Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join the debate on Bill C-20, a piece of legislation purportedly aiming to address the housing crisis in Canada. We know that the Liberals are talking about the legislation in the light of believing that it would build Canadian homes, but we know from reading through the legislation and from the past work, after 10 years or 11 years of Liberal governments, that it would only build more Canadian bureaucracy.
There is no question that we are in a housing crisis. We see it right across the country in communities big and small, whether large cities like Toronto or the small rural communities of northern Ontario that I represent. It is the result of Liberal policies and a high tax-and-spend agenda that has driven up the costs of housing construction, interest rates and mortgage rates, and has led to a situation where people right across all walks of life, at different income levels and different ages, are struggling to find appropriate housing. As I mentioned, this is something we see right in northwestern Ontario.
I do not know how many seniors I have spoken to who are looking to downsize but cannot find an appropriate place. They are in too big a home. They want to be able to downsize and to move out of their home. They want to allow a young working family to be able to buy their home, but they are unable to do so. As a result, an entire generation of young Canadians are being priced out of home ownership. Mortgage rates are rising, and many people, even those who have a home, perhaps even their dream home, are now worried they are not going to be able to continue making payments. In fact, Canadians are carrying record household debt of $2.6 trillion, and most of that is from mortgages.
There is no question as well that homebuilding is trending down. The Liberal government likes to talk a big game about building housing and other infrastructure at speeds never before seen, but homebuilding has been trending down under Liberal governments over the last 11 years, including under the current Prime Minister. From spring to fall last year, 26% fewer permits were issued to build homes. This is a dramatic decrease, showing that the government's policies are continuing not only to not address the issue but also to make the issue even worse.
We see it right across the country in the headlines. I would like to look at a few headlines from the real estate section in The Globe and Mail today. I will point out that The Globe and Mail is not necessarily known for its street cred as a Conservative newspaper. Nonetheless, we see, “Townhouse seller in Bolton accepts bid $24,000 under asking”. There is also “Five bidders vie for semi-detached in [Toronto]” and “Buyer waits for Calgary condo price to come within range”.
These are just a few headlines from today's paper. We see this over and over, week after week, right across the country. The Liberals have created a housing market where buyers cannot buy, sellers cannot sell and builders cannot build.
How does that look locally? Of course, what is going on in northwestern Ontario is not likely to be captured in a national newspaper, unfortunately, but in northwestern Ontario, the city I live in, Kenora, currently has a shortage of 1,620 units, and that deficit is projected to grow to 2,500 units by 2031 as population grows and service demands increase. This has led to rising rents and home prices, of course.
Businesses and organizations are also reporting difficulties attracting workers to the region and retaining them, due to the lack of housing and rental options. Many business owners are looking into buying houses that would be owned by the business, strictly for their workers to live in, because there is no other way of bringing workers to the region or keeping them there.
In northwestern Ontario, in Red Lake, I was speaking with the mayor last night, and he told me that the community must build at least 40 new homes over the next decade, with an expected population increase of 1,900. That population increase they are expecting is good news. It comes from new mining developments in the region and job growth, with 1,000 jobs at the Kinross Great Bear project. First Mining Gold is bringing in 600 jobs, and Frontier Lithium is bringing over 700 jobs. In addition, there is an expansion of the current Evolution Mining operation by 300 people. West Red Lake Gold Mines is also looking to hire another 200 people.
These are just a couple of local examples of the massive gap in housing that exists, but in northwestern Ontario, I think we can see some of the solutions to the housing crisis, namely the land we have. There is a lot of land in northwestern Ontario, and indeed, a lot of land right across the country. Much of it is either vacant land or properties that can be used for housing development. I would include in that the underused and, quite frankly, deteriorating Health Canada-owned properties in Sioux Lookout. I implore the government, once again, to release these properties for housing development to help address the massive gap in housing that we see in the community of Sioux Lookout. It is a hub of the north and a service centre for many remote first nations.
We see it in Ear Falls as well. Ear Falls is an interesting community. It is about 336 square kilometres and has a population of less than 1,000. There is a lot of space to build in Ear Falls. There is nothing but space. In fact, there are even many lots that are serviced for housing development in Ear Falls. They are ready to go. Residents in Ear Falls are hoping as well to capitalize on some of the mining activity that we are seeing in the Red Lake and Ear Falls region, but they need to be able to build the houses to make that happen.
I would note as well that the government is always talking a big game when it comes to first nations but not following through. That is certainly the case when it comes to housing in first nations. We have seen a number of reports, whether on housing, drinking water or other critical infrastructure, where the government is spending a lot of money, making a lot of announcements and creating a lot of programs, but the results are not changing. Life is not improving in the communities. I am proud to represent 38 first nations across Treaties 3, 5 and 9, and each of these communities has their own unique housing challenges.
We have seen reports from the Auditor General, which have repeated that the government is failing when it comes to first nations housing. The Auditor General has pointed out that, despite massively increasing spending, as I mentioned, the Liberals are not meeting their obligations. In fact, homes are being built without being up to code. The prices are skyrocketing because of red tape and a lack of competition in the builders that are available to build these homes. However, instead of addressing these concerns, the Liberal government just keeps throwing money at the issue, and not just in first nations but right across the country. The Liberals are creating more bureaucracy, and communities are not receiving adequate housing as a result.
When we look at the Liberal approach overall over the last 10 years, they have failed to recognize that housing is a crisis of their own policies and of their own making. Under their watch, housing prices have doubled, and many young Canadians have given up completely on their dream of home ownership. The Liberals have now admitted that it is a crisis, but their answer is only to create another multi-billion dollar housing bureaucracy, their fourth housing bureaucracy, which is only going to construct 1% of the promised homes they need. They promised 500,000 per year, and in reality, housing starts are expected to fall to just 212,000 per year by 2028.
However, Conservatives have a solution. We do not support adding more bureaucratic red tape to the housing sector. That is why we would cut the GST on new homes under $1.3 million, which would save families up to $65,000 and unleash new buildings. We would tie federal infrastructure dollars to homebuilding, ensuring that municipalities must permit at least 15% or more for homebuilding each year. We would cut development charges by 50%, something the Liberals have promised but have failed or refused to do after being elected. We would also end the capital gains tax on reinvestments in the country's homebuilding sector.
It is clear that only Conservatives have a plan to restore the Canadian promise of home ownership by axing bureaucracy and taxes on homebuilding, requiring municipalities to issue more permits and letting builders build the homes we need.
