Debates of Jan. 30th, 2024

Housing

[Some hon members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

Order. I invite the member for Dufferin—Caledon to start from the top, and I invite other members to please listen to the question without interruption.

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Mr. Speaker, every day, the housing minister pops up and has a new program, a new plan—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

I invite the government House leader and the chief whip to please ask their members to listen quietly to the question without interruption.

The hon. member from Dufferin—Caledon, from the top. I hope it will be the last time he will have to start his question again.

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Mr. Speaker, every day, the housing minister pops up and celebrates his new announcement, his new project or his new scheme, but the sad thing is that the Liberals do not actually build a single house.

Meanwhile, in the real world, after eight years of the NDP-Liberal government, rents are skyrocketing. In fact, asking rent is now up 22%. Donna's rent in Orangeville is going up again and she cannot afford it.

When will the minister realize that these announcements are doing nothing and that housing is a disaster, and apologize to Donna and to Canadians?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Minister of Housing]

Mr. Speaker, perhaps my hon. colleague is confused about the pace at which we are advancing new policies, because on the Conservative side he is not used to seeing the work actually getting done.

Let us compare our plan to theirs, They would put Canada on a track to build fewer homes than we were already projecting to have built in the years ahead. We have cut taxes; they will raise them. We have made investments; they will cut them. We have completely changed the way large cities in this country are zoning to build more housing; the Conservatives oppose that too.

We will do what it takes to build homes, to bring down rents and to make sure every Canadian has a roof over their head.

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Mr. Speaker, all of that leads us to exactly where we are today: nowhere. Rent for a one-bedroom apartment is up 12% to $1,900, and rent for a two-bedroom apartment is up 9.8% to $2,300. Rent is now at a record high across Canada: $2,100, up 8.6%. Why is that? It is because all they have are phony announcements and photo ops.

When will he finally admit they have made the mess that Canadians are suffering through, apologize to people like Donna and apologize to Canadians? It is their mess.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Minister of Housing]

Mr. Speaker, since the adoption of the national housing strategy, hundreds of thousands of homes have been constructed or renovated to support Canadians who need help. There are millions of Canadians who have benefited directly from government supports to ensure that they could keep a roof over their head. We are going to continue to put policies in place that will improve the quality of life people get to enjoy, by helping them find a place they can afford.

The Conservative plan would raise taxes on home building, cut funding for cities that are trying to change their rules and eliminate supports for affordable housing altogether. That is the wrong approach. It was tried; it has failed.

We will build the homes to support Canadians.

Public Services and Procurement

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about a public servant from the Quebec City area who ended up $25,000 in debt because of the government. It all began in 2016 when the Phoenix pay system began to repeatedly forget to issue him his paycheque. Now, seven years later, despite all of the calls he has made and everything he has done to try to remedy the problem, he has had to refinance his home and is struggling with a great deal of stress.

I have to ask. Would this happen to the minister? Would the system “forget” to issue a paycheque if the payee were the minister?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, as my colleague is well aware and as she said so well, it is completely unacceptable for public servants, those who put all their talent and energy into working for the public service, to not be paid properly and on time. That is why we must work harder every day so that people like the person the member mentioned get what they need and what they are owed for the work they do, for the time and talent they put into serving our country.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Mr. Speaker, an isolated case would be cause enough for a scandal, but we are talking about 448,000 Phoenix-related payroll problems in 2023 alone. Public servants are even avoiding changing their address or accepting a promotion because they are afraid of experiencing pay issues if they make the slightest change. Worst of all, this government sees no urgency in paying what it owes its own employees.

When will the minister finally open his eyes and fix this incredible fiasco that would bankrupt any private company?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank our colleague once again for raising this issue. She is right. We need to invest more in order to pay our public servants on time and correctly, and that is why we are currently hiring hundreds of new compensation officers. We are investing in improved technology that will enable better information flow between the departments concerned and the payroll centre, most of whose employees are in Miramichi. We have already done a lot of work, but there is a lot more to come over the next few months.

Finance

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals are great at breaking things. They have broken the bank. They have broken the law, and they have broken the budget.

It turns out that budgets do not balance themselves. Record government spending leads to record inflation and soaring interest rates. Canadians need the budget fixed. A dollar of new spending must be met with a dollar of savings. It is a simple concept; even children can understand it.

Will the Liberals finally end their inflationary spending, or will they keep breaking the budget?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, bitter experience has taught Canadians that whenever Conservatives talk about public finances, whenever they talk about saving money, what they are talking about is taking money away from Canadians.

They are talking, to be very specific, about taking away early learning and child care. They are talking about taking away dental care and about taking away the investments in things like the EV factories in Ontario that are the jobs of today and the future.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I will tell members what Conservatives are going to cut. We are going to cut broken apps and we are going to cut high-priced consultants because Conservatives talk directly to Canadians, so we do not need to spend billions of dollars to find out what Canadians think.

Let me tell members what Canadians are thinking. They want to axe the tax. They want to fix the budget. They want to build homes. They want to stop crime. Will the Liberals finally listen to them?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, we have learned just now about one specific thing Conservatives will cut. I am an MP for Ontario. The member opposite is too. They are going to cut the nearly $1,000 that an average family of four in Ontario is getting right now. That is money that is helping people every day. Of course they are going to cut child care; they voted against it. They are going to cut dental care, and they will not make the investments our economy needs.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this government has been spending recklessly for the past eight years. The ArriveCAN app cost $54 million. The billion-dollar green fund is turning out just like the sponsorship scandal, the Canada Infrastructure Bank and any number of other unnecessary expenditures that make it impossible to balance the budget. Then there are the massive amounts of money spent on contracts for consultants of all kinds. Conservatives want a plan to balance the budget.

Does the government plan to listen to common sense and use its next budget to achieve that balance in the near term?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to get a question from a Quebec MP about our government's investments, because this gives me the opportunity to talk about our investments in early childhood care. This initiative started in Quebec. We are proud to be helping Quebec with this crucial work.

We are also proud that our work with the province has led to the biggest investment in Quebec's history, the investment in Northvolt.

Regional Economic Development

[Patricia Lattanzio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Mr. Speaker, our government cares deeply about Montreal East. This area has long been neglected and associated with refineries and heavy industry, but the time has come to transform it into a hub of economic and social development.

Can the minister tell us how the federal government is working with other levels of government to help revitalize Montreal East and support businesses like Les Laboratoires MZL Inc.?

[Soraya Martinez Ferrada, Liberal, Minister of Tourism and Minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec]

Mr. Speaker, when I ran in 2019, and with the government's support, we made a commitment to host the very first Sommet de l'Est, a summit about Montreal East. Last November, working with the Chambre de commerce de l'Est de Montréal, we managed to gather together more than 800 participants from all levels of government and announced over $750 million in investments. This was the largest show of support that Montreal East had ever seen.

We are here for Montreal East. We are going to work with all partners to ensure that Montreal East achieves the socio-economic potential it desperately needs.

Public Services and Procurement

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Liberal-NDP government, Liberal insiders have never had it so good, and Canadians are paying a high price.

Yesterday's ombudsman report on ArriveCAN reveals that procurement policies were ignored over and over again. Companies were given preferential treatment even though they lied in their bids to secure millions of dollars in contracts. This is more Liberal corruption and waste, proving that the Prime Minister is not worth the cost.

When will the Liberal ministers come clean with Canadians and tell them why they gave this work to their buddies?

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, it is important to remember that the ArriveCAN app was built to help save lives during an extraordinary time. However, with that being said, we expect the procurement process to be followed, and I have said time and time again in the House that any wrongdoing in the procurement process would face consequences. The CBSA has already begun this important work by calling in the police when necessary and by doing internal audits. We are committed to ensuring that the procurement processes are always followed.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Liberal-NDP government, scandal continues to follow it with the ArriveCAN app.

Liberals insisted there were no forged resumes. However, it is a fact that almost 40% of the resumes GC Strategies sent in were forged. Liberals insisted security was never compromised, but it is a fact that almost 80% of all contracts did not follow security protocol. Liberals insisted procurement rules were followed; the fact is that the system was rigged in favour of GC Strategies.

I have a question for the Liberal government: What kind of operation is it running over there?

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, what we expect from the public service is that it implement contracts based on government policies that follow the rules and procurement policies, and when we were aware—