Denis Trudel

[Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1, April 25th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague spoke at length about the fact that Canadian households have difficulty finding housing. That is a huge problem. He quoted the excellent study by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation showing that Canada needs to build 3.5 million units of all kinds in the next 10 years.

The Conservatives speak of fiscal virtue and reducing the deficit, but investments will have to be made in some areas. For example, Quebec needs 1.1 million housing units in the next 10 years. The private sector will build 500,000, but, one way or another, the government will have to participate in the construction of 600,000 more units in the next 10 years. We will have to spend on programs that work, which is not the case for the Liberals' programs at this time. The big national housing strategy provides $78 billion over 10 years. A little over 100,000 housing units have been built in five years. That is a disaster.

How will the Conservatives solve this problem?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1, April 25th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, last fall, I stood in the House and I asked a Liberal member if it was not time to eliminate fossil fuels. He said yes, in 2023, it is all going to stop, fossil fuels will no longer be subsidized. That is a promise that the Liberals made.

Unfortunately, in the budget, that is not the case at all. All sorts of direct and indirect assistance is still be provided for fossil fuels to companies that are already making astronomical profits. In 2022, Exxon Mobil made $56 billion in profits, Shell made $40 billion, adjusted to $36 billion, Chevron made $36 billion and BP made $27 billion.

There is a housing shortage in Canada, yet we continue to send billions of dollars to billionaire companies. I do not know what my colleague thinks about that.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1, April 25th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, there is something quite interesting in Bill C-47 that has passed under the radar because it is hidden in a pile of measures. In division 31 of the bill, which is in part 4 and on page 325, the government introduces a measure that has absolutely nothing to do with the budget. It is asking us to recognize Charles the Third as King of Canada through an amendment to the Royal Style and Titles Act. It is not clear what that has to do with anything.

Furthermore, currently, any time a government makes an order in council appointment, as is the case here, that individual may be called before a parliamentary committee to verify their qualifications. My question for my colleague is this. Does he think that Charles the Third, by the Grace of God King of Canada and His other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth, should be called before a committee to verify his qualifications?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1, April 25th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, in 2019, when the Liberals got elected, there was one key promise that was very prominent in the election campaign, particularly in Quebec. It was repeated everywhere. They were going to plant two billion trees. Here we are, four years later.

After four years, 800 million trees should have been planted, considering that they were talking about two billion over 10 years. Take a guess. Have they planted 800 million, 500 million—or maybe not quite so many because politicians never keep their promises—say 200 million, or 10% of the total? No, this week we learned that we have planted 2.3% of the two billion trees in the last four years.

I have a question for my colleague. Were they all planted in his backyard?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1, April 25th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, since we began debating the budget bill, I have asked government members many questions about the housing crisis.

There is absolutely nothing in the budget to address the housing crisis. They themselves admit it and say that they invested in housing last year. Yes, but there is still a crisis this year. The National Housing Council released a study last week showing that, between 2011 and 2021, Canada lost 550,000 affordable housing units, meaning housing that rents for about $750. That is Canada-wide. Not only does the national strategy, which was launched five years ago, not create housing that people can afford, but we are also losing housing.

The National Housing Council believes that there should be a fund to purchase private housing and turn it into non-market housing in order to maintain affordability. Does my colleague think this would be a good measure?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1, April 24th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, I have been touring Quebec recently, travelling all over the place to talk about the housing crisis, because I think it is a very serious issue. I have heard from a lot of people.

In Joliette, for example, an adult living with an intellectual disability found himself on the street, homeless, in other words, and he ended up committing suicide. There was nothing in the budget to help someone like him. I heard about a woman in Trois-Rivières who is a victim of domestic violence and is now living in her car with her two children. There was nothing in the budget to help her. I heard about a family of 17 people in Longueuil living in a three-bedroom apartment. There was nothing in the budget to help those folks.

Does my colleague have any solutions for the issues I just raised and the people I just talked about?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1, April 24th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, my colleague talked a little bit about housing, and I thank him for that, because it is a pretty important topic.

Unfortunately, when we listen to the Conservatives, it is not really clear what their solutions are and what they are going to do about it.

The Liberals are terrible, and they are getting nowhere. My colleague bragged earlier about $70 billion in investments over the last five years. In the last five years, 35,000 new social housing units have been built in Canada through this strategy. I have no idea where the billions of dollars went. According to studies by CIBC and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, or CMHC, Canada needs to build 3.5 million units in the next 10 years if we are going to address the twin issues of affordability and accessibility.

If we want to help those most in need in this country, the government needs to intervene and be more effective. What are the Conservative Party's solutions?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1, April 24th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech.

She spoke a lot about climate change. It is true that the government is making a lot of direct and indirect investments in the budget to help oil companies greenwash their record. The government is giving them money for carbon capture, a technology that is very controversial in the field. As we have said, there is almost nothing for housing, but the government is giving oil companies money.

Let us talk about oil companies' profits in 2022. Exxon Mobil made $56 billion in profit, Shell made $40 billion, TotalEnergies made $36 billion, Chevron made $36 billion and BP made $27 billion. How can the government give money to these oil companies, which made a combined total of $200 billion in 2022, while completely forgetting about the housing crisis?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1, April 24th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, as usual, my colleague's delight over his government's budget is patently obvious.

However, on one topic he was silent, and I know why. Of the budget's 250 pages, only one page addresses the housing crisis. That in itself is completely unacceptable.

In the week after the budget was tabled, the National Housing Council, the body created by the federal government to oversee its grand national housing strategy, brought up a very interesting point. Between 2011 and 2021, Canada lost 550,000 affordable housing units. Not only has the government failed to create new housing, but we lost 550,000 units in the span of 10 years.

The National Housing Council has suggested a highly practical solution, which is to create an acquisition fund to enable non-profit housing organizations to purchase private housing stock, take it off the private market and make it permanently affordable. It is a solution that everyone is talking about. Does my colleague think it is a good solution?

[Committees of the House, April 20th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech. I also thank my colleague from Abitibi—Témiscamingue, who led this debate this morning. It is really very important.

There are many leading aerospace industries in Longueuil, including Héroux‑Devtek and Pratt & Whitney, not to mention the École nationale d'aérotechnique.

Héroux‑Devtek manufactures landing gear, and we like to say that Longueuil set foot on the moon before Neil Armstrong, since the Apollo 11 landing gear was made in Longueuil. That is very, very important to us.

We have an airport back home. In recent years, I held a public consultation on the development of the Saint-Hubert airport.

Development is important. We spoke about it at length this morning. Having said that, it is important that any development respect the people living there and have social licence. The industry creates a lot of air and noise pollution, especially for small regional airports.

An innovation hub is being set up in Longueuil. We are also establishing a cutting-edge industry focusing on the development of electric motors, in particular electric batteries. The Government of Quebec will probably invest in it.

I would like to know if my colleague could support this project to ensure that the federal government contributes financially, which would make our little airport a leading-edge airport and a really strategic airport—