Debates of Dec. 5th, 2023

Housing

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the reality is that the Conservative leader continues to call for the federal government to get out of the business of housing. We will not repeat the same mistakes he made when he was housing minister under Stephen Harper.

The Conservative leader's present plan will not build enough homes fast enough, does not reach enough cities and creates unnecessary red tape. He would also defund affordable housing projects and tax affordable rental construction even more.

While the Conservative leader focuses on clickbait and views, we are going to focus on building Canadians more homes.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, he did try to make a video. It was a total failure. His videos do not get clicks and his houses do not have bricks after eight years. That is why housing costs have doubled.

He should not have to read his entire answer. I am offering to inform him. If he would just take 15 minutes away from his photo ops, he could watch my brilliant documentary on X or YouTube, with a common-sense plan to require cities to permit 15% more homes, to give them bonuses if they exceed the target, to require housing around every federally funded transit station and to sell off 6,000 buildings. This is common sense. Let us bring it home.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative leader's plan is to pick fights with municipalities, to create more red tape and to withdraw funding for affordable housing and affordable apartments. That is not a plan to build more housing. He has demonstrated that he is extremely satisfied with his ability to spread misinformation and disinformation online, which, yes, I will admit he is very good at.

On this side of the House, we are focused on delivering solutions for Canadians. We are focused on building more housing for Canadians, not on self-aggrandizement like the Leader of the Opposition.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, he is the king of self-aggrandizement, as evidenced by the fact that he is now attacking my much-acclaimed documentary when he claims he has not even watched it. How would he know about the common-sense solutions if he has not had the attention span to sit there for 15 minutes on YouTube or X and watch it? We will even try to get it on TikTok so he can find it. It includes a common-sense plan to cut bureaucracy and taxes so we can bring it home.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, when I came into question period today, I did not think I would be hearing an infomercial for how great Pierre Poilievre's social media skills—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Sorry, the leader—

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

We will back up. The Prime Minister knows he is not supposed to use the names of members of Parliament.

The right hon. Prime Minister.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I apologize. I did not think Canadians were going to be hearing an infomercial for the Leader of the Opposition's YouTube page.

The reality is that Canadians deserve a government focused on delivering housing for them. That is exactly what we are doing with historic deals with cities right across the country and with measures to build more housing quickly. We are concretely solving that while he is talking to himself online.

CBC/Radio-Canada

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, while those two members are bickering about amateur cinema, the media industry is in crisis. Media outlets no longer have the means to fulfill their mandate. News organizations are collapsing. The regions are in decline. Arts and culture are being eroded. The French language is in decline.

Does the Prime Minister realize that this is the worst possible time to cut 800 jobs at CBC/Radio-Canada?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we have been very concerned about what is happening in our media, our art and our culture for years now.

That is why the government has taken concrete action to support media across the country, to invest in local journalism and to stand up against the web giants in favour of journalists and the work they do, which is essential to our democracy. For example, we were pleased to reach an agreement with Google regarding Bill C‑18.

We will continue to be there to support and defend journalists across the country, especially local journalists who play an essential role in our democracy.

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, that is obviously grossly inadequate.

The government just got $100 million from Google through an agreement that we would really like to get our hands on. That is great news.

Private media already had to cut more than $100 million from their operations, however.

CBC/Radio-Canada not only wants to dip into the $100 million from Google, but it also wants to cut French-language and regional services. On top of that, it wants to hand out bonuses.

It is about time that CBC/Radio-Canada be held accountable before Parliament. Does the Prime Minister agree?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we have always supported CBC/Radio-Canada and the services it provides to local communities across the country.

One of the first decisions we made as a government was to cancel the Harper government's cuts to our public broadcaster. Supporting local news and journalists in this difficult juncture is exactly why we introduced Bill C‑18.

While the Leader of the Opposition rejoices as Canadian families are facing layoffs, we will continue to support local news and journalists in Canada.

Housing

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the out-of-touch Liberals have let the housing crisis get so bad that in Halifax this winter, a man died alone in a tent. The average rent in Halifax is now over $2,000 a month. Leaving this up to big developers will not bring down rents.

People are being renovicted. We need real action, not just words. The Liberals are running around announcing and reannouncing existing funding that will not deliver homes for another four to seven years.

Will the Prime Minister take immediate action to secure existing empty buildings to get people off the streets this winter?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we are continuing to reach out and work with communities, with municipalities and with provinces right across the country to deliver. We have been announcing projects completed that we started years ago. We are announcing projects that are starting today, which will be completed in the coming years.

We understand the efforts involved in solving this housing crisis. It requires us all to roll up our sleeves, which is why we put forward $4 billion in the housing accelerator to make sure that municipalities could build more homes. We are putting forward $15 billion to accelerate the construction of rental units.

We are going to continue to be there for low-income and homeless people as well.

Grocery Industry

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, food prices are not going down. A record number of Canadians are turning to food banks for their meals.

Before the doors open at Bridges to Hope Food Bank in St. John's, there is already a line-up waiting to collect food hampers. Meanwhile, big grocers like Sobeys, which was here yesterday, are seeing heaps of excess profit, all while offering a nickel to their employees.

The Liberals are failing to lower food prices. When are they going to crack down on the corporate greed that is driving Canadians to food banks?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, more competition means more lower prices, more choice and more innovative products and services for Canadians.

Our affordability legislation will empower the Competition Bureau to hold grocers accountable and prioritize consumers' interests. The fall economic statement proposes further amendments to the Competition Act to crack down on predatory pricing to better respond to anti-competitive mergers and more.

We are ensuring that Canadians have more competitive options. We are limiting excess profits by corporations at the expense of Canadians.

Carbon Pricing

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, we just heard shocking testimony at the human resources committee from the CEO of the Central Okanagan Food Bank. He says that projections are another 100% increase in food bank demand in the next three to four months due to inflation. He has expressed how donors and volunteers are now clients.

Liberal inflationary spending and carbon tax are adding to the cost of food. After eight years, the NDP-Liberal government is just not worth the cost.

Will the Prime Minister take the tax off farmers, families and first nations, finally?

[Jenna Sudds, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, we will continue to invest in strengthening social security programs like old age security, the Canada pension plan and support for families, like the Canada child benefit and $10-a-day national child care, programs that the Conservatives continue to vote against, totally lacking empathy and understanding for the struggles that Canadian families are facing.

On this side of the House, we will continue to do the hard work to ensure that we are there to support Canadian families.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, that answer will not satisfy all the Canadians lining up at a food bank for the first time in their lives or the food banks that are losing donors and volunteers due to Liberal inflation.

We have heard from not-for-profits how they see the rising price of gas as a barrier to volunteering and how senior volunteers are being forced back to work to afford basic necessities due to inflation. After eight years, the NDP-Liberal government is just not worth the cost.

Will the Prime Minister take the carbon tax off farmers, families and first nations, finally?

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and to the Minister of Sport and Physical Activity]

Mr. Speaker, it is important that we focus on affordability for families. It is also important that we look at facts when it comes to the carbon price that we have put in place. It is also important to remind Conservative members that they ran on a carbon price. Carbon pricing is the most efficient and the cheapest way to lower our emissions.

With respect to food prices, particularly those facing lower income families, today, an article lists here that 94% of households with incomes below $50,000 received far more rebates, exceeding their carbon tax costs in 2023.

Lower-income folks are enjoying more rebates than carbon costs because our carbon pricing—

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

The hon. member for Haldimand—Norfolk.

[Leslyn Lewis, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years, the NDP-Liberal government has made life unaffordable for Canadians in every province and territory.

Canadians are suffering under the Prime Minister's oppressive carbon tax. While he taxes, he also divides, pausing the carbon tax on home heating oil in Atlantic Canada because he wants votes, while he quadruples the tax on every other Canadian.

When will the Prime Minister finally cancel the carbon tax on families, farmers and first nations?

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and to the Minister of Sport and Physical Activity]

Mr. Speaker, again, I will focus my response on an economist's response to the rhetoric in the House with respect to the carbon price. He said that if we got rid of the carbon tax and the rebate, then this would harm a much larger fraction of lower and middle-income households than it would higher-income households. Very clearly, the economist from Calgary indicates that our carbon price sends more money back to 94% of families that earn less than $50,000.

It is an affordability measure and it fights climate change.

[Leslyn Lewis, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

Mr. Speaker, at a time when the country is working toward reconciliation, the Liberals have saddled first nations communities with a punishing carbon tax.

First nations are so burdened by this unfair tax that they have decided to take the government to court. Canadians everywhere know that the Prime Minister is just not worth the cost.

When will the Prime Minister finally remove the carbon tax from farmers, first nations and families?