Finance Committee on Oct. 20th, 2025

[Jake Sawatzky, Liberal, New Westminster—Burnaby—Maillardville, BC]

Thank you.

I'm also wondering if you could elaborate specifically on how provinces can provide support with mental health and substance use services.

[Gregor Robertson, Liberal, Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC]

It's obviously a critical element of stabilizing homeless people in housing. Certainly, mental health issues and addiction rates are much higher among people who are suffering from homelessness, so there's a combined effort there with our provinces and territories in providing the health services, the mental health support and the addiction treatment, that are needed. Across the board, we need more support on drug treatment for addictions. We certainly see that as a complicating factor in helping people who are struggling with homelessness.

I think we need a holistic approach here that integrates the health supports very directly into the housing that's needed.

[Jake Sawatzky, Liberal, New Westminster—Burnaby—Maillardville, BC]

Thank you.

I'm wondering also if you could touch a bit on the recent developments with co-op housing and non-market housing.

[Gregor Robertson, Liberal, Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC]

Certainly.

We are very bullish about working with partners across the country on co-op housing. We know it's a great solution for part of the housing market. It delivers affordability and it delivers community building.

My riding, Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, has the highest number of co-ops of any riding in B.C., so I know first-hand how successful those co-ops are in providing affordable housing and great communities to live in. We want to see a new wave of co-ops created across Canada that offer Canadians more affordable options for housing. I think it's a big part of our solution here, and we will be working with all the partners. The Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada is certainly an important partner in this. There are many local partners as well, and we are seeing provincial, territorial and city partners also participate in creating co-ops.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Thank you, Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Sawatzky.

We'll go to Mr. Kelly for five minutes.

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Crowfoot, AB]

Thank you.

We've heard testimony at this committee in the last couple of meetings that condominium pre-sales in Canada's two most stressed housing markets are in absolute free fall. They're down 90% in Toronto and down 70%, I believe, in Vancouver.

How on earth is your government going to see the level of starts in the years to come when there are no pre-sales today?

[Gregor Robertson, Liberal, Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC]

It's certainly a big concern for all of us who are tasked with making housing more affordable in Canada.

This supply glut in Toronto and Vancouver has been building for a number of years. This isn't something the government can solve overnight, but the first-time homebuyers' tax break on GST could represent up to 47,000 homes purchased by first-time homebuyers who are getting that $50,000 discount.

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Crowfoot, AB]

Minister, it would seem that the cost of construction is so high that builders cannot build at a price that consumers can afford. This is the legacy of your government. This is a problem that has been creeping in for the last 10 years. You now have sellers who can't sell and buyers who can't buy.

You're going to need more than what is contained in this bill to address affordability. Productivity in this country is stagnant. Per capita GDP is the same as it was 10 years ago, when this government took office. How will you possibly achieve your housing goals in this environment where wages are stuck and costs are too high?

[Gregor Robertson, Liberal, Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC]

We have quite an array of challenges. Certainly, the global economic conditions and the tariff impacts complicate matters right now for the housing market.

We know what we can deliver in terms of government support on non-market housing, and that's Build Canada Homes' big mission right now, with $13 billion dedicated to focusing on non-market housing. This first-time home buyers' GST break is a targeted approach on the market side that, again, will affect up to 47,000 homes. Hopefully, that makes a big impact. We're also going to be reducing development charges in markets across the country, which will help bring down the cost of development.

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Crowfoot, AB]

Let's talk about development charges. During your tenure as mayor of Vancouver, development charges went up, it looks like, about 330%. When did you come to the realization that development charges contribute to the crisis of affordability?

[Gregor Robertson, Liberal, Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC]

Development charges are very different across the country. Vancouver is unique from many other markets in Canada in that the price of market housing is much higher than the cost side. In order for the city to pay for the housing infrastructure that's necessary to build the housing, recouping some of that cost through development charges was a strategy. Otherwise, that whole extra margin would go to developers.

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Crowfoot, AB]

When you were mayor, it was something that you just had to do. Now that you're the Minister of Housing, it's a problem.

[Gregor Robertson, Liberal, Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC]

The challenge now across the country is that development charges have increased in several markets. Some parts of Canada do not have development charges.

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Crowfoot, AB]

Are there any cities higher than Vancouver?

[Gregor Robertson, Liberal, Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC]

Vancouver has been at the high end particularly because the prices are higher, so if the development charges didn't make up that difference—

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Crowfoot, AB]

Per square foot...?

[Gregor Robertson, Liberal, Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC]

If the development charges didn't make up that difference, all of that cash would go to developers. The city's approach was to capture some of that gap between the market price and the cost to build to go into community investment.

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Crowfoot, AB]

You said that your government will somehow reduce development charges. Is there anything in Bill C-4 that will accomplish that?

[Gregor Robertson, Liberal, Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC]

No, that's an additional measure. Again, Bill C-4 is focused on first-time homebuyers and cutting GST. We have a number of other measures. Decreasing the cost of development is one of those that we're working on.

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Crowfoot, AB]

The consumer carbon tax is removed in this bill, but the industrial one remains. Does the industrial carbon tax contribute to the cost of housing material?

[Gregor Robertson, Liberal, Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC]

I can't speak to that, as the housing minister. I don't think it's related to the affordability challenges we have in housing.

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Crowfoot, AB]

We had testimony to that effect earlier in this study.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Thank you, Mr. Kelly.

Thank you, Minister.

That concludes the time for this round.

Mr. Lavoie is next.

Mr. Lavoie, you have four minutes.

[Steeve Lavoie, Liberal, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for joining us today.

During the election campaign in my riding of Beauport—Limoilou, people repeatedly said that housing was their main priority. That hasn't changed. This issue is extremely important to me.

The last week before the House returned, I met with many organizations in the homebuilding sector working on all types of housing in Quebec City, whether it's modular, community or affordable housing. I was really impressed by the number of projects that they've completed, that they are working on and that they have planned. Their order book is full, as they say.

In light of this, my colleagues Jean-Yves Duclos and Joël Lightbound and I concluded that the answer lies with these organizations.

Since Build Canada Homes has been mentioned in our meetings, I'd like to know the extent of its co-operation with these organizations.

How will Build Canada Homes co-operate with these organizations, as well as municipalities and provinces, to build housing in my riding of Beauport—Limoilou?

[Gregor Robertson, Liberal, Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC]

Thank you for the question.

Partnership is essential to delivering. No one level of government can solve housing affordability. It's a very complex housing system in Canada. As an example, we see housing starts and the market in Quebec more stable and in many cases more affordable than other markets across Canada. I know that the Government of Quebec has been very focused on housing affordability and on delivering for their people in Quebec. We need to make sure that the partnerships recognize the strengths of each level of government, of the private sector in terms of building and construction, and of manufacturing as a big opportunity. Quebec has lots of great manufacturers who can produce housing projects.

We need to connect the dots to Canadian materials. We want to see as much Canadian softwood as we can, particularly from our provinces. B.C. and Quebec are very vulnerable right now because of the softwood tariffs. We need to see as many new homes built as we can with Canadian wood and Canadian steel and aluminum to support all these other industries. It's a complex set of partnerships to deliver more affordability and invest in the Canadian economy. We're looking forward to very strong relationships with the Government of Quebec and to make sure that we collectively can deliver for people with more affordability.