David Dingwall

[Social Housing, February 24th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I refer the hon. member to table 7 of the budget plan which clearly spells out the commitment of the Government of Canada as it relates to social housing.

The hon. member and her party may wish to disagree as to whether the RRAP is social housing or not. We on this side of the House believe it to be social housing because it helps provide low income Canadians with necessary assistance to make improvements to their homes.

That is social housing. That is a live commitment by the Minister of Finance.

[Social Housing, February 24th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank and congratulate the hon. member for keeping this issue before the House. If the hon. member has anything besides congratulations for the Minister of Finance, I think she should look at the budget and see what the Minister of Finance did.

The minister is providing $2 billion under direct financing for the purpose of social housing, $100 million is reaffirmed for the purpose of RRAP which is social housing, and savings which accrue to approximately $120 million over four years are for the purpose of social housing which has yet to be defined depending upon consultations with the various stakeholders.

I say to the hon. member and her party that they should congratulate the Minister of Finance for his commitment to social housing.

[Social Housing, February 22nd, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for the question. He is going to have to be patient and wait for the remarks of the Minister of Finance who will be delivering his budget at five o'clock. Thereafter the hon. member, as well as other stakeholders, will have an opportunity to review the decision of the Minister of Finance.

[Canada Post, February 17th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, at three o'clock I hope I can get the concurrence of the House in order to provide additional detail to all members.

[Canada Post, February 17th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for his question. I am pleased to announce today that the government of Canada is putting in place a moratorium with regards to the closure of rural post offices.

As hon. members will know, before the election campaign, during the election campaign and after the election campaign this party and the Prime Minister stood clearly and firmly against the closure of rural post offices in this country. I wish to announce today that effective immediately a moratorium is in place with regard to the closure of rural and small town post offices across this country.

[Business Of Supply, February 16th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I am not going to comment on the efficacy of the statistics that my colleague has used, although being in the House for some time I will have to accept them at his word.

The only thing that I can reply to the question is that in my deliberations over the last three months, the last 103 days as a minister of the crown, with aboriginal groups across this country I have found an attitude among aboriginal leaders that they do not want handouts. What they want is an opportunity like we have had over the years to be able to have affordable housing. They are coming forward with creative, innovative, dynamic ideas which will involve the private sector, which will involve governments at all levels, and which will involve other stakeholders to provide that kind of quality housing.

In terms of the substance of the question that the hon. member has asked, there is substandard housing on reserves across this country. Governments should work with aboriginal people, not against them, to provide meaningful solutions to real problems.

To quote a friend of mine who shall remain nameless, shelter in this country, next to water and land and the air we breath, is probably the most important aspect of Canadian life.

I hope I can call upon the hon. member for creative ideas, creative suggestions and support when we put our money where our mouth is.

[Business Of Supply, February 16th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has again asked a very excellent question.

The hon. member cannot have it both ways. One cannot put a hand on one's heart and plead for new social housing for Canadians across this country and only look at one side of the ledger, which is to cut expenditures and duplication, without looking at the other aspect in terms of revenue increases.

I believe a total of eight provinces across the country have moved from the 25 per cent to 30 per cent or are in the process of moving in that direction. It is called rent geared to income. That is what the hon. member is referring to. It is a good question.

I cannot give any assurances until such time as the Minister of Finance makes that kind of decision in the budgetary papers which are to be available on February 2.

Let us not put our heads in the sand and say that we can only look on one side of the ledger, but we cannot look on the other side of the ledger when we are both saying that we need additional moneys for the purposes of creating new social housing for Canadians who are in desperate need.

[Business Of Supply, February 16th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank and congratulate the hon. member because I think those are very appropriate and very sound questions that should be raised on the floor of the House of Commons.

First of all, I agree with my colleague that this should not be interpreted as subsidies. We should look at it as investment. I could not agree with her more.

I cannot and will not try to rewrite history in terms of the amount of moneys which has gone to the province of Quebec. There are some rationales which have been given to me as to why Ontario, for instance, which has a bigger population and higher costs in terms of social housing, has received more and Quebec has received less.

I can assure the hon. member, who has raised a fundamental question of equity, that under this administration Quebec will get its fair share. I can assure the hon. member of that.

The hon. member made reference to a number of other issues. However, it should be noted that the Government of Canada will also be providing $5 million over the next four years in financial assistance for unique, non-profit housing co-operatives in the southwest of Montreal. The hon. member probably knows that. This was done as a pilot project and we are continuing with that particular funding.

I want the hon. member to know as well that in terms of the units in the province of Quebec, she knows and I know that the predominance of rental units as opposed to new free standing units is greater in the province of Quebec than anywhere else in the country. Hence, we will work closely with the Quebec government, as I indicated in my earlier remarks, in terms of providing moneys for renovations to that social housing stock.

We will also work closely with the Government of Quebec and stakeholders in that province as well as in other provinces to see whether there are creative ways we can put money into projects to provide the kinds of new housing or renovated housing to house Canadians.

I do not want to mislead the hon. member in thinking that there is a Santa Claus who sits two seats down from me, the Minister of Finance, who will walk in on February 22 and say to the people of Canada that he has a bag of goodies and this is what he is going to do.

It is important to be fiscally responsible federally, provincially, municipally, in non-profit organizations and the private sector so that we can arrive at expenditures which meet our objective which is to provide affordable, reasonable and healthy housing for Canadians.

[Business Of Supply, February 16th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I will accept your intervention, but I hope the Speaker will do the honourable thing post 6.30 this evening and read the "blues" and ascertain that the word which he anticipated and thought that I had said was not what he has referred to but was a word which is called h-e-c-k, which is different from what he had said.

However, if the hon. Speaker is not mistaken, I wish to withdraw any reference to that particular word. I would hope that if the Speaker has made a mistake he will come back to the House in due course.

[Business Of Supply, February 16th, 1994]

Three. I do want to say that our commitment to housing for Canadians recognizes that there are groups with special needs which must be met.

Victims of family violence is one such group. It is astounding to me that the incidence of family violence continues to increase. I look forward to the day when we no longer need to build and maintain shelters for women and their children fleeing domestic violence.

For now we need to address this critical issue in the best way we can. We will continue to provide funding for shelters and other housing commitments under the family violence initiative.

Canada Mortgage and Housing provides financial assistance for project haven and project next step, two programs that provide emergency shelter and long-term housing for victims of family violence and their children.

There are 458 emergency shelter units that have been committed under the project haven initiative. Under the second phase of the family violence initiative, again a part of the social housing objectives of the Government of Canada, and the next step program, 150 self-contained units and 100 emergency shelter units are planned with a budget of $20.6 million.

During the upcoming months Canada Mortgage and Housing will be discussing with its counterparts in the family violence initiative new opportunities for Canada Mortgage and Housing participation in a possible third phase to the family violence initiative.

This assistance goes a long way to providing much needed shelter for women and children. The federal government is also committed to improving housing for seniors and persons with disabilities. As part of the national strategy for the integration of persons with disabilities, Canada Mortgage and Housing has been administering a $10 million two-year demonstration program called home adaptations for seniors' independence, or HASI, to help older seniors make their homes more liveable.

In the few moments that I have left-I am sure there will be a number of questions that hon. members will want to raise-I want to say two final things. One is with regard to housing for aboriginals on reserves and housing for aboriginals off reserves across the country. My colleague, the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, and I have been working jointly on these issues and we hope to be able to put a paper before our cabinet colleagues to address some of these serious situations.

I want to assure the House and hon. members that it is certainly a priority for me and it is certainly a priority for the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development that we will want to pursue this with vigour and creativity. I have spoken to a number of aboriginal groups which have come to me, and I want to underline this, with some very creative and innovative ways in which they as individuals can take control of their own destiny and provide the kinds of quality housing that they need.

Finally, with regard to the province of Quebec, la belle province, I have had several discussions with the minister responsible for housing in the province of Quebec whom I am sure all members, particularly members opposite, would want to congratulate in terms of the new responsibilities he has achieved in the recent cabinet shuffle, including those of housing.

I am now embarking upon a program with my provincial colleague in the province of Quebec, and possibly elsewhere in the country as well, in terms of how we as governments can get better value for our dollar. The province of Quebec has earmarked moneys for housing under the renovation sector. It is a very exciting, good and solid program.

Through our moneys under the RRAP, the $100 million, and the amount of money we would provide for Quebec, we are trying to make an arrangement whereby we would lessen the administrative nightmares which are associated with the delivery of the housing in order to have the one level of government deliver that, of course maintaining a federal presence and maintaining some degree of credibility for the Government of Canada as we make expenditures in that great province, but lessening the administration and getting more money to the people who are really in need.

I want to assure hon. members in my final sentence that we as a national government are seized with the issue of social housing. We are attempting through a number of vehicles with our provincial counterparts to provide the best value at the best price for Canadians across the country.