What they said. What they meant.

Plain-language translations from the House of Commons.

Recent debates

8 latest topics

Government Orders

Build Canada Homes Act

A bill to create yet another government agency to supposedly build houses. In debate, the Liberals insisted this new bureaucracy is needed and useful, while the Conservatives pointed out it's just adding red tape that won't actually get homes built. The Bloc complained it might infringe on Quebec's jurisdiction.

Official Hansard ↗

Laila Goodridge

Conservative
“The government is bad. Liberals don't understand your needs. The government only creates more bureaucracy. The government doesn't want to build houses. I hope that sounds good enough for you!”
Our translation 64% shorter

Stéphane Lauzon

Liberal
“I'm filling time by saying many nice things about this government program. It will spend a lot of money to build many houses. Government should spend more on housing in my riding. This program will create jobs. I want praise for supporting it.”
Our translation 96% shorter

Carol Anstey

Conservative
“You didn't answer my question about the number of houses this program will build in the next year. I want to know the target.”
Our translation 66% shorter

Stéphane Lauzon

Liberal
“I don't know how many houses we will build. I want to make promises without giving numbers. Call it ambitious and say we tried our best.”
Our translation 73% shorter

Xavier Barsalou-Duval

Bloc Québécois
“I'm filling time with a long, folksy setup for my real question. I want to make the government look sloppy and embarrass the Prime Minister. I don't like how they translate things.”
Our translation 84% shorter

Xavier Barsalou-Duval

Bloc Québécois
“Stop telling me what to say. I'm going to keep complaining that Quebec gets a raw deal.”
Our translation 77% shorter

Stéphane Lauzon

Liberal
“I want to talk about how great this big spending program is. I'll just say my opponent hates French if he wants to talk about anything else.”
Our translation 67% shorter

Hon. Kevin Lamoureux

Liberal
“I want to focus on how hard the government is working with Quebec to get homes built. Please say something nice about our great collaboration.”
Our translation 70% shorter

Stéphane Lauzon

Liberal
“I want you to know I'm protecting the regions. I'm doing everything I can to make Build Canada Homes spend money in rural areas. It's working! You should do what I'm doing in my riding.”
Our translation 74% shorter

Dominique O'Rourke

Liberal
“I want to cheer for the Build Canada Homes act. The government should spend more money on affordable homes for Canadians. I want the government to take a new approach because the old ways aren't working. I want to spend more money to get faster results.”
Our translation 65% shorter

Xavier Barsalou-Duval

Bloc Québécois
“I want to know if I can say the Prime Minister's name when I read a news headline out loud. I want you to tell me if that's okay.”
Our translation 56% shorter

Dominique O'Rourke

Liberal
“I want Canadians to know our government is doing something about housing. We're setting up a new agency called Build Canada Homes. It will have a lot of power and flexibility to get housing built. We promise it will be accountable. It will work with all levels of government, indigenous communities, non-profits, and developers. This approach will make it faster and easier to build affordable housing. We've already announced projects in Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nunavut, and Nova Scotia. It's a lot of homes! The opposition just wants to argue about the details. But we're taking action and getting housing built. That's what matters.”
Our translation 92% shorter

Billy Morin

Conservative
“You say we need infrastructure like water before we can build homes. Your party broke promises on indigenous water for 11 years. Now you want to build homes for indigenous communities. There's a shortage of 157,000 homes on reserves alone. How many homes will Build Canada Homes actually build there? Give me a specific number.”
Our translation 53% shorter

Dominique O'Rourke

Liberal
“You asked a good question. Many departments would be involved. We would work with provinces and territories. It's not up to us to decide how many homes to build.”
Our translation 62% shorter

Marie-Hélène Gaudreau

Bloc Québécois
“I want the federal government to stop interfering. Quebec knows best. Just send us the money and we'll handle the rest.”
Our translation 81% shorter

Dominique O'Rourke

Liberal
“I'm sad people were confused. Email someone. The important thing is we care and spend a lot of money.”
Our translation 84% shorter

Hon. Kevin Lamoureux

Liberal
“I want you to say working together is good. I want you to say this program puts houses in your riding. I want you to say that getting houses means working with us was good.”
Our translation 75% shorter

Dominique O'Rourke

Liberal
“Working with us means streamlining and more money everywhere. The rules are too slow. But if other levels of government want things then this new structure can put up the money or find it. That can all go faster.”
Our translation 70% shorter

Arpan Khanna

Conservative
“I'm trying to seem like I care about an event. It doesn't matter what it is. The details don't matter. That makes me sad. I want to talk about how sad it is. That gets people to like me. Then I want to talk about my real point: housing, housing, housing! The other side made promises for homes. I say homes didn't happen. I say costs are bad. Too many costs. Bad. That proves the other side and their ideas are bad. I want to cut taxes. Cut, cut, cut! Cut the other side's program. Gut it! Our program is better. The other side didn't make numbers they wanted to. That's bad. This problem is so big. I don't like it. That makes me talk about farms now. That's what my donors want. I don't want new stuff built on farmland. That's bad. Stop it! Let's get rid of this program. Let's do my program. Let builders build! Let farmers farm! I want to get government out of the way.”
Our translation 91% shorter