Sheri Benson

[Petitions, October 15th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table two petitions.

The first petition is from people who are looking to the government to support postal banking. We know that millions of Canadians desperately need an alternative to payday lenders, which affects the poor and marginalized and indigenous communities. There are 38,000 Canada Post outlets that already exist in rural areas where there are few to no banks.

The petitioners therefore ask the government to support Motion No. 166 to create a committee to study and propose a plan for postal banking under the Canada Post Corporation.

[Okihcitâwak Patrol Group, October 15th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to an extraordinary group of volunteers, the Okihcitâwak Patrol Group, or OPG.

This summer, when a young girl was almost abducted in Saskatoon, these community members decided enough was enough and stepped up to reclaim their neighbourhood. From patrolling schools and parks to needle cleanup to just being a reassuring presence and friendly face, OPG is on the front lines doing its part to make the Pleasant Hill neighbourhood a safer place for everyone, especially children.

Okihcitâwak means warrior in Cree. OPG members are also committed to building cultural and neighbourhood pride, with events like impromptu round dances in the local park. OPG founder and leader Colin Naytowhow and Lanny McDonald, second in command, are working with the Saskatoon Police Service to provide volunteers with training and support.

Please join me in thanking Colin and Lanny for their leadership and all the members of OPG for stepping up to make our communities safer. They are our neighbourhood heroes.

[Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership Implementation Act, October 3rd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, since the CPTPP includes investor-state provisions that allow investors to sue Canada for regulating in the public interest on issues like health and the environment, could the member tell the House why she supports an agreement with such harmful provisions?

[Public Transportation, October 2nd, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I want to stress that I believe that the federal government needs to lead in this area, and we have not seen any action. It is not moving the needle one bit.

I would like to ask the parliamentary secretary to at least acknowledge that there is a role for the federal government in restoring not only crucial intra-provincial but interprovincial transportation options for the people of Saskatchewan. The loss of STC, and now Greyhound, is definitely having a disproportionate impact on women. It places women's lives at risk, further isolates northern, rural and indigenous communities and places unnecessary limitations on the mobility of seniors, people living with disabilities, people living in poverty and those who are disenfranchised.

I would like to know how many more questions and how many more letters we need. What will it take to get the government to step up and help the people of Saskatchewan?

[Public Transportation, October 2nd, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the parliamentary secretary for being here this evening, but I am saddened to have to continue to speak up about this very important issue, which is the need for safe, affordable public transportation in Saskatchewan.

The previous parliamentary secretary said, in reply to my question in the House, that “having an efficient, functional transportation system is absolutely critical”. In fact, I have heard a few different versions of this sentiment from several members of the government. From the Minister of Innovation:

As the member knows full well, this is an issue that we are working on. We will work with her office to make sure we take the appropriate steps that are required and needed to address the issue in a meaningful way.

How to explain, then, that a recent Order Paper question I submitted, asking for the list of any meetings or correspondence related to STC by officials at Innovation, came back with a shocking answer: There have been zero meetings and no correspondence on this issue whatsoever. Why did the Minister of Innovation say what he said if, in fact, no work has been done? I believe the people of Saskatchewan deserve an explanation.

Further, I heard from the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, who said:

I can assure the member that I am working with my Saskatchewan colleagues. We want to deliver for the people of Saskatchewan. There will be good news coming. I can assure her that she can come to see me or the Minister of Public Safety and my colleagues.

Well, I reached out that very same day to the Minister of Public Safety, the lone minister from Saskatchewan, for an urgent meeting. I have still not heard back. I have certainly never been contacted or approached by the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities on this issue, nor have I heard from any of his departmental officials.

The hon. parliamentary secretary will forgive me, perhaps, if I do not quite believe that the government is taking this issue seriously, despite what the Liberals say. In addition to many questions in the House from me and my NDP colleagues, I have also written to various ministers about the loss of STC and the impact this has had on families across Saskatchewan, especially people who live in northern and remote areas, in terms of safety, affordability, access to medical and education services and the ability to connect with family members, as well as about the barriers to being able to attend and participate in the only hearing held in Saskatchewan for the Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

In July of 2017, my colleague, the member for Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, and I wrote a joint letter to the ministers of Indigenous Affairs, Status of Women and labour asking them to coordinate an effective federal response to the concerns raised by a group of seven women's organizations about the adverse effects of the STC shutdown. The Minister of Indigenous Affairs replied that she understood that the closure of the STC has had “some effect on commuters” but that she also understood that Greyhound Canada “continues to provide connections to communities.”

This cavalier, callous and out-of-touch response is astonishing, especially now that we will be facing an even deeper void when Greyhound Canada ends its operations in western Canada as of October 31.

The issue of adequate transportation came up repeatedly during the ongoing Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. What the minister, and by extension the government, fails to understand is that even with financial support to participate in the inquiry, people cannot move around the province without viable, safe and affordable transportation. What I fail to understand is why the government will not do anything to help the people of Saskatchewan.

[Business of Supply, September 27th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the minister for his leadership and work on the housing file.

I grew up in the 1960s and my parents had subsidized housing in Brandon, Manitoba. It helped allow my mom to finish school and my dad to work and have a place to live. It was very helpful. This points to the fact that for people today, just having a job does not mean they can afford housing. That is why I agree with the minister that the government needs to help people afford housing.

Saskatchewan has a provincial government that is moving away from rental supplements and the federal government is now attempting to enter agreements. Could the minister assure me that he will advocate for an agreement with my provincial government and that rental supplements will be an important part of that agreement, and that the Canada housing benefit will build on that so that housing will be affordable for people in Saskatoon?

[Business of Supply, September 27th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, when it came to the national housing strategy, I agreed with the steps taken in the crisis and being able to help those who were most vulnerable. I mentioned those folks in my speech. I felt the way we could do that was to help the most vulnerable, the people who are homeless now or on the verge of not having a home, like Amanda, who I spoke about in my speech.

The Canada housing benefit was a way to step in immediately. It told provinces and people in my community that the federal government understood the crisis and it was there to help them immediately. The best way is to step in right away.

[Business of Supply, September 27th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I have not seen the action meet the rhetoric when it comes to housing, particularly housing on first nations.

When minimal investment is made that would not even get anywhere near to solving the problem, when a contest is held as a way to make it look like something is being done around housing, that does not reflect an attitude toward reconciliation that I would support.

The government has made attempts but it has not gone far enough. It needs to raise it up quite a bit to fit the rhetoric that we are hearing in our communities that this relationship is the one that is the most important to the government.

[Business of Supply, September 27th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I want to echo that the federal government did step out of housing 30 years ago and there have been steps taken into it, particularly Claudette Bradshaw's leadership around the homelessness partnering strategy. That is a piece which the Liberal government has continued to work on and add funds to.

I do not agree with the member that every single expert in the country does not agree that the Canada housing benefit is something we could bring forward sooner. It would immediately help people while we do the other hard work to build more affordable housing.

I hear what the member has to say but I do not agree with the assessment that every expert feels that what the government is doing is the right way to go.

[Business of Supply, September 27th, 2018]

moved:

That, given that a housing crisis is raging in Canada and that 90% of the funding for the government's national housing strategy will only flow after the next election, and that much of the funding depends on collaboration with provincial governments and the private sector, the House call on the government to: (a) recognize the right to housing as a human right; and (b) bring forward 50% of the strategy’s funding before the next election to invest in (i) housing for Indigenous communities, (ii) the construction of new affordable housing, new social housing units and new co-ops units, (iii) a plan to end homelessness, (iv) the renovation of existing social housing and old housing stock, (v) the expansion of rent supplements, (vi) the administration of programs that meet the special needs of seniors and persons with reduced mobility.

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Hochelaga.

A safe and affordable place to call home is not a reality for many living in my riding. As we head into the final year of the government's mandate, I had hoped we would see something different for the people I represent.

Rents have doubled in the last 10 years in Saskatchewan without a similar rise in wages or income supports for people living with disabilities, single parents and seniors. Currently, in Saskatchewan, we have the highest unemployment rate outside of the Atlantic provinces. Life is very tough for far too many people in Saskatchewan.

Invariably, when I am out and about attending events and meeting with constituents, the conversation turns to housing and people struggling to find a safe, affordable place to call home. This summer, the situation for many has become even worse. Why? Because shortly after the Saskatchewan government signed on to the principles of the new provincial-territorial framework with the federal government on housing, our provincial government cut the provincial rental supplement. As of July 1, this important support for people in my province, in my riding, was ended.

What does that mean? For Amanda, a single mother in Saskatoon with three young children, who lost her job last fall, it means living in fear of also losing her home. Amanda is receiving income support from the provincial government through its transitional employment allowance, which includes a rental supplement. Her $1,000-a-month transitional allowance, plus her rental supplement of $331, means that 65% of her income goes to her monthly rent. That means she has $481 left for groceries, utilities and clothes. It means living every day with the anxiety and stress that she will lose her rental supplement and, if that happens, what will happen.

Over 14,000 people in Saskatchewan depend on the rental supplement to afford a place to live. The Saskatoon action plan on homelessness, a community-based leadership group, has helped find safe, affordable housing for over 800 people in Saskatoon, and the vast majority of the people who were helped counted on that rental supplement.

This reality is not unique to my community, my city and my province, it is a reality for far too many people across the country. At least 235,000 households in Canada experience homelessness in any given year. Over a million households pay over 30% of their income for rent, and 400,000 of those people pay over 50% of their income for rent. I consider that a crisis, and I am not alone. It is the general consensus that as a country we must tackle this crisis now.

In 2016, the mayors of Canada's largest cities estimated there were more than 170,000 people waiting for subsidized housing. Many people on those waiting lists will become homeless while they are waiting. One in 15 aboriginal people in urban centres is homeless. Occupancy rates for emergency shelters are 90%, up 10% over the last while. Of that group that are using shelters, more are families with children. They are the fastest-growing percentage of those accessing shelters.

Today's motion is about getting the government to step up sooner rather than later, to match government action to the urgency of the issue, and to match government action and timelines to the reality too many Canadians are living with: no place to call home.

A national organization I found said it best when describing where we find ourselves: high stakes with clear choices. That seems to sum it up. I do not agree with the federal government's current choices. The largest percentage of the federal government investment comes after the next election. New investments are minimal. We have had a lot of fanfare, rejigging of programs and underwhelming targets set. I do not see a government standing up and leading the way forward.

Today's motion is about putting on the table the path forward for the government and our country to truly tackle the housing and homelessness crisis.

I would also like to make note that the only time we parliamentarians, as the House of Commons, have debated this crisis is when my NDP colleagues and I have tabled bills and motions.

I have said in the House on a number of occasions that this debate must happen in order to hold the government to account and turn its great words and strategies into action. As the mandate of the government progresses, as the fanfare around the national housing strategy fades, we see the government stepping back from the leadership and investment needed to meet the crisis we are in.

One of the key pillars from the national housing strategy is that the strategy “will first focus on the most vulnerable Canadians. This includes women and children fleeing family violence, seniors, indigenous peoples, people with disabilities, those dealing with mental health and addiction issues, veterans and young adults.”

I agree, but I do not see this priority in action or prioritized in the investments to date by the government. If this in fact were true, why is the Canada housing benefit not being launched until 2020-21, after the next federal election?

The Canada housing benefit is the transformative change we need to immediately deal with a lack of affordable housing in Canada. This pillar of the strategy must happen sooner rather than later. The Canada social housing benefit could transform lives immediately. Bringing forward the planned investment in the Canada housing benefit to next year's budget could mean over 250,000 low-income households in Canada would be able to afford their rent. This is just one example, one initiative which if brought forward would actually make people's lives better.

The federal government can afford to do more and it must do more. It has been over 30 years since the federal government really took a leadership role in housing in this country, and this backing out of a commitment to an investment in affordable housing has given rise to the crisis we are in today. It is a big part of it.

One aspect of this off-loading has been the rise in the capital repair deficit for social housing, which now stands in excess of $1.3 billion. The government has extended the operating agreements which were due to expire. This was an important first step, but it is only a stop-gap measure for now. Those who provide housing to the most vulnerable, who must provide deep subsidies so rent remains affordable, are in immediate need of support for capital repairs. The government must inject immediate investment so that we hang on to these very important social assets in our communities.

A specific strategy for indigenous peoples, those living in remote, rural and northern communities and for those living in urban centres has yet to materialize. It had a mention in the national housing strategy, but we have yet to see real progress and a concerted effort by the government despite stating it was a priority for the national housing strategy.

Frances Sanderson and Mark Maracle, the co-chairs of the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association's Urban Aboriginal Housing Advisory Committee, stated, “If the government fails to step up with continued funding, we will, sadly, see a rise in the already devastating aboriginal homeless population.”

The government is more than well aware of the housing crisis on first nations. Some 40% of homes on first nations are in need of major repairs and 35% are not suitable for the family's size. So far, the government has only invested in 3% of the funding that is actually needed to improve the situation. I am afraid that the so-called innovation contest announced this summer for housing ideas on first nations is insulting.

Budgets are about priorities, and we have to see a budget by the government that tells Canadians the housing and homeless crisis is as important as the government keeps telling us it is. People like Amanda and the 14,000 people in Saskatchewan who are finding out that they cannot count on their provincial government are counting on the federal Liberal government to step up now.

While building more affordable rental housing is critical, we cannot in the immediate term build our way out of the affordability crisis renters face today. The government must move up its investment in the Canada housing benefit. That is the action and the leadership we must see.

I wish to end my comments on the government's commitment to legislate a right to housing with what the Prime Minister stated over a year ago, “Housing rights are human rights.” However, we have seen what appears to be a stepping back by the government on legislating a right to housing.

We have heard that the government's own consultations gave rise to a consensus that legislation be enacted to exclusively recognize the right to housing. I ask the government to follow through on this publicly stated commitment that will allow citizens to hold their government to account to what is and must be a basic human right, the right to a safe and affordable place to call home.