Business of Supply  Madam Chair, we are investing in more supply of affordable housing through the new investments for new co-op units to the tune of a $1.5-billion investment, bringing forward future investments in the national housing co-investment fund. However, the big program is the housing accelerator fund, with $4 billion going to local communities to increase housing supply, as well as building up to 15,000 deeply affordable units through the rapid housing initiative.

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, the housing accelerator fund will incentivize more supply and will incentivize more density, but it will also incentivize the building of climate-resilient, dense, walkable and accessible communities. How do we do that? We do it by incentivizing inclusionary zoning, transit-oriented development and more affordable housing.

Business of Supply  Mr. Chair, for almost a decade, the party opposite, when it was in government, revelled at attacking civil servants, denigrating them and calling them partisan names. We do not do that on this of the House. We respect the independence of Crown corporations. The hon. member, as an hon. member of Parliament, knows or should know that Crown corporations are responsible for determining the compensation of their employees, and I am not going to get into a debate about the independence of a Crown corporation.

Business of Supply  Mr. Chair, the CMHC is an independent Crown corporation and no minister of the Crown will determine the compensation of employees of an independent Crown corporation.

Business of Supply  Mr. Chair, according to the logic of the hon. member, the Crown corporation that is responsible for delivering almost half a million repairs and new homes as part of the national housing strategy is not entitled to determine its own compensation for its employees. We are not going to play that game on this side of the House.

Business of Supply  Mr. Chair, what is interesting to learn from that question is that it is almost as if the party opposite is just discovering the notion of making federal lands and property available for affordable housing. I have news to break to them, we have been doing this since the beginning of the national housing strategy in 2017.

Business of Supply  Mr. Chair, he is the one who is taking Canadians for fools, because he thinks he can vote against all the investments in affordable housing, including the federal lands initiative, which is doing exactly what he pretends to care about, and yet he comes back to this House and says that he cares about all these issues.

Business of Supply  Mr. Chair, it is called the federal lands initiative. We have had this program for a number of years. The hon. member has come around to the utility of this program, and I congratulate him for coming around to this idea, but he is a number of years late into this program.

Business of Supply  Mr. Chair, the hon. member must know or at least ought to know that CMHC, as a Crown corporation, makes decisions regarding mortgage insurance criteria and questions regarding compensation for its staff independently.

Business of Supply  Mr. Chair, no minister of the Crown makes or has ever made decisions in terms of an independent Crown corporation's employee compensation system. The hon. member knows that or ought to know that.

Business of Supply  Mr. Chair, it is embarrassing to listen to this kind of questioning, because the hon. member should know or knows that no minister of the Crown is responsible for the compensation determined by an independent Crown corporation.

Business of Supply  Mr. Chair, I think the hon. member is absolutely on brand in attacking civil servants, which is what the Conservatives did when they were in government for almost nine years. I am not going to take that bait. The hon. member knows or should know that no minister of the Crown has ever made a determination on the employee compensation by an independent Crown corporation.

Business of Supply  Mr. Chair, how does the hon. member believe attacking mayors will produce more housing?

Business of Supply  Mr. Chair, that is the party that believes in cuts. We believe in federal leadership on housing.

Business of Supply  Mr. Chair, if they care about housing affordability, why did the Conservatives vote against the first-time homebuyer incentive?