Leader, in May, the average cost of rent across Canada hit another all-time high. It now stands at $2,202 per month — an increase of 9.3% in just one year.

The Trudeau government has failed to build homes that Canadians can afford, and this has led to rent increases right across the country.

In May, the average listed rent in Atlantic Canada rose by 15% year over year. Leader, in your province of Quebec, it rose by 7%. In my province of B.C., where rent is already incredibly expensive, it went up another 2%. Leader, how will the Trudeau government’s new capital gains tax impact the record cost of rent? How much investment in purpose-built rentals will be driven away as a result?

I don’t know the answer to your question. What I do know is this: For a party that used to pride itself in understanding the division of powers in the Constitution, and that also professed respect for restrained — or criticism of government overreach, to assume that the rents in my province, or in any other province, are the function of a recently announced change in the inclusion rate of the capital gains tax is absolutely mind-boggling.

Anybody in this chamber — and there are some, at least, who have experience in the housing market, whether it’s financing housing, building housing or managing housing projects — will know very well, as I said on so many occasions, and forgive me for being pedantic, that it is a combination of many factors and partners, including provincial, territorial and municipal, to say nothing of the private sector, who are responsible for both the housing stock and the cost of housing.

Well, the fact is that on April 12, the Prime Minister promised Canadians that 3.87 million new homes would be built by 2031.

How many homes have been built in the two months since this promise was made?

We live in the real world, not in a video game or The Sims game where you can simply press a button and houses pop up to appear, nor do we live in a Monopoly world where we can just play construction, whether it’s homes or hotels.

The government’s promise was a good faith promise that it would do its part with all of the other partners. Not every partner, frankly, has delivered on its promise, but the government is committed and will continue to work hard on behalf of Canadians.