House of Commons Hansard #361 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was cbc.
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, a year ago, the Prime Minister copied and pasted my idea to get rid of the GST on rental housing construction. That is the only thing he did because his other policies have inflated the costs. Yesterday, I suggested eliminating the GST on homes selling for under $1 million, and the Prime Minister's housing adviser, Mike Moffatt, said it was “the boldest middle-class housing proposal released to date from any federal political party”.
Will the Prime Minister accept my idea?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, when the Leader of the Opposition was Stephen Harper's minister responsible for housing, he failed. He built only six affordable housing units across the entire country. Now he is proposing a program that will cut transfers to the municipalities and the investments that we are making in infrastructure to build more homes across the country. The Conservatives are offering budget cuts to the programs and services that Canadians rely on, whereas we are investing in building housing for Canadians from coast to coast to coast.
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, I want to eliminate the GST on homes valued at less than $1 million. It will save the buyer $25,000 on the purchase of an average home in Quebec. That means $1,300 a year less in mortgage payments.
In contrast, the Prime Minister wants to funnel that money into bureaucratic programs that, as his own Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities admitted, will not even build any new housing.
Will the Prime Minister accept my plan to cut red tape and eliminate taxes to build housing?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, what the Conservative leader wants to cut is the $900 million we are sending to Quebec through the housing accelerator fund, which has already rolled out in Quebec and elsewhere in the country.
He wants to cut and eliminate the $900 million that we sent to Quebec to build more housing, to address the challenges facing Quebeckers, especially young Quebeckers. His solution is not really a solution, because his ideas always come with cuts to services, investments and the programs that Canadians need.
Quebeckers do not want cuts and austerity. They want investments to build a better world.
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister took my idea last year to remove the GST from rental housing construction. It is the only thing he has done right, because of course after nine years, he has doubled housing costs.
Yesterday I came up with another common-sense idea. Let me quote the Prime Minister's housing adviser, Mike Moffatt: “[The Conservative leader's plan] to eliminate the GST for newly constructed homes selling for under $1 million is the boldest middle-class housing proposal released to date from any federal political party.”
Will the Prime Minister accept my common-sense idea?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, over the decades, Canadians have learned the hard way that with Conservative promises, one always has to check the fine print. The fine print on this one is that Conservatives are going to cut the investments we are making across the country, working with municipalities to cut red tape, to invest in more housing, to invest in more affordable homes, to accelerate permitting and to create densification.
The Conservative leader is going to cut the services, programs and investments that Canadians are counting on to solve the housing crisis. That is all he offers: cuts to the programs and supports that Canadians need. Whether it is the housing accelerator or housing and infrastructure investments, he is going to build—
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister named the two bureaucracies I would get rid of. One is ironically named the housing infrastructure fund, which is $5 billion. How many houses has it built? Zero. How many pieces of infrastructure has it built? Zero. Can one even apply for money from it? No; it is just for bureaucrats.
Then there is the housing accelerator fund, which the Prime Minister's own Liberal housing minister said does not go toward the cost of building houses. It does not actually lead to the construction of specific homes.
The housing accelerator fund does not actually directly build homes, so why not take the money, axe the tax and build the homes?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition is intending to cut the housing accelerator fund, which is all about creating densification across our communities, accelerating permitting, cutting red tape, using more public lands and creating more opportunities for public lands to be used for the creation of affordable homes. It is about changing the way homes get built so they get built faster and more accessibly for Canadians.
The Leader of the Opposition is about cutting the programs and services Canadians rely on. That is what Canadians have learned about Conservative promises. They have to look at the fine print, and the fine print is cuts to things Canadians need.
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, these are cuts to taxes Canadians pay.
We will axe the tax, the sales tax on new homes of under a million dollars. This will save up to $50,000 on a new home or $2,700 in lower mortgage payments every single year.
By contrast, in the last three years, the number of young people who have ownership of a home today has fallen by half under the Prime Minister and his incompetent housing minister. Why will he not cut the bureaucracy, axe the tax and build the homes?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, Canadians have learned that, when Conservatives make promises, we have to check the fine print. The fine print on this one is cutting programs that are investing in building new homes right across the country, working with municipalities and delivering the homes that Canadians, particularly young Canadians, need.
Now, if the Leader of the Opposition actually cared about young Canadians, he would not be standing against the fact that we are asking wealthier Canadians to pay a little more in taxes to help young Canadians with buying a home, with creating a future and with creating the jobs that they need.
We are going to continue to invest in young people for intergenerational fairness while he gives tax breaks to the wealthiest.
Yves-François Blanchet Bloc Beloeil—Chambly, QC
Mr. Speaker, all of the parties in the House have supported two measures at the various stages.
One measure was meant to help four million pensioners in Canada, including one million in Quebec. The other was intended to help tens of thousands of farmers. We gave the government five weeks, and it ultimately said no. I wonder why. I wonder whether the Prime Minister, like his Quebec lieutenant, is saying that our proposal is bad, because they voted for it.
Why does he not ask about the relevance of what we are proposing to Quebeckers and Canadians, namely, an election?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois leader is well aware that, when it comes to protecting our farmers, we are moving forward, we are there to protect supply management, and we are there to ensure that the Senate is going to pass this bill, or an equivalent bill, because we will always be there to protect our farmers.
As for our seniors, we are always going to be there to protect them too, whether through dental care, which has now been provided to almost one million Canadians, especially seniors. We were there to increase the GIS in our early years in office and to increase the OAS for older seniors. We will always be there for seniors.
Yves-François Blanchet Bloc Beloeil—Chambly, QC
Mr. Speaker, he could have fooled me.
This is like a madhouse: the Conservatives want to bring down the government. To move a motion to bring down the government, they need to stop filibustering the House. The Conservatives are currently protecting the government. The Conservatives' filibuster is convenient for the Liberals, who do not seem to want to work any more than the Conservatives do.
Can we stop with the nonsense, send everyone to the showers and call an election?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, it is pretty clear who is here in the House to play petty politics and who is here to get results for Quebeckers and Canadians.
That is exactly what we are doing by offering dental care across the country that has already helped nearly one million Canadians. We have been there to invest in more child care spaces and we will continue to be there to provide free insulin to people who need it and cannot afford it, as well as prescription contraceptives to women who need them. We have work to do and we are working for Canadians.
Jagmeet Singh NDP Burnaby South, BC
Mr. Speaker, Rogers is ripping off Canadians with hidden TV box fees. The Conservatives laugh about this while Canadians get ripped off. It is very interesting.
The Speaker Liberal Greg Fergus
In order for us to get through question period, it is important that members not be interrupted and that the Chair can hear the question.
I invite the hon. member for Burnaby South to start from the top.
Jagmeet Singh NDP Burnaby South, BC
Mr. Speaker, I am curious about whether the Conservatives are going to laugh again when I mention that Canadians are getting ripped off by Rogers, which is charging them hidden fees every month when they rent their TV box. I know that the Liberals have helped Rogers do that by allowing the multi-billion dollar merger with Shaw. The Conservatives do not care about helping Canadians, because their leader gets big cheques from Edward Rogers.
My question is for the Prime Minister. Will he commit today to forcing Rogers to reverse these fees or ban it from receiving any federal contracts?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, over the past number of years, we have seen data fees and cellphone fees decrease across this country because of the efforts of the current government, which has brought in more competition and support for consumers. We know there is always more to do. We are going to continue to hold the telcos to account to deliver high-quality services to Canadians at affordable prices. That is something we will continue to be there for.
Jagmeet Singh NDP Burnaby South, BC
Mr. Speaker, competition got worse because the Liberals allowed a massive merger to happen.
In her documentary, La peur au ventre, Léa Clermont-Dion shows that the anti-choice movement is gaining ground and that anti-choice groups are pulling Conservative strings. The Liberals, for their part, have not improved access to abortion.
When will the Prime Minister finally ensure safe and equitable access to abortion across the country?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, as a party, as a government, we have always been there to defend women's rights. We will continue to do so and increase access to reproductive health care and services across the country.
That said, I share my NDP colleague's concern about the Conservative Party. I would like to point out that the Quebec members of the Conservative Party remain silent when it comes to defending women's rights. They are not standing up to push back against Conservative attacks on women's freedom of choice.
We saw their colleague from Richmond—Arthabaska, who is strong—
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois is finally flip-flopping after voting to keep the most centralizing and expansionist Liberal government in history in power 188 times.
After two more votes on confidence motions this fall, the Bloc achieved nothing—nothing for seniors and nothing for farmers. I hope that it will finally vote with us to put an end to this government, which is bad for Quebec.
Will the NDP finally break off its costly coalition with the government and call a carbon tax election—