Debates of June 4th, 2025

Oil and Gas Industry

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Secretary of State (Combatting Crime)]

Mr. Speaker, the truth is that the Government of Canada is committed to making our country an energy superpower. I think we can agree about that. I say this at a time when our new government is laying the groundwork to build projects of national significance while fighting climate change and defending our economic sovereignty. If we want our country to remain competitive over the long term, we must not only diversify our country's energy production but also offer to produce oil and gas with the lowest possible emissions.

By decarbonizing oil and gas production, we will position Canada as a supplier of choice for fossil fuels in a future that prioritizes low-carbon sources of production. For example, the European Union plans on imposing a fee on high-methane imports of oil and gas.

The clean energy revolution represents a tremendous economic opportunity for Canada to be more globally competitive while fighting climate change. I believe that no Canadian wants our country to be left behind. Enabling Canada to become the world's leading energy superpower in both clean and conventional energy will in turn sustain hundreds of thousands of good careers in the skilled trades.

Despite the many economic challenges Canada is currently facing, we must not forget that the climate change emergency remains. We need to look no further than the massive impacts that forest fires are having on communities and families in western Canada today. We cannot simply let up on our climate fight. The time is now to make a difference and ensure that we have the best possible future for everyone.

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, SK]

Mr. Speaker, what would make Canada competitive would be a competitive regulatory framework.

With respect to the Impact Assessment Act, the one that has been ruled unconstitutional already, the government has said that it made a bit of changes to it, but we know that there are other unconstitutional elements still in place. It is one of the biggest barriers, one of the biggest problems. We are trying to get approvals here in Canada. It is taking over a decade to get an approval on a major project. That is why there are no major projects being built in Canada today. The first thing the Prime Minister is going to have to do is get rid of the emissions cap and also fix the Impact Assessment Act.

In the United States, then president Biden, three years ago, gave an order to make sure approvals were handed out in less than two years on big projects. Our party, in fact, especially our critic from Lakeland, has been very vocal about the need to not only match that but to do better than that and try to get approvals even more quickly. If we are going to be competing with the United States for investment dollars, we need that regulatory certainty, and we are not getting it.

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North—Caledon, ON]

Mr. Speaker, every sector of the economy in Canada should be doing its fair share when it comes to limiting pollution. That includes the oil and gas sector. Canada's largest oil and gas companies are already committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, and I applaud them.

Our measures are working. Canada's greenhouse gas pollution is going down. In every sector of the economy, Canadian workers are lowering greenhouse gas pollution in a way that creates good jobs and cleaner air.

In the face of the increased flooding, wildfires and hurricanes from a change in climate, the government will continue to work with the oil and gas sector, provinces, territories, stakeholders and indigenous communities to promote clean innovation and the adoption of technologies to reduce emissions, including carbon capture, utilization and storage.

Housing

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls—Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Canada is in a housing crisis. After 10 years of Liberal policy failures, home prices have doubled, down payments have doubled and rent has doubled. According to Teranet, which is Ontario's land registry office, the average age of a first-time homebuyer in Ontario last year was 40, up from 34 a decade earlier. Keep in mind that this is the average age. That means there are people buying their first home when they are 45 or 50, or even older.

Furthermore, Bild GTA recently found that Toronto's preconstruction home sales have collapsed. Last month, sales of preconstruction homes were 89% below the 10-year average and had decreased 72% since April 2024. This marks the seventh consecutive month of record-low sales of new homes across the GTA. Sadly, it is expected to get worse, with Bild saying, “The new housing industry is decelerating quickly and a massive supply deficit in the 2027 to 2029 period is taking shape.” Bild also confirmed that the Liberals' GST cut for first-time homebuyers “will not substantially help address affordability, nor will it help significantly stimulate sales and construction.”

Meanwhile, existing homeowners are also struggling with the rising cost of housing and groceries. According to Equifax, homeowners experienced a 6.5% increase in delinquency, as 90-day-plus mortgage delinquencies have increased 71.5% in Ontario and 33.3% in B.C. since the first quarter of 2024. They are not alone, as 1.4 million Canadians were unable to make a credit payment in the first quarter of 2024.

It is simply astonishing to think of the damage done to the housing market after 10 years of the Liberal government. Simply put, sellers cannot sell, buyers cannot buy and many families are struggling to make their mortgage payments. That is the Liberal track record.

In my riding, the communities of Niagara Falls and Niagara-on-the-Lake are also grappling with the housing crisis. The Niagara Home Builders' Association has said that housing starts in Niagara are at a 10-year low. According to the Niagara region, the median rent for a one-bedroom unit is $1,550, which is up 19.2% since 2021, while the median rent for a two-bedroom unit is $1,800, which is up 12.5% since 2021. Furthermore, St. Catharines has the 11th-highest rents in Canada.

This is the lost Liberal decade, and today the dream of home ownership is even further out of reach for many Canadians. The Prime Minister's new housing minister was formerly the mayor of Vancouver, yes, the city that is one of the most expensive cities in the world to buy property and is perhaps the epicentre of Canada's housing crisis. Under his watch, Vancouver rent increased by 50%, home prices increased by 150% and homelessness ramped up nearly 40%. That is a shameful track record for the person now in charge of and responsible for solving Canada's housing crisis on a national scale. It makes no sense.

Last Friday, I had the opportunity to ask the Minister of Housing a question during question period. I was not satisfied with the minister's response, so I am taking this opportunity to ask it again to give the government more time and another chance to try to justify its actions. Can the minister and the Prime Minister tells us why Canadians should trust them and their government to fix the housing crisis they created?

[Gregor Robertson, Liberal, Minister of Housing and Infrastructure and Minister responsible for Pacific Economic Development Canada]

Mr. Speaker, we are the only party that has recognized the urgent need to address the housing crisis and put forward a credible plan to address it. We will make housing more affordable by doubling the pace of construction across Canada with a housing plan that will get government back into the business of building.

We will cut tape so bureaucracy is not getting in the way of homes being built at any level of government, and create new careers in the skilled trades to produce all of this extra housing. Addressing this issue means we need to work with all orders of government and with the private and non-profit sectors to pull in the same direction toward building more homes faster and ensuring every Canadian has a place to call home.

This government is playing a leadership role in that effort, building one Canadian economy and taking bold action to solve Canada's housing crisis. We are using every tool at our disposal to build homes at a scale and speed that has not been seen for decades. That includes investing in a homegrown building industry that employs Canadian workers, invests in Canadian businesses and supports the adoption of innovative, made-in-Canada building technologies like off-site construction.

This government is changing the way homes get built in this country by enhancing our domestic housing manufacturing capacity. We lag far behind many other countries around the world. We need to create jobs and build a sustainable industry in this country for the longer term at this greater scale. We are driving supply up to drive costs down and make housing more affordable and accessible for Canadians.

For 10 years, Conservative governments did nothing on this. I was the mayor of Vancouver for seven of those years, and the Conservative government delivered zero affordable housing in my city. A key piece of this effort going forward, though, is creating “build Canada homes”. This is the new entity that will take the federal government even farther into the housing game.

“Build Canada homes” will work with all of our partners to help streamline development timelines, leverage public lands and reduce the financial barriers to build truly affordable homes for low- and middle-income Canadians. Through “build Canada homes”, we will also support the adoption of innovative modular and prefab technologies that can help speed up construction, improve productivity and reduce the cost of building homes, in order to really stimulate a more dynamic homegrown industry here in Canada.

“Build Canada homes” will also provide predictable funding for affordable home builders. This will add to the existing initiatives like the housing design catalogue, which provides standardized, region-specific designs for homes, including row houses, fourplexes and accessory dwelling units, or laneway homes as we call them, to make it easier and faster for communities to boost the supply and support densification.

These initiatives are on top of other actions the Government of Canada is taking to make home ownership more affordable now, like eliminating the GST for first-time buyers of homes under $1 million, this is $50,000 savings, and lowering the GST on homes between $1 million and $1.5 million.

These measures will help lower the upfront costs for Canadians who are entering the housing market in these weeks and months ahead. We will see that opportunity for many new homebuyers, as well as these longer-term actions to scale up and double the rate of construction across Canada.

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls—Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are justifiably frustrated when it comes to the housing file after 10 years of the Liberal government being in power. When the government was first elected, it proposed an $80-billion plus national housing strategy. The results were that housing costs doubled, rents doubled and mortgage payments doubled.

To compound this failure, the Liberals then pledged an over $4-billion housing accelerator fund, which the former housing minister admitted was not designed to build homes. I guess he was right. According to Statistics Canada, more homes were built in 1972 than in 2022. During the campaign, the Liberals took our idea of removing the GST from new home sales, but they did not go far enough. They also pledged to create a new housing entity.

How much comfort and confidence should Canadians have in the government to create a new bureaucratic entity when it demonstrated it cannot even run a passport office? Now, TD Bank is saying they cannot build the—

[Gregor Robertson, Liberal, Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC]

Mr. Speaker, there is a reason we have a new Prime Minister and a new housing and infrastructure minister who are here to serve and here to scale up building affordable housing across Canada. Based on the experience I have had at city and provincial levels, I am here to deliver.

Canada is facing a housing crisis. This government is committed to a leadership role, working with all of our partners, every level of government, and private and non-profit sectors to bring down the cost of housing. This is going to stimulate our economy. We are building one Canadian economy in the face of the tariff threats.

We have to leverage the economic activity we see in the housing sector and make that a critical part of our economic growth to be the fastest-growing economy in the G7. We are looking at “build Canada homes” as a big opportunity to take it to the next level.

[The Deputy Speaker, Tom Kmiec]

The motion that the House do now adjourn is deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly, the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m. pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 6:41 p.m.)