I thought the hon. member was done, but he was not done. I'm sorry. I apologize.
House of Commons Hansard #65 of the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was debt.
House of Commons Hansard #65 of the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was debt.
This summary is computer-generated. Usually it’s accurate, but every now and then it’ll contain inaccuracies or total fabrications.
Closure of Algoma Steel Plant Pierre Poilievre requests an emergency debate on steelworker job losses at Algoma Steel, blaming American tariffs and the Liberal government's carbon tax. He criticizes a $400 million investment without job guarantees. 500 words.
Admissibility of Committee Amendments to Bill C-12—Speaker's Ruling The Speaker rules on a point of order concerning nine amendments adopted by committee to Bill C-12, an act relating to border security and immigration. The deputy government leader argued the amendments violated the "parent act rule." The Speaker declares eight amendments, primarily concerning the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, inadmissible, finding them outside the bill's scope, but upholds one amendment to the Oceans Act as consequential. 1600 words.
Budget 2025 Implementation Act, No. 1 Second reading of Bill C-15. The bill implements the 2025 budget, which opposition members criticize as leading to generational debt and a rising cost of living. They allege it contains "corruption" and "favouritism" benefiting Liberal insiders and the Prime Minister's corporate buddies, hindering job creation. Government members defend it as a "generational investment" to build a strong economy, citing increased defence spending, infrastructure, and social programs, while accusing the opposition of "character assassination" and "filibustering." 51200 words, 6 hours in 2 segments: 1 2.
National Strategy on Flood and Drought Forecasting Act Second reading of Bill C-241. The bill proposes a national strategy respecting flood and drought forecasting to enhance coordination and data sharing across Canada, addressing the increasing impacts of climate change. While supporters emphasize the need for cooperation among different levels of government and improved water management, critics argue it risks becoming another Ottawa-driven exercise in paperwork without providing real solutions or timely funding for disaster mitigation. Concerns are raised about duplication with existing services, respecting provincial jurisdiction, and the lack of concrete action or funding mechanisms to support communities. 7400 words, 1 hour.
HousingOral Questions
The Speaker Francis Scarpaleggia
I thought the hon. member was done, but he was not done. I'm sorry. I apologize.
Steven MacKinnon Liberal Gatineau, QC
Mr. Speaker, as I was saying, the Prime Minister is doing his job and is off to give an address and consult with the Assembly of First Nations, not doing quippy quips for Twitter with the Leader of the Opposition, which I know the Leader of the Opposition would very much like to do as he likes to obstruct, obfuscate and, as he has shown earlier in question period, not have a single handle on a single fact about a single indicator on life in this country.
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, let us speak about indicators then. I am going to quote the Parliamentary Budget Officer:
Build Canada Homes [the Prime Minister's program] is presented as part of the Government’s efforts to double the pace of housing construction over the next decade. That said, the Government has not yet laid out an overall plan to achieve this goal. We anticipate that the contribution of Build Canada Homes will likely be modest and estimate that the program will add about 26,000 units over five years, representing a 2.1 per cent increase in housing completions....
This is not the 100% increase the Prime Minister promised. Was this just another bait and switch?
Gregor Robertson LiberalMinister of Housing and Infrastructure and Minister responsible for Pacific Economic Development Canada
Mr. Speaker, if the member opposite took the time to actually read the report, he would discover that the Parliamentary Budget Officer stated this will build 86,000 affordable homes across Canada. This is the initial investment. I know it is hard for the Conservatives to understand. We are going in phases here. The initial phase is $13 billion, which they voted against in the budget. They are doing nothing to build homes, which matches the opposition leader's record in the past of six homes.
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, that minister was literally the mayor of the city that became the most expensive housing market in all of North America, more expensive than New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. He now brags that not only will they build only about 2% of the homes that they promised during the election, but they are spending $13 billion to do it. Failing is bad. Failing expensively is even worse.
Rather than having the costly mayor stand up and answer for him, will the Prime Minister have the courage to answer for himself? Where are the homes he promised?
Patty Hajdu LiberalMinister of Jobs and Families and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario
Mr. Speaker, I am so proud of the City of Thunder Bay, which just passed, through its council—
HousingOral Questions
Patty Hajdu Liberal Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON
Mr. Speaker, all across the country, municipalities are stepping up to make new housing available for some of the most vulnerable people in our community. Take the City of Thunder Bay, which, just last night, through its council, approved a motion to free up surplus city land for 1,400 homes. It is facilitated by the housing accelerator fund. That is the work of a government that is behind communities and that is behind people.
Here is what we can say about the Conservatives. They vote against the very people who need that help. We are building Canada strong with municipalities like the municipality of Marathon, which is here today.
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for pointing out that we have voted against every single program that doubled housing costs in Canada.
The Prime Minister created the biggest housing crisis in the G7 when he was the Bank of England governor. He has now come here to adopt the same Trudeau-era policies of building bureaucracies rather than building homes. He promised that this was all going to change and that the latest bureaucracy would change everything, but today the Parliamentary Budget Officer proved that he will only build 2% of what he promised.
Why does the Prime Minister block homes and break promises?
Gregor Robertson LiberalMinister of Housing and Infrastructure and Minister responsible for Pacific Economic Development Canada
Mr. Speaker, it is rich for the Leader of the Opposition to speak about this. As we all know, when he was the housing minister and I was the mayor of Vancouver, he built six homes as the housing minister. That is a deplorable record. It is deplorable that the members opposite will not support a budget that has $13 billion for affordable housing, which the Parliamentary Budget Officer states will build 86,000 affordable homes.
You will not vote for that. You will not support affordable housing, and that matches your historical record.
HousingOral Questions
The Speaker Francis Scarpaleggia
Address questions and comments through the Chair, please.
The hon. Leader of the Opposition.
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, it was 200,000 homes and the average cost of buying one was $450,000. The average rent for a one-bedroom was $900. The government came along and built bureaucracy to block homes and printed money to inflate their costs. They allowed mass immigration that was out of control, which ballooned demand and left us with the worst and most expensive housing anywhere in the G7.
Today, the Parliamentary Budget Officer blew the lid off their latest promises, showing that they will build almost none of the homes that they promised in the last election. Why will the Prime Minister not stand in the House and take account for that?
Steven MacKinnon LiberalMinister of Transport and Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, the lid has been blown off but the lid has been blown off the tired lines that the Leader of the Opposition has been using for two years. He has systematically stood in the way of investments in supportive, social, low-cost and low-income housing in the country throughout his exclusive 20-year career in the House of Commons. He has systematically stood in the way of supports like dental care, like child care, like the Canadian child benefit, like school nutrition, the very things that he pretends to care about in the House but would vote against. Canadians know that he would vote against everything with “care” in the name.
He needs to—
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, it is impossible for us to vote against affordable housing because there is no affordable housing after 10 years of a Liberal government. One idea, one positive idea, that we could all agree on is to reduce the cost of the steel, the concrete, the cement and the glass that goes into building homes. Unfortunately, the Liberal government has an industrial carbon tax whose stated purpose is to raise the cost of all of those things.
Why will they not accept this positive idea to take taxes off of homebuilding so that our youth can finally have homes, jobs and hope like they deserve?
Patty Hajdu LiberalMinister of Jobs and Families and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario
Mr. Speaker, yesterday it was distressing to see member of Parliament after member of Parliament from the Conservative side vote against and argue against relieving consumers of the price of carbon, which we have, in the bill in front of the House, promised to do. They have voted against. They will vote against a tax cut for 22 million Canadians. It is again something that Conservatives like to talk about, lower taxes, but in actuality, they fight against it.
Who are they really fighting for? It is sure not the Canadians or the Conservatives I am talking to in Thunder Bay—Superior North.
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, the industrial carbon tax is not just a tax on homes; it is a tax on food. When we tax the steel that goes into farm equipment and the fertilizer that is necessary to grow food, when we tax the food processor, we tax the food. It is no wonder that since the Prime Minister took office, food prices have increased roughly 40% faster in Canada than they have in the United States. Canadians deserve affordable, nutritious, delicious food on their plates.
Will the Prime Minister stand up now and agree to get rid of the industrial carbon tax so that Canadians can afford to eat?
Steven MacKinnon LiberalMinister of Transport and Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, here we go again with the imaginary taxes. As my colleague just said, when presented with the opportunity to vote for a tax cut for every single income-tax payer in this country, they say no. When they get a chance to vote to remove the GST for first-time homebuyers, they say no. When they get the chance to vote for the removal of the consumer carbon tax, what do the Conservatives say? No.
When the time comes to vote to give Canadians a break, what do the Conservatives say?
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
Mr. Speaker, the new Minister responsible for Official Languages is already fed up with his mandate. He thinks that saying that French is in decline is about electioneering. He thinks that saying that Montreal is being anglicized is an identity-based grievance. That is how he is starting his mandate. For him, it is very clear that defending French is a boring file that gives racist, xenophobic separatists a chance to complain.
Why did the Prime Minister appoint someone who is opposed to protecting the French language as the official languages minister?
Marc Miller LiberalMinister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages
Mr. Speaker, I went to elementary school, junior high, high school and CEGEP in French. I completed a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in French and I raised my children in three languages, one of which was French. I love French, and I will defend our beautiful language until the day that I die.
Martin Champoux Bloc Drummond, QC
Mr. Speaker, I know what the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture should be fed up with. He should be fed up with Ottawa twiddling its thumbs while French is in decline. He should be fed up with Ottawa continuing to fund English in Quebec while French is under threat. He should be fed up with the fact that fewer and fewer Quebeckers are able to listen to music in French, read in French and see shows in French, because our language is under threat everywhere.
As the minister takes on his new role, will he choose to be fed up with the right things?
Marc Miller LiberalMinister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages
Mr. Speaker, what I am fed up with is the politicization of our beautiful language, which we want to promote across the country. I know that the Bloc Québécois members care deeply about French. What I am asking them to do is to join us and all other members who care about French in using our strong francophone strategy, which for the first time in our history has $4.1 billion to spend on supporting French. We will do so throughout our term, and we will defend French. As for me, I will defend French in our country for the rest of my days.
Scott Aitchison Conservative Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON
Mr. Speaker, CTV reports that 35,000 households left the GTA last year because the cost of housing is simply too expensive. The Missing Middle Initiative reported yesterday that “Ontario's housing engine has stalled”. In the GTA, preconstruction sales for condos are down 89%, and for ground-oriented homes, they are down 65%. This means that starts have fallen off a cliff, and it means it is going to be worse in 2026.
My question is, when the Prime Minister told young Canadians that they would have to sacrifice, was he really referring to the dream of home ownership?