Laila Goodridge · TranslatePolitics.ca

Government Orders

Government Business No. 12—Proceedings on Bill C-30

2026-06-15

“The Liberals can't manage their time so they're limiting debate. We didn't get to talk about this bill for long. The Liberals took forever to bring any bills to debate and now they want to rush this one through. This is a big expensive bill and Canadians deserve a real debate on it.”

Official Hansard

Madam Speaker, we are seeing here a heavy-handed Liberal government that has decided that, because it is unable to manage the time of the House and because it is unable to bring forward legislation in a timely manner, it is going to use the hammer to curtail debate. We have seen an hour of debate on this particular bill in the chamber, and the Liberals' answer is to speed this through so we cannot have an adequate debate on the bill. They are trying to use every excuse in the book, but the reality is that, when we started sitting, we had effectively no bills for a very long period of time, and that is on the Liberals. They cannot get bills out for us to have time to debate them. It is not on the opposition for holding them accountable and saying that we deserve to have debate. This is a lot of money being spent. Does the minister not believe that Canadians deserve to have actual conversations and debate on bills in this chamber, specifically when we are spending billions of dollars for Canadians, yes or no?

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Government Orders

Build Canada Homes Act

2026-06-09

“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!”

“I'm on the same committee as her. This bill won't work. We already have too much bureaucracy. The government should leave this to provinces and indigenous governments.”

Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague, with whom I have the honour of serving on the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, as well as on the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. The facts are crystal clear. We heard from so many witnesses during the committee's study of Bill C‑20. The witnesses said that there was a lot of uncertainty and that they were not getting answers about the point of all this or why it could not be done by existing agencies. Ottawa decided to create another structure, to add more bureaucracy. It is not going to work. The fact is that we need to work more closely with the provinces, the territories and indigenous governments across the country because what Ottawa is doing is not working.

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“I want more Canadians to own their own home. The government's new housing bureaucracy will barely add any homes. That's not what Canadians want. I think the member is wrong.”

“The Liberals made housing worse. People in my riding are suffering. They can't build new homes. The government should do what Conservatives say. Then home builders will build more homes.”

Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, owning a home was once at the heart of the Canadian dream. For generations, Canadians believed that if they worked hard, played by the rules, paid their taxes and contributed to their communities, they would have the opportunity to buy a home, raise a family and build a secure future. That was not an unreasonable expectation. It was part of the promise of this country. Today, however, that promise is further out of reach than it has ever felt before. After more than a decade of Liberal government, Canadians are facing a cost of living crisis unlike anything we have seen in generations. The cost of groceries has soared, utility bills continue to climb, families are paying more at the gas pump, more at the checkout counter and more for virtually everything, every necessity of life, yet nowhere is this failure more evident than in the housing sector. Home ownership is increasingly becoming an unachievable goal for hard-working Canadians. Young people who did everything right are losing hope. They pursued an education, entered the workforce, saved diligently and delayed major life decisions, only to discover that the dream of owning a home continues to move further and further away. The statistics paint a sobering picture. According to the office of the superintendent of bankruptcy, the number of Canadians seeking relief under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act during the first quarter of 2026 reached levels not seen since the aftermath of the Great Depression. Consumer insolvencies increased by 8.5% compared to the same period last year, and mortgage delinquencies have reached their highest levels since 2021. Canadians are carrying an astonishing $2.6 trillion in household debt, and the average Canadian now owes $1.77 for every dollar earned, yet the burden is heavier for lower- and middle-income earners. Testimony before the finance committee revealed that, for the bottom 80% of earners, debt-to-income ratios exceed 200%. For the bottom 20%, they approach 430%. These numbers are more than just statistics. They represent families draining their savings, simply trying to keep up. They represent seniors worried about their financial security. They represent young couples wondering when they will ever be able to save enough money for that down payment. They represent Canadians who have refinanced mortgages, maxed-out lines of credit and taken on additional debt simply to afford rent, groceries and other necessities. Canada is facing a housing crisis, not a housing challenge, not a housing issue, but a housing crisis, and it is a crisis that has been years in the making. I have seen the aftermath of this crisis in my hometown of Fort McMurray, where we have had booms and busts for as long as people have known that the oil sands existed. However, never was this more true than in the last decade when we had the Liberal government in place, which told people in my community that it would transition their jobs away, and that they should not actually be in that kind of industry. What we saw, effectively for the last 10 years, were housing starts dropping to nearly zero, which means that, right now, we do not have the builders ready to build, because most of the builders have left town. Most of the construction workers have left town, because there were no jobs to be had as people were not buying houses. What we saw, and what we are continuing to see, are people upside down on their mortgage, which means they owe more than they have paid. If they want to sell their house, their choice is either to pay a whole bunch of money or go bankrupt. That is not a space where Canadians want to be, but this is where we are careening down, because of the Liberals' mismanagement of the economy for the last decade. The decisions the Liberals make, and the decisions we make here in Parliament, have real-life impact on the lives of Canadians. This is not just a crisis for families who are looking to buy homes. It is a crisis for workers who build homes: electricians, carpenters, plumbers and welders. It has an impact on all kinds of construction workers. When projects are delayed by government red tape or permits take years instead of months, investment goes away. This is one of those problems, because when the investment goes away, the jobs disappear. We need to think about that for a moment. Canada has a severe housing crisis and a severe housing shortage. We need millions of new homes across the country. We have skilled trades workers ready to build them, yet government policies are slowing down construction and preventing projects from even getting off the ground. Every housing project that is cancelled, delayed or deemed too expensive to proceed means fewer houses for workers to work on, fewer apprentices getting trained, fewer opportunities for young people entering the trades and fewer paycheques for hard-working Canadians. This is the reality that the Liberal government fails to understand. What is the Liberals' solution? Their solution is yet another housing bureaucracy. What we are seeing with Build Canada Homes is a fourth Canadian housing bureaucracy because their solution to so much is just to build more government bureaucracy. The reality is we have yet to be able to understand, on the human resources, skills and social development committee, what powers of the Build Canada Homes could not be accessed through either the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation or the Canada Lands Company, which are two existing bureaucracies. Instead, the Liberals want to put a new shiny bow on things, build something new and say they are going to build at unimaginable speeds, yet the reality is we are seeing construction grind to a halt. Most of the people who came before our committee when we studied this bill did not really understand what Build Canada Homes was going to do. They had some general ideas, but nothing concrete. When we had the CEO come to committee, we heard how many homes the corporation had built. The answer, I think, was nine, which is not speeds that had never before been seen. The Liberals promised to build 500,000 homes annually, yet according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation projections, housing starts could actually fall to approximately 212,000 units by 2028. That is not just a small shortfall. That is a huge failure of historic proportions. Even more concerning is the Parliamentary Budget Officer found that Build Canada Homes would contribute only about 5,000 homes annually. That is only 1% of the government's own annual housing target. Canadians deserve better than announcements that generate headlines but fail to deliver results. The reality is builders have consistently told government what is needed. The solution is not more bureaucracy. The solution is not more government agencies. The solution is not having Ottawa involved. The solution is not having Ottawa attempting to become a developer. The solution is creating conditions that allow builders to build. The CEO of the Ontario Home Builders' Association summed it up perfectly when he testified at our committee. He said, “the path forward is not for government to step into the role of the builder but for it to enable those who already do this work every day to do it better, faster and at greater scale.” The Conservative Party of Canada completely agrees and we believe that all Canadians should have the opportunity to own their own home and have access to safe and affordable housing. That is why Conservatives believe that the federal government can assist home builders across the country by cutting the GST on all new homes under $1.3 million, saving families up to $65,000; unleash building by tying federal infrastructure dollars to homebuilding; have municipalities permit at least 15% more homebuilding each year; cut development charges by 50%, which the Liberals promised during the last election campaign but refused to deliver; end the capital gains on reinvestment in new housing in Canada; and unlock billions of dollars of investment in the country's homebuilding sector. Most importantly, we believe the government should focus on the outcomes instead of announcements. I know that is shocking, but Canadians do not measure success by the number of government programs that exist. They measure success by whether they can afford a home. They measure success by whether their children have opportunities. They measure success by whether their communities can grow and prosper. For too many Canadians, the answer today is no. The consequences of inaction are profound. Canadians are tired of excuses. They are tired of missed targets. They are tired of announcements that never materialize into results. They want action. They want homes. They want affordability. They want governments that remove obstacles instead of creating them. As the member of Parliament for Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, I will continue fighting for the workers, the families, the tradespeople and the young Canadians who simply want a fair chance to succeed, to save, to buy a home, to build a future and to pass on something to their children. This was once the Canadian promise and it should be again. It is time to restore Canada's promise.

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“You are smart. Explain why bureaucracy doesn't build houses. What is happening in Newfoundland and Labrador?”

“I want to make you admit this program isn't building houses yet. It's just more bureaucracy.”

Statements by Members

The Economy

2026-06-09

“The government spends too much money. I want to spend much less money. Canadians have less money because the government spends too much.”

Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, Canada is falling behind. Under the Liberal Prime Minister, Canada stands alone as the only G20 country in a recession. Families feel it every day. Paycheques do not stretch as far, bills keep piling up, and home ownership is slipping out of reach. Canadians are left asking a simple question: How did we get here? The answer is a decade of Liberal economic failure. The Liberals said this spring that they would borrow $65 billion, yet the independent budget watchdog says the real number is $72 billion. That is $7 billion more on debt, $7 billion more to be paid by our children and grandchildren. The Liberals keep spending like there is no tomorrow, while Canadians are left paying the price today with higher debt, higher costs and less opportunity. Canadians deserve better than excuses. They deserve a government that grows the economy instead of growing the debt. It is time to end the reckless spending, restore fiscal responsibility and get Canada back on track.

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Government Orders

Protecting Victims Act

2026-06-04

“I want to keep talking. The real reason the Liberals want to end debate is because they want a holiday. I don't actually talk about the bill. I talk mostly about what should be debated.”

Official Hansard

Madam Speaker, it is shameful that the government has decided it is going to use a hammer to restrict our ability to continue debating this important bill. The minister has stated that he wishes there were more, such as a parliamentary study on the idea of elder abuse and coercive control. All he would have to do is read through some of the testimony we have been hearing at FEWO for the last couple months, and there is ample. We have had witness after witness make it very clear that this needs to be put in. We have had tons of stakeholders bring this forward as a massive issue, yet the Liberals say that it is not important and that they are not dealing with that right now. Also, they are limiting any ability to have any further debate on this issue because they want to go home for vacation. We are here to work, and we expect that, so why is the minister so keen to get out of here, get to somewhere else and go on his vacation rather than stay here and work for Canadians?

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Oral Questions

The Economy

2026-06-01

“The other party spends too much. Canadians have less money because of it. Even people with jobs need food banks now. It's not because of other countries. The other party did this.”

“Canada's economy is shrinking. People are hungry. The Prime Minister keeps spending lots of money on fancy food and trips. That's not fair when regular families have to cut back.”

Private Members' Business

Offender Rehabilitation Act

2026-06-01

“I think this bill is great. The member for Kitchener Centre used to be homeless and now she's an MP. That shows recovery is possible. We need to give people the tools to get better. In Alberta, people can get into detox without waiting forever or mortgaging their house. We should offer tools in jail to treat addiction. It's hard to get into NA or AA in jail. That's a failure. Addiction is a health condition and we should treat it like one. We need to have hope and believe people can get better. I encourage everyone to support this bill and put aside partisanship.”

Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, it is truly such an honour to be here today to speak to this spectacular bill. I want to sincerely thank my friend, my colleague, the member for Kitchener Centre for being willing to be vulnerable, for being willing to share her story with each and every one of us and to use the pain, the struggle that she went through as she was dealing with addiction early in her life, and how she turned that into a spectacular life. I have had the opportunity of meeting her daughter and seeing the accomplishments she made in her professional life before she came to Parliament. To find out that years prior she had been homeless and sleeping on park benches in the community that she now gets to represent in Parliament, I think, is a huge testament to the fact that recovery is possible. What stops so many people from going after recovery is not having the tools to get there, the off-ramps. This is one of the pieces that Conservatives have been consistent in sharing. We need to meet people where they are at, but we cannot just leave them there. We need to give them the tools so they can get into detox and then, from that space, from detox into treatment. In my province of Alberta, the fact that people can do that without having to mortgage a house or wait six years on a wait-list has made the difference as to whether people stay sick or get better. I want to see more support for recovery because people truly can and do get better. Here is the piece: When people are in jail, and the root cause of some of their criminality is addiction, we really owe it to ourselves to make sure we are treating that root cause of the addiction. For every single person I have met who is now in recovery from addiction, the single hardest thing they have had to do in their life is getting sober and staying sober, confronting the demons of some of the actions and activities they did that were not in line with their values and confronting some of the really tough things they did when they were trying to just survive and get by. We should be offering tools while people are incarcerated so they can get better, and not just offering those tools but allowing that to be in consideration for parole and giving incentives so people can do that. Right now, if someone is seeking out treatment in incarceration in Canada, the steps they have to go through in most provinces are quite hard. Most people cannot even get into an NA or AA meeting if they are in jail. That is a failure of our system. It costs effectively nothing, yet in so many jurisdictions, it is hard to even get that for people who are struggling with addiction. This bill would take the huge step of not just telling people that addiction is a health condition and needs to be treated as such but clearly stating that we have hope, that we believe they can get better and that we know recovery is possible. That is the single most inspiring piece we can do. This is the most important piece. If people want to get started on that hard and long path toward recovery, it starts one step at a time, to do the next right thing, and this is the next right thing. I would encourage every single member in this chamber to put aside partisanship, to realize that this, what we are talking about right now, can make a huge difference in the lives of so many Canadians. I would urge every single member to unreservedly support the member for Kitchener Centre's private member's bill, Bill C-240, and make a very clear statement that recovery is possible.

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Statements by Members

Ronald McDonald House Charities

2026-05-06

“I want to cheer for a charity that spends money in my riding.”

Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, today is McHappy day, a day when every purchase at McDonald's helps support families through the Ronald McDonald House charities. In Alberta, 65% of families live outside a city with a children's hospital, meaning that many families must travel far from home and their support networks to access specialized care. In these moments, Ronald McDonald Houses provide a home away from home to families right across Canada. Last year, from Fort McMurray—Cold Lake alone, 52 families benefited from Ronald McDonald House stays, each bringing a little more normalcy and a chance for kids to be kids and for families to connect. When a child is seriously ill, families should not have to worry about where they will sleep or where their next meal is going to come from. Ronald McDonald House provides comfort, stability and a place to stay during some of life's most difficult moments. I encourage all Canadians to take part in McHappy day and help make a meaningful difference for families in need.

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Oral Questions

Natural Resources

2026-05-04

“I don't want you to distract from my attack. I want to blame you for blocking natural resource development. You're not helping. I want specific answers and action, not more pretty words.”

“The Prime Minister talks big about a new pipeline, but there are no real plans yet. I want him to give a specific construction start date to prove he's serious.”

Government Orders

Military Justice System Modernization Act

2026-05-04

“I don't like that the Liberals are limiting debate on this bill. I want them to admit they are wrong and allow more debate. They don't care about veterans or the military.”

Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, we are just over a week into the Liberals' sneaky majority, which they got through backdoor deals, and this is the piece of legislation they have decided they are going to ram through and curtail debate. What is this piece of legislation we are talking about? This is a piece of legislation about sexual assault and listening to our veterans. The Liberals are choosing to put political expediency ahead of the needs of victims and our veterans or even listening to our military members. This is all par for the course. I have seen this in Cold Lake at 4 Wing. We still do not have an answer as to when we are going to get all 88 of the F-35s in, because they do not seem to care. This is just a pattern of abuse from the government of not putting veterans and our armed forces members first. The question is simple. Will the Liberals admit they are wrong on this and let the debate continue?

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Oral Questions

Finance

2026-04-30

“The government spends too much. Stop adding to the debt. Parents can spend their own money better than you can. Your deficit is making food cost more.”

“The Prime Minister knows about economics. But he doubled the deficit. Now we have more debt, inflation, and taxes. The government spends like it has a magic credit card but real people can't do that. Grocery prices are high. The Prime Minister should quit spending so much so people can buy food.”