Remarks by the Deputy Prime Minister on taking further action to build more homes, faster

January 29, 2024 - Ottawa, Ontario

I’m delighted to be here today for the first weekly update of this year on our government’s economic plan.

In a moment, I will speak about the Canadian economy today and provide an update on Bill C-59, the Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act.

I will then pass it over to Housing Minister Sean Fraser, who will detail new action the government is taking to build more student housing in Canada.

Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne will then speak about our government’s ongoing work to enhance competition and stabilize prices, particularly at the grocery store.

And finally, Treasury Board President Anita Anand will speak about our government’s work to crack down on auto thefts and highlight steps we are implementing in our economic plan.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller is also sharing the stage with us today and is available to answer your questions.

So, let me start by highlighting the strength of the Canadian economy today—as well as the progress we’ve made together to support Canadians over these past few years.

Inflation is now down to 3.4 per cent, and that is down from its peak of 8.1 per cent. Wage growth has now outpaced inflation for 11 months in a row, and private sector economists predict that Canada will avoid the recession that many had thought was inevitable.

In the first half of 2023, Canada received the third-most foreign direct investment, in gross dollar terms, of any country in the entire world—and that was more investment per capita than any of our G7 allies.

Child care fees have dropped by at least 50 per cent across the country. And thanks to our Canada-wide system of affordable early learning and child care, seven provinces and territories have already reduced fees to just $10-a-day.

Probably the most important number is that today, compared to before the pandemic, there are over a million more jobs in Canada.

But we all do know that many Canadians are still struggling to make ends meet, struggling to juggle all of their bills at the end of the month, and to feel confident about their future.

And we know that we have much more work to do to unlock a brighter future for everyone in our amazing country.

That’s why it is so important that we work together to pass Bill C-59, the Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act, which will continue to be debated in the House this week.

This legislation is a key part of our economic plan that will help make life more affordable, build more homes, and create good jobs from coast to coast to coast.

The Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act will help us continue our urgent work to build more homes, faster.

Our government has already taken significant action over the past few months to unlock billions of dollars in new financing to build hundreds of thousands of new homes across Canada.

Through this legislation, we will do more. We will remove the GST on new rental home construction for co-operative housing. This complements the action we took in the fall to lift the GST on new purpose-built rental housing. And it is really important to include co-ops in that key measure.

What we’re doing is making the math work for builders, creating incentives for them to build more homes that would otherwise not move forward to construction. Our goal is to build more homes for Canadians and to do it at speed.

Second, the Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act will help make life more affordable for Canadians.

We are making a generational change to competition law in Canada, and this change will help stabilize prices and provide more choice for Canadians from coast to coast to coast.

We’re lifting the GST and HST on counselling and psychotherapy services so that people can receive the support and mental health care they need.

We are extending Employment Insurance to parents who adopt, and we are introducing a new leave for federally regulated workers who are grieving from miscarriages.

This legislation will also help us build an economy that works for everyone—with good jobs that people can count on.

We are delivering the investment tax credit for Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage and the investment tax credit for Clean Technology. These are the first two of our five major investment tax credits.

Passing the Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act will enshrine these major investment tax credits into law. And that means more jobs and more investment in Canada.

And the fact is, our investment tax credits are already delivering—they are delivering major projects, major investments. Just last November, Dow announced an historic, multibillion-dollar investment in Canada, just north of Edmonton. And that was thanks to our investment tax credits. This is creating hundreds—thousands—of new jobs in Canada across the country.

The labour requirements attached to these investment tax credits will ensure that Canadian workers benefit directly by giving businesses an incentive to pay a prevailing union wage and to create apprenticeship opportunities.

This is the first time in Canadian history that labour requirements have been attached to a tax credit—and that is further proof of our commitment to ensure that our economic plan delivers for Canadian workers and their families.

So, that’s why I would like to kick off this parliamentary session by urging all Members of Parliament to support the Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act, to do so quickly, so that we can get the work done for Canadians.

Thanks, and I’ll now pass it over to Minister Sean Fraser.