Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour to rise on behalf of the residents of Kelowna—Lake Country.
I will be splitting my time today with the member for Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon.
Today, we are discussing a report from the human resources committee, or the housing committee. I want to point out quickly that the Conservatives put forth a dissenting report on this, and I will read a couple of points that we made in our dissenting report.
We wrote:
We will not get out of the housing crisis, without building more homes. To build more homes we need everyone pulling in the same direction, the federal government, provincial governments, municipalities, workers, and yes, the private sector. Demonizing, taxing, and blocking private sector involvement in Canada’s housing market, not only keeps us from solving Canada’s housing crisis, but could actually make it worse.
We also referenced some statistics:
To reach 22 million units by 2030, the CMHC says we must build 3.5 million more units beyond what we will build anyhow. The CMHC says that those 3.5 million units that are required by 2030 will require “An investment of at least $1 trillion” to build. The CMHC says we need “increased participation from the private sector” to meet these goals.
Our dissenting report continues, “Conservative members support 60 day average approvals at the CMHC, linking bonuses for CMHC executives to performance metrics, and balancing the budget to lower interest rates so that we can unleash” non-governmental organizations and others.
Here are a few points that I want to make at the onset of this debate here today. I would like to set the template for where housing is in Canada right now. Under the Liberal government, housing has never been more expensive. The Liberals' failure to build homes has created a housing crisis for Canadians. In fact, the House of Commons has said that we are in a housing crisis.
The cost of mortgage payments and down payments have all doubled under the Liberal government, or we could say the NDP-Liberal government because the NDP has been supporting the Liberals. It previously took 25 years to pay off a mortgage, whereas now it actually takes 25 years to save for a down payment. This is one of the reasons young adults, so many of them in the country, are saying that they feel they will never be able to afford a mortgage. It is very demotivating and really frustrating for our young adults here in Canada.
The Liberals' record on housing, mortgages and rents is really nothing for them to be proud of. Instead of building homes that Canadians need, they have been building more bureaucracy. We hear a lot about the bureaucracy of the federal housing agency, the CMHC, at the housing committee. We have done a number of studies recently, and we have had a lot of testimony from different witnesses talking about how the federal housing agency will add costs because of certain building rules that it has put in place, which are far and above actual requirements. It will also add in a number of other rules, which can actually add a lot of cost, time and delays onto building the housing. We have heard quite a bit about this at the housing committee.
We also know that, nine years after the Prime Minister promised to lower the price of housing, rents and mortgages have doubled, and middle-class Canadians are being forced to live in tent encampments. In nearly every city across the country, we are seeing a record number of tent encampments opening. However, the photo ops that we have seen from the Liberal government will not come anywhere near to building the 5.8 million homes that are needed to restore housing affordability in Canada. As a result, home prices have doubled, rent has doubled, down payments have doubled and mortgages have also doubled.
There was a report done by CMHC earlier in October that showed that housing starts continue to trend lower while Canada's population has rapidly increased. When we compare September 2024 to September 2023, the results are even worse. Across the country, housing starts were down 15% this September compared to September 2023. Similarly, in Canada's most expensive cities, the Liberal government's billion-dollar photo op fund has really done nothing to build more homes because housing starts are actually down 20% in Vancouver and Toronto.
Statistics Canada also recently reported that the total value of building permits increased by 7% in August of this year. As well, Rentals.ca recently published its national rent report, which shows the consequences of the Liberal failure. This means the cost of rent has massively outpaced Canadian paycheques. It is just one bad statistic after another.
We can look at homelessness, which is an issue in my community of Kelowna—Lake Country and across the country. The Parliamentary Budget Officer released a detailed report in May of this year outlining the state of homelessness in Canada. The Liberal government committed to eliminating chronic homelessness by 2030. However, according to this report, since 2018, chronic homelessness has actually increased by 38%. The report also stated that the number of individuals living in unsheltered locations has increased by a staggering 38%. These are not just statistics. These are people. These are family members. These are neighbours.
What I would like to discuss now is a recent announcement made by the leader of the official opposition about a plan that Conservatives have to lower the cost for Canadians looking to buy a home. Our common-sense Conservative leader announced that we would axe the federal sales tax, or the GST, as it is called, on new homes sold for under $1 million. This cut would save $40,000, or $2,200 per year, in mortgage payments on an $800,000 house, as an example. This tax cut would spark 30,000 extra homes being built every year.
Common-sense Conservatives would also push provinces to remove their sales tax from new home sales, which would save tens of thousands of dollars more for homebuyers. The move really comes after this housing crisis, as I have mentioned, has doubled housing costs over the nine years of the NDP-Liberal government, which is faster than in any other G7 country.
Back in October of 2015, the month before the Liberals were elected, it took only 39% of the median pre-tax household income to cover home ownership costs. Now it takes nearly 60%. That is a staggering difference and a staggering amount for Canadian families. While it used to be normal for working-class youth to buy homes, now 80% of Canadians tell pollsters that home ownership is only for the very, very rich.
The GST alone adds about $50,000 in cost to a $1-million home. This common-sense Conservative tax reduction would really eliminate billions of dollars in bureaucratic programs that the Liberals admit have not built a single home. That is what will be offset by the difference.
As I mentioned, this tax cut would spark extra homes being built. What is really missing here is the promise of Canada, where many of us are of the generation that, when we were in our 20s, if we had a decent job, we could have a decent car, save up and buy our first place. That dream of home ownership is really gone now for our young Canadians, and it is incredibly sad.
We also know that, in addition to that, we have record-breaking numbers of people going to food banks. It was just reported that now two million people are going to food banks a month. It is just incredibly hard for young adults and families.
On our Conservative proposal, I would like to mention a couple of quotes here. Canadian housing expert Mike Moffat, senior director of policy and innovation of the Smart Prosperity Institute, said, “[This] proposal 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. It will put $4 billion back into the pockets of homebuyers each year.”
The Greater Ottawa Home Builders' Association said, “Increasing the GST Rebate threshold will support affordability, increase housing supply, and restore fairness to current and future generations of homebuyers”.
There are more quotes as well. I know that I am running out of time, but this is really important, and we hope that the government will follow the proposal made by Conservatives to axe the federal tax on new housing sold for under $1 million.