QUESTION PERIOD — Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
National Housing Strategy
September 29, 2022
Senator Gold, for our questions to be predictable makes a lot of sense because we’re not getting answers. For your answers to be predictable, they shouldn’t be. We should be getting the answers that we are asking questions about. We don’t, so we have to keep asking. Let me ask you a predictable question, leader.
The country’s home ownership rate is on the decline, according to Statistics Canada. The most affected group is young Canadians between the ages of 25 and 29, who are finding it increasingly difficult, leader, to afford the average home in today’s outrageous housing market. Meanwhile, the renter rate has grown at more than twice the rate of ownership of households between 2011 and 2021. Who has been in government during that time?
So this is Trudeau’s Canada, is it, leader? Where young Canadians are being locked out of home ownership and having their futures and opportunities robbed by a reckless government pursuing inflationary policies to no end. What is your predictable answer and solution to this problem, leader?
Thank you. The problem facing young Canadians seeking to enter or stay in the housing market is a very real one, and it is exacerbated, to be sure, by the necessity of interest rates rising to address inflation, a concern that has been raised, properly so, in this chamber many times, even if the government and the opposition disagree as to the causes or even how to describe it.
That said, the Government of Canada, and not merely in the provisions of Bill C-31, which we will receive, but in other measures, is taking steps to assist Canadians in meeting the challenge, whether in acquiring or renting homes.
I’ve mentioned all of these in the chamber before, so in the interest of brevity, I will give you the top lines: provisions to provide financing for the building of new housing stock to create a greater supply, support for those seeking to rent and so on. The Government of Canada is committed to helping Canadians get through this period, and that’s why it has introduced measures such as in Bill C-31 and other bills to assist Canadians.
Well, leader, you say that the government and the opposition have differences of opinion, and you’re certainly right there. I guess the main thing is that we have statistics and facts on our side.
Regardless of what your government says, regardless of your opinion, the facts indicate that housing is only becoming less affordable for the average household. This is during your government’s tenure. In fact, a report released by the Parliamentary Budget Officer just this morning indicates that the gap between the national average house price and what an average household could afford has increased from 45% in December 2021 to 67% in August 2022.
Leader, this NDP-Liberal government has had six years — well, I guess the NDP hasn’t been part of the government for six years, but it has been part of it for at least the last year — to fix the issue of housing affordability and has failed to develop a plan that works.
When will you stop doubling down on a failing system that hurts Canadians and continues to let supply lag far behind demand?
Again, Senator Plett, thank you for your question, but it is simply not true and, dare I say, misleading to attribute the rise in the costs of housing to this government.
This government is not responsible for the influx of foreign buyers in certain markets, notably Vancouver, but in my own city of Montreal and Toronto as well, which has inflated the cost of housing dramatically. This government introduced a two-year freeze on foreign buyers to address that.
It is simply not the fault of this government that worldwide supply chain problems caused by the pandemic increased the cost of construction materials exponentially. I can say from personal experience, being at the tail end of a major renovation, how much more it has cost me — and I’m in a fortunate position — and what it must cost all Canadians who are seeking to acquire, build or renovate homes.
Once again, colleagues — and we all know this — these are complicated, multi-faceted, polycentric problems. Although it is totally appropriate, and I embrace the role of the opposition in this chamber to hold the government to account, it is nonetheless allowing me to say that one must be held to account for what is within one’s control and responsibility to control.
In that regard, I think the government’s plans and actions to help Canadians through these difficult economic times stand for themselves and are worthy of support.
