Remarks by the Deputy Prime Minister on addressing Canada’s housing challenge and protecting Canadians’ pensions
Speech
November 7, 2023 - Ottawa, ON
Good morning.
I will just say a couple of words, then pass it over to Minister Duclos, who has an exciting announcement about federal lands and housing.
And then, Minister Anand will speak about our work to strengthen supply chains.
In the past few weeks, as part of our economic plan, we have been taking, week after week, real, concrete action to address Canada’s housing challenge to build more homes, faster, and to act on affordability.
This fall alone, as part of our economic plan, our government has:
- Taken action to remove the GST on the construction of purpose-built rentals;
- Announced plans to unlock $20 billion in new, low-cost financing to build up to 30,000 more rental apartments per year, year after year;
- Announced seven major agreements with municipalities through the $4 billion Housing Accelerator Fund to speed up the construction of new homes; and,
- Helped more than 250,000 Canadians save for their first down payment, tax-free, with the new tax-free First Home Savings Account.
We are going to continue to take action in the Fall Economic Statement to help build more homes, faster. We know this is an urgent issue for Canadians and we believe that at the heart of this issue is supply, supply, supply. And we know we need to keep acting every single day, every single week, and that is why, in a moment, Minister Duclos has an announcement to make.
But before passing it over to Minister Duclos, I will just say one final thing following on from the meeting I held with provincial and territorial Finance Ministers on Friday about the Canada Pension Plan.
Protecting the pensions of all Canadians is something our government takes very seriously—and it is something that I know all of my counterparts from across the country take seriously, as well.
The discussion we had on Friday was an important one, but it was just the beginning of what will be a long and complicated national conversation. I am going to be continuing to speak with my colleagues from across Canada in the days and weeks to come.
Because the Canada Pension Plan is the foundation of a secure retirement for tens of millions of Canadians—and in the months to come, protecting it will be a top priority for me and for our government.
Thank you. I will now pass it over to Minister Duclos.