Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet

[Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 2, December 5th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the New Democratic Party agrees to apply the vote and will be voting against the motion.

[Housing, November 30th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the government keeps telling us that it has doubled the amount of funding for affordable housing over two years and that the provinces and territories can use that money to maintain their social housing stock and the subsidies for low-income families.

In Toronto alone, $2.6 billion is needed just to clear the backlog of repairs that need to be made to the city's social housing. However, the province will only receive just over $650 million. That is not even to mention the rent subsidies that are set to expire.

If the provinces put all the money into social housing, there will be none left for affordable housing. In his housing strategy, does the minister intend to invest the necessary funds to maintain social housing stocks and rent subsidies, and will funding be allocated for the construction of new social housing units?

[Housing, November 30th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I have taken a keen interest in the expiry of the long-term social housing operating agreements since I was elected in 2011.

In the last Parliament, I moved Motion No. 450, which I moved again in this Parliament. It states:

That, in the opinion of the House, the government should, in collaboration with the provinces, territories, municipalities and community partners, maintain and expand, in line with Canada’s obligations under the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the federal investment in social housing, which would include the renewal of long-term social housing operating agreements, in order to preserve rent subsidies and provide funds for necessary renovations.

The purpose of the motion is to ensure that we continue to make the necessary investments to maintain the stock of social housing in Canada by securing the funds to renovate the units and maintain the rent subsidies without which so many families could not meet that most basic need: shelter.

To illustrate the situation, in the question I asked on October 7, I referred to a video that went viral in which little five-year-old Brooke Blair took the British Prime Minister to task because she does not understand why people are homeless or why the government is not doing enough to help them.

If we continue to allow Canada's social housing situation to deteriorate, we could end up with many more homeless families. Beginning in the 1970s, more than 620,000 social housing units were created under 25- to 50-year agreements. The agreements provided financial support to low-income households to ensure that they were not spending more than 30% of their income on housing.

In the early 1990s, the Liberal government stopped funding new social housing units. In recent years, long-term operating agreements began to expire. As of today, nearly 50,000 social housing units have been affected by the expiry of those agreements, and by the end of 2017, nearly 100,000 more households will have to face the prospect of their rent subsidy ending.

Over the years, the federal government has delegated the administration of some social housing to the provinces and, in some cases, the municipalities by transferring to them the federal funding associated with the agreements. That is the case for most low-income housing. Upon the expiry of the agreements, the provinces and municipalities will find themselves having to manage a stock of old social housing requiring major renovations without the benefit of federal money. If these jurisdictions want to prevent an increase in homelessness, maintain the number and quality of social housing units, and preserve the minimum standard of living of households who receive financial assistance, they must cover the cost themselves.

The minister responsible for housing has been given the mandate of restoring the federal government's role of supporting housing mainly by helping municipalities to keep rent subsidies geared to income. The 2016-17 budget also provides $30 million over two years to maintain rent subsidies for social housing. However, this amount is solely for housing administered by the CMHC, and not the housing whose administration has been delegated to other authorities.

Despite our many questions, we still do not know what will happen to social housing funding that has already expired.

Families who live in subsidized social housing need to hear a firm commitment from the minister. What is he waiting for? When will he clearly announce what he intends to do to resolve the matter of funding for social housing in Canada once and for all?

[Water Quality, November 25th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, like my colleague, I want to take us back to the 19th century and talk about the John Franklin expedition in the Arctic.

A few years ago, the bodies of three of his fellow sailors were found. Because they were found in the permafrost, autopsies could be carried out in order to determine the cause of death. It was determined that they had been sick, and to improve their health, they had been given the best food possible, which was canned meat. However, the cans were sealed with lead. The cause of death was lead poisoning caused by a thin line of lead in the cans.

Only a tiny amount of lead is needed to poison someone. In fact, people had been getting sick for centuries. The case I just mentioned occurred in the 19th century, but here we are still talking about it in the 21st.

Since I do think it is about time we joined the 21st century, I will gladly support my colleague's motion, and quite simply, I also want to thank him.

[Canada Business Corporations Act, November 25th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, it seems that the Conservatives are going to vote in favour of sending Bill C-25 to committee.

I would like to know if they are also going to support Bill C-220, introduced by colleague from Nanaimo—Ladysmith, that seeks to improve gender diversity on corporate boards and among senior management.

A few years ago, in the last Parliament, my colleague Anne-Marie Day introduced a similar bill and the Conservatives voted against it. However, this time, they seem to want to vote in favour of this bill, which also seeks to increase the presence of women on corporate boards.

I would like to know what their position will be on my colleague's bill.

[Housing, November 25th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday we learned the details of the plan for the future Maison de Radio-Canada.

In 2009, a agreement was reached between Radio-Canada and the City of Montreal. They agreed that 20% of the construction would include social and community housing on this site. However, the developer that is buying the current tower and some of the land is not a signatory to the agreement.

How is the minister responsible for social housing going to ensure that this agreement is upheld and when will the construction of this new social housing begin?

[Ethics, November 25th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, it would seem that the ministers answering our questions do not agree with the Prime Minister.

When they were asked about exclusive fundraising activities this week, they replied that the Liberals were continuing to work hard, and “to bring investors to Canada”.

The government cannot talk out of both sides of its mouth. Either it confirms that this does not pertain to government business, or it confirms that it is attracting investment. Which is it?

[Housing, November 24th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I read the report and I also met with representatives from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the FCM, this week.

In its submission for the consultations on a national housing strategy, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities recommends detailed, costed investments in housing over eight years. It calls for the protection of existing social housing, which means investing in the necessary renovations, and maintaining the subsidies for low-income households in order to mitigate the impact of the expiry of the long-term social housing operating agreements.

The FCM also recommends investing in building new social housing and in housing for indigenous peoples and in northern communities. It also proposes doubling to $350 million the investment in the homelessness partnering strategy.

Will the minister work with the municipalities, listen to the FCM, and invest the necessary funding to resolve the housing crisis and effectively fight homelessness in the next budget?

[Housing, November 24th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, on September 30, 2016, several mayors and leaders in the housing sector, led by the mayor of Toronto, rallied together to sound the alarm on the social housing crisis facing our country. Despite the announcements the government made in the last budget, the fact is that much more is needed to preserve the existing social housing stock, which is aging and requires extensive renovations.

In Toronto alone, it is estimated that over $2.6 billion would be needed to fix the existing housing. Meanwhile, across the country, over 170,000 families are waiting for social housing. Canadian municipalities do not have sufficient financial resources to meet the demand and they are waiting for the federal government to make a much larger commitment. The equation is simple, however: the longer we wait, the more the situation deteriorates, which means more existing social housing units will have to be condemned and abandoned, while the wait lists will only get longer.

In addition, municipalities are concerned about what will become of federal funding associated with long-term operating agreements that are about to expire. It is important to note that, since 2006, 46,000 social housing units in Canada have been affected by the expiry of long-term agreements that allowed social housing operators to subsidize their low-income renters. By the end of 2017, nearly 100,000 more households will face uncertainty about their rent subsidy.

In his mandate letter to the minister, the Prime Minister clearly directed him to develop a strategy to re-establish the federal government's role in supporting affordable housing that includes providing support to municipalities to maintain rent-geared-to-income subsidies in co-ops. The Prime Minister probably forgot to mention that not-for-profit housing organizations and low-income housing organizations also offer similar rent subsidies. Let us assume that the minister was given a mandate to address this worrisome situation comprehensively.

The problem is that every time they answer our questions, they talk about agreements set to expire in the future, and they put off any final decision about it. In the meantime, agreements are still expiring, and there is no way to know what will happen to those that have already expired. All they tell us is that there is a budget to maintain rent subsidies for housing units administered by the CMHC.

This federal assistance is only temporary as it is being provided for two years. In addition, the budget does not cover housing administered by the provinces or, in certain cases, by municipalities, as is the case for low-income housing across the country. Therefore, this does not address the problem that mayors of major Canadian cities have raised.

“What We Heard”, the report on the consultations held to help shape a Canadian housing strategy, stated the following:

Canadians told us that social housing was an essential component to include in the NHS. Over 90% of respondents to the NHS online survey ranked social housing renewal and subsidized housing as “important” or “very important”...Social housing also featured strongly in Canadians’ written submissions, appearing in 37% of uploaded documents, and was also often mentioned in the focus group and roundtable discussions.

This means that social housing is vitally important for the majority of people concerned by the housing issue. This is also true for the NDP, as was noted in the brief it submitted during the consultation process. I even once again moved Motion M-53, to renew funding for social housing in Canada.

I am therefore asking the minister or the parliamentary secretary yet again: what does the minister plan to do to meet these demands and resolve the issue of funding for social housing in Canada once and for all?

[Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement Implementation Act, November 22nd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague talked about the lack of compensation for dairy farmers. The amount the Liberal government is putting on the table is even lower than what the Conservatives were proposing and that was already low enough. What is more, compensation will be granted only on the condition that dairy farmers invest their own money toward improving their facilities. In other words, dairy farmers have to spend money in order to get a very small amount of compensation.

What impact does the hon. member think this will have on dairy farmers? This is very important for Quebec, the province I represent.