PARRY SOUND-MUSKOKA FEDERAL ELECTION 2019
At an all-candidates forum hosted by the Huntsville/Lake of Bays Chamber of Commerce at the Algonquin Theatre on September 26, the federal candidates running in Parry Sound-Muskoka were asked several questions regarding affordable and attainable housing. Below are their answers, in the order in which they spoke.
Question 1: How would you help to ensure that any federal policy changes [regarding affordable housing]will help smaller population centres like Muskoka?
Scott Aitchison, Conservative
I think that there’s been programs in the past that have worked really well. And in our context, here in Muskoka, the District of Muskoka is the authority responsible for housing and housing programs. And one of the greatest programs ever was what they call the capital subsidy, it was funded in part between the province and the federal government and it made up to $70,000, depending on the program, available to builders to make the cost of constructing affordable units more viable here in our communities. It’s expensive to build here. And so that’s one of the programs that I think is an effective way of stimulating the private sector to build stuff that the government doesn’t have to own it forever. But it stimulates the private sector to get more units built. And it’s a great investment of those dollars, and I would fight to get those kind of dollars back.
Tom Young, NDP
Well, it is important here… The talking has got to stop and the action’s got to start. And that’s what our government has to do. And that’s what we’ll do. And we’ve committed to investing in 500,000 homes—quality, affordable homes across Canada. And if I was in Ottawa I guarantee Ottawa would know all about Parry Sound-Muskoka and the need here, and I would do everything, I’d be very loud about it, to make sure that we got our fair share of that. In fact, Jagmeet [Singh, NDP leader] just announced today that for rental units, we will give immediate assistance to people, up to 500,000 families, of $5,000…to help them pay their rent.
Gord Miller, Green
Well, first we have policy on safe and affordable housing as well. Affordable housing is really ultimately driven by the amount of money the federal government is going to put up to support it. Scott’s right, there are a number of programs that have been proven, and they’ve got to be funded. And we’ve got a plan for $1.5 billion in support. But also we’ve got some innovative approaches like having a federal minister of housing to coordinate between the provinces and the municipalities and get the federal government more involved in the role of housing. Also to create a Canada co-operative housing strategy—co-op housing is a successful model that the feds funded some 20 years ago and we think it needs to be redone or modernized and refined.
Trisha Cowie, Liberal
So I’m very proud to tell you this evening that we have a national housing strategy. The government did implement this in 2017. And it came with an envelope of $40 billion. And that has extended to $55 billion. In this riding alone, we have already seen over $10 million invested into affordable and accessible housing. That’s really important. There’s a big envelope there already, but you need somebody to fight for it and I hope that that person will be me. And it’s also really to important to understand which of these parties, if any of them, may cut that funding. We can’t afford to cut that funding. We have a crisis in Parry Sound, we have a crisis in Muskoka, we need this investment to alleviate the hard times that people are going through in trying to find housing and maintain housing. And I would push you to look at our national housing strategy.
Question 2: The first time homebuyers incentive is a unique solution to the housing affordability problem experienced by many first-time homebuyers. Do you feel there are other affordability measures that can help homebuyers?
Trisha Cowie, Liberal
What would be nice is if we had more more houses, you know, we have a high demand and we don’t have enough places for people to be able to buy and so places that are available are out of reach for many of us, especially when we’re in a riding where the average income is $35,000 a year. So I think this is where the affordable housing envelope can really assist, if we can build more, as opposed to just on the lakes. We need to be building in-town homes that are accessible to us and and build up the supply for the area. I think that would be a long-term measure that we could implement.
Scott Aitchison, Conservative
More supply is certainly an important step and getting rid of some of the regulatory barriers. I know we’ve done a lot of that locally here in Huntsville, and certainly in Muskoka. But, you know, it’s not just about the house itself. It’s also about trying to make life a little more affordable for Canadians as well. And that’s one of the core messages of the Conservative campaign. And certainly what I believe is that you should keep more of your own money. And so the Conservative government would take the GST, for example, off home heating fuel, we would scrap the carbon tax and come up with, you know, far better tools to to actually affect the climate change issue and not penalize people who live in rural communities that don’t really have a choice to hop on the TTC, for example. We would like to lower personal taxes, and make it a little more affordable for Canadians to live in general. And that will certainly help with the affordability of homes, particularly for young families and first time homebuyers.
Tom Young, NDP
Well, first, one of the things we would do is up the minimum wage to $15 so people have more of an income. Secondly, we are becoming a seniors retirement area. And I’ve talked to some people lately that tell me that they have a big home and they’d like to downsize, but they can’t afford to downsize into a smaller home. So if we make the smaller homes for seniors that they can live quality and downsize and get into one they can afford, then their home they could sell at a good price to another younger family that’s up and coming that they can afford as well. And it’s just a win-win situation.
Gord Miller, Green
Well am I going to agree with Trish, I think that building more homes and affordable homes, and it goes back to the affordable home question. You want to get people into homes they’re happy with and that they can afford. And …Mr. Young, we would go for a $15 an hour minimum wage as well for the same reason, because they put a floor under the incomes and you’ve got to make sure people have at least a reasonable amount of money to live. That all ties into the affordability and trying to get young couples established and established into their own homes for the first time.
Question 3: …about the need for affordable housing, are you referring more to a single-unit dwelling …or more like apartment-style complexes into the region, and…how much do you see of that affordable housing being given to people within the local community versus…people coming into the community?
Trisha Cowie, Liberal
So the national housing strategy doesn’t tie our hands in terms of what we might be investing in more, if its single detached house or an apartment building. What I can say as part of that 10 million that has been invested in this riding already in the last two years, there has been a lot of cooperatives in First Nation communities, which are successful. And I think that that’s an area that we need to explore more as well. We can also build on the spaces that we already have. It’s a flexible strategy. In terms of what we need to build for who, I hesitate to put it into percentages without knowing the percentages of the need. So obviously, I’m more interested in the people in Parry Sound-Muskoka. But also recognizing that if we’re going to grow our economy past the tourist season, we need to make more space for more people to be able to move up and enjoy our beautiful riding.
Scott Aitchison, Conservative
Affordable Housing is a very specific segment of the housing spectrum for sure. And there’s certainly a need for that. It’s more generally rental housing, and it’s at a specific CMHC [Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation] defined rate. And so, yes, we need more of that. I think it’s important to make sure that any federal program is actually funded through the local municipality. So in the Muskoka context, the District of Muskoka is responsible for housing, they maintain a list of people who need some assistance with housing, it’s called the social housing waitlist. And I think obviously, I’d want to make sure that we funnel any money and any supports for these programs through the District, because it is the best vehicle to make sure that the right mix is getting, you know, built in the community. And so the other thing I wanted to say, though, is that the language really more is called attainable housing now. What’s attainable for you and what’s attainable for me might be very different, so affordable is something very specific, but we do need a lot more stock in general, and so it’s important to work in collaboration with local municipalities, the province, and the federal government to make sure that there is more housing being built… (out of time)
Tom Young, NDP
So we’ve committed to 500,000 new homes across Canada, and they have not told me percentage for our riding, but I would do whatever I can, and be very loud about it, to get as much as we could for our riding. And to the other question you had about whether it’s going to go to locals or to people just moving in here, whether you moved here yesterday, or whether you were born here 55 years ago, or you moved here a few months ago, you’re a local once you live here. So far as I’m concerned, a Canadian is a Canadian is Canadian, and it’s open to anybody that lives in this riding.
Gord Miller, Green
Scott’s made a very good point. He understands the housing market extremely well, being a municipal mayor. But I think it’s really important to understand, and it may be challenging, but, you know, we’re running for federal parliament…And the feds role in this is to fund these programs and feed them through the municipalities, defining how your community is, …how big the houses are and how they’re allocated and what the communities look like, that’s a community decision. That’s based on discussion with your municipality. It’s not the federal government’s role; the federal government’s role is to make sure there’s enough money in the system that the programs can go ahead. And that’s what our job is when we get to parliament, but the communities define the dimensions and the character of their own communities.
Scott Aitchison, Conservative (rebuttal)
But there are a number of businesses within Muskoka I know right now that are working together to try to, you know, help each other with the housing situation. Deerhurst is one of them, Tim Horton’s, Fowler Construction, there’s a number of them that are working together. And I think that there’s things that we can do as government at all levels again, and assist them with that specific need that you identified to make sure that we’re not, you know, that all the new housing that might get built in this new plan will get taken up by the corporation. So there’s a way to work collaboratively with those corporations as well.
For more on the candidates running in Parry Sound-Muskoka, check out the links below. The federal election will be held on October 21, 2019.
Why local candidates believe they should be Parry Sound-Muskoka’s next MP
Federal election candidates talk fiscal responsibility, climate change and immigration
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Jim Logagianes says
If we keep increasing regulations pertaining to home building in Canada will we ever be able to address affordable housing in a meaningful way? More regulations increases the financial burden facing all future homeowners. When a politician says we need to address affordable housing, they are referring to you and not themselves.
Lyle Hall says
It was stated at the recent AMO Conference in Ottawa that, “The Federal housing money barely maintains status quo…”
This because the Canadian Co-investment Funding is offset by reductions Federal Transfer Assistant to the provinces.
Parliamentary Budget Officer, Yves Grioux, in his report, “the Federal Program on Housing Affordability”, stated, “It is not clear the national housing strategy will reduce the prevalence of housing need relative to 2017 levels.”
What I can tell you is that the Parry Sound district has received $0 in the 2+ years existence of the program and money has been given to cities and big lobby groups.
Please don’t be fooled by big talk, no action.
Lyle Hall, General Manager for the Non-Profit Organization for Almaguin Housing.