Human Resources Committee on Feb. 2nd, 2026

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

The fact remains that, when you want to impose federal housing conditions, small municipalities have questions and point out that it's counterproductive and that Quebec is in a better position to know their needs and respond to them appropriately.

In addition, not only small municipalities are asking questions; seniors' groups are as well. In a context where seniors are finding it increasingly difficult to find housing, organizations that work with seniors, such as FADOQ, and once again, Quebec and the community, know their needs best. These groups are concerned that, with federal conditions being imposed, they will not get their fair share. We need housing for seniors and for small municipalities.

What do you have to say to FADOQ, an organization that is among those groups that think that Quebec is probably in the best position to know their housing needs?

[Jean Lamirande]

From our perspective at Build Canada Homes, we're not in a position to impose conditions. We don't have a mandate for conditional funding transfers. We are establishing a collaboration with the province to see how we can advance our shared priorities. We've created a situation where collaboration is the default—meaning that we agreed that the SHQ and the Province of Quebec would approve the various projects we will fund in the province. That's quite acceptable, as we want to fund projects that align with the province's priorities, whether in urban areas, rural areas or anywhere else in the province.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

What we are hearing about Build Canada Homes is that there might not be—I'm using the conditional here—any agreement on housing. Obviously, you're saying that there won't be any conditions, but we'll see, as we don't yet know which programs will be affected by the creation of Build Canada Homes and which ones will be abolished, maintained or enhanced.

Can the government explicitly commit to ensuring that the creation of this new structure won't come at the expense of existing programs that are already working, especially in Quebec?

[Ana Bailão]

The list is going to be developed in conjunction with the Province of Quebec; we're working together on the projects. We also have very flexible financial tools. We're not an agency that only has grants and loans.

The reason we are not just giving the money to Quebec or any other is that we have different tools, such as equity participation and loan guarantees. All this can be our participation to unlock a project that a province might need. That is what we have to...and we're coming to the table with the Government of Quebec to look at the projects that are a priority for the Government of Quebec and to make sure that Quebec, like any other province, has all the tools available to it. We wouldn't want to not have the same tools available for our province, just giving them an amount of cash instead. That is not the model that Build Canada Homes is coming to the table with. We come to the table on a partnership.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you.

Mr. Aitchison, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Okay, thank you.

Ms. Bailão, it's lovely to have you back. It's good to see you again.

To start, I want to talk to you briefly about the six sites that were announced on federal lands. They're in Dartmouth; Longueuil, Quebec; Ottawa; Toronto; Winnipeg and Edmonton. Each site was previously owned by the Canada Lands Company. Do you know how long the Canada Lands Company had been working on those projects before they were transferred to Build Canada Homes?

[Ana Bailão]

These are mostly master plan communities, so I'd imagine it's a significant time. I just joined the government on September 29, so I don't have the history, but I imagine that doing a master plan community and getting those sites would require some time.

I would call attention to the model that we also have with finance. We have $1.5 million to invest in those sites, so what we're bringing together is not only about the land. It's bringing the land together with the source of funds and pushing for modern methods of construction; this goes right in line with our mandate.

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Let's get into that, then.

Just to clarify, though.... I've done a little research. For Dartmouth, it's been about 11 years since the Canada Lands Company got a hold of it. For Longueuil, Quebec, it has been about 20 years since Canada Lands got a hold of it.

Heron Road in Ottawa has been 12 years in the works. The longest time period there has been just for getting the federal government to dispose of the lands. For Downsview, it's been 16 years. For Winnipeg, it's been five. The Edmonton project has been ongoing for 22 years, and there are still no homes built, of course.

I guess I want to point out that none of these were raw or newly identified lands. They've all been in the works with the CLC for years—sometimes decades. Four were already zoned and effectively ready to go. Build Canada Homes' main intervention has been procurement of financing.

Was it not possible for the Canada Lands Company to have those tools as well, since it already existed as a federal agency?

[Ana Bailão]

We're just bringing in Canada Lands. When he announced Build Canada Homes, the Prime Minister noted that Canada Lands was coming under the BCH.

We're going to work with the lands that are available at Canada Lands and other ones. The key is to have the land that is available and leverage it for public use, together with the flexible tools that we have. We are working with Canada Lands—their expertise and their people—and we're doing exactly that.

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

That's fantastic, but let's dig into that a little deeper.

You also indicated that Build Canada Homes is going to free up federal lands and get them into the mix faster. Based on how long it took the Canada Lands Company to get these lands out of the federal government's hands, what specifically will Build Canada Homes do differently so the process doesn't take 10 years?

[Ana Bailão]

We would work on the rezoning and development. Obviously, the government is the one that has to make the lands available to us.

Maybe Janet can jump in, because housing and infrastructure is leading that conversation.

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

No, actually, that's a good point. You're going to work on the zoning. You're a former city councillor. You understand the long, painful and outrageously expensive process that the zoning approval and development charges can be—particularly in Toronto; let's not kid ourselves.

How are you going to speed up that process with municipalities?

[Ana Bailão]

That's the benefit of Build Canada Homes. In the conversations we're having, for example, with the City of Ottawa, we've been able to get an implementation table that is going to speed up the approval of our lands and get development charges waived on our lands. It's the same thing with Halifax.

Because we're bringing these tools together and because we are at the table—

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Are you going to do that city by city? I realize that you've done something like this with Ottawa, but there are a lot of cities in this country.

[Ana Bailão]

The way we develop our lands will be in partnerships with the communities in which we operate. We want governments to come to the table, absolutely.

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

You're familiar with Tricon's project at Canary Landing in Toronto. I know you were part of the approvals process for that. I'm sure you're aware that the timeline for that project was about five or six years. It's done. I toured it last year. It's amazing. Thirty per cent of the units are affordable.

[Ana Bailão]

I was at the city when that happened.

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

I know you were.

I'm wondering why a federal agency would be needed to do what a private corporation did with the support of.... The provincial government basically gave them the land for a long-term lease and got out of the way. The private corporation got it done super fast, under an agreement that they make 30% of the units affordable. How—

[Ana Bailão]

This is exactly what Build Canada Homes is going to do. That was done through IO—Infrastructure Ontario—on provincial land, with the City of Toronto and financing from the federal government.

This is what Build Canada Homes is actually bringing. We are bringing the federal lands together with the financing that we control and partnering with developers to allow them to speed up and do developments in five years, as you're talking about.

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

I don't have any time left, but if you can provide us detail on how you're going to speed things up with cities, that would be great.

[Ana Bailão]

It is like what I did with Tricon when I was at the city.

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Okay. We'll get back into it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Mr. Aitchison.

Mr. Joseph, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Natilien Joseph, Liberal, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Mr. Chair, I want to congratulate Ana Bailão on her great work at Build Canada Homes. I was listening to her answer questions from Laila Goodridge earlier, and I felt that she wanted to ask her the following question, so I'll ask her: Why did you vote against the budget?

I am the member for Longueuil—Saint‑Hubert. In Longueuil, it was announced that 1,055 homes will be built, 40% of which will be non-market housing. This is good news for the people of Longueuil. Recently, in Longueuil, we had the opportunity to welcome the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Housing and Infrastructure, Caroline Desrochers, with whom we toured organizations that work with people experiencing homelessness.

Since we're talking about homelessness, I'd like to remind you that Longueuil has been experiencing a homelessness crisis for more than five years. I also looked into the situation in the riding of Shefford, and I saw that we were facing the same challenges when it comes to homelessness. This is a crucial issue in Granby, as my colleague just said. So it's really ironic to hear the Bloc members say that Build Canada Homes should transfer the funds to Quebec City, when they voted against the budget. I'm not trying to pick a fight; I just wanted to point that out.

We know that the homelessness crisis is closely linked to the lack of affordable and transitional housing. How does Build Canada Homes integrate the prevention and reduction of homelessness into its overall mandate? I'm thinking in particular of my riding, Longueuil—Saint‑Hubert, and my colleague's riding, Shefford, as well as the ridings of my colleagues opposite, as the issue of homelessness affects not only Quebec, but all of Canada.

I sense that you want to alleviate the homelessness crisis. Can you expand on that?

[Ana Bailão]

Thank you.

The same day the Prime Minister announced Build Canada Homes, there was direction on a few fronts, and one of them was $1 billion on transitional housing.

We know the way we're going to deal with homelessness is with permanent housing, and the transition from homelessness into permanent housing is extremely important. This is one priority we're working on right now: transitional housing with project shovels in the ground in 12 months.

We work very closely with our colleagues at HICC. They're reviewing our proposals as well, to ensure the proposals respond to the goals of the government in general, and we are working with provincial governments to ensure that they come to the table with wraparound services.

The transitional housing agreement that we signed in Toronto and we launched was done with Minister Flack and with the City of Toronto. The province was at the table to do the operating, and the city was as well.

It was the same thing in Nova Scotia, where the provincial government was at the table for those units there.

It's not only our participation but also ensuring that we have provincial wraparound services for those units.