Sean Fraser

[Housing, March 19th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his advocacy.

I had the opportunity to be in Edmonton recently to meet with the mayor and the provincial minister in Alberta, as well as with my colleague, the member for Edmonton Centre. We are working hard to advance additional funding to support community-based organizations that support Canadians who are living without a roof over their head. We also very recently had the opportunity to share an agreement with $175 million behind it that will build thousands of homes in Edmonton, including more rentals, which will help reduce the cost of rent and continue to support people who are looking to find a place to live.

There is no silver bullet for the housing crisis, but we will pull every lever at our disposal to help solve it by working together with Edmonton and Alberta.

[Carbon Pricing, March 19th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, every instance the Conservatives have an opportunity to speak in the House, they advocate one of two things: to do less on the environment or to take money from families in my community. I will support neither.

We will do whatever we can to put more money in the pockets of families and do the right thing for future generations.

[Carbon Pricing, March 19th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives want to peddle false information to trick Canadians into voting for them. The reality proven not by projections, but by real-world data, is that people who live in my province receive more money every year from the rebates that they receive than the fuel charge that they pay. Everything the Conservatives do—

[Carbon Pricing, March 19th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member has qualms about the member for Kings—Hants, I can reassure him that he is a champion for his community. He launched a petition recently to stand up to the Conservative Government of Nova Scotia for changes to the agricultural sector in his community.

Every time the Conservatives ask a question about the environment, it is to find out ways they can do less.

The member for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke has suggested that flooding in the Ottawa River was a result of regulations that were not in place.

The member for Cariboo—Prince George has suggested that climate change is not a result of industrial pollution but of more body heat from a growing population.

The member for Red Deer—Lacombe visited school kids to say carbon dioxide was plant food.

This—

[Carbon Pricing, March 19th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, what the hon. member is actually suggesting is false. We have real-world data to demonstrate that in provinces where the system actually applies, families receive hundreds of dollars more each year than they pay in fuel charges.

The Conservatives pretend to care about affordability, yet they oppose measures to put more money in the pockets of families. They pretend to care about affordability, but they oppose measures that protect seniors' pensions. They pretend to care about affordability, but they vote against measures to remove the interest on Canada student loans.

We will do everything we can to make life more affordable, including putting more money in the pockets of families while we fight climate change at the same time.

[Carbon Pricing, February 27th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, over the past eight years, I have watched, time and again, the Conservatives stand up to vote against the very measures that are putting money in the pockets of families to help them cover the cost of food.

When it comes to the Canada child benefit, we stopped sending cheques to millionaires, so we could put more money in the pockets of nine out of 10 families.

When it comes to taxes, we raised taxes on the wealthiest 1% to cut them for the middle class.

When it comes to seniors, we put more money in the pockets of low-income single seniors.

For every one of these measures, Conservatives have opposed them.

We will continue to do what is necessary to allow families to put food on the table, no matter how hard they oppose it.

[Infrastructure, February 26th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague for his advocacy to get roads built in his community.

This announcement, worth more than $21 million, is going to help build or improve 149 kilometres of road on the island. We continue to fund different road supports across programs, whether it is the Canada community-building fund, the disaster mitigation and adaptation fund, the national trade corridors fund or the investing in Canada infrastructure plan, which included specifically eligibility for rural roads.

We have programs in Calgary, in my own constituency in Nova Scotia and on the island. We are going to keep doing what it takes to put people to work in good-paying jobs that build communities.

[Housing, February 13th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his concern for the quality of accommodations that families are living through in this country. He is right to point out that, for several decades, governments, both Liberal and Conservative, failed to invest in affordable housing, but that changed with the introduction of the national housing strategy in 2017.

We have been investing to help build or retrofit several hundred thousand homes that people are living in today. In the fall economic statement, we have recapitalized the affordable housing fund with an addition billion dollars and another $300 million toward co-operative housing. We are going to continue to make the investments necessary to ensure that every Canadian has a roof over their head.

[Domestic Violence, February 13th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the scale of the tragedy that took place is not lost on us, and we endeavour to continue to do our part to see that justice is done. However, it is important that, as we go forward, we continue to invest in the projects that are going to provide people with the safety and security of living in a home that prevents this kind of incident from happening.

Our programs provide support to shelters and transitional housing, particularly for women fleeing violence. We are going to look for additional opportunities and make the investments necessary to continue to build out the network of homes that will help prevent these kinds of tragedies in the future.

[Housing, February 1st, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his advocacy. We are committed to building more homes, including affordable housing for low-income families. In fact, in the member's own community, a Métis-led project is going ahead that will provide affordable homes for community residents and support for women and children fleeing violence. We have increased funding for co-operative housing for the first time in decades, with a program to be launched soon that is backed by $1.5 billion. We have increased funding for affordable housing in the recent fall economic statement, with an additional $1 billion. We have constructed or renovated hundreds of thousands of affordable housing units. We care about the most vulnerable and know that they deserve to have a roof over their heads.