Housing  Mr. Speaker, I am sure the member is very good at math; he is just not looking at all the numbers. The national housing strategy has resulted in 113,000 new units that are either built or will be built, and 126,000 units that have been repaired or are scheduled for repair. In th

Housing  Mr. Speaker, I listened to my colleague, and with all due respect, it is rather difficult to take him seriously here tonight. First of all, he made the mistake of not reading the most recent CMHC report on housing starts. In fact, housing starts are up. However, let us move to t

Housing  Mr. Speaker, the point on the acquisition fund is one that the member and I have discussed in the past, and it does merit further consideration, but I also point to the various other programs that are part of the national housing strategy that he mentioned: the rapid housing init

Housing  Mr. Speaker, I sat with the member on the federal finance committee for two years. At no point did he ever stand up and go against the austerity agenda of that party's leader. It is an unacceptable approach. We, on this side, do have an approach that matters. In his community in

Housing  Mr. Speaker, there are 70,000 new units for individuals who have experienced homelessness, and 122,000 people who were close to being homeless are not homeless because of the national housing strategy. That applies to what I just said before on homelessness. The member rightly br

Housing  Madam Speaker, with respect to my colleague, the conversations have been happening, and we have seen concrete action. I just mentioned a project in the member's riding that has made life better for her constituents, with 164 units. Again, I emphasize that I will continue to work

Housing  Madam Speaker, I am getting to know my colleague more and more; we work together on the HUMA committee. This is the parliamentary committee that is primarily responsible for housing, an incredibly important issue for this entire country. In her community, my community and everyon

Housing  Mr. Speaker, there is a bill on this floor that the Conservatives can get behind. The result, if they decide to support it, would be a more affordable situation for builders, because it would lift GST off the construction of rental apartments. They are not in favour of that. They

Finance  Mr. Speaker, they inherited a surplus. They turned it into a deficit, another deficit and another deficit. On this side, we put constructive measures on the table like lifting GST on the building of rentals for Canadians. They talk about an attachment that they have to a vision f

Finance  Mr. Speaker, they constantly talk about their record of fiscal responsibility. During the Stephen Harper years, they ran seven consecutive deficits. Under this government we have seen economic growth. We have seen this government go through an extremely challenging time in the

Housing  Mr. Speaker, the member talks about young people. I will give him credit: During his time being a member of Parliament, he has put issues on the table with respect to youth. He can support the government, or at least he should have, with respect to the tax-free savings account t

Housing  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member and the NDP caucus for supporting this government to double funding in response to homelessness. We continue to work with municipalities across the country. We continue to work with not-for-profit organizations. It was this government tha

Housing  Mr. Speaker, our colleague is a former mayor, and he knows, therefore, that the affordability challenge Canadians face, whether it with respect to rent or the challenge of buying a home, is due to a lack of supply. This government recognizes that. That is why we have moved ahead

Housing  Mr. Speaker, as I have said and emphasized, the challenge of affordability with respect to housing writ large has to do with the lack of supply. When demand is high and supply is limited, we are always going to have an expensive situation. We see that with respect to housing. W

Finance  Mr. Speaker, those are quite the words from the Leader of the Opposition. I remind him that, when he was responsible for housing during the Harper years, there was $300 million spent for housing, with fewer than 100 homes built. We can do the math: That is $3 million a home. That