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

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 · Closure motion · now law Where it stands

The debate was on a motion to end further debate on Bill C-26, which would authorize $1.7 billion in payments to provinces and territories to improve housing supply. Liberal members, including the minister, said the money is urgently needed to address the housing crisis, that provinces like Ontario have already committed to using it to cut sales taxes on new homes, and that provinces and territories can spend it in ways that suit their needs, including rural, northern and Indigenous housing. Conservative members opposed cutting off debate, noting the bill had not gone through the usual stages of study, amendment and committee review, and raised concerns about the lack of targets, rules and transparency for the funds, whether small municipalities could access the money, and how First Nations housing needs would be addressed. Liberals pointed to what they described as Conservative attempts to adjourn the House and delay the bill, while Conservatives asked that the minister appear at committee to answer questions.Written by AI from the debate. Updated .

Official text

29 statements

Gregor Robertson

Liberal

Linked statement

“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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Tamara Kronis

Conservative
“I do not want the government to end debate on this housing bill. Doing so stops it from going to committee, which means experts and regular Canadians cannot share their ideas on it.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, we have heard a variety of arguments from this side of the House as to why cutting debate off on this bill is short-sighted, but perhaps one of the most important reasons is because, as my hon. colleague explained, it does not just cut off debate in the House; it also means this bill will never go to committee. What that means is that the experts, the constituents, the members of civil society in this country who might have something to say with respect to this bill, which might actually be useful to the government, will not get the chance to be heard. I certainly understand why the member does not want to go to committee. I have seen him there, and it is not good, but I want to know why the minister is also cutting off Canadians from having their say about the bill through our committee process.

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Gregor Robertson

Liberal
“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.”

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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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Greg McLean

Conservative
“The minister wants to spend another $1.7 billion on housing, but his plans have not fixed anything. He wants to spend this money without a committee checking how it is used. I want him to tell us how he will make sure this money is spent properly.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, the minister knows this because I met him when he first got elected here on the floor of the House of Commons, and when he was named the housing minister, I told him that the first thing he had to do was to get rid of the people who have led us into this trap in the first place. Those are the people in his department, the ones whose advice he is following now to spend another $1.7 billion of Canadians’ money in accomplishing what they have accomplished so far, which is just spending money and not fixing the situation at all. He keeps referring to a crisis. This crisis is a crisis of his party’s causing, along with the officials who have led him to this trap. Not getting this to committee means another $1.7 billion of Canadian taxpayer money going out the door without anybody seeing what it is about, what the accountability mechanisms might be or if the money is being spent wisely. It is just another cheque that the minister is trying to bring in front of the Canadian people. Will he please tell us if he is going to entertain any input on the accountability mechanism assigned to the $1.7 billion of new taxpayer money?

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Gregor Robertson

Liberal
“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.”

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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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Bardish Chagger

Liberal
“This bill helps provinces and territories build more homes. The Conservatives are wasting time talking about other things instead of debating it. I want the minister to explain why we need to pass this bill quickly.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the minister reminding us what this bill is about. It is about working with provinces and territories and providing them with the levers to help Canadians. Even on a bill so simple, we hear the opposition talking about the importance of having debate and conversation. Anybody who has been observing committees has seen, whenever the opposition has an expert, a witness or a minister present, its members are busy talking about their pets, including all the way up to elephants. It is interesting, because when the Conservatives have the opportunity to ask questions, to scrutinize and to actually be an effective opposition, they choose to spend time talking about anything but the legislation or what is in front of them. We see it here in the House as well. When people want us to work, when Canadians are hurting and want us to serve, the Conservatives cannot fathom the government succeeding in doing well for Canadians. They would rather keep advancing their narrative than help their own constituents, neighbours and fellow Canadians. I would like to hear this from the minister: Why is it important that we get this legislation done, and what do we see as the potential outcomes? Why is it important that the government be able to deliver for Canadians?

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Gregor Robertson

Liberal
“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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Melissa Lantsman

Conservative
“We should keep debating this bill. The minister has not answered how many homes his 1.7-billion-dollar plan will actually build.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, we have heard a lot about process from the minister and in the House as to why this bill should be closed for debate. However, what we and the industry have not heard from the minister is how many homes the $1.7 billion that he wants to spend of taxpayer dollars is going to build. He has not answered that question, which is why we should continue to debate this.

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Gregor Robertson

Liberal
“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.”

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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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