“I want debate to end so we can pass this quickly.”
What they said. What they meant.
Plain-language translations from the House of Commons.
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Government Business No. 11—Proceedings on Bill C-26
A bill to give $1.7 billion to provinces and territories to somehow boost housing supply. The Liberals insisted this was simple and speedy while the Conservatives lamented the lack of time to properly study or debate the bill at any stage. The Liberals blamed previous governments and touted action in Ontario to eliminate the HST.
“I don't want to spend this half hour on questions. I want you to explain why this bill is different. Your other programs had a lot of spending and bureaucracy. They didn't make housing more affordable. What will this one do that's new? Your lack of results so far is obvious. Why should we expect that to change?”
“I'm spending $1.7 billion of taxpayers' money to get more houses built. Ontario gets some of that money. Home-buyers could save up to $130,000 in tax. Ontario has other ways to save them $70,000 more. We think more subsidies will help even though we have too many houses already. We want the housing market to pick up everywhere.”
“Will your housing subsidy money actually go to small towns? Or will you forget rural Canada like last time? Liberals always forget everyone except big cities.”
“I promise you my new housing agency will not forget rural Canada this time. Northern Canada, especially, needs more housing supply boosted. My new money will go through provinces and territories -- they will decide the details for where it goes. Ontario wants to use its money to remove the HST on home sales. That helps homebuyers and builders in Ontario cities and towns.”
“I am criticizing the Prime Minister for eroding parliamentary democracy. He is never here, but he is imposing draconian measures to shut down debate on Bill C-26 at all stages, with no committee study or amendments. This is an unconscionable attack on the processes that defend the rights and liberties of Canadians. The Liberals want to shut down debate completely. I am asking the minister how he can justify this drastic use of shutting down the procedure at all stages, with no possibility for debate, study, or amendment.”
“Conservatives tried to end the House early today. I want people to think they don't care about affordable housing. There was lots of debate already. I won't mention what parts of the bill they might want to study or debate. Bill C-26 gives $1.7 billion to provinces for housing. That's good. We should pass it quickly. Conservatives try to talk for way too long.”
“Housing prices have doubled. Inflation is high. The cost of living is going up. There is too much red tape. Liberals caused all those problems. Now their solution is more spending and red tape. That's exactly what they did before. It won't work.”
“I want to rush this bill through quickly. People need homes now! This is a huge crisis. But it started 40 years ago. It's not my problem. It's everyone's problem. But my government will fix it. We just need to spend a lot of money. Past governments didn't spend enough. They caused this.”
“The government should spend more on housing. I want to look like I'm helping Canadians.”
“We need Canadians to see us doing something about housing. This bill lets provinces try different things to make housing cheaper by spending money. But government has to do even more things and spend more money on housing.”
“I don't like that the government keeps passing bills without proper study and debate. This bill affects a very important area of policy, and rushing it through could have serious unintended consequences like we've seen with other bills. The government should slow down and let Canadians have a real debate on this bill.”
“I want to spend money on housing. I don't care about debate or study. Why are you slowing this down? Just give me the money.”
“I'm alarmed. This bill gives a minister $1.7 billion with no rules or oversight attached. It's a blank cheque in the name of housing. Zero transparency, just trust us, while prior funds went nowhere. I want scrutiny before the House okays billions more for a minister to spend however he wants.”
“I want to cheer billions in new spending for an undefined housing bill. Let's not pin down which regions need it most. It's called flexibility! And teaming up -- we'll trust the provinces with a lot of money and no further questions. It's not like political incentives could ever warp where that gets spent.”
“I don't trust this government to get first nations housing right. They throw money around and never mind the details. I want some actual specifics. Otherwise it's just opening a tap, pouring out billions in public money, and no way to know if it's being spent smart. We've been burned before.”
“Indigenous housing is someone else's department. But we're spending a lot of public money on it. There's money here, money there, money everywhere. It's all very complicated. But trust us, we're on it.”
“Back when I was in opposition, the Conservatives used to support motions like this to rush bills through. Sometimes they still do. But now they're stalling instead. This bill must pass because it's a very important step that will get the government to spend money we're already spending. And we're doing so in a cooperative way that lets us tell the provinces what to do.”
“I really want this bill to pass. The government must spend money so that provinces can build housing. It's a simple idea and we need it urgently. Team Canada will work together to get it done.”
“You're cutting off debate to ram this bill through at every stage. I bet it's because the housing minister is afraid to come talk to the committee. Since this motion will pass, I dare you to spend one hour with our committee to actually talk about this. Yes or no?”