Evidence of meeting #37 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was infrastructure.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Gregor Robertson Liberal Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC
Thanks for the question.
We've embarked on deploying the capital allocated in budget 2025, the $13 billion, as effectively and productively as humanly possible. Without knowing exactly what industry would bring forward, what the private sector would bring forward, and what the provinces and cities—
Liberal
Gregor Robertson Liberal Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC
We're measuring as we go. Over this first year, we'll have a really good sense of how much it's costing per square foot and per unit of housing. We'll have a better sense of how much capital we've leveraged from the private sector. From that point, we can start setting targets for what our expectations are, going forward, based on the investment we're seeing from other levels of government and the private sector.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
Thank you, Mr. Reynolds.
We now go to Mr. Villeneuve for five minutes.
Liberal
Louis Villeneuve Liberal Brome—Missisquoi, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, Minister. Thank you for being here today.
First, I want to thank you for being open and understanding when it comes to the issue of homelessness and the appeals of community organizations.
I represent the riding of Brome—Missisquoi, next to my fellow member Ms. Larouche's riding. My riding is also experiencing challenges. I'd be happy to have you come for a visit anytime and meet the people there. You are always welcome.
I was the mayor of Bromont for eight years. It's a bit smaller than Vancouver. As mayors, we dealt with the same challenges, I'm sure, no matter the size of our cities. As we know, in Quebec City, chapter M‑30 of the Act respecting the Ministère du Conseil exécutif means that federal money usually has to go through Quebec City. Many mayors, including myself, had to cope with that, and in many cases, we had to delay, scrap, or pay more for, projects.
We just spent two weeks in our ridings, and the Union des municipalités du Québec invited me to attend its annual meeting. We talked a lot about the infrastructure deficit.
The build communities strong fund is a very important initiative, so can you give us an update on those negotiations with Quebec?
Liberal
Gregor Robertson Liberal Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC
Thank you for your question.
For infrastructure, there are two pieces of news.
We were able to achieve a memorandum of understanding with the Government of Quebec to guide our collaboration on housing and infrastructure. We have a collaboration table with the two governments working together to fund affordable housing projects and making sure we're aligned with our priorities. There is good coordination among the government, the local governments and all the community partners. Infrastructure and housing run together, as you know. As a former mayor, I know you don't build the housing without the infrastructure. Recognizing that we needed to speed up on the infrastructure side, we announced the signing of the agreement for the Canada housing infrastructure fund—$1 billion that the federal government will invest in Quebec to modernize and build essential housing infrastructure to scale up the work on housing projects. That's the housing infrastructure fund.
The next generation is the build communities strong fund. We are in very good negotiations with Quebec right now and hoping to share good news very soon. That will lay the groundwork for more infrastructure funding connected to housing. At the same time, we're doing housing and infrastructure agreements and looking forward to the extension of these new agreements with the build communities strong fund and Build Canada Homes.
Liberal
Louis Villeneuve Liberal Brome—Missisquoi, QC
Thank you, Minister.
I have about a minute and 40 seconds left, so I'll try to be quick.
We've talked about this. Housing affordability is a concern for everyone on the committee. We've seen rents move in a positive direction in recent months, and the apartment construction loan program is a big reason why.
Can you talk about the progress we're making and how the measures in the 2026 spring economic update will create more opportunities?
You have a minute and 15 seconds to answer.
Liberal
Gregor Robertson Liberal Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC
Thank you for your question.
The apartment construction loan program is through CMHC, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. It is a loan program for rental housing, specifically. It's very successful across the country, with, effectively, tens of billions of dollars invested in rental housing. As you said, it's been helpful in driving average rents down—having all this new rental housing built. We did not build enough rental housing for a generation or more.
I can get you an update on the stats.
I don't know, Paul, if you have any updated stats on what the ACLP is delivering right now in Quebec.
We can follow up with that information so you can know this specifically for your riding and province.
Liberal
Bloc
Andréanne Larouche Bloc Shefford, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Minister, community groups are stretched to the limit, but on top of that, the mayors of some small municipalities are wondering whether they'll see their share of the Build Canada Homes funding.
As we know, Quebec has its own housing tools, so why does Ottawa keep creating programs and imposing its own criteria, instead of transferring more money to Quebec in a manner that's predictable? From Racine to Sainte‑Cécile‑de‑Milton, people have raised concerns, because they worry they won't get their share of program funding.
I have another question, so I'd appreciate it if you could keep your answer to 30 seconds, if possible.
Liberal
Gregor Robertson Liberal Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC
Thank you for your question.
We now have agreements in place with Quebec, as I just mentioned, on housing infrastructure funding that flows through Quebec and with Build Canada Homes. In both cases, we work collaboratively with Quebec. The funding is transferred very directly.
Basically, the collaboration table works together to decide on the projects to invest in. We, as the federal government, can bring forward our suggestions based on what we hear from mayors and local governments. It's the same thing with Quebec. They bring forward projects based on what they're hearing from local governments.
Bloc
Andréanne Larouche Bloc Shefford, QC
During the constituency weeks, I also met with seniors' groups who told me that seniors too are struggling to find housing right now. They said homelessness is on the rise among seniors. Young people are also struggling to find housing and buy their first home. In short, several generations are affected.
In the 2026‑27 main estimates, financing for housing has gone up, but assistance for housing needs has gone down. Why did you reduce support that goes directly to those most vulnerable?
My last question is this: What percentage of federal housing investments is actually going to community and non-profit housing versus the private market?
Liberal
Gregor Robertson Liberal Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC
Thank you for your question.
We have a huge focus on community housing through Build Canada Homes. Right now, I think, the majority of the proposals coming through to Build Canada Homes are from community builders. There's been an enormous increase in the capacity of community builders across the country.
We are certainly seeing that in Quebec. When I was in Quebec a few weeks ago, announcing projects from the agreement with Quebec, several of those projects locally were going to be delivered by community builders. Several were also targeted for vulnerable populations and seniors.
It is definitely at the core of the work that Build Canada Homes is doing. There's alignment between Canada and Quebec on making sure that we focus on that deeper affordability and the most vulnerable people we can support with housing projects. In many cases, these projects have been delayed. Maybe in the past there was too much risk, but Build Canada Homes is focusing on delivering those.
Liberal
Conservative
Aaron Gunn Conservative North Island—Powell River, BC
Thank you, Chair.
Minister, do you believe that the right to private property is a fundamental human right?
Liberal
Gregor Robertson Liberal Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC
Through the chair, first and foremost, I do believe that housing is a human right, and here in Canada, private property has been protected for generations. This topic has come up a lot in recent months.
Conservative
Aaron Gunn Conservative North Island—Powell River, BC
It has, especially in British Columbia, as I'm sure you know.
Do you believe that aboriginal title should and can exist on top of or in conjunction with the existing fee simple title of individual homeowners?
Liberal
Gregor Robertson Liberal Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC
I think we've seen no challenge to private property as a result of aboriginal rights and title to date, and there's been a lot of fearmongering lately that is saying there is a problem—
Conservative
Aaron Gunn Conservative North Island—Powell River, BC
Minister, do you believe that aboriginal title should and can exist in conjunction with the fee simple title of individual homeowners?
Liberal
Gregor Robertson Liberal Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC
They have coexisted to date here in Canada without issue in recent generations.
Conservative
Aaron Gunn Conservative North Island—Powell River, BC
They have coexisted, aboriginal title and...so on what basis are you appealing the Cowichan decision, then?
