Debates of June 7th, 2024

Housing

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

Mr. Speaker, housing starts are down, and under the NDP-Liberal government, the housing crisis continues to get worse. On the Liberals meeting their housing plan numbers, construction experts at committee have been saying that there is “not a chance” and that they are not attainable. Also, according to a new Rentals.ca monthly rent report, asking prices for rent rose by 9.3% compared to this time last year. After nine years, rents have doubled.

The Prime Minister has spent billions, but rent prices keep increasing, and building keeps decreasing. How can the Prime Minister spend so much and achieve so little?

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Housing]

Mr. Speaker, the member ought to know, again, that in order to deal with the housing crisis in this country, we do need to see another 3.87 million homes built in this country. That is the number of homes that need to be built to address the housing crisis.

It is incumbent on the federal government, provincial governments and municipal governments to put in place measures to address that crisis. If the member is serious, then she and her party will support the government in the measures that we are responsible for, waiving GST on purpose-built rentals, putting in place missing middle housing measures and working with municipalities to make that happen. The Conservatives are opposed to it every single time.

Oil and Gas Industry

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday at the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development we welcomed the CEOs of the five major oil companies.

They were despicable. They do not care about increased emissions in the oil sector. They all defended their record profits of $38 billion since 2020, money made from pollution. Despite their bulging pockets, they are seeking even more public money. These companies do not deserve a penny of the $83 billion in tax giveaways that the federal government is offering them over 10 years.

Will the government cut the funding and reinvest in climate change adaptation?

[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, I appreciate the work of my colleague at the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development and in the House of Commons.

We are the only G20 country to have eliminated subsidies for oil and gas companies, two years ahead of schedule no less. This week, we announced $530 million in funding with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities in order to work with our communities across the country on fighting climate change.

Climate Change

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Mr. Speaker, while Ottawa is giving oil companies $83 billion, those who are bearing the brunt of climate change are still waiting for compensation.

There is nothing for farmers whose crops were destroyed last year by natural disasters. Baie‑Saint‑Paul is still waiting to be compensated for last year's floods, despite my colleague from Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d'Orléans—Charlevoix's superhuman efforts. While the Weather Network is predicting another high-risk summer for natural disasters, the federal government has still not provided any compensation for last year's natural disasters.

Why is the government quick and generous with oil companies, but slow and cheap with ordinary Canadians?

[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, I thank the member for her question. Once again, I enjoy working with her.

The new funding that I just mentioned supports more than 1,400 projects to help municipalities adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Over the past two years, we have implemented a clean fuel standard, something that the Conservatives promised to do in their last election campaign. However, they changed their minds to make their leader happy.

Housing

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Mr. Speaker, after nine years of the NDP-Liberal government, most young Canadians believe they will never be able to afford a home. Under the Prime Minister, housing prices have doubled. Mortgage payments have doubled. The needed down payment has doubled. This week, Rentals.ca reported that the average rent in Canada has reached over $2,200. This is the most expensive rent we have ever seen.

Despite this, the NDP-Liberal government is failing to build the homes that Canadians need. If the Prime Minister cannot build the affordable homes that Canadians need, will he get out of the way so that Conservatives can?

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Housing]

Mr. Speaker, we will not let that happen.

The Conservatives have no vision on housing. They want to tax home builders. When it comes to working with municipalities to see more zoning changes, so we can see fourplexes, duplexes, triplexes, mid-rise apartments, all of these things built in communities, they do not want to support that either. Like the member for Kelowna—Lake Country, he voted against those measures.

Just yesterday, for the first time in 30 years, we saw an investment in co-op housing that will lead to more homes. However, what do the Conservatives think about co-op housing? They believe it is Soviet-style housing. They do not believe in that.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, just two days ago, the Deputy Prime Minister, in her legendary modesty, was bragging about housing. She is totally out of touch with the reality of Canadians. The housing numbers are staggering. The average rental cost has risen by almost 10% to $2,202 per month. Two-bedroom apartments have increased by 12%. It costs $2,233 to rent a two-bedroom apartment in Canada. This government excels at announcements, bureaucracy and spending, but certainly not when it comes to helping Canadians.

When will this government really take action to help Canadians after doing nothing for nine years?

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my dear colleague that when his leader was the minister responsible for housing, he built six housing units. I repeat, six housing units. The housing plan we have in place will create more than 3.8 million homes in Canada in the next few years.

On this side of the House, we are helping people pay their rent, building housing, making sure people are not left homeless, and getting those who are homeless off the streets by providing access to housing and shelters. We will continue to work for all Canadians.

Correctional Service of Canada

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Corrections Canada has a mandate to retrain Canada's 10,000 inmates so they can find employment upon release. In the past three years, Corrections has issued 112,000 meaningless in-house vocational certificates and a grand total of 64 Red Seal certifications. Corrections has also made zero effort to engage in provincial apprenticeship programs, which could produce life-changing certified job skills, reduce recidivism and be beneficial to everyone in the community. Why this neglect?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, I certainly share our colleague's focus on the importance of vocational training and skills upgrading for those who are serving in federal correctional facilities.

I had a chance, with my colleague, the parliamentary secretary and member for Kingston and the Islands, to visit the Joyceville Institution, in our colleague's riding, to meet people from CORCAN who are working and seeing inmates taking programs that will improve their skills training and hopefully set them up for success when they are released from those institutions. We will continue to do everything that is necessary to preserve public safety, and this is an important element of that work as well.

Air Transportation

[Brendan Hanley, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

Mr. Speaker, across the country, communities need new infrastructure to grow, build more homes and enable economic growth. This is especially true in the north. Investing in our communities also means investing in our airports. Northerners want reliable, safe and affordable service when it comes to air connectivity.

Could the Minister of Transport please tell us what the government is doing to ensure that the communities in the north are more connected and more livable?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Yukon is not only excellent, he is also right. Investing in our communities means investing in our airports. Northern, remote and indigenous communities must have access to the air services they need and expect. This is why we invested $186 million to upgrade the infrastructure at the Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport.

We have a plan to build a Canada that the next generation will be proud of. The Conservatives, well, they pretend to care about making life better for the next generation of Canadians, but they just pretend. On our side, we are doing it.

Innovation, Science and Industry

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General's explosive report on the NDP-Liberal green slush fund shows that personal friends of the Prime Minister voted themselves millions in taxpayer cash. With 96 cases of declared conflicts by board members, they still voted to award themselves that taxpayer cash. In another 90, they failed to disclose the conflict of interest and still then gave themselves the cash anyway.

Now, will this NDP-Liberal government release all the slush fund documents and call in the RCMP?

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and to the Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, SDTC is an organization that has served the clean-tech sector for over 20 years. When we knew about the allegations of mismanagement, our government acted immediately. There are a number of steps over the last many months that our government has taken to get to the bottom of the issues in terms of the governance and HR practices of the organization.

I think it is important to keep in mind that this is an arm's-length organization. It operated independently of government oversight. We are now folding it into the National Research Council and installing a more robust governance framework.

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Mr. Speaker, that member's response does not make any sense. That organization, in 2017, got a clean bill of health from the Auditor General. Then when the government took it over, it dumped the chair within three days, a record amount of time. That new board member gave $217,000 to a company she had a direct relationship with.

The question remains: Will the government then release all of the documents connected to this slush fund and call in the RCMP?

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and to the Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, it is appropriate for us all, as a government and members of Parliament, to demand the highest governance standards when dealing with public funds. That is what our government has done from day one. As soon as we learned about allegations of mismanagement in this independent organization, we ordered independent reviews done, fact-finding missions.

We collaborated with the Auditor General in her review, and now we are moving forward with the recommendations that the Auditor General has made, which include folding the organization in to have better transparency, accountability and oversight.

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

Mr. Speaker, the reality is that there is $123 million worth of inappropriately awarded contracts, $76 million given to Liberal insiders; resignations, abuse and a leadership team that seemed far more interested in protecting Liberal cabinet ministers than Canadian taxpayer dollars. This is the legacy of the failed green slush fund.

When will the Liberal government give up the cover-up and call in the Mounties?

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, of course, that question has just been answered repeatedly by my colleague.

However, I cannot let this opportunity or this week go by without punctuating some of the great economic news that we have seen. There has been a loud reduction in interest rates. Canada is leading the world in interest rate reductions. Today, we can see that we have now recovered 141% of the jobs that were lost in the first months of the pandemic, compared to just 128% in the United States. Importantly, there are over 1.3 million more Canadians employed than at any time before the pandemic.

Canadian Heritage

[Brenda Shanahan, Liberal, Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC]

Mr. Speaker, tech giants have dominated the online space for years. For far too long, they have gotten away without contributing their fair share to the audiovisual sector and Canadian creators, while generating millions in revenues from their work. Our government passed historic legislation last year to level the playing field between platforms and creators.

Can the Minister of Canadian Heritage provide this House with an update on the implementation of the Online Streaming Act?

[Yasir Naqvi, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, indeed, this week, the CRTC released its decision on initial contributions by global streamers as part of the implementation of the Online Streaming Act. This means digital platforms will contribute nearly $200 million per year to our audio and audiovisual sectors, including content creators.

Unlike the Conservatives, who defend tech giants and obstruct all attempts supporting Canadian industries, we are standing up for Canadian artists and good-paying jobs. The Online Streaming Act is about fairness for our creators, levelling the playing field, more Canadian jobs and content made for us, by us.

Emergency Preparedness

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the B.C. communities of Merritt, Princeton and Abbotsford were devastated by floods in 2021. Five people were killed, thousands were forced from their homes, farmland was flooded; and roads, bridges and other structures were destroyed. At the time, the Prime Minister said that he had the backs of these Canadians. Now these same communities have been denied funding to mitigate future disasters.

Will the minister live up to his promises and provide these communities with the funds they need to rebuild and prevent more devastating floods?

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the King’s Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, the 2021 floods and landslides had a devastating impact on communities across the Lower Mainland, disrupting lives and livelihoods. Through the disaster financial assistance arrangements, we have now provided over $1.4 billion to the province to help them recover from those floods. The program allows the province to put $210 million to reduce the vulnerability of mitigation projects like dikes and pumps. We will continue to work closely with the province in all capabilities that they need and in terms of making sure that they can fully recover.

Democratic Institutions

[Kevin Vuong, Independent, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians will never get over nor accept the betrayal of their country's democracy by traitors who sell themselves out for personal and political gain. Instead of shielding subversives on the payroll of foreign operators, will the government release the cabinet documents to the Hogue inquiry and the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians so that such individuals can be investigated, or is it the case that the Liberal Party does not want to incriminate itself?