Denis Trudel

[Business of Supply, May 15th, 2023]

Madam Chair, when the government announced $800 million for English in Quebec in the past five years in its official languages action plan, did my colleague stand up in cabinet and ask why they wanted to send $800 million to help the anglophone community in Quebec, the best-treated linguistic minority in the Milky Way, when people are in core housing need?

Again, I was there with her today. The United Way has released a study showing that 360,000 families are struggling to find housing in Montreal alone. However, $800 million is being sent to help the anglophone community. I would like to know if my colleague stood up or made any kind of gesture to indicate that this does not make sense.

[Business of Supply, May 15th, 2023]

Madam Chair, I am finding this evening a bit difficult. It is an important evening. As I said earlier, housing is a very serious issue. It is one of three serious crises that we are experiencing in Canada right now. There is the climate crisis, the language crisis and the housing crisis.

We have been here for three hours and the minister does not have any answers for us. He is accusing everyone of not voting for the reforms that he is making. However, we know now that the strategy does not work. It is not the Bloc Québécois, the Conservative Party, the NDP or the Green Party that is saying that. It is the National Housing Council. Many housing organizations across Canada are saying that the strategy does not work.

This evening, the Liberals are denying reality. They are saying that things are going well and that we should vote with them and that it will all work out. No, because the fact is that the strategy is not working.

I would like to come back to something the parliamentary secretary said. She said that 500,000 housing units have been built or renovated in Quebec. She mentioned that number earlier.

The CMHC itself published a document on the national housing strategy at its midway point. It talks about “the creation and repair of 213,733 units”, which includes the repair of 111,000 units. It talks about 213,000 units in total. That is 101,000 units built and 111,000 units repaired in the previous seven years across Canada.

The parliamentary secretary talked about 500,000 housing units in Quebec alone. I am not sure where she got her numbers, but I would like to know.

Earlier, I asked a very clear question. How many social housing units have been built in Quebec since the beginning of the strategy? That is my question for the minister.

[Business of Supply, May 15th, 2023]

Mr. Chair, I still do not know the address of the projects she is talking about. She named three projects that cost $6 billion. I do not think the projects she told me about are worth $6 billion; otherwise, those are some expensive doors.

I want to see more projects. In fact, I would like to know—if not tonight, tomorrow—what projects actually have people living in them that were built with the $6 billion she is talking about.

[Business of Supply, May 15th, 2023]

Mr. Chair, at least we got an answer.

I have another question for the minister.

We learned today that the Trans Mountain pipeline will cost $30 billion. I weep to see that. To make matters worse, this is coming from a government that said it would not invest another penny in fossil fuels.

We have a severe housing crisis in Quebec and Canada. There are not enough housing units for the most disadvantaged members of our society. I visited the social housing in Quebec. In Longueuil, in my riding, there are 17 people sharing a three-bedroom apartment. In Trois‑Rivières, a woman who was the victim of domestic violence is sleeping in her car with her two children. Meanwhile, the government is spending $30 billion on outdated energies.

When the minister learned in cabinet that the cost of the Trans Mountain project had increased to $30 billion, did he raise his hand to say that he would take a few billion dollars to build social housing in Quebec and Canada?

[Business of Supply, May 15th, 2023]

Mr. Chair, she just spoke about $40 billion. The projects she mentioned add up to perhaps a few million dollars.

Where is the $40 billion she spoke about?

[Business of Supply, May 15th, 2023]

Mr. Chair, I just want to know where the $40 billion was spent. Give me the number of housing units where people were able to unlock the door with a key.

In regard to this $40-billion investment in Quebec that my colleague spoke about, I want someone to tell me where the doors are. I want to know how much the doors built with the $40 billion cost per month. I want someone to tell me right now.

[Business of Supply, May 15th, 2023]

Mr. Chair, let us move on to a related question. Let us talk about the budget we just saw. The government is sending billions of dollars to oil companies to do some greenwashing, which is outrageous. They send billions of dollars for carbon capture, which does not work.

I am talking about billions of dollars sent to companies that made a whopping $200 billion in profits in 2022. If we take the five big oil companies, that is $200 billion in profits. When I saw that the government was sending $20 billion to companies that are already making $200 billion in profits, I asked myself a question.

When the minister saw that in the budget, did he stand up in cabinet and say that hundreds of thousands of households were in desperate need of housing in Quebec and Canada and ask whether we could take that $20 billion and invest it in housing?

[Business of Supply, May 15th, 2023]

Mr. Chair, the rapid housing initiative is an interesting program.

Has the minister, the parliamentary secretary or anyone in government given any serious thought to taking all the money in the national strategy, for example, the co-investment fund and the housing accelerator fund, which have billions of dollars in them but are not very effective, and putting all that money into the rapid housing initiative?

Everyone likes the rapid housing initiative. I spoke with some people today who are very happy with it. However, there is not enough funding for the projects that people want to develop.

Have you given any serious thought to rejigging and relaunching the national housing strategy, taking all the money that does not go to real social housing, or even real affordable housing, and putting it into the rapid housing initiative?

The government could invest a few billion dollars a year and make this program permanent, because, frankly, people do love it.

[Business of Supply, May 15th, 2023]

Mr. Chair, it looks like I am not going to get an answer.

Housing organizations across Quebec and Canada are proposing a solution because everyone realizes that the national housing strategy is not working. British Columbia has launched a $500-million acquisition fund.

This is a massive issue right now, and I know that the minister and the parliamentary secretary are aware of that. There is a housing construction problem. Things are not moving as quickly as we would like. There is a labour shortage. Increased construction costs are hampering development. We all agree on that.

One of the solutions is to take existing housing stock and get it off the market. This is a solution that many organizations are proposing. British Columbia gets it. They created a $500-million fund to enable non-profit housing organizations across the province to buy private housing and get it off the market in order to keep it affordable. At the moment, many federal programs provide affordable housing. These have resulted in $2,000 housing in Montreal. I do not know who can afford that.

When the minister saw that British Columbia was moving in this direction, did he seriously consider creating a similar fund at the federal level?

[Business of Supply, May 15th, 2023]

Mr. Chair, I did not understand the answer. Does that mean half a million social housing units were built in Quebec?