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MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT

Gregor Robertson

Liberal Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby 72 statements translated

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Robertson, the housing and infrastructure minister, presses for faster homebuilding: the $1.7 billion housing supply bill for provinces and territories, the Build Canada Homes agency and its 19,000 affordable homes under way, and GST breaks for new-home buyers. His case runs on upbeat lists of programs and 23 straight months of falling rents, and on promises with no date or measure — “We are delivering that.”Written by AI from their statements. Updated .

Average grade
B+
83 / 100 over 60 statements
Signal 82 / 100
Relevance 74 / 100
Respect 100 / 100
Clarity 85 / 100
Loses points more than most for A promise with no date, no measure and no one responsible.3 times as often as most members.What the tags mean ×3.0 Greetings and pleasantries.1.8 times as often as most members.What the tags mean ×1.8 Staying near the subject without addressing the matter at hand: what was asked, or what the bill, motion or speech is about.1.6 times as often as most members.What the tags mean ×1.6 Loses points less than most for Something stated as certain with nothing to back it.Less often than most members.What the tags mean A remark off to the side of the point.Less often than most members.What the tags mean Throat-clearing: announcing what you are about to say, or the House’s routine business.Less often than most members.What the tags mean Averaged over the 60 of 72 statements graded so far.

Statements 72

Oral Questions ·

Housing

In response to a question from Jacob Mantle

“Our plan to lower building fees in Ontario and British Columbia is helping build more homes. Housing starts are up in cities like Montreal and Vancouver. We need that to happen across the country, and we are working to make housing affordable.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, CMHC also weighed in on the fact that the lowering of the development charges by this government in Ontario and B.C. is actually improving the prospects for housing supply in those provinces, and we are just getting started. There is a mix of housing starts across the country. Housing starts are up in critical markets such as Montreal and Vancouver. We need to see that across the country, and we are focused on affordability.

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In response to a question from Jacob Mantle

“We are focused on building homes for young Canadians and removing the sales tax for first-time buyers, which the Conservatives opposed. Average rents have dropped for 23 months in a row, and we will keep building more homes.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, it is good to be back in the House and to see my colleagues. We are absolutely focused on getting housing built for young Canadians and making sure they are not paying GST on their first-time home purchases. This is a move that was not supported by the Conservatives across the way, unfortunately. They should be consistent, at least. Rents are coming down across Canada. Average rents have been down for 23 straight months. Affordability is coming our way. We are focused on building more housing. Build Canada Homes is rolling it out at pace. We will continue to do so.

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Government Orders ·

An Act to Authorize Certain Payments to be Made out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund

“I want the House to approve this bill so a committee can study it. The bill gives money to provinces and territories to help build more homes.”
Official Hansard

moved that Bill C-26, An Act to authorize certain payments to be made out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the purpose of improving housing supply, be read the second time and referred to a committee.

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Government Orders ·

Government Business No. 11—Proceedings on Bill C-26

In response to a question from Melissa Lantsman

“We need to pass this bill to give provinces money for housing. Ontario is using this money to cut taxes on new homes, which helps builders build and helps people buy. I want to see this help other provinces like British Columbia get more homes built too.”

  • Reply to a debate question

    Relevance 41 of 100

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Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I would say to the member opposite that we need to look at the Ontario example of how this funding is being used. The Ontario government has chosen to deploy it for eliminating the HST for this year to get its housing market going. Getting that housing market going by giving people a discount effectively on a new home is advancing the market. It is getting home builders back to building, because they know the market is coming back alive. I have heard from the members opposite that this has been a crisis, particularly in the GTA, that is related to the housing market. This is how the Ontario government, in partnership with us and resourced by this housing supply bill, is getting that market going and getting homebuyers into homes more affordably. We want to see that happen across the country. I know the provinces and territories have different approaches depending on their markets and their housing contexts. I am looking forward to seeing this deployed in B.C., in my home province, because the metro Vancouver market has very similar challenges to those of the GTA, and I want to see that change. We are receiving a lot of pressure from home builders who are concerned about the markets being flat. That is not surprising given the uncertainty in the world. This is a way to help jump-start and accelerate the markets and get more homes built.

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In response to a question from Bardish Chagger

“We need to pass this housing bill quickly. Working with Ontario has already helped builders and buyers, and home sales in Ottawa are way up. This bill will send money to all provinces and territories so people can buy homes.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I agree with the member. The importance of getting this done is urgent. Really, the example in Ontario is what we are working with. It shows the difference this can make on the ground for the housing market, homebuyers and home builders in Ontario, who need to get going on building more supply. That is the result we are seeing already in Ontario. We met with developers over the last few weeks. The Prime Minister and I were told that we are seeing a 60% to 70% increase in sales volume here in Ottawa, and that is because of the Ontario HST elimination this year. Therefore, we are seeing a direct benefit of the Ontario partnership here. I expect we will see this with provinces and territories across the country as this funding is approved and deployed. This is about collaboration and a partnership of trust. It is about getting the money to the communities and the people, ultimately, so they can buy homes.

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In response to a question from Greg McLean

“I want the Conservatives to vote for this bill. It gives money to Ontario to cut the sales tax on new homes under $1 million for one year. This will save buyers money and help builders build more homes.”

  • Reply to a debate question

    Relevance 44 of 100

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Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, well, I have a very simple question for the members opposite: Do they support working with the Government of Ontario to eliminate the HST for one year on new homes up to $1 million? This is exactly what Ontario is doing with the funding related to this housing supply bill. This is exactly what it is doing. It has committed the funding. If the members opposite support giving Ontarians a break on buying a new home up to $1 million, with $130,000 off $1 million, that is what the bill is all about. This is what Ontario is doing. If the Conservatives vote against the bill, they are voting against giving people in Ontario a break on buying a new home and giving home builders in Ontario an opportunity to get more active and make sure they are driving up supply in Ontario. That is what this is about.

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In response to a question from Tamara Kronis

“We have a housing crisis and need to act quickly. I want the House to pass this bill so we can send 1.7 billion dollars to the provinces and territories to build more homes.”

  • Reply to a debate question

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Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, again, I am a bit surprised to hear this commentary from the members opposite. We are in a housing crisis. We need to move urgently to solve this, to fix this. We need to work with our provinces and territories to do that. We rely on their leadership as well. It is a simple question: Does she support investing $1.7 billion, boosting housing supply with provinces and territories? The members opposite may not agree. It is a very simple next step to increase the federal government’s investment in housing. This is what is before us right now. I encourage the members to support this so we can get this out as soon as possible and get housing built.

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In response to a question from Garnett Genuis

“I want the House to pass this bill. It gives $1.7 billion to provinces and territories so they can build more homes faster.”

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Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite well knows that I have appeared before HUMA a number of times to talk about the initiatives we have, as a government, to get affordable housing going, to get Build Canada Homes up and running as a Crown corporation so that it can drive the pace in getting affordable housing built. I have been at HUMA. I have been at other committees as well to make sure we are doing everything we can to advance the work on affordable housing. I will certainly be in front of HUMA again many more times as the housing minister. What we are talking about with this bill is advancing it so we can accelerate, so we can invest in the provinces and territories to get housing supply boosted across Canada right now. It is very simple and straightforward. Members opposite may not want to support investing in provinces and territories. They may not want to invest $1.7 billion in scaling up housing supply. This is an opportunity to say yes to that, and I encourage the members—

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In response to a question from Kevin Lamoureux

“We need to pass this bill quickly to give money to the provinces and territories so they can build more homes. We want to work with them to share workers, materials, and building rules across the country to get housing built faster.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, first and foremost, on process, I have spoken to the urgency and simplicity of this bill in entrusting provinces and territories with taking action and deploying this funding to get housing supply scaled up in their jurisdictions. As we have seen with Ontario eliminating the HST, we already have a good example of what can be done. I think the collaboration piece is really critical here. We do rely upon provinces and territories. A member opposite had a question about building codes. There are attempts to harmonize on or to have a smoother flow for the supply chains for homebuilding materials, Canadian materials in particular, and for labour, workers and expertise across the country. We want the provinces and territories working on team Canada to get more housing built. I think it is really critical that, right now, we are investing across the board to facilitate more housing getting built and more interchange between provinces and territories to get that done.

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In response to a question from Billy Morin

“Other ministers and programs handle housing for Indigenous people, including a $4 billion fund. This bill gives $1.7 billion to the provinces and territories for housing. They can choose to spend some of that money on Indigenous housing if they want.”

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Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, the investment in housing for first nations on reserve is something the Minister of Indigenous Services is responsible for. She currently has an indigenous housing process going to build a strategy, which I will be happy to collaborate with her on. There is indigenous housing funding as well in Build Canada Homes that is focused on urban, rural and northern indigenous housing, which is about a $4‑billion envelope. There are a number of different opportunities for indigenous housing. With this housing supply bill, we are talking about $1.7 billion to the provinces and territories, giving them the discretion to deploy that funding as needed. Some may choose to work with indigenous populations to invest that money on housing. That is their choice.

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In response to a question from Scott Aitchison

“We want to pass this bill to give provinces money for housing. Ontario already used this funding to cut sales tax and help its housing market. We want each province to have the freedom to spend this money how they see fit to build more homes.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I think we need to look at what is happening in the member opposite’s province. Ontario has been first out of the gate, accepting this funding and deploying it to eliminate the HST, for which members opposite have been calling for months, to take action. I think both sides of the House agree we need to take action to get the housing market going in Ontario and B.C., where it has been stalled. This has done that in Ontario. Ontario is a good example of making a good choice to eliminate the HST for this year and prime the pump on its housing market. That is an example of what we want to see across the country. We would not be prescriptive with provinces and territories. We would be responsive to the needs across the country. We want to be sure that Ontario and B.C. markets are addressed, as they are in a state of relative crisis, but we want to have flexibility with this too. It is a very simple next step and a statement of collaboration with provinces and territories that we would entrust them to do the right thing and take action to deliver on housing.

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In response to a question from Tamara Kronis

“I want the House to pass this bill. It gives money to provinces and territories so they can build more homes, which areas like Vancouver badly need. The opposition says they want debate, but they just voted to stop work for the day.”

  • Reply to a debate question

    Relevance 33 of 100

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Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, if the members of the opposition are so insistent on debate time, why did they just vote to adjourn the House in the middle of the day on a Tuesday? It does not add up. The bill is all about focusing on delivering results for the housing market, particularly in the member opposite’s province, where I live too, B.C. The housing market in metro Vancouver is extremely challenged right now. The Province of B.C. would have the opportunity to deploy this funding to get the province’s market going. That is an example. I think we have seen that already happen with Ontario as the first mover taking action to eliminate its HST. We need to get this funding out to communities. That is the priority. It is a very simple and straightforward bill about collaborating, investing in our provinces and territories and making sure that housing is built across Canada.

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In response to a question from Robert Morrissey

“I want the House to pass this bill. It gives money directly to the provinces and territories so they can build more affordable homes in ways that work best for them.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, Bill C-26 would be one tool in a large tool box that we need to activate to get the housing market turned around here in Canada, to get more affordable housing built, to make sure we have a healthy housing market and to make sure the homebuilding industry is innovating and advancing to make housing more affordable. This would be one tool in collaboration with the provinces and territories. It would be a direct investment, a transfer, and would give them the flexibility to apply it where needed. Ontario is choosing to eliminate its HST for this year, which I think is having a very positive effect on the market in Ontario. Other provinces and territories would have different approaches depending on their markets, but we have many other tools from Build Canada Homes and reaching home, which is supporting homelessness efforts, to the housing accelerator fund, which works with communities and local governments to cut red tape and get housing built. We have a wide array of tools. We need to continue scaling up the work on those tools, scaling up the investment that is needed to ensure that we have enough affordable housing being built, and to make sure that as a House we are here supporting the efforts and collaboration with all levels of government and the private sector.

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In response to a question from Eric Melillo

“We need to pass this bill quickly to give provinces money to build more homes. Past governments spent 40 years ignoring affordable housing, which caused today's housing crisis.”

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Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, with all due respect to our predecessors here in the House, there is about 40 years of history of the Government of Canada’s neglecting to invest enough in affordable housing. That is what has created the housing crisis today. It has been built up over decades by governments of all stripes. There have been lots of challenges from the local, provincial and territorial levels in not expediting and not approving housing. The challenges have mounted over many years. The government has now been elected to take action. That is what advancing the bill is about: to make sure we are investing, working collaboratively with provinces and territories to get housing built and to get the housing market going again. I know that the opposition housing critic has been very vocal about supporting getting the housing market going. Ontario and B.C. are two of the provinces that are really challenged on housing supply and market. We need to get this money invested on the ground as quickly as possible.

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In response to a question from Garnett Genuis

“I want us to pass this bill to send $1.7 billion to provinces and territories to build more affordable housing. Canada has a housing crisis. Conservatives are trying to delay the bill by filibustering and trying to end the workday early.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I am stumped by the actions we just saw in the House from Conservatives, trying to adjourn the House for the day. They just voted to adjourn the House, but fortunately a majority of us are here to do the work and continue with the business of the House. We voted that adjournment motion down. We welcome the debate, in the case of this bill, to advance the work on housing supply. Housing is in a crisis across Canada, and we need to make sure affordability is paramount. The bill is about investing $1.7 billion in provinces and territories to boost their housing supply. It is a very simple, straightforward bill. There have been hours of debate on it. We can contrast that opportunity for members to speak to the bill with what happened yesterday in the House, when the Conservative member for Mission—Matsqui—Abbotsford filibustered for hours, preventing many other members from being able to speak in the debate in the House. I know there are lots of games being played around adjournment and filibustering. The bill is about getting funding to the people on the ground in our country who need affordable housing.

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In response to a question from Grant Jackson

“We must not forget the housing needs of small and rural towns, especially in the north. This bill sends money to the provinces and territories to build more homes. For example, Ontario will use this money to cut the sales tax for homebuyers across the province.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, we absolutely cannot forget about the important housing needs in smaller communities. Rural Canada faces many of the same challenges in terms of affordability and housing supply. Particularly in the north, housing supply is a huge challenge. Build Canada Homes is an agency focused on making sure the supply side is boosted, but in this case, the funding would be going to the provinces and territories. Ontario has given us the first example of what can be done. It is choosing to use its funding to effectively eliminate the HST for homebuyers throughout Ontario. It would benefit homebuyers and home builders, by extension, across all of Ontario, from urban to rural. Obviously that is a much-needed break on the HST for the homebuyers. That would be provided for in Ontario because of the housing supply bill.

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In response to a question from Greg McLean

“This bill gives $1.7 billion to the provinces and territories to build more homes. It helps provinces like Ontario cut taxes and fees on new homes to save buyers money and get builders building again.”

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Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, just to be clear, this debate is about the housing supply act before the House, which is about $1.7 billion that would be distributed among the provinces and territories to boost housing supply. We already have an uptake on this with the province of Ontario. It was announced a few months ago. Ontario, thanks to the federal support that is tied to the bill, would be rebating the full 13% of the harmonized sales tax, the HST, on new homes up to $1 million. Buyers of those new homes up to $1 million could save up to $130,000. When we combine that with the initiative around reducing development charges, which is 30% to 50% with municipalities in Ontario and is administered by the province of Ontario, it is an additional up to $70,000. All this is in response to the crisis that Ontario, particularly the GTA, has had with the housing market. There is oversupply in the housing market and other challenges, such as uncertainty in the market, buyers not buying and builders not being able to move on projects. This is about getting the housing market going across the country, particularly in Ontario and B.C.

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“I want to end debate on this topic so we can move forward.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, in relation to the consideration of Government Business No. 11, I move: That debate be not further adjourned.

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Oral Questions ·

Housing

In response to a question from Emma Harrison

“The House passed our bill to create a new government agency that will help build affordable housing. We want the Senate to pass it quickly so we can get to work.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Peterborough for her great work in the community. Yesterday was a great day for affordable housing. Despite the opposition of members opposite, who are against affordable housing, the government passed the Build Canada Homes act here in the House. This brings us one step closer to getting affordable housing built. Build Canada Homes will become a Crown corporation with the support of the Senate. We are looking forward to working with our senators to secure the bill’s final passage and get Build Canada Homes up and running and delivering affordable—

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Oral Questions ·

Labour

In response to a question from Kelly McCauley

“Our country's infrastructure projects and the Canada Infrastructure Bank follow federal labour laws.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I want to reassure the members that the Canada Infrastructure Bank and the infrastructure investments we make as a country follow the Canada Labour Code.

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