MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
Robertson rigidly repeats talking points about spending more on housing programs, especially 'Build Canada Homes', while dodging any pointed questions or commitments. He fills time with kind words about provinces that use federal money, but glosses over problems or details. Attacking Conservatives looks better than answering the point.
Government Orders
“I know you want more houses, but I'm going to talk about how great our existing program is instead of committing to more. Let me list off all the ways our program already helps indigenous people, and say how excited I am to see it keep helping them, so I can make it sound like we're doing enough without actually promising anything new.”
“I want to cheer for spending more federal money on housing and change the subject to a win. New Brunswick's provincial government got to play a big role, so I get to take credit. I'm thanking New Brunswick and its MPs for partnering with my government to spend lots more money.”
“I want to steer this away from our trade problems and make it about a totally different program. Maybe if I talk up spending on Canada Homes real Canadians will forget we've failed to open the U.S. market to our wood.”
“The goal is to spend as much as possible and hope for the best. I don't want to set targets I might be held to.”
“We need two separate agencies, not one. CMHC should focus on market housing. Build Canada Homes should focus on affordable housing. They do different things, with different partners. Quebec agrees with us.”
“I'm ignoring your procedural point. Many groups want money from this program. We will spend a lot of money building these homes with your tax dollars. I just want you to know that we are doing something about homelessness.”
“I'm filling time with kind words and saying nothing anyone could pin down later. I want two agencies. That means more jobs for my friends. CMHC will keep subsidizing market housing and Build Canada Homes will subsidize... non-market housing. Also, we're folding Canada Lands into Build Canada Homes for, um, synergy or something.”
“I want the government to control and spend on housing through a new federal Crown corporation. I want more public money and federal tools pushing this program. I promise this new federal spending will somehow make home building easier and faster for provinces, cities, and private companies.”
“I want you to know that I like New Brunswick's building policies. I want their lower governments and programs to make more homes. I want other provinces to copy that. That will let my government take credit.”
“I'm filling time repeating nice things about New Brunswick to make the MP look good. Notice all the spending happening there.”
“Shipping prefab homes is pricey, but it's worth it to cut construction waste. Build Canada Homes just needs to factor it into the cost. It would be even better if we could get local people to assemble these homes.”
“I don't like his email. Walk over here and lets talk. I'm willing to talk about housing. I promise I'm focused on building homes.”
“This is all going great. Lots of places say they'll build homes using our program. We have deals with most provinces now. They say they'll build thousands of homes. Look, that's a lot of homes! We're doing a good job. I just keep saying our program is popular. I don't have to say how many homes we'll actually build or when they'll be finished. I won't mention market reforms to make housing cheaper. I just say lots of people want to use our program. That must mean it's good.”
“I know remote places cost more. We have a deal with Quebec. And with Nunavut. It's good news. We will build hundreds of homes there. We can make the parts in factories. Ship them to remote places. It is more efficient. The program helps places that cost more.”
“The housing crisis isn't our fault. It's everyone's fault. Every government made this problem. We all share the blame. The feds didn't build enough housing. The provinces didn't help enough. Local governments had challenges approving enough housing fast enough too. Build Canada Homes could help a little by attracting some private money. We should spend money on that.”
“Building codes are a provincial responsibility. The federal government is not supposed to interfere with how provinces and cities set standards for new housing. But I have a plan to tweak those building standards anyway. We need a new layer of federal codes and certification for manufactured housing parts. It's more important to certify the parts than to let industry build homes at prices people can afford. My new codes will tell the whole country what to accept.”
“We're in a crisis. Many Canadians can't find affordable housing. Canada needs more non-market housing like Europe. We need a new agency dedicated to that. It's urgent to create this new Crown corporation to take action and deliver results.”
“I'm the government. I want to shut down debate on my housing bill. We should vote without more talk.”
Oral Questions
“We're spending a ton of money on infrastructure. It's for community centres and public transit. We'll train a bunch of tradespeople. The other side doesn't support this. They're just negative. They should get with the program.”
“We say we are solving the problem. Rents are down for 20 months. That's a long time. We spend money on affordable housing. We give discounts on groceries. We have programs for children and food. We vote to spend money. The other side votes against our spending.”
