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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, again, we are here to focus on budget estimates for the Department of Housing and Infrastructure.
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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. Chair, I believe that the member has the answer to that question, so he can answer it for himself.
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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, Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada utilizes different funding models to meet specific goals and outcomes. While, in some cases, there are allocations that are based on population, the department also deploys competitive and merit-based models, or even combined funding models, depending on what outcomes are sought. Needs for the different types of infrastructure vary across t…
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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, 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, 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, I think the member opposite has the facts all wrong. He can check the City of Vancouver website for data on the affordable housing delivered.
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Mr. Chair, I am sure the member already has the answer to the question being asked, or he would not be asking it.
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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, it is important that nobody of any age is forced to be homeless, and the investment needs to be made—
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Mr. Chair, homelessness is a huge challenge across the country, and that is why it is a top priority for us to tackle it with affordable housing.
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Mr. Chair, I am proud of the work that the city did to house thousands of people who were homeless in Vancouver and build social and supportive housing.
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Mr. Chair, approximately 225,000 units were built in the last year.
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Mr. Chair, I spent 10 years as mayor of Vancouver and a lot of time in homeless shelters and opening homeless shelters—
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Mr. Chair, we have seen the prices of housing escalate across the country and in many cities around the world. This is a global challenge but one we have to—
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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, again, the member should direct those questions to the appropriate minister; they are not related to the department.
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Mr. Chair, the cost of the housing infrastructure can affect it, depending on the market across Canada. The market in some markets, such as Toronto and Vancouver, is much higher than the percentage-driven—
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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, I am not sure what the phrase “the cost of government” indicates, but development cost charges need to be covered for the housing infrastructure, and how that is split between governments—
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Mr. Chair, it is very difficult right now for people to afford to buy homes in Canada, and that is why we have to focus on affordable supply.
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Mr. Chair, for the first seven years of my mayorship, it was a Conservative government that did not invest in affordable housing in Canada and made it very difficult for mayors.
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Mr. Chair, first and foremost, governments need to invest in the housing infrastructure, and local governments typically make that investment and recover the cost through development charges. This government is looking at helping those—
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Mr. Chair, there have been many more homes than that built across Canada, in part with funding from the department.
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Mr. Chair, with reference to roads and highways that have received funding over the past decade, more than 58,000 kilometres of roads and highways have received funding from the department.
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