Is it agreed?
House of Commons Hansard #137 of the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was hate.
House of Commons Hansard #137 of the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was hate.
This summary is computer-generated. Usually it’s accurate, but every now and then it’ll contain inaccuracies or total fabrications.
Controlled Drugs and Substances Act First reading of Bill C-286. The bill seeks to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and the Food and Drugs Act to allow physicians to prescribe psilocybin counselling to patients without requiring override approval from Health Canada bureaucrats. 300 words.
Combatting Hate Act Bill C-9. The bill proposes amendments to the Criminal Code to combat hate, including creating new offenses for intimidation or obstruction at places of worship and adding the noose to the list of prohibited hate symbols. Supporters, primarily from the Liberal Party and Bloc Québécois, argue the bill provides essential protection against rising hate. Conversely, Conservative Party members oppose the legislation, arguing it endangers religious freedom and risks criminalizing good-faith expression while failing to address enforcement of existing laws. 29800 words, 4 hours in 2 segments: 1 2.
Motion That Debate Be Not Further Adjourned Members debate a motion to end debate on Bill C-26, authorizing $1.7 billion for provinces to boost housing supply. Liberals argue the urgent funding is essential to stimulate construction, citing Ontario's success. Conservatives condemn the lack of study and oversight, characterizing the bill as a blank cheque that bypasses necessary parliamentary review. 4700 words, 30 minutes.
National Framework on Sickle Cell Disease Act Second reading of Bill S-201. The bill aims to establish a national framework for addressing sickle cell disease, including improved research, screening, and patient support. While MPs across party lines acknowledge the importance of the issue, concerns persist regarding federal interference in provincial health jurisdictions, the need for cost transparency and accountability, and ensuring genuine collaboration with provinces. The motion passed and was referred to committee. 6700 words, 1 hour.
Government Business No. 11—Proceedings on Bill C‑26 Members debate Bill C-26, authorizing $1.7 billion for housing. The Bloc Québécois supports the legislation for respecting provincial jurisdiction despite their concerns about fiscal imbalance, while Liberals argue the funding is vital to boost housing supply. Amidst opposition frustration regarding the government’s frequent use of closure motions to bypass debate, the House votes to pass the bill. 8100 words, 2 hours.
Admissibility of Government Business No. 13 Claude DeBellefeuille and Elizabeth May argue that Government Business No. 13 creates an unprecedented, unfair, and undemocratic precedent by imposing a retroactive deadline for committee amendments, thereby hindering the opposition's ability to participate effectively. 500 words.
An Act to Authorize Certain Payments to be Made out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund Second reading of Bill C-26. The bill would authorize the Minister of Finance to provide over $1.7 billion to provinces and territories to increase housing supply. Liberal members argue these payments allow flexibility to lower development fees and accelerate construction. Conservative members criticize the lack of accountability and measurable outcomes for taxpayers. Bloc Québécois members support the unconditional transfers as respecting jurisdictions, while the NDP argues the bill fails to prioritize affordability and housing need. 15800 words, 2 hours.
The Speaker Francis Scarpaleggia
I declare the motion defeated.
Pursuant to order made on Monday, June 15, it is my duty to interrupt the proceedings and put forthwith every question necessary to dispose of the consideration of the Senate amendment to Bill C-9 now before the House.
The question is as follows. Shall I dispense?
The Speaker Francis Scarpaleggia
If a member participating in person wishes that the amendment be carried or carried on division, or if a member of a recognized party participating in person wishes to request a recorded division, I would invite them to rise and indicate it to the Chair.
The Speaker Francis Scarpaleggia
Pursuant to Standing Order 45, the division stands deferred until Wednesday, June 17, at the expiry of the time provided for Oral Questions.
It is my duty pursuant to Standing Order 38 to inform the House that the questions to be raised tonight at the time of adjournment are as follows: the hon. member for Riding Mountain, Health; the hon. member for Saanich—Gulf Islands, The Environment; the hon. member for Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay, Health.
Motion That Debate Be Not Further AdjournedGovernment Business No. 11—Proceedings on Bill C-26Government Orders
Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby B.C.
Liberal
Gregor Robertson LiberalMinister of Housing and Infrastructure and Minister responsible for Pacific Economic Development Canada
Mr. Speaker, in relation to the consideration of Government Business No. 11, I move:
That debate be not further adjourned.
Motion That Debate Be Not Further AdjournedGovernment Business No. 11—Proceedings on Bill C-26Government Orders
The Speaker Francis Scarpaleggia
Pursuant to Standing Order 67.1, there will now be a 30-minute question period. I invite hon. members who wish to ask questions to rise or to use the “raise hand” function so the Chair has some idea of the number of members who wish to participate in the question period.
The hon. member for Calgary Centre.
Motion That Debate Be Not Further AdjournedGovernment Business No. 11—Proceedings on Bill C-26Government Orders
Conservative
Greg McLean Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
Mr. Speaker, it is great to be here, and I am thankful this debate is allowed to continue. I am surprised that it has to go through this last half hour of questions for the minister, but it is an interesting bill we are debating here today.
We want to make sure that we get to the bottom of everything that is happening in the House of Commons. Of course, we know it is springtime. It is actually a great time to be sitting in Ottawa and debating the business of the country, making sure we are moving forward in holding the government to account and making sure that the legislation we bring forward is the best it is going to be for Canadians.
I beseech the minister, if he can, to actually take a look at the bill. This is his fourth Crown corporation, and there are no solutions so far. There is lots of money going out the door and there are lots of announcements, but no solutions have been put forth to actually aid Canadians and bring lower housing costs across Canada.
What does the minister think he would accomplish with even more money and another bureaucracy that has not been accomplished along the way with everything else that has been done so far in this field? The lack of accomplishments is stark. Can he please address why he thinks it is going to be different this time?
Motion That Debate Be Not Further AdjournedGovernment Business No. 11—Proceedings on Bill C-26Government Orders
Liberal
Gregor Robertson Liberal Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC
Mr. Speaker, just to be clear, this debate is about the housing supply act before the House, which is about $1.7 billion that would be distributed among the provinces and territories to boost housing supply.
We already have an uptake on this with the province of Ontario. It was announced a few months ago. Ontario, thanks to the federal support that is tied to the bill, would be rebating the full 13% of the harmonized sales tax, the HST, on new homes up to $1 million. Buyers of those new homes up to $1 million could save up to $130,000. When we combine that with the initiative around reducing development charges, which is 30% to 50% with municipalities in Ontario and is administered by the province of Ontario, it is an additional up to $70,000.
All this is in response to the crisis that Ontario, particularly the GTA, has had with the housing market. There is oversupply in the housing market and other challenges, such as uncertainty in the market, buyers not buying and builders not being able to move on projects. This is about getting the housing market going across the country, particularly in Ontario and B.C.
Motion That Debate Be Not Further AdjournedGovernment Business No. 11—Proceedings on Bill C-26Government Orders
Conservative
Grant Jackson Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB
Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the minister minds addressing whether any of this money would be available for municipalities that are quite small. Despite their not being perhaps as flashy as big announcements in the major cities across Canada, these municipalities, in previous Liberal iterations of bloated federal government programs and funding, could not access the type of funding that they needed to spur small-scale housing projects in their municipalities.
Can the minister comment on whether Liberals are going to get it right this time and ensure that all municipalities within the country can access funding for housing projects or whether they going to forget about rural Manitoba and rural Canada once again?
Motion That Debate Be Not Further AdjournedGovernment Business No. 11—Proceedings on Bill C-26Government Orders
Liberal
Gregor Robertson Liberal Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC
Mr. Speaker, we absolutely cannot forget about the important housing needs in smaller communities. Rural Canada faces many of the same challenges in terms of affordability and housing supply. Particularly in the north, housing supply is a huge challenge.
Build Canada Homes is an agency focused on making sure the supply side is boosted, but in this case, the funding would be going to the provinces and territories. Ontario has given us the first example of what can be done. It is choosing to use its funding to effectively eliminate the HST for homebuyers throughout Ontario. It would benefit homebuyers and home builders, by extension, across all of Ontario, from urban to rural. Obviously that is a much-needed break on the HST for the homebuyers. That would be provided for in Ontario because of the housing supply bill.
Motion That Debate Be Not Further AdjournedGovernment Business No. 11—Proceedings on Bill C-26Government Orders
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Mr. Speaker, we have a Prime Minister who is really eroding the foundations of our parliamentary democracy. He is never here, yet he is imposing some of the most draconian measures on parliamentary debate. The motion before the House would impose on Bill C-26 that there would be one more speaker for each party at second reading, and then after the vote at second reading, it would be deemed adopted at all stages, with no committee study, no report stage debate and no third reading debate.
Motion That Debate Be Not Further AdjournedGovernment Business No. 11—Proceedings on Bill C-26Government Orders
An hon. member
Oh, oh!
Motion That Debate Be Not Further AdjournedGovernment Business No. 11—Proceedings on Bill C-26Government Orders
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Mr. Speaker, the member for Whitby is saying, “perfect”. This is what Liberals want. They want to shut down debate. This would not just be closure of debate at a stage. It would be shutting debate down at all stages, with no possibility for committee study or amendment.
This is just an unconscionable attack on the processes that are supposed to defend the rights and liberties of Canadians and to defend good decision-making. How can the minister, if he really thinks this is a good bill, justify the most draconian use of shutting down a procedure that we have ever seen in the House, shutting it down not just at one stage but at all stages, with no possibility for debate, study or amendment?
Motion That Debate Be Not Further AdjournedGovernment Business No. 11—Proceedings on Bill C-26Government Orders
Liberal
Gregor Robertson Liberal Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC
Mr. Speaker, I am stumped by the actions we just saw in the House from Conservatives, trying to adjourn the House for the day. They just voted to adjourn the House, but fortunately a majority of us are here to do the work and continue with the business of the House. We voted that adjournment motion down.
We welcome the debate, in the case of this bill, to advance the work on housing supply. Housing is in a crisis across Canada, and we need to make sure affordability is paramount. The bill is about investing $1.7 billion in provinces and territories to boost their housing supply. It is a very simple, straightforward bill. There have been hours of debate on it. We can contrast that opportunity for members to speak to the bill with what happened yesterday in the House, when the Conservative member for Mission—Matsqui—Abbotsford filibustered for hours, preventing many other members from being able to speak in the debate in the House. I know there are lots of games being played around adjournment and filibustering.
The bill is about getting funding to the people on the ground in our country who need affordable housing.
Motion That Debate Be Not Further AdjournedGovernment Business No. 11—Proceedings on Bill C-26Government Orders
Conservative
Eric Melillo Conservative Kenora—Kiiwetinoong, ON
Mr. Speaker, the minister already mentioned in the discussion today that we are in a housing crisis. He spoke earlier about the fact that buyers cannot buy and builders cannot build. I would agree with that. I would add that people who are looking to sell also cannot sell during this housing crisis. However, of course, we are in a housing crisis after 11 years of Liberal policies that have brought in more bureaucracies, higher spending and higher inflation that have driven up the cost of living and doubled the cost of housing for Canadians right across the country. That is why we are in this housing crisis.
Now that the Liberals are bringing forward more spending, more bureaucracy and more of the same, how are Canadians supposed to believe that the Liberals are going to get us out of this housing crisis that they caused, with more policies that are right along the lines of the policies that caused this crisis in the first place?
Motion That Debate Be Not Further AdjournedGovernment Business No. 11—Proceedings on Bill C-26Government Orders
Liberal
Gregor Robertson Liberal Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC
Mr. Speaker, with all due respect to our predecessors here in the House, there is about 40 years of history of the Government of Canada's neglecting to invest enough in affordable housing. That is what has created the housing crisis today. It has been built up over decades by governments of all stripes. There have been lots of challenges from the local, provincial and territorial levels in not expediting and not approving housing. The challenges have mounted over many years.
The government has now been elected to take action. That is what advancing the bill is about: to make sure we are investing, working collaboratively with provinces and territories to get housing built and to get the housing market going again. I know that the opposition housing critic has been very vocal about supporting getting the housing market going. Ontario and B.C. are two of the provinces that are really challenged on housing supply and market. We need to get this money invested on the ground as quickly as possible.
Motion That Debate Be Not Further AdjournedGovernment Business No. 11—Proceedings on Bill C-26Government Orders
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
Mr. Speaker, could the minister explain how Bill C-26 is part of the overall housing plan in this country, which Canadians are expecting?
Motion That Debate Be Not Further AdjournedGovernment Business No. 11—Proceedings on Bill C-26Government Orders
Liberal
Gregor Robertson Liberal Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC
Mr. Speaker, Bill C-26 would be one tool in a large tool box that we need to activate to get the housing market turned around here in Canada, to get more affordable housing built, to make sure we have a healthy housing market and to make sure the homebuilding industry is innovating and advancing to make housing more affordable. This would be one tool in collaboration with the provinces and territories. It would be a direct investment, a transfer, and would give them the flexibility to apply it where needed.
Ontario is choosing to eliminate its HST for this year, which I think is having a very positive effect on the market in Ontario. Other provinces and territories would have different approaches depending on their markets, but we have many other tools from Build Canada Homes and reaching home, which is supporting homelessness efforts, to the housing accelerator fund, which works with communities and local governments to cut red tape and get housing built.
We have a wide array of tools. We need to continue scaling up the work on those tools, scaling up the investment that is needed to ensure that we have enough affordable housing being built, and to make sure that as a House we are here supporting the efforts and collaboration with all levels of government and the private sector.
Motion That Debate Be Not Further AdjournedGovernment Business No. 11—Proceedings on Bill C-26Government Orders
Conservative
Tamara Kronis Conservative Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
Mr. Speaker, I have lost track of the number of times I have stood in the House in the last few days to talk about the government's again ramming a bill through the House. In this case, the bill has not had the benefit of second reading, committee study, third reading or report stage. It has not been to the Senate. It has not had the benefit of being studied in either House. It concerns an extremely important area of policy and law in this country, and we have seen the unintended consequences of badly drafted Liberal bills being rammed through the House.
We saw it with Bill C-3, wherein there are unintended consequences, including lots of Americans who are discovering their connections to Canada. We have seen it with the minister's actions when he was the mayor of Vancouver. This is an area that we have to get right, and I would urge the government not to do this. I would challenge the minister to explain why Canadians should not get the benefit of debate on the bill.
Motion That Debate Be Not Further AdjournedGovernment Business No. 11—Proceedings on Bill C-26Government Orders
Liberal
Gregor Robertson Liberal Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC
Mr. Speaker, if the members of the opposition are so insistent on debate time, why did they just vote to adjourn the House in the middle of the day on a Tuesday? It does not add up.
The bill is all about focusing on delivering results for the housing market, particularly in the member opposite's province, where I live too, B.C. The housing market in metro Vancouver is extremely challenged right now. The Province of B.C. would have the opportunity to deploy this funding to get the province's market going. That is an example. I think we have seen that already happen with Ontario as the first mover taking action to eliminate its HST.
We need to get this funding out to communities. That is the priority. It is a very simple and straightforward bill about collaborating, investing in our provinces and territories and making sure that housing is built across Canada.
