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Wednesday, May 14, 2014 · sitting No. 86

NDP motion urges renewed funding for affordable housing amid rising costs

New Democratic MP Mike Sullivan moved a supply motion calling on the government to work with provinces, territories, municipalities and Indigenous groups to renew long-term social housing funding and reinvest in new units. The motion recognizes a housing crunch caused by chronic underfunding since 1993 and notes growing waiting lists and costs. Debate on the motion took up 64 per cent of the sitting.

Conservative minister Candice Bergen said the government has focused on a Housing First approach through the homelessness partnering strategy and noted that mortgages on existing units are paid off. Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux said previous Liberal governments built thousands of non-profit and subsidized units and accused the NDP of defeating the Kelowna accord. NDP MP Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet highlighted regional pressures from economic booms.

From the Hansard record of the sitting. Full Hansard

No CPAC Question Period upload is on file for this day. CPAC’s channel goes back to December 2019.

Who held the floor · 2014-05-14

Government (Conservative)OppositionOver the day: government 57%, opposition 43% of the words spokenGovernment businessGovernment business▲ Government side held the floor▼ Opposition held the floorOpened 14:0515:0016:0017:0018:0019:0020:0021:0022:00Last speech 23:15Time of day, Ottawa · the House sat 9 h 10 min · each dot is a stretch of debate, placed at the minute it began
64Motions Fail, One Bill IntroducedThe sitting devoted most time to Business of Supply and Question Period, where answers were largely deflected or misdirected. All three recorded votes failed and only one bill was introduced.AI-rated Score out of 100; the verdict and the answer ratings behind it are a model’s reading. How the AI rates this

AI-rated The sitting score and the rating of each answer come from a language model reading Hansard. How the AI rates this

Other moments

Employment

Liberal leader Justin Trudeau pressed the Prime Minister on repeated failed fixes to the temporary foreign worker program and offered his party's plan for reduced intake and transparency. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the government has cut applications by 30 per cent and accused Liberals of contradictory demands in English and French.

Read the exchange

Justice

NDP leader Thomas Mulcair asked who in the Prime Minister's Office directed Justice Marc Nadon to rejoin the Quebec bar and called for an apology to the Chief Justice. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he acted on legal advice that judges could move directly from the Federal Court.

Read the exchange

Rail Transportation

NDP leader Thomas Mulcair said the government has failed to impose financial penalties on rail companies despite receiving the power in 2012. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the Lac-Mégantic crash was ruled criminal negligence and that regulatory changes are forthcoming in the Canada Gazette.

Read the exchange

Veterans Affairs

NDP MP Peter Stoffer criticized $100,000 spent on departmental tweets while veterans offices close. Minister Julian Fantino said the NDP should repay misused House funds and defended the small share of spending on commemoration.

Read the exchange

Aboriginal Affairs

NDP MP Niki Ashton pressed Justice Minister Peter MacKay for a national inquiry into 1,200 missing and murdered Indigenous women. MacKay listed 30 justice initiatives and said further studies are not needed.

Read the exchange

Question Period, exchange by exchange

AI-rated Each answer’s rating (answered, partly answered, deflected, answered something else) is a model’s reading of the exchange. How the AI rates this

  1. partly answered
    HealthThomas Mulcair (NDP) asked Stephen Harper (Conservative). substantive question.The answer vaguely assures action with WHO but provides no specific measures taken.the government will do the same in this case.
  2. deflected
    JusticeThomas Mulcair (NDP) asked Stephen Harper (Conservative). loaded question.The answer sidesteps the direct question about who requested the resignation.our position is clear. I received legal and constitutional advice indicating that it is long-standing practice to appoint judges directly from the Federal Court to the Supreme Court.
  3. deflected
    JusticeThomas Mulcair (NDP) asked Stephen Harper (Conservative). loaded question.The answer rejects the premise and avoids addressing the call for an apology.once again, I reject the premise of the question.
  4. partly answered
    Rail TransportationThomas Mulcair (NDP) asked Stephen Harper (Conservative). substantive question.The answer addresses regulatory development but pivots to the criminal aspect of the incident.The government is developing regulations and something will appear in the Canada Gazette shortly.
  5. partly answered
    Rail TransportationThomas Mulcair (NDP) asked Stephen Harper (Conservative). substantive question.The answer disputes the premise of inaction and notes ongoing regulatory steps.The government has brought in significant improvements and investments in railway safety.
  6. misdirected
    EmploymentMr. Justin Trudeau (Liberal) asked Stephen Harper (Conservative). substantive question.The answer attacks the Liberal Party's inconsistencies instead of detailing new program fixes.yesterday, in English, the leader of the Liberal Party asked us to restrict the number of foreign workers, and then, in French, he asked us to increase the number of foreign workers.
  7. misdirected
    EmploymentMr. Justin Trudeau (Liberal) asked Stephen Harper (Conservative). substantive question.The answer focuses on Liberal contradictions and lobbying rather than the proposed plan.The last time I checked, these contradictions had been delivered in both English and French.
  8. misdirected
    EmploymentMr. Justin Trudeau (Liberal) asked Stephen Harper (Conservative). substantive question.The answer reiterates past changes and Liberal inconsistencies instead of addressing the plan.once again, thanks to changes made by this government, we have reduced the number of applications for some streams of the temporary foreign worker program by 30%.
  9. misdirected
    Veterans AffairsMr. Peter Stoffer (NDP) asked Julian Fantino (Conservative). rhetorical question.Answer ignores the spending question and attacks the NDP instead.However, the veterans I know would expect that if the NDP broke the rules, they take responsibility and repay taxpayers immediately.
  10. misdirected
    Veterans AffairsMr. Sylvain Chicoine (NDP) asked Julian Fantino (Conservative). loaded question.Answer pivots to attacking the NDP rather than addressing the tweet spending or French errors.However, if the NDP broke the rules, it should take responsibility and repay taxpayers immediately.
  11. misdirected
    Veterans AffairsMs. Irene Mathyssen (NDP) asked Julian Fantino (Conservative). rhetorical question.Answer attacks the NDP's voting record instead of responding to the tweet spending criticism.it is quite ironic, really, that the party that has consistently voted against every measure that we have undertaken to upload and improve the quality of life for our veterans and their families today can stand up and be critical.
  12. partly answered
    EmploymentMs. Jinny Jogindera Sims (NDP) asked Jason Kenney (Conservative). substantive question.Answer acknowledges the glitch and states work is underway to fix it while adding unrelated job creation claims.We are working with it to fix that technical glitch.
  13. partly answered
    EmploymentMrs. Sadia Groguhé (NDP) asked Jason Kenney (Conservative). substantive question.Answer admits the 2% long postings issue and says it is being fixed but does not address the call for an independent review.We are working on fixing that technical glitch.
  14. deflected
    EmploymentMrs. Sadia Groguhé (NDP) asked Jason Kenney (Conservative). substantive question.Answer mentions a review and audits but then attacks the NDP's inconsistency instead of committing to an independent review.The NDP's position is inconsistent.
  15. deflected
    EmploymentMr. Guy Caron (NDP) asked Mr. Andrew Saxton (Conservative). substantive question.Answer defends overall job record and urges support for a plan but does not address the hiring credit or stagnant growth specifics.That is why we encourage the opposition to get on board and support economic action plan 2014.
  16. deflected
    EmploymentMr. Nathan Cullen (NDP) asked Mr. Andrew Saxton (Conservative). substantive question.Answer repeats job creation statistics and forecasts but ignores the request to deal with long-term unemployment and part-time job facts.Over one million net new jobs were created since July 2009, among the best job creation records in the G7.
  17. misdirected
    EmploymentMr. Nathan Cullen (NDP) asked Mr. Andrew Saxton (Conservative). substantive question.The answer attacks the NDP's voting record and tax plans instead of addressing job losses or foreign worker policy.it is rich for the NDP to be criticizing our government's record on job creation.
  18. misdirected
    EmploymentJohn McCallum (Liberal) asked Jason Kenney (Conservative). loaded question.The answer pivots to attacking the Liberal leader's letter and moratorium inconsistency rather than explaining the Ireland trip or youth unemployment data.I guess for the Liberals the Irish need not apply yet again.
  19. deflected
    HousingJudy Sgro (Liberal) asked Candice Bergen (Conservative). substantive question.The answer blames Liberals for ending agreements and notes no committee questions instead of committing to renewed funding for co-ops.There was not one question on housing; so they do not care about affordable housing.
  20. answered
    Committees of the HouseMr. Kevin Lamoureux (Liberal) asked Mr. Joe Preston (Conservative). substantive question.The answer directly states the agenda, confirms the lease request, and notes the NDP documents are incomplete.Some of the documents from the NDP are quite thin.
  21. deflected
    HousingMs. Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet (NDP) asked Candice Bergen (Conservative). substantive question.The answer references a prior committee appearance and diverts to NDP offices instead of confirming renewal of social housing funding.It seems as if this is a bit of a diversion, because the New Democrats have been trying to get affordable offices possibly.
  22. deflected
    HousingMs. Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet (NDP) asked Candice Bergen (Conservative). substantive question.The answer mentions a BC renewal but immediately shifts to criticizing NDP office subsidies rather than addressing rent supplement cuts.Let us talk about subsidies for rent at the expense of the taxpayer to subsidize offices.
  23. deflected
    HousingMr. Mike Sullivan (NDP) asked Candice Bergen (Conservative). substantive question.The answer lists past investments and opposition votes but pivots to accusing the NDP of a funding scheme for offices.
  24. misdirected
    HousingMr. Matthew Kellway (NDP) asked Candice Bergen (Conservative). substantive question.The answer ignores the national housing strategy request and instead accuses the member of involvement in an NDP funding scheme.Was he part of the scheme? Did he contribute money to the scheme to have offices paid for at the taxpayers' expense?
  25. misdirected
    Aboriginal AffairsMs. Niki Ashton (NDP) asked Peter MacKay (Conservative). loaded question.Answer attacks the questioner and pivots to government actions instead of addressing whether more can be done beyond existing initiatives.what we do not need is haughty, condescending questions from the opposition.
  26. deflected
    Aboriginal AffairsMr. Jonathan Genest-Jourdain (NDP) asked Peter MacKay (Conservative). substantive question.Answer lists existing programs but does not specify socio-economic causes from studies or new measures tied to them.We are talking about the $25 million injected into the aboriginal justice strategy.
  27. partly answered
    Aboriginal AffairsMr. Romeo Saganash (NDP) asked Bernard Valcourt (Conservative). substantive question.Answer acknowledges the housing challenge and references existing programs but does not address the motion, underfunding, or urgency directly.It is definitely a challenge that we must address together with the first nations.
  28. deflected
    Aboriginal AffairsMs. Jean Crowder (NDP) asked Bernard Valcourt (Conservative). loaded question.Answer highlights government housing numbers but ends by attacking the NDP voting record instead of addressing the motion or funding approach.While we continue to work in collaboration to improve the first nation quality of life, the NDP continues voting against every measure.
  29. misdirected
    The EnvironmentJohn McKay (Liberal) asked Leona Aglukkaq (Conservative). loaded question.Answer ignores the community meeting question and pivots to unrelated federal climate actions and criticism of Liberals.Thanks to our actions, carbon emissions will go down by close to 130 megatonnes from what they would have been under the Liberals
  30. deflected
    Veterans AffairsMr. Frank Valeriote (Liberal) asked Julian Fantino (Conservative). substantive question.Answer discusses general veteran support and communication but does not address the specific spending on tweets versus office closures.We are in fact communicating clearly and in plain language so that veterans and their families can quickly and easily access information
  31. partly answered
    Foreign AffairsMr. Paul Dewar (NDP) asked Deepak Obhrai (Conservative). substantive question.Answer states Canadian personnel are on the ground in a liaison role but provides no further details on assistance offered.Canadian personnel on the ground are there solely in a liaison and advisory capacity.
  32. answered
    Foreign AffairsMs. Hélène Laverdière (NDP) asked Deepak Obhrai (Conservative). substantive question.Answer directly confirms Canada will attend the meeting.I can tell the hon. member that Canada will attend and our representation will be determined very shortly.
  33. deflected
    Forestry IndustryMs. Lise St-Denis (Liberal) asked Mrs. Kelly Block (Conservative). substantive question.Answer shifts focus to northern Ontario economic development instead of addressing federal involvement in Quebec forestry consolidation.from Muskoka to the Manitoba border, our government will continue to focus on community economic development, business growth, competitiveness, and innovation that creates jobs and long-term prosperity.
  34. misdirected
    Champlain BridgeMr. Hoang Mai (NDP) asked Denis Lebel (Conservative). substantive question.Answer attacks the opposition's voting record and accuses them of playing politics rather than confirming existence of a toll study.I want to point out that this member and his party voted against a $380-million investment in maintaining the existing bridge.
  35. deflected
    Public SafetyMr. Randall Garrison (NDP) asked Steven Blaney (Conservative). loaded question.Question uses loaded framing of 'maybe-fly list'; answer gives general safety assurances without addressing the specific last-minute decision process.It is very important for us to make sure that everything is safe before a passenger boards a plane headed to Canada.
  36. partly answered
    Public SafetyMr. Brent Rathgeber (Independent) asked Steven Blaney (Conservative). substantive question.Answer references amnesty measures already taken but does not address drafting legislation to limit RCMP discretionary powers or timeline for new firearm definitions.that is why I have brought forward amnesty for those people who have been affected by this classification issue.