Discussion · Government Orders
Jenny Kwan NDP
“When I was a provincial minister, we built thousands of homes by working with businesses and non-profits, even after the federal government stopped helping. The Liberals just gave money to private developers and hoped affordable homes would appear, but that did not work.”
“Mr. Speaker, I was once actually in government at the provincial level, at a time when the federal Liberal government cancelled the national affordable housing program. What did New Democrats do provincially? We continued to deliver housing in spite of that. When I was elected and became a cabinet minister, what did we do? We actually grew the money from the Province of British Columbia alone, with the private sector, with the non-profit sector, with municipalities and with everybody else who would partner with us, except for the federal government, which walked away. Guess what. We grew that money from 600 units to 1,200 units and then to 2,000 units, with the same amount of money. Yes, we believe in the market, but what we also believe in is making sure that we drive the market to deliver for the people, especially when it gets a benefit from taxpayers. That is unlike the current Liberal government. What did it do? It gave money hand over fist to the development sector, to the market, and thought that somehow, magically, affordable housing would appear on its own. Guess what. It did not.”
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Mr. Speaker, I was once actually in government at the provincial level, at a time when the federal Liberal government cancelled the national affordable housing program. What did New Democrats do provincially? We continued to deliver housing in spite of that. When I was elected and became a cabinet minister, what did we do? We actually grew the money from the Province of British Columbia alone, with the private sector, with the non-profit sector, with municipalities and with everybody else who would partner with us, except for the federal government, which walked away. Guess what. We grew that money from 600 units to 1,200 units and then to 2,000 units, with the same amount of money. Yes, we believe in the market, but what we also believe in is making sure that we drive the market to deliver for the people, especially when it gets a benefit from taxpayers. That is unlike the current Liberal government. What did it do? It gave money hand over fist to the development sector, to the market, and thought that somehow, magically, affordable housing would appear on its own. Guess what. It did not.