Denis Trudel

[50th Anniversary of the Association coopérative d'économie familiale de la Rive-Sud, December 12th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the Association coopérative d'économie familiale de la Rive-Sud in Longueuil, or ACEF Rive-Sud, is celebrating 50 years of contributing to the community as an organization focused on protecting consumer rights and promoting financial literacy.

Since 1974, the ACEF has helped thousands of people manage their personal finances while advocating for responsible consumption. Through consultations, workshops and awareness-raising initiatives, the ACEF has emerged as a key player in promoting financial autonomy and debt prevention. With a committed and caring team, the Longueuil ACEF stands out by its compassionate and personalized approach. It offers critical support when people are at their most vulnerable.

This anniversary is an opportunity to salute the ACEF's tireless workers and volunteers and to recognize its profound impact on the lives of countless families. Today, as we celebrate its half-century of solidarity and dedication to community service, we hope the ACEF will continue to inspire and support people on the path to a more secure financial future.

To all ACEF members, I wish you a happy 50th anniversary.

[Committees of the House, December 9th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague asked an indirect question, so I will give him an indirect answer.

Five years ago, when I became an MP, I did not know the difference between social housing and affordable housing. Now I do. I have also developed a passion for this issue. I cannot believe that we are seeing this sort of thing in a G7 country.

I believe in an interventionist government. I think that the government has an important role to play in housing people. We were talking earlier about Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and I mentioned the rapid housing initiative, which is a very good program. In general, the government is investing a lot of money in a not very efficient way, so it does not really help people.

I am in favour, and I hope that a future NDP government will implement a massive social housing construction project in its first term. That is what I hope, and I will be there to support it, if it ever happens.

[Committees of the House, December 9th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, it is not very surprising. It is hard to think about that despite the major headlines in the papers every day. There is talk of evictions. Earlier we were talking about homelessness. In the past five years, deaths in the streets of Quebec have tripled. In the past five years, the number of homeless in Quebec has doubled. The numbers are just as staggering across Canada.

After everything I said in my speech, it is hard to imagine that the federal government across the way understands the gravity of the crisis. At one point, we heard that 5.8 million housing units needed to be built by 2032 to achieve market equilibrium. It is fascinating. These numbers are astronomical. Watching the Liberals across the way in action makes us think that there is something that they fail to understand.

[Committees of the House, December 9th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague asked a very good question.

The rapid housing initiative is a very good program; everyone applauds it. There have been three phases. The first phase was $1 billion, and the other two were $1.5 billion, unless I am mistaken. These are 100% subsidized social housing units. Everyone in Quebec loves this program.

Except now we have learned some things from talking to people from the Front d'action populaire en réaménagement urbain, or FRAPRU. Two weeks ago, at the summit on homelessness, we learned that there is apparently a fourth phase, but the criteria have been changed. They have added an affordability factor that is really scaring organizations in Quebec. In other words, it appears that the nature of the rapid housing initiative, which is a very good program, is going to change. No one knows how much money is still in the fund, but the criteria have already changed. This is very scary for people.

I have a message for my Conservative friends: The Government of Canada's rapid housing initiative is a very good program. They should renew it if they come to power.

[Committees of the House, December 9th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I am talking about the report that I have in my hands right now. My colleagues cannot see it, but they can sense that there is something important in it, and I am going to tell them about it.

It is a bit funny, I have 12 recommendations. Just before the first one, I wrote that the federal government should get out of housing. I will explain why.

Every time the federal government has made a new funding announcement in the past few years, Quebec has said that the federal government is not going to spend a penny in Quebec without the Quebec government having a say in the matter. Then the negotiations begin. The federal government launched its grand national housing strategy in 2017. It allocated $82 billion across Canada. The government spent money just about everywhere. We are still wondering where exactly. It spent money in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and St. John's, Newfoundland. There was not one penny for Quebec because Quebec declined, as is its prerogative. We wanted money, not programs. We wanted money, not criteria. We wanted money, not conditions. That led to three years of waiting. Earlier I was talking about the $250‑million homelessness program. It took a year before a decision was made.

Too many players are involved in housing. At the end of the day, housing is built in cities. Cities make bylaws, manage urban planning and organize construction. In fact, cities need money. The infrastructure fund is another fund that has a critical role to play in relation to the housing crisis. This $6‑billion fund is currently being negotiated with Quebec. Just building housing is not enough. Sewers need to be built too. Homes need to be connected to the sewer system. Roads need to be built. All these things are important for housing. Two or three weeks ago, the Association de la construction du Québec came to Ottawa to say that infrastructure is fundamental and that this funding is needed.

Cities organize housing construction. Quebec also has a housing department and various programs. Then, on top of all that, the federal government comes in and adds its own conditions. Take Rimouski, for example. There are problems there. The city should and would like to house women fleeing domestic violence. That is true everywhere in Quebec, but I want to focus on Rimouski. There are needs in this area. Every day, a woman knocks on the door of a shelter for women fleeing domestic violence and then goes home. We know what going home means. It happens every day. There is a desperate need for resources. In Rimouski, creating a shelter like that would mean building a 32-unit building for women who are victims of domestic violence. As it happens, Quebec has a program for that. It might be through the Fédération des associations et corporations en construction du Québec. It used to be AccèsLogis Québec. An organization would apply and wait one to two years. Finally, it would get the go-ahead. Great, it was getting funding.

If there is not enough money, it can apply to Ottawa, which has another program that grants funding. The criteria are different, however, especially when it comes to affordability. The affordability criteria make absolutely no sense. They are a disaster. Another two years is spent waiting on Ottawa. Often, in the meantime, the four-year-old offer to purchase the property falls through. In short, the whole thing is infuriating. The process takes years.

While I was touring Abitibi, I met Stéphane Grenier, a really amazing guy. He is a university professor who cares for homeless people, including homeless indigenous people. I attended the opening of a magnificent shelter, a brand-new building with 41 spaces. It opened a year ago, but people had been working on the project for eight years. That means eight winters, eight years of people looking for an emergency shelter, only to give up because one did not exist. It is infuriating.

Here is my first recommendation. Fiscal tools are available here in Ottawa. If Ottawa agreed that this is a provincial jurisdiction and if it gave the money to Quebec, just as it does for health care, there would be fewer players involved. This would achieve two things: it would shorten project approval times and lower costs. Everyone would win.

[Committees of the House, December 9th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, housing and the housing crisis are fundamental issues. I talk about them often here in the House. In my opinion, the housing crisis, the language crisis and the climate crisis are the most fundamental challenges that Quebec and Canada are facing. This evening, we are talking about indigenous housing.

I will not repeat everything my colleague said. He did a fine job talking about Yänonhchia', an indigenous-led initiative to provide access to home ownership on reserves. It is a very important project, and I hope that, a week from now, the Minister of Finance will announce in her economic statement that she is providing funding to the initiative. That $150 million in funding would allow the communities to be more self-sufficient. The communities would benefit from that money. Indigenous people could create their own fund to promote home ownership, which is not common. That would be truly important.

As we talk about housing, I feel compelled to mention something that is very important right now. It is cold outside. There is snow on the ground, and winter is right around the corner. I spoke about homelessness two weeks ago when I addressed the House. I mentioned the $250‑million fund, which is related to what we are talking about. When it comes to homelessness and indigenous homelessness in Montreal, half of the people living on the street on the Island of Montreal, as far as we know, are indigenous. Homelessness is a fundamental problem.

In its budget last March, the federal government announced a $250‑million fund to tackle encampments. We were pleased. Everyone was happy that the government was finally allocating this $250 million. It seemed to understand there was a problem. Anyone who walks out of this building will see an encampment within five minutes. There are tent encampments and homeless people in every riding in Quebec and Canada. It is endemic. I have no idea how anyone can allow such a thing to happen.

The government announced a $250‑million fund in March. The discussions with Quebec dragged on, and things started to get complicated. The federal government was imposing bureaucratic hurdles. It was willing to provide funding, but first it wanted to know how big the space and the beds would be, how many pillowcases would be needed, how many pencils would be used to count the number of homeless people using the shelter and what colour the walls would be painted. There were all sorts of bureaucratic hurdles, which meant that the agreement did not get signed and the money was not allocated.

Quebec was prepared to match Ottawa's offer, which was close to $60 million. Quebec was prepared to put in the same amount. There were negotiations. Finally, the agreement was signed two weeks ago, but the devil is in the details. Not only is it winter now, but the deadline for projects submissions for this funding is January 7. I am not making this up. The fund was announced in March. The deadline for submissions is January 7. These projects will not see the light of day until the end of this winter. They will not help this winter. I have to pinch myself. When we talk about delays related to the housing crisis, this is what we are talking about.

I wrote a report that is related to the report on indigenous housing. I toured Quebec. I set out on a pilgrimage. One time, I had a meeting with a group in Saint‑Hyacinthe, I think. I thought I was being so smart. I got the numbers from CMHC and I presented them to the representatives of the community groups sitting across from me. They did not know what I was talking about. They said that the situation was much worse than my numbers suggested. On the ground, the situation was serious. They needed far more housing than what I was saying, and the vacancy rates were much lower than what I was saying. The numbers did not reflect the reality on the ground.

I travelled all across Quebec last year. Over the course of a few months, I travelled everywhere, including Lac‑Saint‑Jean, Abitibi, the Gaspé, Sherbrooke, Montreal, Quebec City, Gatineau and Granby. I went to every region. I met with people from more than 600 organizations that work every day to build social and community housing, to help the most vulnerable people in our country, in Quebec and Canada, find a place to live. These organizations help women who are victims of domestic violence, seniors, people with substance abuse problems and the many vulnerable populations that we need to take care of, that we have a responsibility to care for. I toured Quebec and then produced a 150-page report. The summary is about 20 pages long, and I have it here—

[Committees of the House, December 9th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to rise to speak to this issue, even though it all feels a bit rushed.

I do not quite understand. The Conservatives have an opposition day, and on that opposition day, they bring forward another motion to discuss a related topic. I would like to point out that this is an important matter, unlike what we have been doing in the House for the past month and a half. Finally, we are discussing a fundamental issue. I think the housing crisis—

[Business of Supply, December 5th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, my colleague said a lot about housing. He criticized the Liberal government, and rightly so, because it has done precious little to tackle the housing crisis. Its record is dismal, in my opinion.

Earlier, I talked about homelessness, which doubled in Quebec over the last decade. The number of people who have died on the streets in Quebec has tripled over the past few years. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation says that 5.8 million housing units must be built by 2032 to achieve market equilibrium. I have never heard the Conservatives talk about any solution other than waiving the GST on houses priced under $1 million. I have never heard them talk about any other measure to build homes.

How are the Conservatives planning to address this major issue of our time?

[Business of Supply, December 5th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I really enjoyed my colleague's speech. I really like the slogan, “Eff the chef”. That is very good. I like it a lot. However, I would like to talk about a completely different topic with this experienced member of the Canadian left who has been in Parliament for 20 years. He talked about the Conservatives. Right now, unfortunately, we are seeing a rise of the right, and not just in Canada. We have seen it in the United States, in Europe, particularly in France, as well as in other countries. Polls show that young people between the ages of 18 and 35 are starting to turn to the right. It is starting to percolate in Canada. This rise of the right-wing just about everywhere in the world is worrying, in my opinion.

I would like to know what my colleague thinks about this as a representative of the Canadian left for 20 years. How can we fight this? It is all well and good to denounce the Conservatives in the House, but this is a global trend in our society. What are we doing to counter this scourge?

[Business of Supply, December 5th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, as usual, as the holidays draw near, when a Liberal minister or member rises in the House to boast about the Liberal record, we suddenly find ourselves in a fantasy world. It is as though they are talking about some perfect place where all manner of great things happened in recent years. Unfortunately, that is not the reality.

I would like the minister to address a very specific point. Something has been growing under the Liberal government in recent years: homeless tent cities throughout Quebec and Canada. I have seen them pop up in my riding, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, and I imagine that every member in the House has also noticed tent cities popping up in their ridings. That is the reality.

However, the only Liberal program to fight homelessness is the reaching home program, which in recent years has been slashed by 3%. How can we allow the government to make a 3% cut to such an important program?