Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, it is a question of whether we hold other levels of government to account or not, and cities have made it more expensive to build homes in this country. On average, 33% of the cost of every single dwelling unit built in this country is government. Nobody makes more money on housing than governments, so it is sanctimonious to stand in this place and say we need to give more money. We n…
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Mr. Speaker, I will just simply say that it gets a little tiring listening to the NDP demonize private sector developers, because we need literally trillions of dollars of investment in housing in this country. We are not getting that done without the private sector. I think it is time that the NDP and its friends stop demonizing private sector investment. Let us start finding ways to attract that…
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Mr. Speaker, September marks the end of another stunning summer in Parry Sound—Muskoka, but what is often referred to as the playground of the rich and famous is not the reality for too many of my neighbours. We have master carpenters who build beautiful waterfront cottages, but cannot afford a home in the town they grew up in. We have resort staff who welcome guests year after year from all over …
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With regard to government involvement, including the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, in the creation of rental housing in Canada, including through both direct investments and bilateral agreements, between February 1, 2006, and November 4, 2015, broken down by program, province or territory, and by year for each part of the question: (a) how many new units were built as a result of federa…
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With regard to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's (CMHC) programs, CMHC's Affordable Housing Centre, and all other CMHC initiatives, between February 1, 2006, and October 1, 2015: (a) how many new units were built as a result of CMHC funding; (b) how much funding was provided to support the construction of non-profit or community housing and how many units were built; (c) how much CMHC fund…
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With regard to government involvement, including the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, in the creation of rental housing in Canada, including through both direct investments and bilateral agreements, between February 1, 2006, and November 4, 2015, broken down by program, province or territory, and by year for each part of the question: (a) how many new units were developed as a result of fe…
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With regard to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's (CMHC) programs, CMHC's Affordable Housing Centre, and all other CMHC initiatives, between February 1, 2006, and October 1, 2015: (a) how many new units were developed as a result of CMHC funding; (b) how much funding was provided to support the construction of non-profit or community housing and how many units were developed; (c) how much C…
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Mr. Speaker, that is true.
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Mr. Speaker, I have a very quick answer for that member. The Harper government did not fail. In fact, houses cost half the price back then. Rent was half the price back then. In fact, with the crisis we have today, the genesis of it was with the Pierre Elliott Trudeau government. It was actually the Stephen Harper government that recognized we had a problem with homelessness in this country and th…
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Mr. Speaker, the simple answer is this: Yes, I agree. There are lots of examples where governments can work together in partnership with community organizations. When I was the mayor of Huntsville, we gave land to different community organizations to build affordable and deeply affordable units. The federal government owns all kinds of buildings, thousands and thousands of buildings that are under…
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Mr. Speaker, would anybody accept the premise of that ridiculous question? That is not the Conservative approach. The Conservative approach is to reward results, not to pay for promises, which is the Liberal approach. They keep spending money, borrowing money and pushing the cost of paying off that debt onto the next generation, which is already thinking they will never be able to own a home of th…
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Mr. Speaker, it is always a treat to rise in the House. I will just share a few thoughts about this budget, particularly as it relates to the housing portfolio. I would note that the housing section of the budget this year was significant. Unlike other years, housing was at the very beginning of the budget. I find it interesting because the government has talked a lot about housing for some time. …
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, I was relieved, when this debate began, to hear the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Housing describe that we are in a housing crisis because, of course, a year ago, the Minister of Housing could not even use the word “crisis”; he could not be brought to do it. Something obviously happened over the course of the summer, and the Prime Minister's Office woke up and recognized …
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That is a lie. That is not true. We cut them.
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, I am not entirely sure how this relates to the private member's bill before us right now, so I am wondering if you could help us out here.
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the Apartment Construction Loan Program and its precursor the Rental Construction Financing Initiative, broken down by year, by province or territory, and by type of end user (market housing developer, non-profit housing developer, municipality), between fiscal years 2017-18 and 2027-28: (a) how much funding has been allocated to the program; (b) how much funding has been committed;…
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With regard to the Rapid Housing Initiative, including Rounds 1, 2, and 3, broken down by year, by province or territory, and by type of end user (market housing developer, non-profit housing developer, municipality), between fiscal years 2017-18 and 2027-28: (a) how much funding has been allocated to the program; (b) how much funding has been committed; (c) how much funding has been transferred t…
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With regard to the Affordable Housing Fund, and its precursor, the National Housing Co-Investment Fund, broken down by year, by province or territory, and by type of end user (market housing developer, non-profit housing developer, municipality), between fiscal years 2017-18 and 2027-28: (a) how much funding has been allocated to the program; (b) how much funding has been committed; (c) how much f…
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Madam Chair, it is an honour to stand in the House and speak, as always, but of course on this special occasion I am particularly grateful to my dear friend and colleague from Battle River—Crowfoot, who just told a story about the legendary Stan Darling, former member of Parliament for Parry Sound—Muskoka, which of course is the magnificent part of this country that I am honoured to represent here…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, the NDP-Liberal government has turned its back on rural Canadians and northern Ontario. Hard-working folks from Thunder Bay to Kapuskasing, to North Bay, Sudbury and the Soo want to own a home. They want the dignity of a good-paying job and affordable gas and food, but after eight years of the Prime Minister, we know he is not worth the cost because the results are worse than ever. Ho…
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Mr. Speaker, if this were not such a serious topic, that would literally be laughable. It is rich to hear the member talk about the urgency of these things, when it has been seven years in the making. The member has been part of a government for seven years, during which we have been talking about this, and now finally there is a race to get it done all of a sudden. I do not think the government u…
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Mr. Speaker, I genuinely appreciate the question from my colleague from Nunavut, but I think it is fair to say that this country, including every government in its history from the time it was founded, might not be judged positively on its relationship with first nations. What we are talking about today is not the history; it is the future and what the Conservative Party and the leader of the Cons…
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Mr. Speaker, it is important to point out that I truly believe there would be no need for rebate cheques if the government did not take the money in the first place. Frankly, this is classic Liberal government operation; they take more and more and then give a little back. It is the Ottawa-knows-best, top-down approach in which the government decides who wins and who loses. Conservatives believe t…
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Mr. Speaker, sometimes I feel like we are a bit of a broken record in this House, because we constantly come back to the issues that Canadians are facing every single day. Those are, of course, the cost of living and its challenges. The ineffectiveness of the Liberal government makes life more difficult. I have to say Bill C-29 is just another example of a government that is interested in window d…
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Mr. Speaker, I did not hear a question. I heard a lot of rambling, so I do not know what to say.
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Mr. Speaker, I am not entirely sure how to answer that question. I am not sure who is the arbiter of who is indigenous and who is not. I really cannot answer the member's question.
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Mr. Speaker, I guess it comes down to this: It is important not just to listen to first nations and pretend to hear but to actually hear and to deliver results and action. In the Conservative Party, there is a commitment to do that and a demonstration of how we would do it if we do form government. First nations across this country can be reassured that they would have real leadership and real rec…
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Mr. Speaker, I actually think that what the leader of the Conservative Party announced yesterday is very much like how a municipality would operate. We need to listen, and we need to act and get it done. What I love is that what he has announced is a first nations model. It was presented to him by first nations, and it is an optional model that would simplify the negotiation between resource compa…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, after years of the Prime Minister, life has never been so expensive. Rent has doubled and mortgages have doubled. New home construction was down again last year, and the housing bureaucrats of the government predict that it is going to be down again in 2024. The Liberal-NDP cost of living crisis is forcing Canadians to choose every month between paying their rent, putting food on the …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, it is hard to take that parliamentary secretary seriously, because he knows full well that with regard to these big expensive photo ops in Mississauga and Toronto, for example, more housing than ever is getting blocked despite them. Merely weeks after the Prime Minister's $471-million photo op in Toronto, the gatekeepers there said “no” to new housing right next door to a new transi…
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Madam Speaker, after eight years of this NDP-Liberal government, the doom and gloom in the housing market is worse than ever. Fewer homes were built last year than the year before. Vacancy rates are at all-time lows, and rent is at an all-time high. Instead of removing the gatekeepers who block building, the Liberals cut them big cheques. In fact, the first four photo ops the housing minister took…
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With regard to the Prime Minister: which senators did the Prime Minister personally call to discuss Bill C-234, An Act to amend the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act?
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Madam Speaker, I would note that my Liberal friends like me a lot more when I agree with them, but the member is patently wrong in this particular circumstance. We have heard from the Governor of the Bank of Canada that inflationary borrowing and spending are exacerbating inflation. They are not the only reason; I will grant the member that. We have also heard from a former Liberal finance ministe…
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Madam Speaker, absolutely I will. I would like to point out that the cost of living issue that I have been talking about is directly related to Bill C-58 and the fact that there is more labour strife in this country. We have seen a lot more of it. Obviously, I am just trying to make the point, tie in the point and help them understand, across the aisle, that, in fact, the Liberals' inflationary bo…
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Madam Speaker, it was a little jumbled; I will grant you that, and I think you are quite justified in being confused by what the member was talking about. The fact of the matter is that inflation has definitely been far worse over the last few years of the government. It has spiked because of exactly what I have been talking about. While inflation has always existed, it is certainly a lot worse no…
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Madam Speaker, the labour strife that exists in this country is, in large part, because life is too expensive. While the rights of workers to bargain collectively are important, it is also important for workers to be able to afford to put food on the table, heat their homes and drive to work if they need to do that, and the government is making these things more expensive with its inflationary spe…
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Madam Speaker, it is always an honour to rise in this place and talk about the issues of the day. I understand that Bill C-58 was not originally on the agenda, but it is still a great opportunity to speak about it. Prior to becoming the critic for the Conservative Party on housing, I had the honour of being its critic on labour. I worked directly with our current critic, the member for Essex, who,…
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Madam Speaker, I will explain to the member, because he clearly does not quite get it. Part of the reason we have more labour strife in this country is, in fact, the inflationary spending of the current government. The excessive borrowing is causing everything to go up in price, and people in organized labour, like everybody else, are struggling to put food on the table. That is why I am referring…
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Madam Speaker, I am not sure whether the two members are familiar with The Muppet Show, but they remind me a bit of Waldorf and Statler right now. That is okay. Bill C-58—
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Honestly, Madam Speaker, that was respectful. It was meant in jest, and I think it was a very positive thing. Only one of them is offended, so they are actually playing the role very well, which is great.
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With regard to military housing and the Canadian Forces Housing Agency, in total and broken down by location: (a) what is the total number of rental housing units of military housing; (b) how many units are currently (i) occupied, (ii) unoccupied and available for rent, (iii) unoccupied and unavailable for rent; (c) outside of routine maintenance, how many units are currently in need of repairs, r…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, after eight years of NDP-Liberal borrowing and spending, the Prime Minister is just not worth the cost. Ninety per cent of Canadian mortgages up for renewal in the next two years are at fixed interest rates of about 3%. Today, there are three million Canadians about to renew their mortgages, and they are facing rates of up to 7%. The Bank of Canada governor has confirmed that excessiv…
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Mr. Speaker, I can bet that the Liberals' mortgage charter and any other photo ops and PR stunts they do are about as useful as Monopoly money, but more Liberal vanity projects and PR campaigns clearly are not going to fix the fiscal mess that the Liberal-NDP government has caused over the last eight years. Canadians headed to renew their mortgages are facing double the payments. They are about to…
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Mr. Speaker, housing starts are actually down in Canada, so I do not know what fiction the member is listening to. Perhaps it is from the Minister of Finance, who thinks the dream of home ownership has never been so good in this country. The NDP-Liberal government will spend more on interest on the debt next year than on health care, so my question is simple. When will the Prime Minister stop abus…
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Mr. Speaker, rent is up. Interest rates are up. Mortgages are up. Groceries are up. Taxes are up. Debt is up, and Canadians are fed up. The Bank of Canada governor and Scotiabank economists are all sounding the alarm bell. The NDP-Liberal government's massive borrowing is making everything more expensive for Canadians. With two million people using food banks now, we know the Prime Minister is jus…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister paused the pain of his carbon tax for 3% of Canadians in regions where he was plummeting in the polls. Then the Liberal rural affairs minister said that if people in other regions wanted the same pause, well, they should elect Liberals. The people of Sudbury did elect a Liberal MP, yet her constituents are not getting a break. Yesterday, she could have voted to paus…
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Mr. Speaker, just this morning the environment commissioner confirmed that the government's so-called climate plan is nothing more than a punishing tax on heat, gas and groceries. After yesterday's vote, it is crystal clear that the NDP-Liberal government has no plan to make life more affordable either. Yesterday, the member for Sault Ste. Marie could have voted to pause the carbon tax on home hea…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister plans to quadruple the carbon tax on heat, gas and groceries. Now he has decided to pause the pain for the 3% of families where his poll numbers were plummeting and his MPs were revolting. The Liberal rural affairs minister said that, if people in the Prairies want a carbon tax break, they should elect Liberals. Well, the people in Sault Ste. Marie did elect a Liber…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, there was an awful lot to unpack there. I think that if anybody is engaged in science fiction, it would be the NDP, because it keeps supporting a government that does not seem to understand the damage it is causing to Canadians. The fact of the matter is that government makes more money on housing than anyone else in the whole phase, at 33% of every housing unit in this country, on av…
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Mr. Speaker, I would reiterate for my hon. colleague what his own minister of housing said just a few weeks ago at our committee: At the start of the current government's term, in 2015, the housing situation in Canada was not in crisis. People could afford to buy a home and find a place to rent. Eight years later, house prices have doubled, rents have doubled, people cannot find a place to rent, i…
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