Mr. Speaker, I am proud to speak to this issue. I clearly support this bill going to committee.
I would like to review the preamble of this bill and its objectives. It specifically states that this bill is to ensure secure, adequate, accessible and affordable housing for Canadians. Frankly, I am shocked to hear that the Conservatives would not support that and would vote against this bill. I cannot understand that as a Canadian.
How can anybody argue against at least studying the establishment of a national housing strategy? That is all that would occur if the bill went to committee. Canadians need to know that the Conservatives do not even wish to study the establishment of a national housing strategy. That is unbelievable.
It has been proposed in clause 5 that there be a conference between the federal government and provinces within 180 days. How could anybody vote against that? Why would we not try to come up with some ideas?
There is a major problem with this bill: It should be a government bill. That is the problem. The government should be concerned about social housing and alleviating poverty in Canada. It should not be up to a private member to put this forward. I find that shameful.
I have a letter from Peel Poverty Action Group, dated March 18, 2009, which talks about:
the need for affordable housing in Peel Region, which has the largest waiting list (13,500 families) and the longest wait (more than 10 years) of any municipality in Canada;
On behalf of the 13,500 families in the region of Peel that are waiting for affordable housing, I say shame on the Conservatives for not even wanting to study the possibility of a national housing strategy. They will not even let it go to committee to consider it. How is that reasonable? Canadians need to know that they are opposed to even thinking about helping people who need housing in Canada.
Poverty and housing are related. Obviously if people were not living in poverty they would not need affordable housing. So the first question is, how do we fix that?
Before I get to that, I would like Canadians to know that not only do the Conservatives currently oppose studying this issue and trying to fix it, but they made it worse. Canadians need to know about all their cuts.
In budget 2006, the Conservative government cut $200 million of the $1.6 billion the Liberals had committed to affordable housing. Imagine how much better Canadians would be now if that had not happened.
On September 25, 2006, the Conservative government cut $45 million in the administration of CMHC programs.
On May 8, 2006, the Conservative government cut $770 million from one of Canada's most popular, efficient and effective programs designed to fight global warming, the EnerGuide program.
I know it is unbelievable, but there is more.
The Conservatives later reversed their decision to cut EnerGuide in February 2007 but did not restore the $550 million to help low-income households.
There is more. In December 2006, the Conservative government announced that it would also cancel the SCPI program. After all that, Conservatives pretend that they are actually trying to help. Yet they will not even study this issue in committee if they have their way.
If Liberals had been elected last fall, things would already be better. The Liberal government had committed to the alleviation of poverty. It had a 30-50 plan, a well thought-out plan, to alleviate poverty by reducing by 30% all Canadians living below the poverty line and by 50% all children. People would be better off. There would not be the same need for affordable housing going into the future if Liberals had been elected.
There were additional tax measures such as the guaranteed family supplement to help 500,000 needy Canadians, giving them each $1,225 more per family per year. We are not seeing the Conservatives help people in that measure.
In addition, income supports would have increased in areas such as public transit, child care and social housing. This is right from the Liberal platform.
If the Liberal Party had been elected, this is exactly what would happened. We care. A Liberal government would tackle the housing crisis by helping to provide for 30,000 new social housing units and refurbishing another 30,000 existing units to make them more livable.
As part of this commitment we would also expand subsidies for dedicated units for low-income Canadians in federally funded cooperative housing. The Liberal Party would have renewed the residential rehabilitation program and the homelessness partnering initiative. A Liberal government would help low-income families with their energy bills. This would have the double benefit of alleviating poverty and helping the environment.
With the platform that we ran on, if we had won the election, suffering would already be in the process of being alleviated and when we win the next election, that is what will take place. We will work toward helping the people who need it.
In the interim, I am proud to state that I will be supporting this private member's bill. It should go to committee. I do not understand how any responsible Canadian, regardless of political affiliation, would not wish at least to study the issue, to bring in anti-poverty groups and other experts to hear what they have say, and make some form of meaningful recommendations to the House for the benefit of Canadian society. I find it shocking that the Conservatives will not even let us consider making people's lives better.
On behalf of the people in the region of Peel, on behalf of all Canadians living below the poverty line, I am proud to state that I will be supporting the further study of this issue in committee. I challenge all colleagues in the House to put aside their political affiliations and recognize that this is a serious problem for all Canadians and that the issue should at least be studied in committee.