Debates of Nov. 16th, 2022

Housing

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for his strong advocacy on this really important issue.

Our government continues to recognize that making sure we have access to safe and affordable housing remains a priority. Just this week, I announced $78 million in an investment in Ottawa to create 271 new rental units. This will prioritize women and children, indigenous people and families so they can access safe and affordable housing. It is being done through surplus federal lands provided through the federal lands initiative. This is the national housing strategy at work.

Taxation

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

Mr. Speaker, this winter is likely to be as cold, punishing and long as the last winter. This is very bad news for Canadian families, because we have heard that gas home heating costs are expected to increase by 100%.

Six out of 10 Canadian families heat their homes with natural gas. That means there will be hundreds if not thousands of dollars more spent on home heating bills this winter by Canadian families. It is only going to be made worse by the Liberals, who are going to triple the carbon tax.

Why are they so insistent on punishing Canadians for heating their homes?

[Terry Duguid, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, I want to remind my hon. colleague from Winnipeg that the Parliamentary Budget Officer has weighed in on this many times. Eight out of 10 families will be better off.

The other thing the Parliamentary Budget Officer says is that the tab for climate destruction in this country is $20 billion a year. Members have heard me talk about Lytton and the floods in Manitoba. We cannot afford these climate disasters. The Conservatives are doing absolutely nothing about them.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I am sure hon. members do not want to be named, especially those on my left. I do not know what it is, but I can hear the voices very strongly. I do not want to have to look over and name the riding they are from and embarrass them, their family, their riding and anyone who knows them.

The hon. member for Kildonan—St. Paul.

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have spent over $100 billion on climate change, and their carbon tax has increased the cost of food, home heating and gas. Things are getting worse than ever before. Inflation is at a 40-year high.

Now we are finding out that Canada, with all this spending and all these taxes, is ranked 58 out of 63 countries in the world on the climate change performance index by COP27. We are at the bottom of the barrel on climate change. The Liberals do not have a climate change plan. They have a tax plan.

When will they axe the carbon tax so that Canadian families can afford to live?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, I find it revealing that in the preamble to the hon. member's question, she seemed to criticize us for making serious investments in climate change.

It should come as no surprise, though, that the Conservatives oppose our measures, because she knows very well that the policy we have advanced actually puts more money in the pockets of Canadian households. I am not surprised that they are opposing it, because at every instance since 2015, they have opposed measures that actually leave ordinary families better off.

When we raised taxes on the wealthiest to give a tax break to the middle tax, the Conservatives voted against it. When we stopped sending child care cheques to millionaires to put more money in the pockets of nine out of 10 Canadian families, they voted against it. Now, when we are charging people for pollution and giving that money directly to families, they oppose that too.

Housing

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

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister broke his promise to Canadians. In 2017, he launched his national housing strategy, calling it, among other things, a “life-changing plan” to get Canadians into homes and to keep them there. The minister even recently gave housing bureaucrats $48 million in bonuses for a job well done, but we all know the housing crisis has gotten worse under the government.

Will the minister please explain to the House and to Canadians why he gave $48 million in bonuses to bureaucrats for a job not done?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion]

Mr. Speaker, this is yet another example of playing ignorance when they know better. We do not determine the compensation rates for an independent Crown corporation.

Perhaps the member has the courage to talk to his leader so he stops being the biggest gatekeeper and supports housing for Canadians. When we introduced legislation to delivery much-needed rental supports to Canadians, what did that side do? They opposed it. When we presented plans to invest in rapid housing solutions for the most vulnerable, they opposed it. That is their record and they cannot get away from it.

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

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Auditor General laid the facts bare for all Canadians. Never, ever has a government spent so much to deliver so little. Canadians see the results. They see the tent cities growing all across this country.

Can the minister please explain to the House and to every single Canadian who cannot find a home right now why the government would give $48 million in bonuses to federal housing gatekeepers while more and more Canadians get left out in the cold?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion]

Mr. Speaker, I wish the hon. member took that same level of advocacy to his leader, who has been the biggest gatekeeper in this House against supports for Canadian first-time homebuyers, against supports for rapid housing initiatives in communities facing homelessness, against supports for 64 different community entities to reduce and prevent homelessness—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The hon. minister can continue, maybe from the top so I can hear the whole thing this time. It is at a distance over here, and I might not have gotten it.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Mr. Speaker, they are living up to their record, but when someone actually states their true record on this side of the House, they have a problem listening to it, but those are the facts.

When it is first-time home buyers saving up to $40,000 in a tax-free savings account, they vote against it. When it is providing more supports to communities facing homelessness through the pandemic by preventing 62,000 people from entering homelessness and providing permanent solutions for 32,000 Canadians experiencing homelessness, they vote against. The rapid housing initiative has delivered 10,250 deeply affordable homes; they voted against that.

Natural Resources

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Speaker, with COP27 in full swing, the big winners have been revealed.

Unfortunately, I am talking about the winners of the bidding process for oil exploration licences in Newfoundland's offshore. The winners are ExxonMobil, BP, Equinor and the Qatar state-owned company, QPI. Incentivized by the federal government's decision to eliminate environmental assessments, they have promised to invest no less than $238 million to find oil. If they are willing to invest $238 million, needless to say, they expect to find oil.

How many more Bay du Nord projects does Ottawa plan to authorize?

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources and to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, I want to clarify that the bidding process does not in itself authorize production activities in the offshore area.

I would also point out that any proposal for production within the boundaries would first and foremost be subject to the Impact Assessment Act, would have to fit within the framework of our climate plan and would have to offer the best emissions performance, including net-zero emissions by 2050.

These are merely licence bids for exploration, not the actual licences.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Speaker, at the same time, Canada once again extended an invitation to COP15 on biodiversity being held in Montreal.

The event is three weeks away and not one head of state has confirmed their attendance.

Obviously, all countries are quite aware that Canada is approving oil exploration drilling in a marine protected area. Canada does not even allow fishing in those areas to protect biodiversity, yet it allows companies to bore through the ocean floor to find oil.

If not all that many people are interested in attending COP15, it may be because they believe that Canada has no credibility on biodiversity, as is the case with the fight against climate change.

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources and to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, we are very proud of our work on biodiversity and we are proud to be at COP15 in Montreal.

I will be clear. The Northeast Newfoundland Slope marine refuge will remain a refuge under current conditions, and we will examine all exploration activities in the refuge on a case-by-case basis.

As I said, the tendering process does not authorize offshore production or development activities. Any proposed production offshore would first be subject to the Impact Assessment Act.

The Economy

[Matt Jeneroux, Conservative, Edmonton Riverbend, AB]

Mr. Speaker, grocery prices continue to soar, and gas prices are hitting a record high. That means parents cannot afford to pay their bills and feed their kids, and they are terrified where the next paycheque will come from. The Liberals' answer to this is “Just cancel your $13-a-month Disney+ subscription.” That is how out of touch the Prime Minister truly is.

Will the Prime Minister stop his inflationary spending and stop raising taxes?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, we know that Canadians are going through a tough time. We are all in a global inflationary cycle. We are not going to take any lessons from the member opposite, whose leader advised Canadians to invest in crypto as a hedge against inflation. That was totally irresponsible and totally reckless. It would have ruined people's savings.

I can tell members that the compassionate approach is to double the GST credit, to permanently eliminate interest on student loans, to make sure that $500 top-ups go to people who need it for housing, to cut child care fees in half and to provide dental care to half a million kids. That is the compassionate and responsible thing to do. It is what we are doing.

[Matt Jeneroux, Conservative, Edmonton Riverbend, AB]

Mr. Speaker, even future Liberal leader Mark Carney has confirmed that inflation is homegrown. Why will the minister not?

Inflation has reached the highest rate in four decades, and now Bank of Canada governor, Tiff Macklem, has stated that increasingly the inflation we are seeing in Canada reflects what is going on in Canada. Canadians cannot continue to afford this NDP and Liberal coalition.

Will the Prime Minister stop his inflationary spending and stop raising taxes?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, moms in Riverbend who received the CERB did not cause inflation nor did businesses that received supports during the pandemic cause inflation. If our investments in Canadians had caused inflation, we would be the only country in the world with inflation. Germany, the EU, the U.K., Australia and the United States all have higher inflation.

What are we doing on this side? We are investing in supporting Canadians who need the support when they need it the most. The Conservatives do not like it and Canadians do. That is why we are doing what we are doing.

[Dominique Vien, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals caused the Liberal inflation that is impoverishing Canadians, who have to choose between putting food on the table, keeping a roof over their heads and getting around. This Liberal crisis is hurting everyone. Some people are skipping meals. Workers are using food banks. Students are staying in shelters.

The Liberals do not care about any of that and are still reaching into Canadians' wallets to pay for their mess.

Will the Liberals do the only sensible thing and cancel their plans to raise taxes?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, just because the Conservatives repeat something three times does not make it true. Let us focus on the facts. When it comes to supporting Canadians, on this side of the House we have been there, and the Conservatives have voted against supporting Canadians every step of the way.

When it comes to inflation, Canada is lower than the United States, it is lower than the European Union, and it is lower than many other countries in the world. That does not mean it is an easy time for Canadians right now, but we are there to support them. We are continuing to do that, and we hope the Conservatives would join us if they truly cared about Canadians.

Housing

[Patrick Weiler, Liberal, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, many Canadians, particularly workers, families and the most vulnerable, are finding it increasingly difficult to find housing in many of Canada's urban centres. Ottawa is no exception.

Can the President of the Treasury Board tell the House what our government is doing to ensure that Canadians have a roof over their heads?

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his hard work and his important question.

On Monday, in Ottawa—Vanier, in the national capital region, we announced the construction of 271 affordable housing units for families in our area. What great news.

We are making investments to help give women, youth and indigenous peoples a safe and affordable place to live in our region.