House of Commons Hansard #96 of the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was bureaucracy.
This summary is computer-generated. Usually it’s accurate, but every now and then it’ll contain inaccuracies or total fabrications.
Build Canada Homes Act Second reading of Bill C-20. The bill, Bill C-20, establishes Build Canada Homes as a Crown corporation intended to address the housing crisis by increasing affordable supply through land and financial partnerships. While Liberals argue the entity provides necessary operational autonomy to accelerate construction, Conservatives criticize the initiative as an expensive, inefficient bureaucracy that fails to tackle high costs and regulations. The Bloc Québécois expresses concern regarding jurisdictional overreach while urging support for the forestry industry. The motion carried on division. 17100 words, 2 hours in 2 segments: 1 2.
Protecting Canada’s Essential Infrastructure Metals Act First reading of Bill C-271. The bill proposes amendments to the Criminal Code to increase penalties for metal theft and vandalism, aiming to deter the illegal resale of critical infrastructure materials like copper and protect essential public services. 100 words.
Corrections and Conditional Release Act Second reading of Bill C-243. The bill proposes amending the Corrections and Conditional Release Act to require parole reviews for murderers to occur at statutory intervals rather than allowing annual applications after an initial denial. Conservative members view this change as a necessary step to prevent the recurring trauma of victims' families, while the Bloc Québécois opposes the bill, citing concerns regarding Parole Board discretion and potential unintended consequences. 6300 words, 40 minutes.
Rhéal Fortin Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC
Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the third report of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights in relation to Bill C-9, an act to amend the Criminal Code with respect to hate propaganda, hate crime and access to religious or cultural places.
The committee has studied the bill and has decided to report the bill back to the House with amendments.
Patricia Lattanzio Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
Mr. Speaker, as the member was online, I have the report to table.
Bill C-271 Protecting Canada’s Essential Infrastructure Metals ActRoutine Proceedings
Conservative
Connie Cody Conservative Cambridge, ON
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-271, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (scrap metal trafficking and essential infrastructure protection).
Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to introduce my private member's bill, the protecting Canada's essential infrastructure metals act.
This legislation would take concrete steps to crack down on out-of-control metal theft and vandalism in communities across the country. The bill would strengthen penalties, target repeat offenders, protect critical services and disrupt the illegal resale of stolen metal. The theft of metals, like copper, has skyrocketed by more than 200%, according to some estimates, putting at risk essential services that Canadians rely on in emergencies, including 911 services, electricity infrastructure and cellular networks. The time for us to act to protect our communities is now.
I look forward to working with colleagues from all parties to ensure that this common-sense proposal becomes law.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)
Jeff Kibble Conservative Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present a petition on behalf of fishers and anglers across British Columbia.
The petitioners are calling on the Minister of Fisheries to manage the exploding population of invasive predatory pinnipeds and its impact on valuable and vulnerable salmon stocks. The invasive species of California and Steller sea lions consume more salmon than the commercial and recreational fishing industries combined. The petitioners call on the government to work with local communities and first nations to implement a pinniped management program to protect our salmon stocks, which are important to first nations and commercial and recreational fishers, as well as to our southern resident killer whales.
I am pleased to present this petition, and I urge the minister to act immediately.
Jacob Mantle Conservative York—Durham, ON
Mr. Speaker, I am presenting a petition on behalf of Canadians concerned with Bill C-9, the Liberal censorship bill, including Canadians who joined us yesterday on Parliament Hill to rally against it.
The petitioners are particularly concerned that the Liberals and Bloc have passed an amendment that would remove long-standing protections for the good-faith expression of religious belief and the good-faith reading from and expression of religious texts. These changes would subject Canadians to criminal sanction for simply reading the Bible, Torah, Quran or other holy texts.
Therefore, these Canadians are requesting that the government withdraw the bill and protect freedom of religion.
Dan Muys Conservative Flamborough—Glanbrook—Brant North, ON
Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise to present a petition on behalf of Canadians who are opposed to Bill C-9 and the threats it poses to freedom of religion and freedom of expression, and to have joined some of those Canadians on Parliament Hill yesterday rallying against the bill.
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac, ON
Mr. Speaker, I am presenting a petition. It is the first petition of what I believe will be many on the subject of the Alto high-speed rail project. There is currently an online petition with, at this point, over 10,000 signatures, and I know other print petitions are circulating.
The petitioners draw the House's attention to the fact that the cost of this project will be as much as $90 billion, which is $9,000 for every single family of four in Canada. They note the aggressive use of expropriation orders to prohibit work on private property and other measures, such as the right of first refusal, that will destroy or reduce the value of property for many people who are on the line who will see their properties affected. They also note that the high-speed rail will create an impenetrable barrier between two sides of the same community.
Therefore, the petitioners call upon the government to do three things. First, they ask the government to immediately cancel the Alto high-speed rail project. Second, in the event that the project is pursued, they ask that the Ottawa-Montreal portion be finished before any expropriations occur west of Ottawa. Finally, they ask that the full protections of the Expropriation Act should be returned to property owners along the route instead of being stripped away, as has been done under the budget implementation bill.
Eric Duncan Conservative Stormont—Dundas—Glengarry, ON
Mr. Speaker, I continue to receive many phone calls, visits to my office and emails from residents in Stormont—Dundas—Glengarry concerned about Bill C-9 and the Liberals' and Bloc's attempts to attack religious freedom and attacks on freedom of expression. Despite the censorship efforts of the government in the course of this past week, in team with the Bloc Québécois, to ram this legislation through, the irony is that they are censoring their own censorship bill by ramming it through.
I wish to add the names of dozens of petitioners in my community who are speaking out against this. Whether they be Christian, Muslim or of other faiths, they remain concerned about the ability to read their own sacred texts and to be able to practise those teachings in a public or private setting.
I stand behind them and firmly oppose Bill C-9.
Clifford Small Conservative Central Newfoundland, NL
Mr. Speaker, service medals represent the formal recognition of dedication, service and sacrifice by members of our Canadian Armed Forces, workers in emergency services, firefighters and other eligible public servants. These service medals have been taking longer and longer for people to receive. There are cases of folks passing away before they get their long-service medals.
I thank the folks who spearheaded this petition, the firefighters of Newfoundland and Labrador, who are calling on the government to fix this and to make the process much more expedient, so those who have sacrificed and served are honoured on time.
Connie Cody Conservative Cambridge, ON
Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise on behalf of the citizens of Cambridge. I am still getting numerous calls and emails from hundreds of people. They are calling on the Government of Canada to withdraw Bill C-9 and to protect religious freedoms, uphold the right to read and share sacred texts, and prevent government intrusion into their faith.
Elizabeth May Green Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC
Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to present a petition virtually today.
The petitioners expressed deep concern for the historic wrongs and injustices done to indigenous peoples by settler culture Canadians over the experience of colonization. To summarize, they specifically call on the government to follow through on the many long-overdue promises to implement the calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the calls for justice from the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls commission, and to follow closely our commitments under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It is a timely petition.
Kevin Lamoureux LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, if the government's responses to Questions Nos. 777, 778, 779, 780, 781, 782, 783, 785, 786, 787, 788, 789, 790, 791, 792 and 793 be made orders for return, these returns would be tabled in an electronic format immediately.
Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnRoutine Proceedings
Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB
Mr. Speaker, I would then ask that all remaining questions be allowed to stand, please.
Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnRoutine Proceedings
Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnRoutine Proceedings
The House resumed consideration of the motion that Bill C-20, An Act respecting the establishment of Build Canada Homes, be read the second time and referred to a committee.
Jim Belanger Conservative Sudbury East—Manitoulin—Nickel Belt, ON
Mr. Speaker, the facts are clear. After a decade of Liberal government, housing prices in Canada have doubled and the dream of owning a home has never been further out of reach for millions of Canadians, especially in Sudbury East—Manitoulin—Nickel Belt.
For generations, owning a home was a cornerstone of the Canadian dream. It represented stability, security and the promise that if we worked hard and saved, we could build a future for our family. Today, that dream is slipping away.
Young northern Ontarians are increasingly asking themselves whether they will be able to buy their first home. Many have done everything right. They studied hard, found good jobs and saved what they could, yet still find themselves priced out of the market. At the same time, Canadians are carrying record levels of household debt. Today, that number stands at $2.6 trillion, much of it tied to mortgages. Families are stretching themselves financially to simply put a roof over their heads. Mortgage payments have skyrocketed, and rent has climbed dramatically. For many Canadians, the cost of housing now consumes a larger portion of their income than ever before.
This is not a small challenge. It is not a temporary problem. It is a full-blown housing crisis, and Canadians are asking a simple question: How did we get here?
The reality is that after years of failed policies and immigration influx, the Liberals have utterly broken the housing market. Buyers cannot afford to buy. Sellers cannot afford to sell, and builders cannot afford to build. The supply of housing has not kept up with demand, and the barriers to building new homes have grown higher and higher. Instead of removing those barriers, the government has too often added to them. Regulations have multiplied. Approval processes have slowed. Costs have increased, and every delay means fewer homes being built for Canadians who desperately need them.
One of the most frustrating aspects of this crisis is the gap between the government's rhetoric and the results Canadians are actually seeing. We hear announcements, slogans and promises, but when Canadians look around their communities, they do not see homes being built at the pace that is needed.
The Prime Minister's latest budget provides another example of this pattern. Not long ago, the government promised to cut municipal homebuilding taxes in half in order to make it easier and cheaper to build new homes, yet in the most recent budget, that promise has been broken. At a time when we should be reducing the cost of building homes, the Liberals have instead allowed costs to continue rising. Industrial taxes imposed by the federal government are increasing the price of key materials like cement, steel and glass. Every time the cost of those materials goes up, the cost of building homes goes up. As the cost of building homes rises, those costs are ultimately passed on to Canadians.
The result is a system where everyone is stuck. Young families cannot buy their first homes. Parents worry that their children will never be able to afford to live in the communities where they grew up. Seniors want to downsize. Often, there are not enough suitable options available. Builders who want to construct more homes are facing rising costs, delays and uncertainty. Instead of focusing on removing barriers and enabling builders to build, the Liberals have chosen another approach. Their latest proposal is to create yet another federal housing bureaucracy. Canadians are now being told that the solution to the housing crisis is a fourth federal housing agency, Build Canada Homes.
Northerners are right to ask an important question. If the existing housing programs and agencies have not solved the problem, why would creating another bureaucracy suddenly change the outcome? More bureaucracy does not build homes. More paperwork does not build homes. More announcements do not build homes. Builders, workers and communities build homes. What they need is the ability to move projects forward quickly and affordably.
Unfortunately, the early result of this new initiative raises serious concerns. So far, the only thing Build Canada Homes has delivered is paycheques to bureaucrats, with zero dollars spent on actual capital investment. After months and months of discussions, Canadians have not seen a shovel in the ground. They have not seen cranes in the sky. They have not seen the kind of progress that this crisis demands. In fact, far from building at generational speeds, it took nearly a year simply to introduce legislation that still would not result in homes being built.
Canadians do not measure success by the number of press releases issued by the government. They measure success by results. They measure success by whether their children can afford to move out of the basement. They measure success by whether families can buy a home in the community where they work. They measure success by whether young people can start their lives together with confidence about the future.
Right now, too many Canadians feel that the system is working against them. They feel, no matter how hard they work, the goalposts keep moving further away. This is not the Canada people expect, and this is not the kind of Canada people deserve.
The housing crisis demands urgency. It demands practical solutions, and it demands a willingness to remove barriers that are preventing homes from being built. That means reducing red tape. Most importantly, it means focusing on outcomes rather than announcements because, at the end of the day, Canadians are not asking for more bureaucracy in Ottawa. They are asking for more affordable homes in their communities. They are asking for a fair chance to build a future. They are asking for leadership that understands the urgency of the moment.
A Conservative government would cut the GST on all new homes under $1.3 million, tie federal infrastructure dollars to homebuilding, cut development charges by 50% and end the capital gains tax on reinvestments in new housing in Canada.
After a decade of Liberal housing policy, the results are impossible to ignore. Housing prices have doubled. Household debt has reached record levels. An entire generation feels increasingly locked out of the dream of home ownership. After 10 years of Liberal housing policy, the only thing they have managed to build is a housing crisis.
Kevin Lamoureux LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, I look at this in terms of what is happening on the ground. On the ground, we have municipalities, provinces and many other stakeholders working along with Ottawa to ensure that we can address a very important issue that Canadians are concerned about. I reflect on the City of Winnipeg, the local mayor, the premier of Manitoba and others, who are saying this is a good thing. The Conservatives seem to be the only ones who are kind of out in the cold.
Does the member support what our municipalities, premiers and provinces are saying, and the deals that are being struck?
Jim Belanger Conservative Sudbury East—Manitoulin—Nickel Belt, ON
Mr. Speaker, Canadians need more homes. Northern Ontario needs more homes. The Prime Minister promised to build 500,000 new homes a year at speeds not seen since the Second World War, but his own agency confirmed that housing starts have collapsed.
While the Liberals fail to get housing built, Conservatives will bring real solutions to restore a country that puts home ownership within reach. That means increasing the supply of homes by cutting building taxes, tying federal infrastructure dollars to homebuilding, ending the federal sales tax on all new homes under $1.3 million and axing the capital gains tax on reinvestment in Canadian companies.
Mario Simard Bloc Jonquière, QC
Mr. Speaker, I get the feeling that the government is going about things the wrong way. There is a major housing crisis. They are going to set up a Crown corporation to address this crisis, but they are not securing the materials we will need to build these homes.
Right now, the forestry sector is facing the worst crisis in its history, and we are losing forestry sector players month after month, week after week. By the time the government is ready to roll out its strategy, where will the building materials come from? We will have lost a significant portion of our forestry sector players, and the government is not taking action. The government does not seem ready to negotiate with the Americans to end the tariff war that is still raging.
Does my colleague agree that the government is going about things the wrong way and that, for now, it should focus on securing the forestry sector?
Jim Belanger Conservative Sudbury East—Manitoulin—Nickel Belt, ON
Mr. Speaker, I totally agree with my colleague that construction costs are too high. Something definitely needs to be done for the forestry sector to help with housing construction.
Alex Ruff Conservative Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON
Mr. Speaker, I could not agree more with my hon. colleague about the frustration, which I know I am feeling, and people in my riding are feeling it too, about this increase in bureaucracy and it not resulting in more houses being built.
I would ask my neighbour, because my colleague is my neighbour to the north, if he is seeing the same real-world consequences, especially for our youth. This lack of housing for the next generation sees youth having to move out of our respective ridings, or at least my riding, to go to the major cities to find a place, and even there they cannot find a place to live that they can afford.
Is the member seeing the same sort of challenges with youth not having a place to live and that then dwindling the workforce in his riding?
