Bill C-56

Affordable Housing and Groceries Act

An Act to amend the Excise Tax Act and the Competition Act

Part 1 amends the Excise Tax Act in order to implement a temporary enhancement to the GST New Residential Rental Property Rebate in respect of new purpose-built rental housing.
Part 2 amends the Competition Act to, among other things,
(a) establish a framework for an inquiry to be conducted into the state of competition in a market or industry;
(b) permit the Competition Tribunal to make certain orders even if none of the parties to an agreement or arrangement — a significant purpose of which is to prevent or lessen competition in any market — are competitors; and
(c) repeal the exceptions in sections 90.1 and 96 of the Act involving efficiency gains.

Affordable Housing and Groceries Act

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

There are lots of things I would like to be able to do, but I cannot do it here in the Chair. I will ask the hon. member to make sure he runs his question through the Chair and not directly to a member.

We have a point of order from the hon. member for Timmins—James Bay.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we have very clear rules about how to address members; it has to be through the Chair. I just want to clarify did you, Mr. Speaker, bring in the carbon tax or is he misunderstanding the rules of the House? I would like to have that clarified.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

I just addressed that before the point of order got going.

Maybe the hon. member for Provencher wants to retract or change how his question was worded.

[Ted Falk, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

Absolutely. Let me try that again, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, through you to the member, did the member perhaps consider whether a better way to address the affordability crisis of housing and the cost of groceries would be to axe the tax, which would be the carbon tax and clean fuel standard tax, because they are compounding taxes? Every step of the way in processing, groceries or in the construction of housing—

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

I think we got the gist of it.

The hon. member for Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his question and I also want to thank him for praising our government in bringing forward the GST under housing. That is a very important project and I am glad he is realizing the project is important.

We know that their party, when it comes to climate change, cannot see that climate change is extremely important and is walking hand in hand with investments in the economy. When I talk about investments in the economy, why are they not supporting the Atlantic Accord? It could bring trillions of dollars to Canada and we could be leaders in the world. Do not hold back; join the team. Let us go.

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his high-energy speech. That is not surprising. We know our colleague well.

The Prime Minister, who is of course a member of his political party, recently took aim at Quebec municipalities by saying that housing was not being built quickly enough because of all kinds of regulations. What is rather surprising is that, in my riding, for nearly 50 years, the federal government has been imposing non-construction easements on an airport in Mirabel that has effectively been shut down. This is preventing us from building on residential land and potentially depriving the people of Mirabel of thousands of housing units.

How is it that the government is so quick to point the finger at the municipalities but has such a hard time looking inward at its own regulations? Are there no mirrors in the Liberal backroom?

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. I must say that he represents Mirabel well. He often talks about the Mirabel airport and its land.

It is very important to note that our government has been the most effective at working closely with municipalities. Many municipalities across the country have seen great improvements, including in Quebec, a province that is key in this discussion. This is a partnership. We have invested in Quebec, and we will continue to invest in housing, because it is essential. Whether someone is from Quebec, Cape Breton Island or Vancouver, they need housing, and that is exactly what we are going to work on.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Speaker, like many members in this House, the people of Vancouver Kingsway are experiencing unprecedented high prices for food. People are going to supermarkets and finding that the price of three apples is about $5. I am not sure how anybody can eat nutritious food with the kinds of prices we are being charged in this country.

There has always been a problem in our schools with children not having access to healthy food and it is even worse today. The Liberals and the NDP campaigned last election on having a billion dollars over five and four years respectively to get started on a national school nutritious food program. We are the only country in the G7 that does not have one.

Would my hon. colleague not agree that, at a time of unprecedented high prices for food and when so many families are struggling, this is the ideal time for the federal government to bring in this long-overdue program to make sure that kids, when they go to school, get at least one nutritious meal, so they can learn better and help relieve the strain on family budgets across this country?

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I agree that we need to stabilize prices. It is very important. Coming from the education system, I know that many schools have a program to support vulnerable kids. That does not take the point that the hon. member is making that we can do more. I think a national program is something we need to look at. As I said, we have structures in place as we speak, but we can improve them and that is something that we need to continue to have conversations about, because it is a very challenging time for many families in this country.

[Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Parry Sound—Muskoka.

We have a cost of living crisis in Canada. The prices of housing, groceries, fuel and home heating have pushed far too many to the financial breaking point. Once upon a time, if people worked hard in Canada, they could earn a paycheque that would comfortably pay for their necessities. They would even have some cash left over and maybe take a family vacation.

My father was an electrician. One of my brothers is an electrician and another is a carpenter. These are good blue-collar jobs in the skilled trades. We grew up in a safe neighbourhood on Vancouver Island, a place that is not that safe anymore. My father worked hard, and he was able to raise and support six children. We did not always have a lot, but we always had enough. My brothers worked hard and were able to live comfortably. Sometimes, we did not have a lot in our kitchen cupboards, but my father never had to visit the food bank to put food on the table for us.

That was the promise of Canada, but under the Liberals, that promise is broken. After eight years of the overbearing NDP-Liberal government, Canadians are out of money and they are turning their backs on the Liberal Party and the Prime Minister knows it. Out of pure political desperation, he has put forward new legislation to address the mess he has made of housing and grocery prices. Unfortunately, this legislation, Bill C-56, is inadequate.

The Liberals could have adopted the comprehensive housing policy put forward by the Leader of the Opposition in the building homes not bureaucracy act, but instead, they are taking a patchwork approach to the housing crisis. The bill would remove the GST for rental unit construction projects, a campaign promise the Liberals made and broke in 2015. I support this proposal, but would have preferred that the Liberals adopt the positive and sweeping reforms contained in our Conservative leader's bill. I will have more on that in a moment.

Bill C-56 also includes Conservative policy introduced by my colleague from Bay of Quinte in amending the Competition Act by removing the efficiencies defence. This change would give the Competition Bureau more teeth to prevent mergers that would lead to higher prices and less choice. The changes in the legislation are positive and supportable, but it is lamentable that we are in this economic position in the first place.

After eight years of the NDP-Liberal costly coalition, the promise of Canada is broken. Canadians with higher education and many working in the skilled trades find themselves living in tents or in their cars. Crime, chaos, drugs and disorder plague our streets, and we have a Minister of Justice who says it is all in our heads.

After eight years of the NDP-Liberal government and its punitive carbon tax, the cost of groceries is out of control, and Canadian families are hurting. There is a tax on the farmer who grows the food, a tax on the trucker who ships the food and a tax on the store that sells the food, and they are all a tax on the family struggling to buy the food. One in five Canadians is now skipping meals because they simply cannot afford food, and food bank usage is now up at levels we have never seen before. Food banks in my community are at risk of bankruptcy because they cannot keep up with demand. Put simply, our citizens cannot afford to feed themselves because of the NDP-Liberal government.

They also are struggling to put a roof over their heads. Nine in 10 young Canadians believe the dream of home ownership is just that: a dream. Mortgages have doubled. Rents have doubled. Down payments have doubled. Greater Vancouver is now the third most overpriced housing market on the planet. In the city of Vancouver, the average rent is over $3,300 a month, and for a two-bedroom apartment it is nearly $3,900 a month. We can add that to the $2 plus for a litre for gas.

A recent C.D. Howe Institute study determined that in Vancouver nearly $1.3 million of the cost of an average home is from government gatekeepers adding unnecessary red tape. That means that over 60% of the price of a home in Vancouver is bloated by delays, fees, regulations, taxes and high-priced consultants.

Data from Statistics Canada shows that residential construction investment has declined for the fourth consecutive month, including a decrease of 3.2% in Vancouver. In Canada, it used to take 25 years to pay off a mortgage. Now it takes 25 years just to save up for a down payment. The NDP-Liberal government's record on housing has been nothing short of disastrous.

Just a few weeks ago, the Liberals met in London, Ontario, for a three-day retreat. They said that housing and affordability were their top priorities. What did the retreat accomplish? They reannounced their broken campaign promise from 2015 to remove the GST from new, purpose-built rental housing. After the Liberals heard about our common-sense Conservative plan to axe the housing tax, they flip-flopped and tried to take credit.

To address the increase in the price of food, the Prime Minister announced that they were calling in the grocery store CEOs for a meeting. I am sure they were very intimidated. He then threatened them with tax measures that would inevitably be passed on to consumers if they did not lower prices. As expected, this amounted to nothing more than a stunt, a grocery gimmick, theatre. Photo ops, announcements, virtue-signalling, and now they are plagiarizing ideas from the Conservatives.

If the NDP-Liberal government is looking for another idea to plagiarize from Conservatives, it should repeal its carbon taxes and stop the reckless spending that caused this affordability crisis in the first place. These are the real reasons Canadians are struggling with the high cost of living: high interest rates, and high prices in the grocery stores and at the gas pumps.

Bill C-56 does not go far enough and simply would not cut it when it comes to addressing and fixing the housing crisis in this country.

The Leader of the Opposition introduced the building homes not bureaucracy act in Parliament last week. This is a real plan that would tie housing completions to infrastructure funding so we can get shovels in the ground while providing a building bonus to municipalities that exceed their home-building targets. Simply put, if one builds more houses efficiently, one would get more money. Projections are that Canada needs 3.5 million new homes by 2030. We had better get started. Our message to municipalities is clear: build, build, build.

The Prime Minister rewards big city gatekeepers with tax dollars, regardless of whether or not they build homes. Our Conservative plan would require municipalities to build homes close to transit. Conservatives would also list 15% of the federal government's 37,000 buildings so they can be turned into affordable housing. We would remove the GST for any new home with rental houses below market value, incentivizing the construction of affordable homes. Conservatives would cut the bonuses of the gatekeepers at the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation if they are unable to speed up approval of applications to an average of 60 days. Under the watch of the Prime Minister, these bureaucrats have been rewarded with huge performance bonuses for an abysmal performance. Much like the current Prime Minister, Bill C-56 is weak, inadequate, and reeks of desperation.

Only a common-sense Conservative government would fix this housing crisis by building homes not bureaucracy. Only a Conservative government would bring home lower prices for Canadians by ending the inflationary deficits and axing the carbon tax. The promise of Canada is broken, but hope is on the way. Conservatives would reverse these reckless policies and restore the promise of Canada.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I know in this bill there are specific improvements to the Competition Act, in particular, what the Competition Bureau can do to ensure that monopolies and such are kept at bay, because they are obviously not a good thing for competition. I wonder if the member can provide some comments as to how she sees the parts of the bill with respect to the Competition Act and whether or not she thinks they will be successful at achieving their goals.

[Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

Mr. Speaker, yes, we do think they will be successful in achieving these goals. That is why the member for Bay of Quinte brought forward the legislation in the first place. We are really glad the Liberals decided to steal our ideas because these are good ideas, and they would benefit Canadians.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have a lot of respect for my hon. colleague from British Columbia, and I usually find her speeches to be informed and interesting, but she, like a lot of her Conservative colleagues, keeps referring to eight years of an NDP-Liberal coalition. She knows that the confidence-and-supply agreement signed between the two parties is two years old, and prior to that, there was no formal or informal arrangement of any type between the NDP and the Liberals.

I am wondering if this is the kind of thing that we would see from a future Conservative government, where there would be active exaggeration to, if not outright misleading of, Canadians about the goings-on in Parliament? Does she agree with me that it is important to speak with integrity and accuracy in the House?

[Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

Mr. Speaker, yes, I do agree with hon. friend that it is important to speak and act with integrity in the House. We see too little of it from the government, but I do believe in it. If I misspoke or exaggerated, I guess those two years have felt like eight years.