with the Quebec government in the lead.
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Mr. Chair, we are seeing a great uptake with the housing accelerator fund. Quebec has worked with the federal government to the tune of almost $1 billion, and 26,000 units of affordable housing are the target. We will work to support the Quebec government to deliver on those housing targets.
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Mr. Chair, I agree with the member that it is very important that there is a combination of housing funding, which we see with the national housing strategy as well as the housing accelerator fund. We are also looking at partnership on housing infrastructure with the Quebec government, and those are active discussions that are in play right now.
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Mr. Chair, I certainly agree with the member on the importance of putting housing first and well ahead of investment. That has certainly been a concern in my community. Measures were taken by both the city and the province to make sure that investment does not skew the housing market any more than it already has. We look forward to partnerships with Quebec to achieve that same goal.
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Mr. Chair, we are looking at a very significant doubling of housing. The investment in homelessness in particular is what is envisioned with “build Canada homes”, which I hope the member and her colleagues will support. That is the kind of scale we need to tackle homelessness across Canada and certainly in Quebec. We will be looking at doubling the resources that go into homelessness.
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Mr. Chair, I think the partnership between the federal government and Quebec has been delivering, with respect and with speed, on the housing front. My expectation is that we will continue that partnership very strongly, to deliver results on the ground with affordable housing.
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Mr. Chair, when I first became mayor, it was a Conservative federal government. For seven years, it was all but impossible to get any investment from the federal government on homelessness and affordable housing. We fought the federal government at the time—
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Mr. Chair, the overdose crisis is a terrible tragedy across Canada. Certainly, we felt that from the very beginning of it, a decade ago in Vancouver, when the emergency was declared.
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Mr. Chair, I am certainly thankful to be elected by my constituents in Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby. I am here to represent my province as well. With my knowledge from serving at the city and provincial levels, I will do all I can to deliver positive change and a lot of affordable housing in our home province.
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Mr. Chair, I do not know where the drug policy fits within the estimates for Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada.
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Mr. Chair, again, we are here to talk about the budget estimates for the Department of Housing and Infrastructure, and I welcome the member's questions. It is about $16 billion of taxpayer money that is focused on housing and infrastructure.
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Mr. Chair, I will say that no single elected official is responsible for the prices in the housing market, and the federal government needs to do everything it can to bring the overall cost of housing down across—
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Mr. Chair, again to the member opposite, I am here to talk about the budget estimates for the Department of Housing and Infrastructure. I would remind the member to keep us focused on the budget estimates.
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Mr. Chair, again, the member opposite is veering off into misinformation that has been spread by his party relentlessly, twisting around proven science and Supreme Court decisions that defended the actions of the city.
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Mr. Chair, as my colleague just stated, the B.C. government is responsible for the decision. BC Ferries is a Crown agency of the B.C.government.
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Mr. Chair, it is an issue of B.C. jurisdiction, and in Canada, we respect jurisdiction among federal, provincial, territorial, local and indigenous governments. We work in partnership, but this is the B.C. government's jurisdiction.
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Mr. Chair, the member opposite needs to be a little more specific about what transfer she is speaking of.
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Mr. Chair, Canada will be more competitive when we focus on one Canadian economy: all 13 of our provinces and territories with the federal government, working in partnership on major projects and building housing across this country.
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Mr. Chair, again, the member opposite is talking about a B.C. government decision, not a federal government decision, and certainly not one related to the Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure.
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Mr. Speaker, I am new to this place and thankful for the opportunity to be here. This new government is focused on moving forward and building affordable housing using the federal lands we can make available and partnering in good faith with mayors, premiers and chiefs to work in partnership and in synergy with all levels of government to leverage federal lands. We will do that.
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Mr. Speaker, we have a great opportunity here to build housing. When we look at the pathetic performance of former housing minister Pierre Poilievre, who delivered six affordable housing units in one year and zero in the city of Vancouver, where I was serving, that is a record that is deplorable. It is a record that this government will never repeat. We are focused on building big.
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Mr. Speaker, I am very honoured to be here as the new housing and infrastructure minister and to go forward with initiatives that will deliver affordable housing across Canada. We will look for the support of the members opposite. We will look for partnerships with all levels of government to deliver that. We will use all the tools of the federal government to deliver with “build Canada homes”. We…
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Mr. Speaker, the government is committed to taking action on housing. That is why we have rolled out the GST break for first-time homebuyers, saving them $50,000 on up to a $1-million purchase. That is why we have rolled out a tax break for 22 million Canadians to help them afford housing. We are taking action, and we will continue to take action at a pace that I hope the members opposite will sup…
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Mr. Speaker, the government has been very clear about our plan for housing, the most ambitious plan for housing in Canadian history, and that is “build Canada homes”. It is moving forward on concrete actions that will save people money. We are going to take action for multi-unit residential buildings that we hope the members opposite will support in the fall to increase rental supply. We are going…
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Mr. Speaker, I have to say it is refreshing to hear the members opposite care about affordable housing, because they never did anything about it. That made life very difficult for mayors, premiers and housing ministers across the country, who saw no support for 10 years from the members opposite and their government. We are taking action. We are committed to scaling up that action with “build Cana…
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Mr. Speaker, I am, frankly, not surprised to hear the confusion on the other side of the House when they put the words “affordable” and “housing” together. We are taking action on it. Though the federal government does not control the price of housing, we want to see the overall cost of housing come down. That is why we are investing in local partnerships with cities across Canada to bring develop…
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Mr. Speaker, the government is taking action on delivering affordability. We have done that with a tax cut for 22 million Canadians. We have done that with a cut to the GST for first-time homebuyers. We will continue to do that with actions throughout this year, and we expect the members opposite to support this. This is a new voice. Suddenly, there is concern from the Conservatives, who never vot…
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Madam Speaker, this new government is focused on rolling out the most ambitious affordable housing plan that Canada has ever seen. We expect the members opposite to support this. They have raised many questions on this issue. Clearly, they are keen to support our initiatives to scale up affordable housing across Canada with the “build Canada homes” initiative. We look forward to that support. It i…
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Madam Speaker, as I have said numerous times in this House, there is a real focus on this side of the House on ensuring that young Canadians have an opportunity for home ownership. That is why we brought in the GST break for first-time homebuyers, $50,000 for homes up to $1 million, and a GST break up to $1.5 million in the markets that are higher priced. We are delivering a break for first-time h…
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Madam Speaker, I urge the member opposite to check the facts. The year-to-year housing starts are up across Canada. We are building more than ever before. We need to scale that to the next level, though. That is why this government ran on a commitment to build up to 500,000 homes a year across Canada. In 10 years, we have to scale up to that level, and that means cranking up a whole new industry o…
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Mr. Speaker, homelessness is a huge challenge right across the country. We face a huge challenge in tackling it with affordable housing. We need to be working with the cities, towns and indigenous communities to make sure we are delivering. There is a reason we have a new government here, with a new cabinet, that is focused on building Canada and focused first and foremost on building affordable h…
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Mr. Speaker, contrary to Conservative disinformation, housing starts are up across the country right now. We are seeing both a year-over-year increase in housing starts and certainly a large increase over when the leader of the Conservative Party was the housing minister. We are going to take this forward with the most ambitious housing plan that has ever been seen in Canada. We are going to build…
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Mr. Speaker, the new government is taking action on housing affordability with a GST cut for new homebuyers. We appreciate the support around the House for that initiative to make housing more affordable, but we are going to go a lot further than that. We have to revolutionize how we build housing in this country, with modular, off-site construction to make our industry more efficient and to deliv…
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Mr. Speaker, we are the only party that has recognized the urgent need to address the housing crisis and put forward a credible plan to address it. We will make housing more affordable by doubling the pace of construction across Canada with a housing plan that will get government back into the business of building. We will cut tape so bureaucracy is not getting in the way of homes being built at a…
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Mr. Speaker, there is a reason we have a new Prime Minister and a new housing and infrastructure minister who are here to serve and here to scale up building affordable housing across Canada. Based on the experience I have had at city and provincial levels, I am here to deliver. Canada is facing a housing crisis. This government is committed to a leadership role, working with all of our partners, …
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Mr. Speaker, the member opposite will have an opportunity to support a GST cut for first-time homebuyers, which is in front of us right now. We look forward to his support on that and giving new homebuyers a $50,000 break on their purchases up to $1 million. We look forward to his support on that and his support on the cut to income taxes for 22 million Canadians so they can afford housing.
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Mr. Speaker, our housing challenges have built up over several decades, and there is certainly the decade of inaction from the Conservative government. We are taking action. The new Government of Canada is focused on delivering on housing, with up to 500,000 housing starts. This is using every tool in the tool box, starting with a break on GST and starting with the important moves we are making to…
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Mr. Speaker, I think Canadians spoke loud and clear in electing members of this side of the House to deliver on housing. This government, our new government, has put forward the most aggressive plan to build affordable housing this country has ever seen, and it starts today with a break on GST for new homebuyers.
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