Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise in the House. It is not my first time rising in the House in this new session, but it is the first time I do so with a lengthy intervention.
This is an important debate. I do not think there is a member of Parliament, whether from the Liberal side, the Conservative side, the Bloc side or the NDP side, who can go out into their communities, into their ridings, and say that things are good. If they are being truly honest, taking a look in the mirror and taking a look around, they are seeing that our communities look like war zones. There are encampments we did not have nine years ago. That is the honest-to-goodness truth.
I ask Canadians paying attention to this debate today and all those in the gallery to really ask themselves if we are better off today, nine years after the Prime Minister and the Liberal Party came to power. The housing crisis in Canada is no longer just a crisis; it is a catastrophe that has robbed a generation of hope, stability and the dream that home ownership is within reach.
Let me start by addressing the stark reality. Canada's housing market is broken, and it is broken because of nine years of inaction, empty promises and failed policies from the NDP-Liberal government. For the last nine years, the Prime Minister has promised time and time again to solve the crisis. For every election he has been a part of, he has stood in front of the cameras, put his hand on his heart and promised to sell off federal lands, to build new homes, to build millions of homes for Canadians and to end homelessness. Every time, he has broken that promise.
The Prime Minister and his government have failed at housing. They can try to cast blame on the leader of the Conservative Party or the former Conservative government. They can try to deflect and deny and give some obscure, convoluted answer as to why this crisis is happening. However, at the end of the day, they have had nine years and they have failed.
Let us talk numbers; numbers do not lie. They paint a disturbing picture of just how badly the Liberals have let Canadians down over the last nine years. In Vancouver, one of our largest cities, it now takes over 100% of a person's average household income to afford a home. We should think about that for a moment. People would need to spend their entire income, and more, just to get out of their parents' basement. That is before taxes, which have risen to a level that is crushing our middle class under the Liberal government.
This is not only unsustainable but also absurd. How can we expect our children or our grandchildren to ever afford a home in these conditions?
Toronto is not far behind Vancouver. These two cities are now among the most overvalued housing markets in the world. This is not just a Canadian problem; rather, it is an international embarrassment.
Housing bubbles in Vancouver and Toronto have made headlines globally, but the real stories, the ones that matter, are the stories of the people who live in these cities and every other city and town across Canada. They are the stories of the young professionals who work hard and save diligently; still, they look at the housing market and feel nothing but despair.
They are the stories of paramedics who live in their vehicle. They work a nine-to-five or a 12-hour shift serving our communities but cannot afford a home and have to shower at the local pool or recreation centre. This is a real story.
They are the stories of young families forced to live hours away from their jobs because they cannot afford a home in the city where they work. They are the stories of seniors who, after a lifetime of contributing to society, now find it impossible to downsize because the cost of housing is skyrocketing everywhere.
They are the stories of dozens and hundreds of homeless encampments that have sprung up in our communities, where such encampments were unimaginable just nine years ago.
Rest areas along our public highways have turned into mobile home camps, with trailers and RVs, where people are forced to live because they cannot afford a home. A staggering 63% of Canadians aged 18 to 34 now believe that they will never be able to afford a home. Can we imagine? There is a generation of Canadians who no longer see home ownership as part of their future.
It is more than just a statistic. It is a reflection of broken dreams and lost opportunities. When young people lose faith in their future, we lose the backbone of our community, of our society. We lose innovation, creativity and growth. We lose what makes Canada, Canada. How did we get here? The answer is clear; it is failed leadership.
Since taking office in 2015, the Prime Minister has promised time and again to address housing affordability. He claimed that housing was a priority and his government was taking action, but the facts tell a different story. Housing prices have doubled since the Prime Minister took office. Rent prices have doubled, and in some cases, tripled. Mortgage payments have doubled. Meanwhile, the measures that the government has introduced have been nothing more than band-aids on a wound that requires surgery.
Under the Liberal government's watch, foreign speculators have been allowed to buy up homes, driving prices skyward, which has pushed middle-class Canadians out of the market. Now, the Prime Minister is grandstanding, saying we are going to build four million new homes by 2031. That equates to a new home every 57 seconds, every day of the year, for the next seven years. That means the Liberals should have built over 236,000 homes since the 2024 budget was tabled on April 16. I wonder how they are doing on that. I can say it has not happened. In fact, housing starts are now down by 13% across this nation. I know math is not the Prime Minister's strong suit, but how can he possibly expect Canadians to believe him when he uses such blatant fantasies to try to cling to power?
It is not just about the numbers related to new home builds. It is about the experience of Canadians. People are seeing their rent increase by 20%, 30%, 50% or 100% in some cities. A single-bedroom apartment in Vancouver that was $1,300 in 2015 now rents for over $3,000 a month. A two-bedroom apartment in Toronto is unaffordable for most middle-income families. For many Canadians, home ownership is no longer the dream; it is just about surviving. In my riding, in Prince George, the average home price jumped by 140% from 2016 to 2020, and it is even worse now.
Alia Landry, a single mother of two from Prince George, “used to be able to rent a [whole] house with a backyard for $800 a month.” Sadly, under the NDP-Liberal government, rent has skyrocketed, forcing her and her children out of their home into a smaller unit, where she was forced to share a bedroom with her daughter. She said this: “There were nights I went to bed crying because I just didn't know what I was going to do”.
I heard the same story from Prince George resident Dara Campbell, whose mental health suffered after being forced to move. At that time, she and her partner strained to find an affordable home on a limited budget. She said this: “I was really, really anxious.... I would cry in my car. It was really hard, just not knowing [where I was going to live].”
Over 5,000 new homes are needed in Prince George by 2031 just to meet the projected population growth. If we do not get them built, people will end up homeless. Prince George already has the highest homelessness rate in British Columbia. My constituents are calling out for help from the federal government, only to be met with empty promises and soaring costs. However, hope is on the horizon. When Canadians get the carbon tax election they deserve, they will be able to vote for a prime minister who will axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget, finally stop the crime and bring home a Canada that they can be proud of.
