Sean Fraser

[Housing, November 19th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I will start by thanking my hon. colleague for advocating on behalf of his communities; that is indeed the role that members of Parliament play. In fact, his advocacy has helped secure millions of dollars for communities such as Wolfville, East Hants, West Hants and Kings County.

I was shocked to learn that the Conservative leader planned to cut these investments, which are going towards building more homes in my province of Nova Scotia. By the way, it is working, with a 23% increase in home starts this year. However, I was more stunned to see Conservative members of Parliament abiding by their leader's instruction, refusing to advocate for their communities. If they need witness protection, I would be happy to speak to the Minister of Public Safety on their behalf.

[Housing, November 18th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to correct the record that my Conservative colleague has put on the floor of the House of Commons. Housing starts are actually up 8% compared to last month, and year over year, are trending in a positive direction, near the all-time record homebuilding pace that Canada has ever seen.

It is interesting that this question would come from this particular member, who represents the city of Kelowna, which received $31.5 million to build thousands and thousands more homes. Not only is she opposed to that investment, but also her leader has barred her and every one of her colleagues from advocating on behalf of their communities. I came here to represent my community in Ottawa, not to take my leader's words back home.

[Housing, November 18th, 2024]

You may have seen the news, Mr. Speaker, but last week the Conservatives had a very bad week. First their leader went out in public to announce that he was cutting billions of dollars in funding directly to communities to build more homes, but later it was revealed that his MPs were advocating for that fund and were since banned from advocating on behalf of their communities.

I do not know about you, Mr. Speaker, but my constituents want to make sure that they are the boss, not the leader of our party up here. It seems that is not true. However, when we look at the example in Kelowna, let us take a look at what the mayor said. To replace this funding, he would need to look at other options like “borrowing, reserves or tax increases.” Tax increases on the Conservative side; money for communities.

[Housing, November 8th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague for his advocacy on behalf of his community, which helped secure tens of millions of dollars for the community he calls home.

We are both from Nova Scotia. We have seen small towns and the city receive significant funding to make it easier to build homes more quickly at prices that people can actually afford. We know it takes investment to get homes built in this country, which is why we put billions of dollars on the table to help cities build homes more quickly.

The Conservative response to this important program would be to cut. They would try to deny communities access to this funding, and cities would have to raise property taxes to make it up. We are going to make the investments necessary—

[Foreign Affairs, November 8th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, while the Conservative members of Parliament are focused on distractions, we are focused on delivering housing for Canadians who live in this country.

We are currently in a debate with the Conservatives based on their big commitment to cut billions of dollars from housing directly to communities right across this country. On this side of the House, we know that it takes investments to build housing so that we can make it easier to build and make housing more affordable. What is the Conservative solution? It is to cut, cut, cut. We have a long history of Conservative cuts to housing. It is part of the reason we are facing a housing crisis today. We will make the investments necessary to deliver affordability to Canadians.

[Housing, November 7th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I share my colleague's concern about the plight of some of Canada's most vulnerable, those without a roof over their head. In order to address those challenges, we need to ensure that we build out the affordable housing stock so people can find a place that is safe and that they can afford.

That is why we are moving forward with billions of dollars of investments to help build affordable housing in our country at a pace not seen in many decades. It is why we put money on the table to support non-profits to buy up existing affordable housing in the market to ensure that it remains affordable forever. It is also why we have restored, after decades of cuts, more investments in co-operative and affordable housing.

We will continue to do what it takes to ensure every Canadian has affordable housing.

[Housing, November 7th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I want to offer a couple of points.

First, I want to thank my colleague for her advocacy for her community to receive funding through the housing accelerator fund, which is delivering hundreds of millions of dollars for housing in Toronto. What is fascinating is the Conservative strategy, which is now to forbid their MPs from advocating for their communities. On this side of the House, we have community advocates who will stand up so that their communities get the funding they need.

Second, we know that actually building homes takes investments. That is why we are putting money into the system to help build affordable housing, to help reduce barriers to construction.

Third, the Conservative strategy is to cut billions of dollars from housing. That simply is not going to work.

[Housing, November 7th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, as the member is well aware, we are making investments to build affordable housing. For example, we signed an agreement with Quebec under the housing accelerator fund to build 8,000 social housing units. The Conservative Party is against that. When given the opportunity to remove the GST on new apartments, the Conservatives opposed it.

The Conservative Party leader's strategy is to cut, cut, cut measures that support construction. That is unacceptable.

[Veterans Affairs, November 7th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the cost of sending our citizens to war includes the cost of taking care of them when they come home. That is why we have moved forward with programs that are designed to ensure that communities have the capacity to provide housing to those who have put their lives at risk in order to protect our country overseas and at home.

I recently was able to work with the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness to scale up a program that has ended functional homelessness for veterans in three communities across the country so that they can expand it to 26 additional cities. We have also worked very closely with community organizations across the country.

What is disappointing is that when it came time to put our position on the record, the Conservatives voted against this program.

[Housing, October 29th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the attempt to link very challenging life circumstances to the government's housing accelerator fund is beyond disingenuous. The member wants to talk about what her colleague members know. They know that this fund is actually helping to get more housing built in the country. A number of them are writing me personally, asking that their communities be picked for funding, because they know that it is going to succeed in building more homes in their cities.

My question is whether they will have the courage to actually stand up and tell their leader that he is wrong to make billions of dollars of cuts to housing, like he was wrong when he did it when he was the minister.