Remarks by the Deputy Prime Minister at the Standing Committee on Finance regarding the government’s plan to build more homes, faster
Speech
Ottawa, Ontario – December 7, 2023
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is my pleasure to appear before you and Members of the committee to discuss the central priority for millions of Canadians today.
Housing is at the heart of our economic plan. We are building more homes, faster. We are making it easier for Canadians to buy a home. And we are supporting Canadians who rent or own their home.
And this fall, we have taken further, concrete action.
We are lifting the GST on new rental construction to make it more affordable for builders to build.
We unlocked $20 billion in new, low-cost financing to build up to 30,000 new rental apartments per year.
The federal government owns more land than anyone else in Canada, and we are releasing more of it to build homes on—including 2,600 homes in Calgary, Edmonton, St. John’s, and Ottawa.
We’ve signed Housing Accelerator Fund agreements with Quebec and 10 cities across Canada. And we’re not done. These agreements will help slash the red tape which is preventing homes from being built in the first place—and in exchange, we are providing them with $4 billion to build more than 100,000 new homes, faster.
And we have helped more than 300,000 Canadians save for their first down payment, tax-free, with the new tax-free First Home Savings Account.
In our Fall Economic Statement, which I released just two weeks ago, we also introduced new funding and new measures which will build more homes and protect Canadians with mortgages.
We are providing $15 billion in additional, low-cost financing through the Apartment Construction Loan Program, which will help build 30,000 more rental homes for Canadians.
We announced an additional $1 billion through the Affordable Housing Fund, which will help non-profit, co-op, and public housing providers to build more than 7,000 new homes.
We are cracking down on short-term rentals—listed on sites like Airbnb and VRBO—which have been keeping tens of thousands of homes off the market, particularly in cities like Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal, where the housing challenge is most acute.
And we are helping to cut the red tape that prevents construction workers from moving across the country to build homes—while also bringing to Canada more of the skilled trades workers that our construction sector needs.
In the Fall Economic Statement, we also announced the creation of a new Canadian Mortgage Charter.
This new charter details the relief that Canadians can expect from their banks if they are in financial difficulty.
Our goal is to protect Canadians—by making sure they have the support they need to afford their mortgages and keep their homes when renewing at a time of higher interest rates.
And these measures, which were announced over the past three months alone, are only part of our overall economic plan.
Our government has a plan. And we will keep working—day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year—to build the homes that Canadians need, and expect, and deserve.
Thank you very much.