QUESTION PERIOD — Infrastructure and Communities
Affordable Housing
September 24, 2024
Government leader, according to their very own housing authority, your incompetent NDP-Liberal government is failing to build the homes that Canadians need. Last week, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, or CMHC, reported housing starts across Canada dropped 13% in August, year-over-year. So far this year, in my province of Manitoba, housing starts have dropped by 14% as compared to last year, and there weren’t enough homes being built even then. Housing starts in Winnipeg fell 16% over the same period. Down payments, mortgages and rent have all doubled, and now this.
Tell me, leader, why should Canadians believe anything that your NDP-Liberal government is saying and whether or not they even have a clue as to what they are doing when it comes to building houses?
Thank you for your question. This government is very aware of what needs to be done to build houses in this country and is taking important steps, along with its counterparts in the provinces, territories and, indeed, municipalities, to put into place a suite of measures to increase the supply of housing.
As anyone who has been in the apartment or housing business knows — and I can speak with some experience in this matter personally — certain initiatives take time to get off the ground, and there are seasonal ups and downs. It is regrettable that housing starts have slowed, but the measures that the government has put in place, which I would be happy to elaborate on if given more time, are expected to bear fruit. Canadians can have confidence the government is doing its part to address this important problem.
Well, let me tell you, Senator Gold, I also have experience in this. I spent my lifetime in construction. This incompetent Trudeau regime has caused this crisis. You say they are very well aware of it. That, we understand. What we don’t understand is why they can’t figure out what to do about this.
We are well into a full-blown housing crisis, yet housing starts fell during the summer construction season. During the construction season, they fell. Isn’t that incompetence, leader? Isn’t that another reason why we need a common-sense Conservative government today?
Thank you for your question. No, it is not a sign of incompetence. On the contrary, the government continues to do what it can — along with provinces, territories, municipalities and the private sector — through a suite of measures designed to unlock the potential of the private sector in that regard to make it easier and faster for the regulatory framework and, again, a whole suite of measures that are important and necessary.
