Debates of Dec. 5th, 2023

House of Commons Hansard #262 of the 44th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was housing.

Topics

This summary is computer-generated. Usually it’s accurate, but every now and then it’ll contain inaccuracies or total fabrications.

Food and Drugs Act First reading of Bill C-368. The bill amends the Food and Drugs Act to reverse changes made by Bill C-47, ensuring natural health products are not classified or regulated like synthetic drugs. 200 words.

Christian Heritage Month Act First reading of Bill C-369. The bill proposes to designate December as Christian Heritage Month, citing the large Christian population in Canada and the celebration of other faith heritages. 200 words.

Veterans Affairs Members debate a report concerning the national monument to Canada’s mission in Afghanistan. Discussion centres on the government bypassing the expert jury's choice for a different design, citing public feedback. Critics argue this was a flawed process involving PMO interference, disrespecting veterans and families, and undermining procurement rules, calling for the government to reverse its decision. 14900 words, 2 hours.

Affordable Housing and Groceries Act Report stage of Bill C-56. The bill amends the Excise Tax Act to remove the GST on purpose-built rentals and reforms the Competition Act. Members debate the government's approach to the housing crisis and affordability, with Conservatives Jasraj Singh Hallan criticizing economic mismanagement. Liberals Kevin Lamoureux defend their record. The NDP Daniel Blaikie supports the GST rebate for market housing but calls for more funding for affordable and social housing. The Bloc Québécois Sébastien Lemire supports competition changes but criticizes delays in housing action. 16600 words, 3 hours in 2 segments: 1 2.

Statements by Members

Carbon pricing good trade and environmental policy

Thanking volunteer organizations at Christmas

Canada's climate change action plan

Food self-sufficiency in Saint-Joseph-du-Lac

Government's poverty reduction measures

Canada's national identity

Rainbow Bridge incident comments

Affordable child care across Canada

Tribute to Don Tannas

Commitment to Canada's middle class

Carbon tax increases food costs

Battery plant subsidies and foreign workers

Resurgence of misogynistic speech in Canada

Hate and violence against 2SLGBTQI+ Canadians

Beemer distillery's international award

Conservative plan to build more homes

Building a green Canada

Question Period

The Conservatives criticize the government's role in doubling housing costs, leading to housing hell, high rent, and tent cities. They blame the carbon tax and inflationary spending for increased food bank use and general unaffordability, calling to axe the tax. They also condemn the spending on EV contracts and the use of foreign replacement workers.

The Liberals highlight their investments in housing, including affordable housing and rental construction. They defend the carbon price and actions to fight climate change, like reducing methane emissions and supporting renewable energy. They also discuss support for Canadian families, media, and French language rights, while criticizing the Conservative approach.

The Bloc highlights the media crisis, criticizing CBC/Radio-Canada job cuts impacting French-language services. They also condemn the government's numerous meetings with fossil fuel lobbyists, linking them to slow climate action while the planet is burning.

The NDP focuses on the affordability crisis, including housing and food prices impacted by corporate greed. They criticize the government's climate action, highlighting meetings with fossil fuel lobbyists and proposing a youth climate corps. They also raise concerns about marine safety and support for volunteer firefighters.

Alleged Breach of Speaker's Impartiality—Speaker's Ruling Deputy Speaker rules on a question of privilege regarding the Speaker's impartiality after he sent a video message to a provincial party convention, allowing the opposition to move a motion on the serious matter. 1200 words.

Reference to Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs Members debate a motion to refer the Speaker's participation at an Ontario Liberal event to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs (PROC). Conservatives argue the Speaker committed a breach of impartiality, has lost trust, and should resign, proposing an amendment for PROC to report by Dec 14. Liberals and NDP support referring to PROC to recommend an appropriate remedy, emphasizing a non-partisan approach and timely process. 12100 words, 2 hours.

Canadian Environmental Bill of Rights Second reading of Bill C-219. The bill proposes a right to a healthy environment and legal tools across federal law. Supporters say it ensures accountability where current law is limited. Critics argue it shifts power to the judiciary and conflicts with the government's approach under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, raising constitutional concerns. 8000 words, 1 hour.

Adjournment Debates

Inmate Red Seal Programs Scott Reid asks for detailed data on federal inmates in Red Seal apprenticeship programs: enrollment, graduation rates, and post-release support. Kevin Lamoureux highlights CORCAN's training programs and certifications, stating that the Public Safety Minister will provide the specific information requested and encouraging further discussion with the minister.

Safe supply drug strategy Kevin Vuong argues that the safe supply strategy is not working, citing experts who advocate for reform or abolishment and a greater focus on opioid agonist treatment. Kevin Lamoureux defends the government's comprehensive, evidence-based approach, including harm reduction, treatment, and supervised consumption sites, which he argues save lives.

Carbon tax exemptions for farmers Jeremy Patzer criticizes the Senate amendment to Bill C-234, removing the carbon tax exemption for farm buildings. Kevin Lamoureux accuses the Conservatives of manipulating farmers to push their anti-carbon tax agenda. Patzer describes the struggles of a young producer with heating costs, and Lamoureux asks what the Conservative's climate change policy is.

Was this summary helpful and accurate?

Question No.1804—Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

12:15 p.m.

NDP

Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC

With regard to the Fighting and Managing Wildfires in a Changing Climate Program's training fund, since October 1, 2021: (a) how many community-based firefighters have been successfully trained by the federal government, broken down by (i) province or territory, (ii) year; and (b) in what jurisdictions have the trained community-based firefighters in (a) been used to fight and manage wildfires, broken down by (i) province or territory, (ii) year?

(Return tabled)

Question No.1805—Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

12:15 p.m.

Conservative

Dan Albas Conservative Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC

With regard to the Rental Construction Financing Initiative: (a) how much funding has been provided under the initiative since the creation of the program; (b) what are the details of all projects approved to date, including, for each, the (i) location, (ii) number of units, (iii) value of the project, (iv) amount of financing, (v) type of financing, (vi) financing recipient, if known, (vii) date of application, (viii) date of approval, (ix) date the financing was provided; and (c) of the projects in (b), how many units have been completed as of October 2023?

(Return tabled)

Question No.1806—Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

12:15 p.m.

Conservative

Dan Albas Conservative Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC

With regard to the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA): (a) what is the current backlog of air traffic complaints, including the number of complaints and the length of time before new complaints are adjudicated; (b) what is the government’s plan to reduce the backlog; (c) does the government have a target date for when the backlog will be reduced to less than six months, and, if so, what is the target; (d) if the government does not have a target in (c), why not; and (e) what measures, if any, are in place to reduce the number of cases requiring a CTA ruling?

(Return tabled)

Question No.1807—Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

12:15 p.m.

Conservative

Dan Albas Conservative Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC

With regard to government expenditures related to the Prime Minister’s trip to New York in September 2023, to attend the United Nations General Assembly: (a) what are the expenditures incurred to date, in total and broken down by type of expense; (b) how many members were part of the Canadian delegation; (c) what are the names and titles of the delegation members; (d) what was the total amount spent on hotels in the New York City area during that visit; and (e) what are the details of the spending at each hotel, including the (i) total amount spent, (ii) name of the hotel, (iii) number of rooms rented each night, (iv) rate paid and the number of rooms at each rate?

(Return tabled)

Question No.1809—Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

12:15 p.m.

Conservative

Stephen Ellis Conservative Cumberland—Colchester, NS

With regard to the government's Substance Use and Addictions Program, broken down annually for each of the last five years: (a) how much funding has been provided through the program; (b) how was the funding spent, broken down by type of expenditure; (c) what are the details of the funding recipients, including (i) which entities received funding through the program, including the name and location of each entity, (ii) how much funding each entity receive, (iii) what the funding was intended for; (d) what was the breakdown of the funding by province or territory and by municipal area, if known; and (e) what was the breakdown of the funding by type of substance?

(Return tabled)

Question No.1810—Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

12:15 p.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

With regard to Veterans Affairs Canada, to date: (a) how many purpose-built accessible and affordable housing units have been built or procured since November 1, 2019, to specifically address homelessness of former members of the Canadian Armed Forces and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, broken down by year and by province or territory; (b) what are the median rents for the purpose built-housing units in (a), broken down by year and by municipality; (c) how many formerly homeless veterans received access to homes through the procurement of the purpose-built housing units in (a), broken down by year and by province or territory; (d) how were federal funds allocated to construct purpose-built affordable housing for veterans experiencing homelessness across Canada; and (e) is the government aware of how many veterans are currently experiencing homelessness in Canada, and, if so, what is the most recent count?

(Return tabled)

Question No.1811—Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

12:15 p.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

With regard to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's (CMHC) mortgage insurance loans for non-profit housing providers, to date: (a) how many non-profit housing projects with mortgage guarantees from CMHC defaulted, broken down by year and by province or territory; (b) for each project that defaulted in (a), what was the reason for the default; (c) how many and what percentage of non-profit projects that defaulted were eventually foreclosed; (d) how many and what percentage of projects in default were also guaranteed by provincial or territorial governments; (e) what is the amount of administrative fees the CMHC charges to non-profits seeking to have CMHC mortgage insurance for their housing project, on average; and (f) what is the total amount of administrative fees the CMHC has collected from non-profits broken down by year and by province or territory?

(Return tabled)

Question No.1812—Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

12:15 p.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

With regard to the government's Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI), to date: (a) how many applications through the Projects Stream has the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) (i) received, broken down by municipality and by year, (ii) rejected, broken down by municipality, by year, and by number of units per application, (iii) approved, broken down by municipality and by year, (iv) accepted and delivered all funding for, broken down by municipality, by year, and by number of units; (b) how many applications through the Cities Stream has the CMHC (i) received, broken down by municipality and by year, (ii) rejected, broken down by municipality, by year, and by number of units per application, (iii) approved, broken down by municipality and by year, (iv) accepted and delivered all funding for, broken down by municipality, by year, and by number of units; (c) of the projects rejected, how many had either municipal, provincial, or territorial resources attached to the project (i) for the Projects Stream, (ii) for the Cities stream; (d) how much federal funding has been paid out by the program; (e) what are the median processing times for RHI applications, broken down by municipality and by year; and (f) what are the median rents for completed RHI-funded units, broken down by municipality and by year?

(Return tabled)

Question No.1813—Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

12:15 p.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

With regard to compliance inspections undertaken by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) related to the Temporary Foreign Worker program and the findings of those inspections: (a) of the more than 2,100 inspections undertaken by ESDC in the last fiscal year, how many and what percentage were conducted (i) in-person, (ii) remotely, broken down by year and by province; (b) of those inspections conducted in-person in (a), (i) how many provided formal or informal notice to employers prior to the date of inspection, (ii) how many and what percentage were found to be in violation of compliance standards, (iii) what were the reasons cited for the violation of compliance (ranked in order of the most frequent) and the percentage for each distinct reason in relation to all found violations, (iv) within what timeframe did the employer address the violations; (c) of those inspections conducted remotely in (a), (i) how many and what percentage were found to be in violation of compliance standards, (ii) what were the reasons cited for the violation of compliance (ranked in order of the most frequent) and the percentage for each distinct reason in relation to all found violations; (d) were any of the employers found to be repeat offenders and, if so, how many employers were found to be in violation of compliance standards more than once and how often did these employers violate compliance standards; (e) how many and what percentage of employers found to be in violation of compliance standards received a follow-up inspection following the original finding of violations, and how many and what percentage of follow-up inspections found the employer to be in (i) compliance, (ii) violation; (f) among employers who were found to be in violation of compliance standards of the Temporary Foreign Workers Program, how many and what percentage (i) were required to provide adequate living accommodations for migrant workers, (ii) failed to meet the requirements to provide adequate living accommodations, (iii) employed foreign nationals holding closed work permits and (g) in those cases whereby it was decided that employers failed to provide foreign nationals with appropriate and agreed-upon wages, failed to provide foreign nationals with health insurance, charged foreign nationals excessive fees, failed to provide adequate living accommodations, failed to maintain a workplace free of abuse or reprisal, failed to meet expectations listed in the offer of employment, or failed to provide information on the foreign national’s rights in Canada, what measures, if any, were taken to compensate affected foreign nationals?

(Return tabled)

Question No.1821—Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

12:15 p.m.

Conservative

Jamie Schmale Conservative Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON

With regard to all memorandums, briefing notes, and other documents sent from or received by the Privy Council Office related to, or which mention in any way, the United States President Joe Biden’s visit to Parliament on March 24, 2023: what are the details of each, including the (i) date, (ii) sender, (iii) recipient, (iv) type of document, (v) title, (vi) summary of the contents, (vii) file number?

(Return tabled)

Question No.1822—Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

12:15 p.m.

Conservative

Jamie Schmale Conservative Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON

With regard to all memorandums, briefing notes, and other documents sent from or received by Global Affairs Canada related to, or which mention in any way, United States President Joe Biden’s visit to Parliament on March 24, 2023: what are the details of each, including the (i) date, (ii) sender, (iii) recipient, (iv) type of document, (v) title, (vi) summary of the contents, (vii) file number?

(Return tabled)

Question No.1824—Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

12:15 p.m.

Conservative

Stephen Ellis Conservative Cumberland—Colchester, NS

With regard to expenditures incurred by the government related to icebreaking services on the St. Lawrence Seaway: what were the total expenditures, broken down by year and month, for each of the last five years?

(Return tabled)

Question No.1825—Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

12:15 p.m.

Conservative

Chris Warkentin Conservative Grande Prairie—Mackenzie, AB

With regard to the carbon tax or price on carbon, during the 2022-23 fiscal year: (a) what were the annual costs to administer the (i) collection of the carbon tax, (ii) rebate program; and (b) how many employees or full-time equivalents were assigned to work on the (i) collection of the carbon tax, (ii) rebate program?