Sean Fraser

[Housing, April 15th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member wants to talk about homes that do not exist. Let us talk about the 800,000 affordable housing units that were lost when he was last in government. Let us talk about the fact that when he was actually housing minister, he got zero apartments built with the support of the federal government. Let us look at the fact that across the entire country, he was able to get a total of only six affordable housing units built.

He talks a big game, but he does literally nothing for people who need to get into the housing market. We have new measures that help people who are renting now and measures that will make it easier for people to save up for a down payment and reduce their monthly mortgage costs if they want to own a home in this country.

[Housing, April 15th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, if the Leader of the Opposition wants to talk about homes that do not exist, perhaps we should look at the 800,000 affordable housing units that were lost while he was housing minister. Perhaps we should examine the fact that, while he was minister, zero new apartments were supported by the federal government and a total of only six affordable housing units were built nationwide.

Now, he likes to talk a big game, but let us look at the plan he is putting on the table. He wants to raise taxes on home construction and cut funding for the cities that are making it easier to build homes.

We have advanced programs that are going not just to build more homes but to allow people to save up more money for their down payment and reduce their monthly mortgage costs when they go to enter the housing market for the first time.

[Housing, April 15th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition seems to know the cost of everything but the value of absolutely nothing. Does he not see value in the measures that are building more homes in this country? Does he not see value in programs that are going to put food on the table for hungry kids through a school food program? He continues to oppose measures that are helping students with the cost of their education and families with the cost of housing.

We will continue to put measures on the table to make life more affordable for middle-class Canadians and do right by a generation of young people who have been priced out of the housing market. It is a shame his policies would have the exact opposite effect.

[Housing, April 15th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, is that common sense? That is more like nonsense. He wants to make cuts to programs that support the middle class. He wants to make cuts to the program that helps build housing. He wants to make cuts to the program seeking to protect our environment. That is not common sense. It is incompetence.

[Intergovernmental Affairs, April 10th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, we are investing to build homes in Quebec.

For example, with the housing accelerator fund, we are concluding an agreement worth $1.8 billion with the province of Quebec to build 8,000 affordable housing units across the province. The Conservative Party opposes this investment. That is unbelievable.

We continue to invest in order to make things better and build more affordable housing as quickly as possible.

[Housing, April 9th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, it is vital that we invest in building housing. In fact, we are making investments along with Quebec in building affordable housing.

After reaching a $1.8-billion agreement with Quebec, we are going to build 8,000 affordable housing units in Quebec alone.

In comparison, across the entire country when the Conservative leader was the housing minister, the Conservatives constructed a total of six affordable housing units nationwide. There is no contest when it comes to supporting the most vulnerable. I question their authenticity, when they actually talk about the investments, when they vote against the money behind the programs.

[Carbon Pricing, April 9th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, it is hard to take seriously the hon. member's criticism when he and his party voted against a pay raise for the men and women who serve this country in uniform.

When we come to this chamber every day, we have an opportunity to stand up for policies that help middle-class families put food on the table. When we cut taxes for the middle class and raised it on the wealthiest 1%, the Conservatives voted against it. When we stopped sending child care cheques to the wealthiest people in this country so that we could put more in the pockets of nine out 10 Canadian families, they voted against it. Now they want to justify their climate denialism by taking hundreds of dollars from families who live in our communities. It is not right, and we are going to do what it takes to help people.

[Carbon Pricing, April 9th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague talks about putting food on the table. I am proud to be part of a government that believes that hungry kids should have food on the table. I am proud to be part of a government that is taking action to implement a school food program so those hungry kids are able to eat when they go to school. It is unbelievable to me to hear this rhetoric from Conservative opposition members when they had the gall to stand up and vote against putting food on the table for hungry kids.

They talk a big game, but when they have a chance to do anything to put food on the table for my constituents, they oppose it at every turn. We will do what it takes to help working-class and middle-class families and kids when it comes to putting food on the table.

[Housing, April 8th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, let me begin by offering my sincere congratulations to our newest colleague in the House of Commons. It is wonderful to have him here.

What the member may not realize, being new to the House, is that his leader is actively campaigning on commitments to build fewer homes than we have already projected to build. He may not realize that the Conservative leader has promised to raise taxes on homebuilding. He may not realize the Conservative leader has pledged to cut funding for homebuilding. He may not realize that his party held a press conference last week to say that it does not want to do anything on municipal reforms and has decided to side with the NIMBYs.

Over the member's time here, I hope he comes to see the light and gets with a plan that will build more homes.

[Housing, April 8th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, let me thank my hon. colleague for his advocacy for his community, which is going to help get thousands of homes built in Richmond over the course of the next number of years.

In the upcoming federal budget, we are going to continue to put measures on the table that help accelerate the pace of home building. This includes low-cost financing to add tens of thousands of new rental units. This includes additional support to help non-profits acquire housing that they will keep affordable forever. It includes new investments in affordable housing and new strategies to build homes more quickly by incentivizing home building in factories.

With members like this advocating for their community, we can put a plan on the table that will solve the national housing crisis.