NDP to ‘force’ Liberals to take more action on housing, Jagmeet Singh says

We begin with Canada’s fight to get the cost of living under control a fight some Canadians say is a losing battle based on new data let’s take a look at that this is the new average monthly rent in Canada for the first time surpassing two thousand dollars

According to rentals.ca the price of gas it’s also climbing right across the country hitting a 2023 high in some cities the average today is a buck 69 per liter in Vancouver and Victoria it tops two dollars per liter conservative leader Pierre pauliev is blaming Justin Trudeau and his government for the

Affordability crisis let’s get the ndps take is the leader of the new Democratic party he is in Nanaimo British Columbia Mr Singh thanks so much for joining us you know I don’t have to tell you that the affordability crisis in this country is hitting Canadians on many fronts from

Fuel to Food Services uh but you know I want to zero in right now on housing your supply and confidence agreement deal with the Liberals is called delivering for Canadians now so how exactly is that deal delivering affordable housing to Canadians right now first of all I want to acknowledge how

Bad things are things are really difficult when it comes to housing one of the biggest concerns I’m hearing across the country and what we’re doing is with the the deal that we have we’re using our leverage and our power to force this government to build more homes that are affordable quickly that’s

What really really need to do liberals have had eight years and they fail to do so the conservatives had 10 years before that they lost 800 000 affordable homes we need to build more homes that are affordable rapidly and we’re going to use our power to force this government

To do that but is it actually rapidly I mean this is needed right now do you think that the government is moving fast enough not at all the liberal government has really failed on this on this front they are very out of touch the the Liberals and Justin Trudeau don’t understand how

Serious this is haven’t taken enough action that’s why we need to put pressure on them to act a Canadian mortgage and housing Corporation cmhc says Canada needs to build a 5.8 million new homes including 2 million rental units by 2030 to tackle housing affordability current federal programs

And funding will barely make a dent in that Supply shortage so do you regret not pushing for more ambitious funding and Targets in your deal with the Liberals no we’re going to push for that now and I want to acknowledge that the federal government has the land the money and

The power to build more homes we want to see the federal government actively engage in building more homes the Liberals are thinking that the the private sector will just do it on its own that’s not going to happen the conservatives just want to do more of

The same that’s not going to work we need the federal government to use the land the power and the resources that it has to build homes and do it with a wartime effort really every resource available mobilized to building more homes so so why not Mr Singh why not

Amend your agreement with them to include that to include new targets uh so that this can can be done faster well we’ve we’ve shown that we’re not limited by the agreement we’re able to double the GST rebate two years in a row that was not in the agreement it was

Something we proposed last year we got it done we got it done again this year and that put uh now over two years over a thousand dollars into the pockets of some families that’s something that we were able to achieve without having it expressing the agreement the agreement

Gives us the ability to negotiate and force this government to do more housing is one of the priorities that we have and we want the government to deliver on housing well you know a growing number of Canadians blame Justin Trudeau and the Liberals for the rising cost of

Living uh you know this is something that you know you are continually criticized about uh you say that you know you want the government to do more but then some Canadians think that you’re just propping up this government why do you continue to do so why don’t

You rip up that agreement say you’re not getting this done uh and so this agreement does not stand our goal is to force government to deliver the agreement lays out a number of things that we’re getting this government to do that they wouldn’t otherwise do like Dental Care they would

Love to get out of doing that if we rip up the agreement then they won’t deliver on Dental Care we’ve got to force them to do that so that people can get their teeth looked after we want that to happen in addition we want this government to deliver on housing unlike

The conservatives whose goal is just to force an election our goal is to force this government to work for people and one of the things that need to do right now is to deliver housing the the Liberals have had eight years and they’ve shown that they’re not doing it

Unless we’re forcing them and so we’re going to force them use the power that we have to deliver frankly neither the liberals or the conservatives can be trusted to do this on their own the conservatives had 10 years in power they lost 800 000 affordable homes the price

Of housing went up 60 while they were in power and now another 60 percent while the Liberals are in power that’s why we’re so crucial new Democrats are needed to force government to work for the people’s benefits well I mean but but some say that you could be forcing

Them to do do that if you did not have this agreement and this agreement is hampering you I I printed it from March uh 2022 on your website you know the some of the things a Better Health Care System making life more affordable for people tackling the climate crisis and

Creating good paying jobs then it goes on and on uh but you know other than dental care what really uh can you say you’ve delivered on this front certainly uh 10 paid sick days that was uh the now the law of the land we forced the government to do that uh 300 000

Kids have received Dental Care coverage Plus have already received it now seniors and kids under 18 will receive it by the end of this year we’ve also put Child Care legislation in force which ensures that child care dollars that help millions of families get affordable child care is permanent and

We prioritize not-for-profit and public spaces we’ve achieved a lot and a lot more that needs to be done how we’ve changed the definition around affordability to make a better definition when it comes to the affordable homes is that federal dollars go towards projects that actually deliver affordable homes we also for the

First time ever tied funding for incentives or business to jobs for the first time ever a tax credit will only be received the full amount if a company creates jobs that have good wages and tied to Union jobs as well as apprenticeships so we’ve achieved a lot

A lot more than needs to be done particularly with the rising cost of food the rising cost of groceries and the rising cost of housing we 4 of course the competition Bureau to investigate food prices they’ve released a recommendations which are forcing the government to put in place we’ve called

The CEOs a big grocery stores to committee we force them to answer questions we found that they are their greed is driving up the cost of food and we’re proposing real solutions would you not have more leeway here to do more uh if you did not have this agreement in place

Not at all this agreement forces the government to do a number of things that they wouldn’t otherwise do if we didn’t have the agreement the government wouldn’t do those things this is what’s forcing them in writing so so let me ask you about uh something else that you

Want done uh pharmacare that plan is estimated at 15 billion dollars would you be willing to put that priority on pause to deal with more urgent issues like people being able to afford a roof over their heads because 15 billion dollars is a lot of money that could be going elsewhere

Well there’s a lot of ways that that we would disagree with this government continue to spend there’s billions of dollars in subsidies going to oil and gas companies that are highly profitable that’s billions of dollars that we would immediately end and say that money should not be going to highly profitable

Companies that are already making record profits and instead should be used towards things like building more homes that are affordable we also know that hundreds of millions of dollars are being used by this government to uh contract out to other companies Consulting companies that’s money that’s being wasted that shouldn’t be spent we

Know that there’s billions of dollars of Revenue that the CRA is not collecting because they’re not being told to go after large corporations that are using loopholes to get away with not paying their fair share this isn’t increasing taxes this is just collecting what is already owed that’s billions of dollars

Of lost Revenue so there’s billions and billions of dollars that this liberal government’s wasting that we wouldn’t that we would use toward housing and pharmacare is something that would be your cost savings once we put in in place it would reduce the cost cost of Health Care it would ensure people get

Medication that they need and stay healthy I I’ve got a couple more things to get through real quick here uh but you know I’ve been looking at recent polling and as you know I don’t have to tell you recent polling shows that a def election were called today the

Conservatives would win a pretty good majority uh it also shows that you know your uh basically on change your party is basically unchanged since 2021. so what is it about Pierre pauliev’s message on affordability and this crisis that is resonating uh when yours doesn’t seem to be resonating as much are you

Losing the room here I think what often happens in Canada historically when people are upset with one party with the Liberals they switch the to The Blue Team to the conservatives and that’s the cycle that goes back and forth when the conservatives are out of favor people

Then switch the Liberals and that’s been the history of Canada we’re trying to show that there’s an alternative here when it comes to things like housing the conservatives were in power housing costs went up by 60 while they were in power they lost 800 000 affordable homes

While they were in power they did not deliver on affordability and Liberals are also completely a failure when it comes to housing they have not delivered we’re showing the new Democrats are a real alternative we’ve got a plan to use the power of government the land the

Power and the resources of the federal government to build homes that are affordable to tackle the cost of living when it comes to groceries by taking on the corporate greed neither conservatives or Liberals are willing to do that either I know the conservatives are also trying to tie you directly with

The Liberals uh I I lots more to talk about on that front but I want to switch to something else before I let you go I have to ask you about your plans to review classified documents related to alleged beijing-backed meddling in Canadian elections now green party leader uh Elizabeth may she is

Frustrated by the lack of detail in those documents she says that they don’t do what David Johnson said that they would do which was to review his conclusions and judge whether or not they are warranted so do you intend to go forward with reviewing these documents and why have you not done so

So far yes I plan to review those documents we’ve got a date scheduled for next week and my team can give you more details about that but we’ll be reviewing those documents by next week so what what has taken so long for you to review these documents obviously it is of great

Importance to the Integrity of Canadian elections that uh you know you look at these things and give your assessment of this we follow the process it required a number of steps we follow those steps and we’ve got a date scheduled for next week okay Mr Singh uh thank you so much

Lots more to talk about as I said uh but we got to leave it there for today that is NDP litter jugmeet Singh joining us from Nanaimo British Columbia

‘Our goal is to force this government to work for people, and one of the things they need to do right now is to deliver housing,’ NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said, adding that his party is going to use the supply and confidence agreement with the Liberals to push for its priorities.

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