Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I will just remind the members opposite that we are focused on building affordable housing at a scale never seen before, certainly not by Conservative governments, which vacated the field on affordable housing for their decade in power. That set us back enormously. We are now building back. We are looking forward. We are going to employ Canadians in building affordable housing at a sc…
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Mr. Speaker, again, $13 billion will be invested across Canada, in communities across Canada. We are looking at partnerships with provinces, territories, communities of all shapes and sizes, and indigenous nations. We will empower the private sector to build tens of thousands of homes. We are looking forward to rolling out the most aggressive housing program in Canadian history. We look forward to…
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Mr. Speaker, while I know it is difficult for the Conservatives to evolve and focus on supporting us to build affordable housing across Canada, that is what we are focused on doing at an unprecedented level. When I was mayor, I had no support from a Conservative government to build affordable housing in Vancouver. I know it was the same in Toronto. We are going to support our local governments. We…
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Mr. Speaker, while I know we are all in this House concerned about the price of food, and we are also concerned about our farmers, the number one cost of living in Canada is related to housing. As I mentioned yesterday, people are concerned about housing prices. This government is taking action to make housing more affordable. With “build Canada homes”, with tax cuts, with the first-time homebuyer…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Madawaska—Restigouche for his question. Our government recently launched “build Canada homes”, a new agency to address the housing crisis. This new agency will focus on the rapid construction of affordable housing on a large scale across the country. It is time to build.
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Mr. Speaker, I know the math is difficult for the Conservatives, but we can help them with this. We are looking at investing $13 billion in affordable housing across the country. The initial 4,000 homes will be on Canada Lands Company land in six cities across the country. That is getting a quick start on building affordable homes. We are going to see tens of thousands of homes built across Canada…
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Mr. Speaker, I am happy to share that a significant commitment of $13 billion will be invested in housing and will leverage private investment as well. We are working with private capital, builders, and communities across Canada to make sure we are building the affordable housing that Canadians need, particularly young Canadians who cannot afford to get into the market. Those 4,000 units are the f…
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Mr. Speaker, the number one cost for Canadians is their housing, and the Liberals have taken action to make housing more affordable. Yesterday, the Prime Minister and I announced the launch of “build Canada homes”, which will be a one-stop shop for making housing more affordable across Canada. We are launching that on six pieces of Canada Lands Company land. That is 4,000 homes that we will start …
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Mr. Speaker, as far as promises delivered goes, the government promised to launch “build Canada homes” and make the largest investment in affordable housing in Canadian history. We are taking action where it matters most, and Canadians need support on affordable housing. Across the board we need more support, but starting with housing, housing first, particularly for those on low income and those …
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Mr. Speaker, again, we will come back to the number one cost and concern for Canadians, which is affordability of housing. I know the Conservatives and the members opposite do not care about affordable housing. We are here to take action on it and make life more affordable for Canadians, starting with their home.
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Mr. Speaker, the member opposite and the Conservatives may not believe in investing in affordable housing, but this government does. This government is making an unprecedented investment in building affordable housing, in partnership with the private sector and in partnership with cities, provinces, territories and indigenous nations. We are going to deliver with our partners like never before.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government focuses on building affordable housing with our partners. This is an unprecedented investment, alongside a cut to the GST for first-time homebuyers, which we are rolling out. We are focused on delivering solutions and on delivering housing in the communities that need it the most. That investment was never seen from Conservative governments, certainly not in the…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Carleton for the focus today on affordable housing. I know the member for Carleton is very concerned about making sure it is green and sustainable housing, and we will certainly focus on ensuring that energy costs are low and that there are resilient homes that get us through the challenges ahead with climate change. We will make sure they are affordable, first …
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Mr. Speaker, I will once again take this opportunity to let the opposition members know “build Canada homes” is up and running as a one-stop shop to build affordable housing in Canada. We are going to deliver like never before. We are going to ensure that, particularly for Canadians who are on low incomes, there is a billion dollars dedicated to transitional supportive housing for those who are ho…
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Mr. Speaker, I think I speak for all members of the House when I say that we are disappointed that BC Ferries made the procurement decision that it made. It is really unfortunate that no Canadian companies bid on the contract with BC Ferries. That is something that we have to all rectify, and we have to change that by buying Canadian. I agree with the member opposite. On this side of the House, we…
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Mr. Speaker, with regard to (a) concerning the Housing Accelerator Fund, the total funding allocated to the City of Calgary amounts to $251,309,276. The City was allocated an additional $22,843,000 during the annual review process. Additional funding was awarded to the fastest growing communities that submitted new initiatives through the annual review process and met action plan commitments and u…
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Mr. Speaker, I will caution the member opposite. He is leaving out all of the Canadian communities that are increasing their housing starts right now. Housing starts across Canada are near record levels. That is good news to celebrate, but it is just a start for us. Canadians elected the party that was running to double housing construction in Canada. We hope you will support us on that.
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Mr. Speaker, we are laser-focused on doubling housing construction across Canada. I am encouraged to hear the members' opposite new-found concerns about housing construction and affordability, particularly given that they voted against every significant housing program in the last few decades. Our hope now is that they will support us to double construction and vote for affordable housing in Canad…
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Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we are well aware of the challenges Canadians have with housing affordability. That is why they elected us to represent them and drive the pace of housing construction in Canada. That is what we will do. That is what we will deliver. We have already delivered on the GST break for first-time homebuyers. We are going to take it further and faster.
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Mr. Speaker, the member needs to check the facts. The housing starts across Canada are up to almost 280,000 pace this year, which is almost at a record level. We have been building at a strong pace this year and last. We are seeing unprecedented levels of rental housing being constructed for the first time in decades. The government is delivering, and we will take it further. We will double the ra…
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Mr. Speaker, the good news is that housing starts across Canada are up this year to almost record levels. We are seeing challenges in Ontario, and we are working with our partners in Ontario to turn that around. Across Canada, we are building, and we are going to build more.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians elected this new government to double construction and to make it more affordable across the country, and that is what we are going to deliver. We are focused on delivering tax breaks on GST and income tax. We are focused on lowering development costs. We are focused on delivering for Canadians with respect to affordability across housing, and we expect the members opposite …
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Mr Speaker, Canadians made a very clear choice in April to elect a government that is focused on delivering housing, and we will do that. The housing accelerator fund has been extraordinarily well supported by over 200 communities across Canada. If the members opposite do not believe in the program, they can talk to their mayors and councillors and continue to throw them under the bus. This govern…
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Mr. Speaker, as the member states, there are challenges in Ontario, and we are working with our partners in Ontario to turn that around. Across Canada, housing starts are up this year. Housing starts are at near record levels. Having almost 280,000 starts this year is the trajectory we are on. We need to build on that. We are shooting for 500,000 units, and we are going to work with our partners p…
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Mr. Speaker, I will caution the member on using inaccurate facts. I will be following all the rules even before they are required, and these are some of the rules that the Conservatives themselves brought in under former prime minister Harper. Liberals will work with the office of the Ethics Commissioner to ensure transparency, and I will continue to demonstrate integrity in my role as minister. M…
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Mr. Speaker, as the member opposite will know, there are monthly fluctuations to the housing starts across Canada, and there is really good news in the CMHC report. We are on an annual pace of almost 280,000 housing starts this year, which is almost a record, and we will not stop there. We are focused on doubling housing starts in this country over the next decade, and we will stick to that goal.
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Mr. Speaker, there is no doubt that we have challenges with housing across the country on affordability. The good news is that we are seeing near-record-level housing starts this year. Members can cherry-pick month-to-month stats. This year, 280,000 starts is the pace we are on right now, and we need to go farther and faster. That is why we are delivering on development cost charge reductions that…
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Mr. Speaker, I will direct the member opposite to talk with the Kelowna mayor and council about what they think about the housing accelerator program, which hundreds of mayors and councils across the country have asked their own members of Parliament on the Conservative side to support, because they want this program. They want support to scale the housing they build in their communities, and we w…
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Well, Mr. Speaker, I hope the member opposite is supportive of the work we are doing here to give first-time homebuyers, young Canadians, an opportunity, discounting their purchase price by up to $50,000 in GST relief. It is a significant effort, along with the tax cut for 22 million Canadians that makes life more affordable and enables them to access housing, and we will not stop there.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to speak strongly in support of the housing accelerator program, which has over 200 agreements with communities across Canada. The members opposite can keep criticizing and insulting their city councils and mayors, but they are going to deliver on this housing. Month-to-month statistics fluctuate, but overall we are seeing housing starts up this year, which is great, and we are…
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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, 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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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, yes, I am aware of Canada Lands, its different functions and the assets that are held for Canadians.
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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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