Tracy Gray

[Housing, October 3rd, 2024]

Madam Speaker, it is always a privilege to rise on behalf of the residents of Kelowna—Lake Country.

I rise today to speak about homelessness and the ongoing housing crisis affecting my community and Canadians from coast to coast to coast. With each passing day, we are seeing more tent encampments, fewer affordable houses and more people forced into homelessness.

In my community of Kelowna—Lake Country, I hear constantly from residents about their concerns regarding homelessness, and we see people struggling on the streets. Residents are justifiably concerned over vulnerable people suffering on our streets. They are also concerned about the implications that increasing homelessness has, such as crime occurring in encampments.

Nationally, the story is similar across Canada. The Parliamentary Budget Officer released a detailed report in May this year outlining the state of homelessness in Canada. The data shows that the NDP-Liberal government is failing on this issue. According to this report, since 2018, chronic homelessness has increased by 38%. Chronic homelessness refers to persistent or long-term homelessness for at least 180 days. The Liberal government committed to eliminating chronic homelessness by 2030, but this increase illustrates how much the Liberals are failing on this issue.

This report also states that the number of individuals living in unsheltered locations has increased by a staggering 88%. Unsheltered locations are places not intended for human habitation, such as streets, alleys, parks, transit stations and encampments. This increase is significant and should worry every Canadian. Canadians should not be sleeping on the street.

What we are seeing is the result of a total failure of responsibility from the Liberal government and its partners in the NDP, and this is unacceptable. Over 35,000 people experience homelessness in any given night according to the most recently available data from the Parliamentary Budget Officer. By year, it is estimated that 235,000 people experience homelessness. These figures are only collected through information from shelters. Some experts believe the true number of those experiencing homelessness is triple what is reported, which is potentially more than 700,000 people.

These are not just numbers; these are people. These figures are a reflection of the heartbreaking reality that too many Canadians are increasingly facing. Each one of these people is a family member or friend. They are neighbours who can no longer afford or manage to stay in permanent housing. They are Canadians whose Canadian dream has been crushed, and they are just barely getting by.

Homelessness is often a complex issue that can intersect with many other issues, such as addiction and mental health problems. However, we know that housing affordability is just one key overarching reason. An expert witness at the housing committee from the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness stated, “Homelessness is a housing affordability problem. It's driven by high rent and low vacancy.”

Unfortunately, the NDP-Liberal government is failing. Since 2015, housing costs have doubled, rent has doubled and mortgages have doubled. The NDP-Liberal government is not creating the policies to build the homes Canadians need, and affordability has plummeted as a result. We need to do more to address homelessness.

That is why the Conservatives will build homes by linking federal infrastructure money to housing construction and by firing the gatekeepers who block homebuilding and contribute to housing unaffordability. We will axe the taxes and get a softwood lumber agreement with the U.S. in order to bring down construction costs and bring home investment to housing.

[Committees of the House, October 3rd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the member has been a strong advocate, and he did come to our committee as well. He attempted to put some amendments into the legislation. When members from other parties continue to prop the government up, this is what we are left with. We are left with legislation that is very vague. As I mentioned, we tried to put more into the legislation itself. Now it is left at regulations and this is what we are left with.

[Committees of the House, October 3rd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, this motion and this debate are very important. The time when we could have actually put in concrete action would have been when the legislation was coming through Parliament and when we were looking at making recommendations at the committee stage, because we would then have had more in the legislation. That is what Conservatives were trying to do.

Unfortunately, that was not supported by other members opposite. We are left with more policies to be coming out of the regulation part as opposed to being in legislation. That was what we were actually attempting to do at committee and what Conservatives were attempting to do.

[Committees of the House, October 3rd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, as I had said, Conservatives have supported this legislation from the very beginning. This has been a broken promise by the Liberal government, which has been propped up by the NDP for the last nine years, until recently, when there was a dramatic ripping up of an apparent agreement. The NDP has been supporting the Liberal government right along the way. It is on New Democrats. They are the ones who have been supporting the government. This is just another Liberal broken promise.

[Committees of the House, October 3rd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, as I had mentioned in my intervention, Conservatives supported this legislation all the way through.

Every time we get close to a federal election, and this has happened for decades now, the Liberals' go-to talking point is hidden agendas. It really is a way to try to divert away from their complete mismanagement and failures. It is a way to divert away from the results of all of their policies and legislation that are leading more people to a food bank, that are creating crime and chaos in our communities. Canadian families are struggling and can barely afford to feed themselves. It is a typical diversion and this member does it quite often.

[Committees of the House, October 3rd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the minister has not come to committee on this particular study. the cost of living crisis is affecting persons with disabilities, which does tie in to the Canada disability benefit, because Canadians, and in particular persons living with disabilities, are in a cost of living crisis.

We did hear a fair amount of testimony over the last couple of weeks on this, and I will quote a couple of witnesses who were at this committee. Mr. Lepofsky was questioned regarding the cost of living crisis and whether it is more difficult for Canadians living with disabilities who may be disproportionately affected by the cost of living crisis. His answer was, “When the Parliament, this committee and the Senate held hearings on the Canada disability benefit, you heard over and over how people living with a disability cost more.”

Another witness was just at committee, was asked a similar question. Mr. Janeiro's answer was, “The simple answer is yes. The slightly more complicated answer is yes, definitely.”

As such, we know that persons living with disabilities and those who support them, whether they are family members or other people in the community, do have extra financial challenges, so that is why it is important that we have these discussions. It is unfortunate that the Liberals' broken promises have really let down persons living with disabilities in Canada.

[Committees of the House, October 3rd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour to rise on behalf of the residents of Kelowna—Lake Country.

I will be splitting my time today with the member for Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry.

I will start by correcting the record on some of the information that has been given by NDP and Liberal members here this morning. The first has to do with the voting record of the Conservatives on supporting the Canada disability benefit. I would note that on October 18, 2022, the bill passed second reading, which Conservatives supported. On February 2, 2023, it passed third reading, which Conservatives supported. When the legislation came back from the Senate on June 20, 2023, Parliament unanimously passed Bill C-22. I would like to correct the misinformation stated here this morning.

I would also like to bring up the importance of clawbacks not happening. The NDP interventions in particular today talked about clawbacks. I would note that when Bill C-22 was at the human resources committee, the Conservatives offered an amendment, through the legal department at the House of Commons, to protect persons with disabilities from clawbacks in the bill. That amendment was not supported at committee by the NDP, which the NDP brought up in this morning's interventions. I would note that it was Conservatives who tried to amend this legislation by putting forward good amendments to make it stronger, but unfortunately, they were not supported by the NDP and the Liberals.

I will next go through the timeline of this legislation, just to put it into context. There was an announcement by the government in 2020, in its throne speech, and Bill C-35 was tabled in the House of Commons in June 2021. The bill was nullified when the Liberal government called its unnecessary and expensive 2021 election, which stopped the whole process. After the election occurred, the government brought forward legislation again, which was Bill C-22, the Canada Disability Benefit Act, that then worked its way through Parliament. This legislation has been worked on for years. We heard from various stakeholders that previous to 2020, the government was reaching out to the disability community to gain input. This is something the government has been working on for a long time, and when it finally passed in February 2023, it was implemented.

However, during that entire time, the Liberal government kept saying it was doing lots of consultation. It made a lot of announcements with a lot of fanfare. Unfortunately, what transpired is a lot of broken promises. A number of individuals and disability groups have come out strongly stating that this is a Liberal broken promise.

With regard to clawbacks, I want to mention it was the Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities who promised a red line on clawbacks at the human resources committee on October 31, 2022. Of course, we have seen that that did not occur.

As well, Conservatives really wanted more certainty in the legislation, because it was very vague. A lot was going to be determined behind closed doors with meetings and within the government itself, and we were trying to ensure that there would be more certainty in the legislation. Unfortunately, that was not supported.

Conservatives really believe that persons living with disabilities are some of those most affected by the cost of living crisis, and the cost of living crisis that has occurred over the last number of years is because of the policies and legislation of this Liberal government that have been propped up and supported by the NDP for nine years.

We know that there has been 40-year-high inflation. Housing costs have doubled. Record numbers of people are going to food banks. We had a different study at the human resources committee that had to do with intergenerational volunteerism. We heard at that study really incredible testimony from not-for-profits saying that their donations were down and that they had lost many volunteers, many of them seniors, because they had to go back to work, and that is putting a lot more pressure on the not-for-profit sector because of the cost of living crisis.

The human resources committee is meeting now. I am here in the chamber because this has been brought up, but right now, the human resources committee is finalizing a study. The topic has to do with disability in Canada. I just want to read part of the study because it does tie in to what we are discussing this morning.

Without reading the whole thing, the study says, that the committee expresses “its concern about the progress made towards the goal of a Canada without barriers by 2040”. It goes on: “[to study] the progress towards the goal of a Barrier Free Canada by 2040; [and] that the committee invite the Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities”..

Today is the last day of that study. Unfortunately the minister has chosen not to come to committee, even though it is right in the motion to have her come to committee. She is hiding from the committee. We do not know any reason for that. Perhaps the Liberal members who are in the chamber here today can explain why she is hiding from our committee. This is a study that was originally brought forth—

[Petitions, September 27th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I am presenting a petition today from residents in my community and surrounding area. Petitioners reference, after nine years of the government, Canada going through the worst decline in living standards in the last 40 years. It references the government's high tax policies and the job-killing taxes that are affecting many Canadians, creating smaller paycheques.

The petitioners are calling on the Government of Canada to, first, overhaul the tax system to make taxes low, simple and fair; second, reduce the share of taxes paid by the poor and middle class; third, cut tax-funded corporate welfare and crack down on overseas tax havens; and, last, cut the paperwork and bureaucracy in the tax system by at least 20%.

[Housing, September 27th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, last week, the NDP voted to declare a housing crisis and, yet, the NDP continues to vote confidence in the Liberals. After nine years, housing costs have doubled. It now takes 30 years to save for the average home. There are thousands of tent encampments. Chronic homelessness has increased 38% since 2018 and veterans are living on the streets. There is nowhere near the number of homes being built to bring back housing affordability to Canadians.

Next Tuesday, will the NDP-Liberals let Canadians decide on a carbon tax election?

[Housing, September 27th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, after nine years of the NDP-Liberals, taxes are up, costs are up, crime is up and time is up. The federal housing agency's latest report proved again that the Liberal photo op housing policy is not building homes. The report shows that housing starts are declining in major cities like Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa. We see it with more tent encampments and more people sleeping on the streets.

On Tuesday, the NDP-Liberals must end their costly coalition with the Prime Minister. Will they?