“I'm talking a lot about my past involvement in housing. I think the national government needs to be directly involved in housing in Canada. The government should spend $13 billion on a program to build more affordable housing and support things like housing co-ops.”
What they said. What they meant.
Plain-language translations from the House of Commons.
Recent debates
8 latest topics
Spring Economic Update 2026 Implementation Act
57 statements
Spring Economic Update 2026 Implementation Act
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Arab Heritage Month Act
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The Economy
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Government Priorities
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Government Priorities
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Housing
12 statements
The Environment
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Government Orders
Build Canada Homes Act
A bill to create another Crown corporation to "support" affordable housing. In debate, the Liberals claimed this bill would make a real difference, while the Conservatives pointed out it contains no actual targets or measures and will just add more bureaucracy. Liberals also congratulated themselves a lot on their alleged progress on housing overall.
“I think a government agency to build houses will get too big and expensive. How many managers will it have? Will they get high pay and bonuses before they build any houses?”
“I don't want to answer your question about vice-presidents and bonuses at this new agency. I'll talk about a different project instead. Some Conservatives in the past agreed with me.”
“I want the federal government to spend more on housing. People I talk to in Waterloo like when the government spends money. Conservative MPs sometimes act like they want the spending too, even though they vote against these bills. Why don't Conservatives just admit they want the government to spend on housing?”
“I say the Conservative Party is split. Some Conservatives want us to spend on housing and some don't. The Conservative leadership won't let the MPs who want more spending say so. I think the federal government should spend more on housing and Conservatives should go along with it.”
“Housing got too expensive under Trudeau. Parents in my riding are sad because their grown children can't afford to move out. The government promised to build new houses but they aren't building enough. The government should build more houses.”
“Our new Prime Minister is very good and knows about the economy. In one year, he made housing cheaper already. There are more houses now and rent is cheaper too. He is fixing the housing problem.”
“I want to support this bill. I think the Conservatives should help too. If they don't help, I think they're making things worse on purpose.”
“I want to cheer for a program that spends money in my riding. I think the Conservatives are wrong about this. They don't want to spend more money. I want to spend more money with stakeholders. I think the Conservatives don't care about what their voters need.”
“I am speaking against the Build Canada Homes Act. The government promised to build many homes. They have not built them. Home prices are still high. The government's solution is more bureaucracy and spending. I think this will not work. Conservatives have better ideas to help build more homes. The government should listen to our ideas.”
“I am speaking for the Build Canada Homes Act. The Conservatives say it will not work. They say the government should get out of the way. But the Conservative leader only built a few homes when he was housing minister. I don't think we should listen to him. Our Build Canada Homes will build many homes. It is a good plan.”
“The Harper government had good housing policies. People could spend their own money on their own homes. There were tax breaks for new homebuyers. People could use their retirement savings too. This helped build lots of homes. We didn't spend too much. We had rules so people could afford their mortgages. We built two million homes with only three million more people. The Liberals are not doing a good job like we did.”
“The Liberals say they have a housing plan, but there are no numbers in it. The Saskatchewan government had a real plan with real numbers. They promised to build specific numbers of homes under each program. The Liberals should have to say how many homes their plan will build and what kind of homes.”
“I'm not going to say anything concrete about the housing bill. Instead I'll just string together some partisan buzzwords: global agenda, central bankers, scarcity, socialist spending. The real problem is the government spends money on things. I don't like that. It's why we have a deficit.”
“I want to cheer for a government program that spends money, especially in the other guy's riding. I won't give him space to criticize our bill. Instead I'll ask if he really opposes this list of nice-sounding projects in his province.”
“You say my kids would love a carbon tax? They can't even afford a house thanks to your government's disasters.”
“We don't need another bureaucracy. We need to get government out of the way so builders can build more homes and fix this housing crisis.”
“I want to cheer for a program that spends money in my riding.”
“I want the member to look at reports that say the government isn't being transparent about its housing initiatives. The government should show the kinds of housing it is building and whether it will meet the needs of families.”
“The other side should think about how government taxes and fees drive up the cost of housing. One third of the cost of a home is from government taxes, fees, and delays. That's too much. It makes housing too expensive for young people.”