HANSARD: Poilievre ruled out building social housing, citing concerns about It being a “Soviet-style takeover of housing”
House of Commons Hansard #242 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session
Building Homes Not Bureaucracy Act
Private Members’ Business
October 30, 2023 11:20 a.m.
Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP
Private Members’ Business
October 30, 2023 11:20 a.m.
Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP
Mr. Speaker, I will tell the leader of the Conservatives exactly what happened to those 800,000 units: The rent went up from $750 a month to over $2,000. That is what happened. That is where those 800,000 units went. That is how the Conservatives lost affordable rental apartments for people who needed them.
In the bill the member put forward, there is zero mention of social housing or the need. The Conservative leader talked about Singapore. It has 80% social housing. What does Canada have? It has 3.5%. The Conservatives cut the co-op program and gutted social housing. That is why we have this crisis.
Why are the Conservatives not supporting communities in building social housing and co-op housing?
Pierre Poilievre Carleton, ON
Conservative
Mr. Speaker, people want more homes and more affordable homes; they do not want nationalized, government-controlled homes.
When I was minister, the average rent was $950 and now it is over $2,000 under the NDP-Liberal government. When I was minister, the average mortgage payment on an average newly purchased house was $1,400. Now it is $3,500. Housing was not just affordable; it was cheap when I was minister, and Canadians could afford to buy a house.
Under the NDP government in B.C., B.C. is probably the most unaffordable housing market in the world. The NDP government tried the Soviet-style experiment in the NDP's heartland of B.C. and we know the result. It is pain, it is misery and it is tent cities. We do not need a Soviet-style takeover of housing. We need Canadians to have a chance to own their own homes, and that is what they will have when I am prime minister.
