Evidence of meeting #122 for Finance in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was point.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
I think that is fair.
Members, we're going to get right into the rounds. There are no opening remarks.
MP Morantz, you have six minutes, please.
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
Marty Morantz Conservative Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank our witnesses for being here today.
Yesterday I saw a story on Global News that reported that NDP-held ridings received 18.7% of the rapid housing initiative funds. The problem is that only 7.8% of Canadians live in NDP-held ridings.
Are NDP-held ridings getting preferential treatment because they're propping up the Liberals?
12:15 p.m.
Chris Forbes Deputy Minister, Department of Finance
I can't answer that question. I'm not sure how the decisions...or the government is out negotiating....
Would you like me to answer about how I think the housing accelerator fund is rolling out, or...?
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
12:15 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Finance
I meant the rapid housing initiative; pardon me.
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
Marty Morantz Conservative Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB
Given that the statement has been made, would you be able to table with the committee a breakdown, riding by riding across the country, as to how the housing accelerator funds have been rolled out?
12:15 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Finance
It's not our department that would have that. That would be the ministries of housing and transport. We don't generally track spending by—
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
Marty Morantz Conservative Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB
You are here on the housing study. Could you speak to whoever is responsible, then, and arrange for it to be tabled? This is the housing study that you're appearing on, is it not? I'm asking about the rapid housing initiative program.
12:15 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Finance
No, I understand the question. Thanks. My point is that I don't know what data that department carries or—
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
Marty Morantz Conservative Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB
Could you check with them to see if they have it?
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
Marty Morantz Conservative Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB
Okay, great. Good. Can you let the committee know what they say?
12:15 p.m.
Liberal
Julie Dzerowicz Liberal Davenport, ON
I think our witness has indicated that his department is not in charge of that. Is that something we could direct our clerk or our analysts to get the information on for us?
12:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
Thank you, MP Dzerowicz.
Maybe the analysts can look into it, MP Morantz.
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
Marty Morantz Conservative Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB
Yes. I'd like to have an answer to that question.
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
Marty Morantz Conservative Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB
That's good. The clerk is nodding.
The same thing goes for the concerns discussed in the same article regarding the scoring criteria. It said that the program design “did introduce a bias into the program that did indeed see large urban centres—where Conservative MPs are generally under-represented and New Democrats are significantly over-represented—receive more attention from the [rapid housing initiative] while smaller municipalities received relatively less”.
I'm wondering if maybe the clerk or the witnesses could arrange to table with the committee what the scoring criteria are for the rapid housing initiative.
Am I seeing nods?
12:20 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Finance
Unfortunately, I am going to give the same answer: It's not my program. I think somebody else would have to provide that information.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Marty Morantz Conservative Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB
Clerk, will you get that? Great.
Recently the president of the CMHC, Romy Bowers, told the Senate finance committee that CMHC had no plan for building the 3.5 million homes necessary to achieve affordability. The government that you are working for has been in power for eight years. CMHC cautioned the government back in 2019 that this housing issue was going to be a big problem.
Why is the head of CMHC, a government agency, saying that there is no plan?
12:20 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Finance
I can't speak for what someone else said, but I would say that I think the government has laid out—
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Marty Morantz Conservative Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB
Perhaps I should ask it this way. Is there a plan?
12:20 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Finance
I think the minister was clear, and if you look at what's been in previous budgets and in the fall economic statement, I think there is a plan to tackle housing supply challenges in particular. I think that the minister went through a number of the recent measures to boost housing supply, so I think there is a plan to increase housing supply—
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Marty Morantz Conservative Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB
So what Ms. Bowers is saying is opposite to what the minister is saying.