Sean Fraser

[Housing, November 2nd, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to affordable housing, the Conservative Party could not be more out of touch. Referring to co-ops as “Soviet-style” housing is a slap in the face to the quarter-million Canadians who live in homes like that. This is not the first time I have heard the Conservative leader criticize middle-class Canadians' living arrangements. Just this past summer, on a live video, he labelled a woman's home in Niagara a “shack”.

Canadians need bold federal leadership to solve the housing crisis, and that is what we are going to deliver. The Conservative leader, who insults middle-class homes while he goes home to his own government-paid-for housing arrangement, simply does not get it. It is reckless behaviour. We will not stand for it.

[Carbon Pricing, October 30th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, with great respect to my hon. colleague, I think he has missed the point of this program entirely. He is concerned that people will pay a higher price after the pause has ended and the price comes back into effect. If people install a heat pump, they will not pay it at all and that is the point.

We are making the investments necessary so people can replace a more polluting system with a less polluting system. Since he has mentioned coal, we are working to eliminate that from the grid in Nova Scotia too, which is going to help people in both of our communities.

[Carbon Pricing, October 30th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member asked us to cure the problem. The problem we are trying to cure is pollution from home heating oil. By making the investments necessary, we can replace home heating oil furnaces with heat pumps. They are cleaner, they create jobs in our communities and they save thousands of dollars every year for families that live in my community and his.

The member has described before, on this chamber's floor, heat pumps as fairy tale programs. People who live in our communities are going to save thousands of dollars. That is no fairy tale.

[Carbon Pricing, October 30th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, we know that carbon pricing works. It both reduces emissions and puts more money in the pockets of middle-class families. We made a decision to attack a highly polluting source of fuel, home heating oil, in a different way so we could get rid of it faster. We are doing this by making a record investment in heat pump technology, which is not only going to reduce emissions at a household level, but it is going to save families thousands of dollars every year. This is sensible policy. It is good for the environment, it is good for the economy and it is good for the households not just in my riding but right across the country.

[Carbon Pricing, October 26th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, it is absolutely clear that when it comes to supporting the people in our home province of Nova Scotia, the solutions lie on this side of the House. I remember attending a ceremony in the member's riding when we shared details of a $300-million project that would be creating jobs at the Michelin plant in his riding.

From the time I arrived in the House, we have been advancing measures that are putting more money in the pockets of our constituents in Nova Scotia. We ended the practice of sending child care cheques to millionaires to put more money in the pockets of ordinary people. We continue to advance measures to protect seniors' pensions. Now we are putting measures on the table that are going to build more homes at prices ordinary people can afford. That member and his caucus colleagues vote against it every single time.

[Housing, October 26th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, one of the reasons we are dealing with such extraordinary housing challenges, including those that are impacting the country's most vulnerable, is that successive governments for decades made no effort to invest in affordable housing. For the entire decade the hon. member's party was in power, it did nothing to build housing for low-income Canadians.

We have changed that over the last number of years specifically to address homelessness, which is a crisis for those experiencing it. We doubled support through the Reaching Home program. The member voted against it. I cannot accept criticisms from him when he does everything to get in the way of the supports that would help the very people that form the subject of his question.

[Housing, October 26th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to share with the hon. member that as a result of the measures we put in place directly to support some of Canada's most vulnerable, we have prevented more than 120,000 Canadians from becoming homeless, and we have found permanent housing for almost 70,000 more who were experiencing homelessness.

We know there is more to do. That is why we continue to make investments through the national housing strategy, which has now created or retrofitted half a million homes for Canadians. We will do everything we can to build more homes. I am glad the NDP is alongside us. I invite the Conservatives to get on board.

[Housing, October 26th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for her concern for some of Canada's most vulnerable.

I am happy to inform her that we have been working for a number of years to build more homes to support them. In fact, we have doubled funding to the Reaching Home program to support some of Canada's most vulnerable.

We recently removed the GST on new apartments. We have seen thousands of new homes come online as a result.

I was recently in western Canada to make an announcement to change the way cities are going to build homes. We are going to pull every lever at our disposal to build more homes faster for Canadians, including to provide supports to some of the country's most vulnerable people.

[Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, October 26th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, it is possible to welcome newcomers and build housing at the same time.

I have good news for my colleagues: We have reached an agreement with Quebec to build housing in Quebec.

It is essential that we continue to embrace newcomers, as they are key to our economic growth. They are key to our health care system. We can build homes for Canadians at the same time, and that is precisely what we will do. I hope my colleague will join me in this effort.

[Public Services and Procurement, October 26th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, while I am impressed that the Conservatives are finally talking about supporting some of Canada's most vulnerable, it is unfortunate that their record does not stand up to the scrutiny.

I was in Kelowna yesterday to announce $31.5 million to build more homes in that community. The Conservatives plan to cut the fund that is actually putting that money into Kelowna.

During the pandemic, we continued to invest so that families could keep food on the table while their leader called them “big, fat government programs”. Canadians would be forgiven if they asked what the Conservatives are going to cut in order to achieve their goals. Is it going to be money for housing? Is it going to be money for low-income families?

We will make the investments necessary to support Canadians in need.