Wayne Long

[Committees of the House, June 13th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, the member opposite certainly has my respect.

I do have a question for him. Why did he vote against the right to housing? Does he not believe in the right to housing?

[Committees of the House, June 13th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, as a federal government, it is important that we acknowledge that, yes, we have a lot of work to do and we need to make a difference in housing nationally. We have come forth with wonderful programs, whether it is the co-investment fund, the rapid housing initiative, the housing accelerator fund, the Canada housing benefit and the right to housing, which the Conservative Party voted against.

My question for my colleague is this. Which one of those federal programs is having the most impact in his riding?

[Committees of the House, June 13th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague, the parliamentary secretary, for her wonderful leadership on the housing file.

We have come forth with many great programs and initiatives to help those looking for housing and to help solve the housing crisis we are in. Whether it is the rapid housing initiative, the co-investment fund, the housing accelerator or the housing benefit, we certainly know that the Conservative Party voted against each and every one of those initiatives.

The one that puzzles me the most is the right to housing being entrenched in law, which the Conservative Party voted against. My question to the parliamentary secretary is this: Could she give some comments as to why the Conservative Party would vote against such an initiative?

[Committees of the House, June 13th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I certainly respect and recognize the member opposite's passion on this file.

Let us also talk about a lot of the good things we have done as a government, whether it is through the billions of dollars of national housing strategy investment, the rapid housing initiative, the coinvestment fund, the accelerator fund or the Canada housing benefit. These are programs that the NDP, the party opposite, has supported.

Given the fact that the member was a former cabinet minister in a provincial government, though, could she speak about the provincial role in housing, the vital role the provinces play and how we need the provinces to step up to the plate to help us help them?

[Committees of the House, June 13th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I continue to be confused by the party opposite, the Conservative Party, as to what its members actually believe when it comes to housing. They voted against the housing benefit, the rapid housing initiative and the accelerator fund. They actually voted against the right to housing.

Last week, the member for Calgary Centre actually supported his council's NIMBYism. He supported a council that did not want to increase density or eliminate things like parking requirements.

The party opposite seems to be all over the map when it comes to housing. Therefore, I ask my colleague this. Has he sorted through what the Conservative position is on housing?

[Port Saint John, June 1st, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, as Port Saint John celebrates its annual Port Days, excitement and optimism reign supreme. Our government's $100-million investments are supporting more than 100,000 TEUs of cargo and are aimed at 150,000 by the end of the year. This will be the largest volume of container traffic the port has ever processed and will explode to over 800,000 TEUs in only a few years.

This has positioned Port Saint John as the fastest-growing container port on the eastern seaboard and in all of Canada. We are no strangers to tourists through our port either. Just this week, Saint John welcomed the fourth-largest cruise ship in the world. The Oasis of the Seas came to our port with over 8,000 passengers and crew filling our uptown businesses, restaurants and tourist destinations.

Federal investment in our port is driving our economic diversification and growth in Saint John—Rothesay. I am proud of the entire team at Port Saint John, led by CEO Craig Estabrooks and chair Jack Keir, and I know our government will continue to stand up for, invest in and deliver for Port Saint John.

[Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2022, December 6th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, as a government, we often hear about everything we are doing wrong. It seems to be one thing after another. Certainly, the official opposition is quick to remind us that we cannot manage the economy, yet it ran nine straight deficits. The economy was in a mess when we took over.

In the fall economic statement, we came forth with a lot of good programs. To be sure, we hear from the party opposite about eliminating the tax on home heating, which would be about $40 or $50 per tank, but what about the doubling of the GST credit? What about the elimination of interest on student loans? What about the rent support? What about all of the programs we have offered that will help Canadians through the situation we are in now?

Can the member opposite tell us which of those programs she would cut?

[Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2022, November 18th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, only in an alternative reality would the Conservatives think that they are fiscal stewards. They ran nine straight deficits. They tried to balance the budget by throwing in the sale of stock and an EI rainy day fund in 2015. We all know, and Canadians know, that is not true.

In the fall economic statement, there are three things my constituents love: first, the doubling of the GST rebate for six months; second, the top-up for rent; and third, the waiving of interest on student loans. Which one of those programs will he actually tell his constituents he does not support?

[Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2022, November 17th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, my friend opposite's speech was impassioned. I have to admit that for a while there I was feeling kind of bad, but then I remembered that the members of the party opposite live in an alternative reality where they are the fiscal managers and fiscal stewards of this country.

Let me remind Canadians that this is the party that ran nine straight deficits. It drove the Canadian economy into the ground. It tried to balance the budget in its 10th year by throwing in the sale of GE stocks and the rainy day EI fund and whatever else, but the economy was a mess. When challenged on that, the Conservatives said, “We had hard times.” They forget that we have just been through a worldwide pandemic. Would the member opposite not agree that he does not have a leg to stand on with respect to fiscal stewardship?

[Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2022, November 17th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, one thing our government did was believe in students. We believe, in particular, in university and post-secondary students, and we have done many things to help those students. We have doubled the Canada summer jobs. We have doubled the Canada student grant, and in this last fall economic statement, we have raised the threshold of repayment from $25,000 to $40,000. It is key that we have also eliminated interest on Canada student loans, which the party opposite has said was a bad decision and wasteful.

I am wondering if the member agrees with his party's position on our elimination of interest for the Canada student loans.