Debates of June 9th, 2025

Finance

[Joël Lightbound, Liberal, Minister of Government Transformation]

Mr. Speaker, it is true that Canadians need the essential support measures provided by the federal government. Still, we cannot ignore the record of the Conservative Party, which has voted against families in Quebec and Canada at every turn. Take, for example, the Canada child benefit or the Canadian dental care plan, which has saved an average of $900 for each person who has had access. We are talking about 1.9 million Canadians. That is thousands of people in his riding. We could also talk about child care spaces or affordable housing. There are a number of programs. The Conservatives should vote with us to support Canadians.

Foreign Affairs

[Terry Duguid, Liberal, Winnipeg South, MB]

Mr. Speaker, next week, Canada will host the leaders of the world's advanced economies at the G7 leaders' summit in Kananaskis. This meeting comes amid rising geopolitical tension and increasing disruption to global supply chains. As global challenges intensify, the G7 must meet this moment with purpose and with force.

Can the Minister of Foreign Affairs share with the House Canada's priorities for this critical summer?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the world is facing geostrategic challenges, and Canada is ready to lead. Canada has what the world wants and the values to which the world aspires. As president of the G7, Canada will leverage our strength to seek new agreement on protecting our communities and the world, building energy security and securing the economic partnerships of the future.

The world needs more Canada, and we will deliver.

Housing

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are being crushed by the housing crisis. The Liberals' own internal documents admit that housing now eats up 52% of household income. Mortgage delinquencies are at a record high. Families cannot keep up, young people cannot get in and the Liberal government will not show us a plan.

A budget is a plan. While Canadians suffer, the Liberals refuse to present a budget that will solve the housing crisis. My question is very simple: Why?

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

Mr. Speaker, the government is committed to taking action on housing. That is why we have rolled out the GST break for first-time homebuyers, saving them $50,000 on up to a $1-million purchase. That is why we have rolled out a tax break for 22 million Canadians to help them afford housing.

We are taking action, and we will continue to take action at a pace that I hope the members opposite will support us on.

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Mr. Speaker, here is what we know. We know that Toronto and Vancouver are two of the most unaffordable cities in the world. We know that the cost to construct a residential building in Canada has increased by 58% in the last five years. We know that the latest housing minister increased homebuilding taxes by 141% while he was mayor of Vancouver. We also know that TD Bank has declared that the government will not come close to its promise to build 500,000 new homes per year.

Are the Liberals refusing to deliver a plan because they do not have a real one?

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

Mr. Speaker, the government has been very clear about our plan for housing, the most ambitious plan for housing in Canadian history, and that is “build Canada homes”. It is moving forward on concrete actions that will save people money.

We are going to take action for multi-unit residential buildings that we hope the members opposite will support in the fall to increase rental supply. We are going to take action across the board, particularly on affordable housing, and we expect support in this House.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the housing minister, who increased building taxes by 141% the last time he had a chance, should be aware that the Oxford Economics global cities index found that residents of Toronto spend more of their income on housing than any other city in the world. However, the man in charge of housing does not think that is a problem. He says that housing prices should not go down, period.

If he does not think that housing prices should go down, can he tell the residents of Toronto how much more of their income they are going to have to spend on their homes?

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

Mr. Speaker, I have to say it is refreshing to hear the members opposite care about affordable housing, because they never did anything about it. That made life very difficult for mayors, premiers and housing ministers across the country, who saw no support for 10 years from the members opposite and their government.

We are taking action. We are committed to scaling up that action with “build Canada homes” and direct action in the weeks and months ahead.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, forgive me if I am a bit skeptical of the housing minister, who increased the price of housing by 179% in just eight years in Vancouver.

The Liberals broke housing. They fuelled inflation, which drove up rates. They rewarded those who blocked housing construction. They supercharged immigration numbers, which outpaced the availability of housing.

The housing minister says we need affordable housing, which is great, but then he turns around and says that home prices should not go down. Both of these things cannot be true, so which one is it?

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

Mr. Speaker, I am, frankly, not surprised to hear the confusion on the other side of the House when they put the words “affordable” and “housing” together.

We are taking action on it. Though the federal government does not control the price of housing, we want to see the overall cost of housing come down. That is why we are investing in local partnerships with cities across Canada to bring development cost charges down for housing and deliver affordability.

[Roman Baber, Conservative, York Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, after a lost decade of the Liberal government, housing in Toronto is unaffordable. Last week, we learned that new home sales are at a record low. According to Oxford Economics, as a result of high immigration, residents of Toronto “spend more of their income on housing than residents of nearly every other city in the world.” One would think that would prompt the Liberals to present a serious plan. Instead, they want to break for the summer without a plan.

Will the Prime Minister respect the will of this House and pass a budget before his summer vacation?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Minister of Transport and Internal Trade]

Mr. Speaker, I really like to believe that all members of this House are sincere in their desire to make life better for Canadians and want to make life more affordable and get more homes built. That is why I really hope members on the opposite side of the House will join us in supporting the one Canadian economy legislation. It would help us build more homes faster. It would bring down prices for Canadians by 15% if we remove all trade barriers in our own country.

[Roman Baber, Conservative, York Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Housing said he does not want to bring down prices for Canadians, but Toronto residents cannot afford a roof over their head. When I knocked on doors this spring, voters would tell me that they cannot afford their mortgages or, in apartments, would tell me they cannot afford their rent. It is heartbreaking.

Liberal immigration policies are forcing Torontonians to spend more of their income on housing than anyone else on planet earth, but the Prime Minister is failing Canadians and refuses to listen to this House. When will the Prime Minister deliver a budget?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Minister of Transport and Internal Trade]

Mr. Speaker, one of the policies the Prime Minister campaigned on was building modular housing. That is a way to get more homes built faster. We know that by removing barriers to internal trade in our country, we can get a modular housing industry going in our country. That is one of the solutions to the housing crisis.

I hope the members opposite will be constructive and support this important legislation.

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my generation refuses to live in a shipping container.

Oxford Economics reported yesterday that Toronto's housing market ranks among the worst in the world for affordability. At the same time, mortgage delinquency rates in Toronto are now higher than at any time during the pandemic. The financial burden is suffocating the next generation of homebuyers, and history has shown us that if we fail to plan, we are planning to fail.

A budget is a plan. My question for the Prime Minister is, when will Canadians see one?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Jobs and Families and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario]

Mr. Speaker, I have travelled all across this country. It is a huge privilege of this job. I have visited families in every riding and from every walk of life. I can say that modular housing, which provides a housing solution for so many families, is not a shipping container. To speak with such a demeaning tone about families that are living in a variety of different kinds of housing really indicates the kind of disrespect that the Conservative Party of Canada has for low-income Canadians and middle-income Canadians.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Clarke, ON]

Mr. Speaker, tents are not houses. The Prime Minister told us during the campaign that Canada was facing the biggest crisis of our lifetime. Well, here is a crisis: In 2015, housing costs were an average of 38% of Canadian household budgets. Today, it is overwhelming. It is 52%. A recent study found that Toronto residents spend more of their income on housing than nearly every other city in the world.

We were told that the Prime Minister is the “man with the plan”. Canadians want to see it, and time is of the essence. When are we going to get a budget?

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Secretary of State (Canada Revenue Agency and Financial Institutions)]

Mr. Speaker, maybe the member opposite should ask himself, look in the mirror and ask his colleagues why they voted against every housing initiative we put forward over the last several years: the rapid housing initiative, the federal coinvestment fund and the housing accelerator fund. Their own leader told them not to support the program, while the MPs themselves were trying to advocate for it. Shame on them.

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton—Bkejwanong, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the housing accelerator cost $4 billion and zero homes were built. Meanwhile, housing prices have doubled, rent has doubled, down payments have doubled and people are now defaulting on their mortgages at record rates due to the disastrous inflationary spending of the Liberal government. A federal memo confirms that housing will consume 52% of the household budget this year, up from 38% in 2015. They know they caused this problem.

When will the government table a budget with a plan to give the hope of home ownership back to young people?

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

Mr. Speaker, the government is taking action on delivering affordability. We have done that with a tax cut for 22 million Canadians. We have done that with a cut to the GST for first-time homebuyers. We will continue to do that with actions throughout this year, and we expect the members opposite to support this.

This is a new voice. Suddenly, there is concern from the Conservatives, who never voted for affordable housing and never supported a single initiative on affordable housing.

Intergovernmental Affairs

[Dominique O'Rourke, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Mr. Speaker, last week, the government introduced the one Canadian economy legislation. The bill removes federal internal trade barriers and advances national interest projects, providing a framework to strengthen the Canadian economy.

Can the Minister of Transport and Internal Trade share what she has heard from Canadians about this very important bill?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Minister of Transport and Internal Trade]

Mr. Speaker, how wonderful to finally get a great question. I would like to thank the member for Guelph for her hard work and for her focus on an issue I am hearing about from premiers of provinces and territories, from union leaders, from business leaders and from Canadians of all walks of life. Canadians understand that now, when our economy is being battered by tariffs from the United States, we need to build a strong Canada by lifting all barriers to internal trade and by building big national projects.

I would like to call on all members of the House to support this essential legislation.

Natural Resources

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister and his anti-energy ministers say there are no pipelines in Canada without consensus, but there is not even consensus in the Prime Minister's cabinet. The Prime Minister has stacked that cabinet with ministers who want to kill the Canadian oil and gas industry, but there is not even consensus in the Prime Minister's own head. He said he wanted to make Canada an energy superpower, but he also said, “maybe as much as half of oil reserves, proven [oil] reserves, need to stay in the ground”.

In the Prime Minister's head, who gets a pipeline veto?

[Tim Hodgson, Liberal, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, we presented the one Canadian economy bill to fast-track projects of national interest and build one economy, not 13. This bill will grow the Canadian economy and support our sovereignty to ensure we build the strongest economy in the G7. Canada's new government will work with provincial, territorial and indigenous partners to get projects built and to make Canada an energy superpower. I hope my Conservative colleagues will join us in supporting this bill.