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'Housing the biggest pillar': Kusmierczyk on 2024 federal budget

AM800-News- Irek Kusmierczyk-House of Commons
AM800-News- Irek Kusmierczyk-House of Commons

It's federal budget day in Canada.

The 2024 federal budget will be presented on Tuesday, and government officials say it will provide Canadians a full picture of the state of the country's finances and an overall economic outlook, as well as further spending plans amid an ongoing affordability crisis.

For months the Liberals have been holding weekly press conferences to provide incremental updates on various affordability measures, from grocery competition to homebuilding initiatives that will be included in the final document.

Speaking on AM800's The Shift, Windsor-Tecumseh MP Irek Kusmierczyk says housing is the biggest pillar in the budget.

He described the Liberals plans, which would be carried out over the next six or seven years, as the most comprehensive housing plan that the country has ever seen.

"That plan will build 3.9 million homes by 2031. And so that's above and beyond what the Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation said is required and it's above and beyond what the Parliamentary Budget Officer has said is required. This is an ambitious plan, and it's meant to make sure that everyone is able to find a home that they can afford," he said.

The budget is a 400 page document, and Kusmierczyk says over the last couple months they've been providing some snap shots of some of the programs and initiatives to give people a better understanding of what's in it ahead of time.

"We're able to actually tell Canadians what exactly is in there, and how it's going to impact their lives. I think this is a better way to do it so that Canadians can anticipate, they can understand, and they can receive the information about what's coming down the pipe in this budget. I think that's the reason why we're doing it this way."

While Windsor city council opted against changes laid out as part of qualifying for the Housing Accelerator Fund, Kusmierczyk says there are still a lot of measures related to housing that could benefit the city.

He says they've put $6 billion on the table for housing infrastructure, which includes building anything from wastewater, storm and sanitary sewers to support construction, and the first billion as part of that has no conditions attached.

"I've already spoken with mayors here locally to go after that funding. The additional $5 billion is connected to certain conditions, and the one that is the most well known is obviously the need to legalize four units as of right across the city. But there's other things that we're doing as well too, so we want to make sure that the math works for builders," Kusmierczyk said.

That includes expanding the removal of GST from rental construction to also include postsecondary institutions looking to build accommodations for students.

Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland will present Budget 2024 in the House of Commons at approximately 4:00 p.m. this afternoon.

 

- with files from AM800's The Shift with Patty Handysides

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