Sean Casey

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, February 1st, 2022]

Madam Speaker, yes.

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, February 1st, 2022]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question.

I believe that our government has done a great job implementing the national housing strategy. There are some aspects in this strategy, no doubt, and I would be happy to support any measure that will help speed up the solutions to the problems in this country, including making transfers to the provinces.

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, February 1st, 2022]

Madam Speaker, it is a real pleasure to see my colleague from Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon again, albeit virtually. I certainly enjoyed working with him on the human resources committee, and for a member of Parliament from British Columbia to be so knowledgeable about the situation on Prince Edward Island is appreciated.

To answer my hon. colleague, there is much more to do. Of that there is no doubt. There is a dramatic increase in housing prices right across the country, and Prince Edward Island has not been immune to those increases.

We have a bit of a perfect storm here in P.E.I. We have done a great job of attracting and retaining immigrants, and before COVID our economy was absolutely booming, but we have a situation here of 1,000 unfilled construction jobs. That is a major bottleneck, so the member makes a fair point. There is much more to do, and in one sense, we have actually become victims of our own success. However, I certainly appreciate the question from him and the knowledge displayed in the way he posed it.

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, February 1st, 2022]

Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise in the House. As this is my first opportunity to present a full speech, please allow me a couple of minutes to thank the good people of Charlottetown for the honour of representing them here in the House of Commons for the fourth time. I was first elected in 2011; they saw fit to elect me once again, and for that I am grateful and humbled.

I am also extremely grateful to the army of volunteers it takes to run a successful campaign. I have been blessed to have a solid core of people who have supported me in those volunteer roles since my first election in 2011. At the risk of missing someone, I am only going to single out my campaign chairs, Emily MacDonald and Spencer Campbell. Spencer has been with me since the very first campaign, and I certainly would not be here but for their leadership and for the other lifers around the table who have supported me over the last 10 years in my campaigns.

I am thankful for the love and support of my parents and my partner Deirdre. Without them, there is absolutely no way it would be possible for me to get through the marathon we endure to get to this place or for me to be sitting here.

Part of my motivation for getting into politics 10 years ago was the treatment of my province and of the country by the then Conservative government, which was led by Stephen Harper. He cancelled plans for a third subsea cable that would assure energy security for Prince Edward Island. We fixed that. He increased the age of eligibility for old age security for seniors. We fixed that. He closed offices of the people who served veterans. He closed district offices and slashed hundreds of positions of people who served veterans, including those at the national headquarters in Charlottetown and right across the country. We fixed that. He tore up agreements that had been achieved under then minister Ken Dryden for a national child care program and replaced them with payments of $100 a month to parents. We fixed that.

This throne speech indicates that we continue on the progress that has been made since 2015 on building a resilient economy and a cleaner and brighter future for our kids. Of the key themes in the throne speech that resonated in my riding during the campaign, there is probably none more prominent than housing. It is a major priority in Prince Edward Island; it is absolutely a major priority in Charlottetown.

Housing is a human right. Every Canadian deserves a safe, accessible and affordable place to call home. During the campaign, I heard from many constituents about the impact Canada's housing crisis has had on them. Our government has a plan to increase housing affordability and make home ownership a reality for more Canadians. Since 2015, with the implementation of the national housing strategy, we have helped more than one million Canadians find a safe place to call home, but there is still so much to do.

Here in Prince Edward Island, there is an investment of $40.7 million in the Canada-P.E.I housing benefit that was announced to support low-income households. There are over 22,00 households in P.E.I. that will receive assistance for affordable housing under this benefit. Other examples that I am particularly proud of are three buildings that were financed under the retail construction financing initiative, with a $19.2-million low-cost loan for residential buildings in Charlottetown. Investments like these are sometimes met with scorn from those who are extremely concerned about the plight of low-income Canadians and low-income islanders, because that particular program is designed for those who are at or above the median income, and that is the model.

What I will say about the rental construction financing initiative and the particular investment in my riding is that the minute those units were constructed, they were filled. The national housing strategy addresses needs at various socio-economic strata across the country and on the island. One in particular that was directed to low-income islanders was something called Martha's Place, which was finished in 2020. It is a real model of how the national co-investment fund is supposed to work.

Here is how Martha's Place came together. It is a development that has rent geared to income, so 25% of what someone makes is their rent. It came together because the Province of Prince Edward Island donated the land, the city of Charlottetown waived the property taxes, the Sisters of St. Martha contributed $1 million and the federal government came in with a low-cost loan of $11.5 million. Now there is a rent-geared-to-income project in the riding on a transit route. It is something that is absolutely critical and something, quite frankly, that we need to see more of. It is my hope that under the initiatives in the throne speech toward housing, we will soon be in a position to announce something under the rapid housing initiative as well as further projects under the national co-investment fund to promote partnerships like the one that I just described.

Something else that resonated significantly in the riding during the campaign was with respect to child care. Throughout the pandemic, many parents have struggled to re-enter the workforce due to limited access to affordable and flexible child care. The Speech from the Throne commits to building the first-ever Canada-wide early learning and child care system, after almost getting there on the eve of the arrival of the Harper government. Child care fees are expected to be cut in half by the end of 2022, which will save families thousands of dollars.

Here in Prince Edward Island, we have already seen the beginning of those reductions. The standard for government-run early childhood centres last year was $34 a day. In Prince Edward Island, that has already been reduced to $25 a day, and those reductions will continue through the life of the program. Here on P.E.I., within the next two years we are going to see 452 new early learning and child care spaces that offer high-quality, affordable programming. The child care agreements, as we know, have been signed by all provinces, except Ontario, and all three territories. It will certainly make life more affordable for Canadians, but it will also create new well-paying jobs and ensure that every child has a fair shot at success. Investments in child care will build on the success of the Canada child benefit, which, over the past five years, has provided tax-free support to over three million Canadian families and lifted 300,000 children out of poverty.

I have a quick anecdote with respect to the Canada child benefit. A major employer here on Prince Edward Island is the Department of Veterans Affairs. The payroll is in excess of $100 million a year. It is widely seen as a major contributor to our economy. The Canada child benefit contributes that same $100 million a year, but the difference between the payroll at the national headquarters of Veterans Affairs Canada and the Canada child care benefits that are put into the pockets of parents every single month is that the latter are not taxable. That is meaningful, progressive policy that will help us through the pandemic and into the 2020s.

[Petitions, December 15th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, as this is the first time that I have had a chance to speak in the chamber since the last election, please allow me to thank the good people of Charlottetown for electing me and sending me back to the House of Commons for the fourth time.

Some of those fine citizens have been inspired by a book written by Seth Klein called “A Good War” that calls for just transition legislation. This petition that I am presenting is on that topic. As we heard from the member for Kings—Hants, the petitioners are calling on the government to enact just transition legislation that would, among other things, expand the social safety net and pay for the transition by increasing taxes on the wealthiest corporations and financing through a public national bank.

[Committees of the House, June 21st, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the seventh report of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in relation to Bill C-265, an act to amend the Employment Insurance Act (illness, injury or quarantine).

The committee has studied the bill and has decided to report it back to the House without amendment.

[Committees of the House, June 17th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the sixth report of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, entitled “Modernizing the Employment Insurance Program”.

I would like to sincerely thank all members of the committee for their excellent work on this report and also congratulate and thank the team from the House of Commons and the Library of Parliament for their professionalism and patience in supporting the committee.

Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to this report.

[Committees of the House, May 26th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the fifth report of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, entitled “Indigenous Housing: The Direction Home”.

Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to this report.

As something that I think we should do on a more regular basis, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the support team that the parliamentarians had in the development of this report, particularly the committee clerks, Danielle Widmer and Andrew Wilson, and the analysts from the Library of Parliament who did such excellent work, Brittany Collier and Elizabeth Cahill.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1, May 11th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, I very much enjoy serving with the hon. member on the standing committee for human resources. She talked about support for seniors and discrimination against seniors of different ages. In the very budget the Conservatives presented upon gaining a majority, they increased the age of eligibility for old age security for seniors from age 65 to 67. I presented a private member's motion to have this reversed, which the Conservatives defeated.

The rationale at the time was that people were living and working longer, and therefore, there was no need for support between age 65 and 67. Is that still the policy of the Conservative Party of Canada?

[Committees of the House, March 22nd, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the fourth report of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, entitled “Supplementary Estimates (C), 2020-21: Vote 1c under Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and Votes 1c, 5c, 10c and 15c under Department of Employment and Social Development”.

I will take this opportunity to thank the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development and the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion for appearing before the committee along with their hard-working officials and for the excellent work of the members of the committee to get to this point in a collaborative way, including some rearranging of schedules. By all accounts, it was a moment that would make Parliament proud.