Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, they get antsy when they are confronted with their actual record. Let us take a look at what he got done: only six affordable units across the entire country; he lost 800,000 more; he built zero new apartments. Now he wants to raise taxes on homebuilding and cut funding for the communities that are getting them built.
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Mr. Speaker, if the Leader of the Opposition wants to talk about homes that do not exist, perhaps we should look at the 800,000 affordable housing units that were lost while he was housing minister. Perhaps we should examine the fact that, while he was minister, zero new apartments were supported by the federal government and a total of only six affordable housing units were built nationwide. Now,…
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Mr. Speaker, the hon. member wants to talk about homes that do not exist. Let us talk about the 800,000 affordable housing units that were lost when he was last in government. Let us talk about the fact that when he was actually housing minister, he got zero apartments built with the support of the federal government. Let us look at the fact that across the entire country, he was able to get a tot…
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Mr. Speaker, is that common sense? That is more like nonsense. He wants to make cuts to programs that support the middle class. He wants to make cuts to the program that helps build housing. He wants to make cuts to the program seeking to protect our environment. That is not common sense. It is incompetence.
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Mr. Speaker, at the time, they expressed opposition to our plan to welcome 40,000 Afghan refugees who fought alongside the Canadian Armed Forces. They seem still to have problems with the fact that we opened our door to vulnerable Ukrainians. However, let us actually focus on the housing issue right now. The member talks a big game about housing, but he plans to raise tax—
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Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition seems to know the cost of everything but the value of absolutely nothing. Does he not see value in the measures that are building more homes in this country? Does he not see value in programs that are going to put food on the table for hungry kids through a school food program? He continues to oppose measures that are helping students with the cost of thei…
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Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, we are investing to build homes in Quebec. For example, with the housing accelerator fund, we are concluding an agreement worth $1.8 billion with the province of Quebec to build 8,000 affordable housing units across the province. The Conservative Party opposes this investment. That is unbelievable. We continue to invest in order to make things better and build more af…
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Mr. Speaker, it is interesting because he has actually put his plan on the record. His plan includes putting the GST back on apartment construction for hundreds of thousands of middle-class homes in this country. He has one of the worst records of anyone in the past decade when it comes to getting homes built, from when he had the position responsible for housing in Parliament. While he was minist…
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Mr. Speaker, I take the question with a heavy dose of irony, considering that we have invested $31.5 million in that member's constituency through the housing accelerator fund. Moreover, this is a fund that not only she, but every Conservative member of Parliament, vows to take apart should the Conservatives form government. Where they will cut funds for housing, we will make the investment. Where…
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Mr. Speaker, let me thank my hon. colleague for his advocacy for his community, which is going to help get thousands of homes built in Richmond over the course of the next number of years. In the upcoming federal budget, we are going to continue to put measures on the table that help accelerate the pace of homebuilding. This includes low-cost financing to add tens of thousands of new rental units.…
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Mr. Speaker, we are putting forward policies that are going to help solve the national housing crisis. We know that higher interest rate environments have made it difficult to build homes. That is why we are cutting taxes on new home construction, which the Conservatives oppose. It is why we are putting more money on the table to build new apartments, which they oppose. It is why we are putting mo…
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Mr. Speaker, it is very important to invest in building a greater number of more affordable housing units more quickly. We have been making the investments necessary to ensure that we can solve the housing crisis. We are working at the same time to help grow the economy as we put money on the table, as we announced this week, to create an acquisition fund for non-profits that are going to maintain…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague is looking for a fight, but I am looking for a solution. He was asking that same question before the housing accelerator fund. We talked and negotiated, and now we have a $1.8‑billion agreement to build affordable housing in all the provinces. We will keep making the necessary investments to fix the housing crisis in Quebec and across the country.
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Mr. Speaker, let me begin by congratulating my friend and colleague on his recent appointment; I look forward to working with him to defend the most vulnerable in the months ahead. With respect, over the last number of years, we have put investments on the table that are building affordable housing for low-income families, and we are accelerating that work. The upcoming federal budget is going to …
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Mr. Speaker, it is laughable when I hear the Conservative leader talk about affordability. He mentioned in a previous question some concerns he has around our housing policy. His plan to build more homes is to cut investments in homebuilding and to raise taxes on those who are building homes. When it comes to actually changing the ways cities build homes, his deputy leader held a press conference …
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Mr. Speaker, let me begin by offering my sincere congratulations to our newest colleague in the House of Commons. It is wonderful to have him here. What the member may not realize, being new to the House, is that his leader is actively campaigning on commitments to build fewer homes than we have already projected to build. He may not realize that the Conservative leader has promised to raise taxes…
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Mr. Speaker, over the past year and a half in our home province of Nova Scotia, we have felt the impacts of climate change more than any other part of the country, with wildfires, hurricane Fiona and floods in the hon. member's riding. He has been a staunch advocate for rural communities and for the agricultural sector every step of the way. Because of his advocacy, we have doubled the rural rebat…
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Mr. Speaker, every instance the Conservatives have an opportunity to speak in the House, they advocate one of two things: to do less on the environment or to take money from families in my community. I will support neither. We will do whatever we can to put more money in the pockets of families and do the right thing for future generations.
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Madam Chair, it is hard to know where to begin to properly honour the extraordinary legacy of the Right Hon. Brian Mulroney. He was the member of Parliament for Central Nova, the community that I now represent, when I was born, having filled in during a by-election after he became leader, before ascending to the Prime Minister's Office. We both attended StFX University, something that he remained …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his advocacy. I had the opportunity to be in Edmonton recently to meet with the mayor and the provincial minister in Alberta, as well as with my colleague, the member for Edmonton Centre. We are working hard to advance additional funding to support community-based organizations that support Canadians who are living without a roof over their head. We also ve…
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Mr. Speaker, what the hon. member is actually suggesting is false. We have real-world data to demonstrate that in provinces where the system actually applies, families receive hundreds of dollars more each year than they pay in fuel charges. The Conservatives pretend to care about affordability, yet they oppose measures to put more money in the pockets of families. They pretend to care about affor…
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Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member has qualms about the member for Kings—Hants, I can reassure him that he is a champion for his community. He launched a petition recently to stand up to the Conservative Government of Nova Scotia for changes to the agricultural sector in his community. Every time the Conservatives ask a question about the environment, it is to find out ways they can do less. The memb…
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Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives want to peddle false information to trick Canadians into voting for them. The reality proven not by projections, but by real-world data, is that people who live in my province receive more money every year from the rebates that they receive than the fuel charge that they pay. Everything the Conservatives do—
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Madam Chair, of course, as an Atlantic Canadian and a Nova Scotian, his contributions to our region cannot be understated. He helped found the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, the regional development agency for Atlantic Canada. I happened to be present during the Atlantic Economic Forum, which we helped co-found at our shared alma mater of StFX, where the current Prime Minister actually pres…
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Mr. Speaker, over the past eight years, I have watched, time and again, the Conservatives stand up to vote against the very measures that are putting money in the pockets of families to help them cover the cost of food. When it comes to the Canada child benefit, we stopped sending cheques to millionaires, so we could put more money in the pockets of nine out of 10 families. When it comes to taxes,…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague for his advocacy to get roads built in his community. This announcement, worth more than $21 million, is going to help build or improve 149 kilometres of road on the island. We continue to fund different road supports across programs, whether it is the Canada community-building fund, the disaster mitigation and adaptation fund, the national trade corr…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his concern for the quality of accommodations that families are living through in this country. He is right to point out that, for several decades, governments, both Liberal and Conservative, failed to invest in affordable housing, but that changed with the introduction of the national housing strategy in 2017. We have been investing to help build or retrof…
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Mr. Speaker, the scale of the tragedy that took place is not lost on us, and we endeavour to continue to do our part to see that justice is done. However, it is important that, as we go forward, we continue to invest in the projects that are going to provide people with the safety and security of living in a home that prevents this kind of incident from happening. Our programs provide support to s…
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Mr. Speaker, every day, we are going to do our work to make life more affordable for Canadians, including addressing the issue of food prices in our country. Of course, members will recall the introduction of the grocery rebate recently, but we are also putting forward new measures to strengthen our competition laws and are launching recruitment efforts to bring more international grocery chains i…
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Mr. Speaker, families in my community do raise the cost of food as a very real concern. That is why we put forward measures like the grocery rebate. That is why we are introducing new reforms that will increase competition. If the Conservatives would like to help, there is something the opposition leader can do. He can pick up the phone. As I am sure he knows, his chief adviser, Jenni Byrne, is ac…
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Mr. Speaker, I am sure members will agree with me that it is hard to accept criticism from Conservatives when the person responsible for running their campaign is getting paid on the side to lobby to government Loblaws, the giant grocery chain, which is causing families to pay so much more for groceries than they were previously. On this side of the House, we are going to put measures on the table…
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Mr. Speaker, I sincerely thank my hon. colleague for her advocacy for vulnerable people who are struggling with the cost of finding a place to live. The fact that people are in dire need of housing is why we have significantly increased the pace of introducing policies to build more homes in this country. We have removed taxes from new apartment construction so more apartments will be built, commi…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his advocacy. We are committed to building more homes, including affordable housing for low-income families. In fact, in the member's own community, a Métis-led project is going ahead that will provide affordable homes for community residents and support for women and children fleeing violence. We have increased funding for co-operative housing for the firs…
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Mr. Speaker, with respect, my hon. colleague is simply trying to prey on the very real anxiety that families are feeling across this country. At the same time, she advances a plan that will build fewer homes than we are already on track to build. We have removed the GST from homebuilding in this country. The Conservatives want to put it back on. We are investing directly in affordable housing. The…
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Mr. Speaker, we can welcome newcomers and build housing at the same time. That is why we negotiated a $1.8-billion contribution agreement with la belle province to build 23,000 housing units and 8,000 affordable housing units. We are going to continue to work with our partners in Quebec to welcome newcomers who contribute essential skills to our economy and build houses at the same time.
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Mr. Speaker, we understand well the challenges that young people in this country are facing when it comes to finding a place to live that they can actually afford. That is why, just yesterday, we advanced a new policy that is going to make low-cost loans available to build more student residences across this country. We are going to continue to advance policies that do not just allow students to f…
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Mr. Speaker, perhaps my hon. colleague is confused about the pace at which we are advancing new policies, because on the Conservative side he is not used to seeing the work actually getting done. Let us compare our plan to theirs, They would put Canada on a track to build fewer homes than we were already projecting to have built in the years ahead. We have cut taxes; they will raise them. We have …
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Mr. Speaker, since the adoption of the national housing strategy, hundreds of thousands of homes have been constructed or renovated to support Canadians who need help. There are millions of Canadians who have benefited directly from government supports to ensure that they could keep a roof over their head. We are going to continue to put policies in place that will improve the quality of life peop…
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Mr. Speaker, for years, the Conservative approach to policies that would actually help people was to prey on their anxieties rather than to advance ideas that would actually address them. The member is supporting her leader's plan, which is going to build fewer homes than we are already on track to build. We have removed the GST from apartments to help bring down rent. She is campaigning on a comm…
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Mr. Speaker, what the Conservatives dismiss as photo ops are binding agreements with cities that have led them to already change their rules to get more homes built. What they dismiss as press conferences included a new measure this morning that is going to extend low-cost loans to colleges, universities and builders to help those young people find a home and free up supply in communities. If the …
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Mr. Speaker, the opposition seems interested in drawing on the anxieties that people are experiencing, which are very real, when it comes to housing affordability in this country. However, when we actually look at the plan the Conservatives are putting forward, it is clear they have no idea what they are talking about. Where we are reducing taxes for home builders, they want to put taxes back on. …
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Mr. Speaker, we have a plan to build houses. In fact, we have a plan to build houses in real communities. Let us take the hon. member's constituency as an example. She represents the good people of Kelowna. Not only have we put programs in place that supported affordable housing in her community, but we have also invested $31.5 million to change the way that homes get built permanently in Kelowna.…
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Mr. Speaker, it is extraordinary that an anglophone from Nova Scotia has to stand in the House of Commons and explain that it is the federal government that must enter into agreements with the provinces, not the municipalities. This is important in Quebec. We continue to make investments to build more affordable housing faster. I hope the Conservative Party will join us.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague for his work not just to secure $35.9 million for the City of Richmond but also for the thousands of homes that will be built as a result of the changes we are incentivizing. We are putting federal money on the table to permanently change the way that cities build homes to create more density near the services, infrastructure and post-secondary educat…
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Mr. Speaker, it is interesting that the Leader of the Opposition's solution is to say that mayors are incompetent. That is inappropriate under the circumstances. We are investing to build affordable housing in la belle province. For example, we signed an agreement with Quebec to build 8,000 new affordable housing units. We continue to make very important and essential investments to build a lot of…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his advocacy to continue to invest in affordable housing, including co-operative housing. I would point him to the recent fall economic statement, which increased grant funding to co-operative housing by more than $300 million, and we will be rolling out a program worth more than $1.5 billion beginning early in the new year. I do agree with him on one poi…
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Mr. Speaker, we know from the course of our history that we have to make investments if we are going to solve the national housing crisis, but with the Conservative position to cut everything, Canadians are right to ask what it is they are going to cut. Thankfully, they put on a full display of a series of measures that they want to get rid of. This includes investments that were going to build th…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for her advocacy for additional investments in affordable housing and housing more broadly. I would remind my hon. colleague that, in fact, there are programs that exist today that are rolling dollars out the door to get more homes built. In fact, just a few weeks ago, we announced more than $4 billion worth of loans; this is going to result in more than 12,0…
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Mr. Speaker, it is interesting to see the opposition leader run from the uncomfortable questions that are being put to him on the floor of the House of Commons. Let us look at some of the voting record that the Conservatives demonstrated last week when it comes to saving people money on reducing the cost of housing. The member has made clear that his personal position is that the government has no…
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Mr. Speaker, it is very important to understand the solution to the problem. We are making investments to build affordable housing, including in Sherbrooke. We are making investments in partnership with the Province of Quebec with the goal of building 8,000 new affordable housing units. It is very important to continue our work. The Conservative Party does not support these programs. It is against…
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