Sitting 96 — March 13, 2026

The sitting was dominated by debate on the Build Canada Homes Act (Bill C-20), which would create a new Crown corporation to build affordable housing, and by Conservative attacks on the government’s economic record after a weak jobs report. The central political argument was whether the government’s approach—creating a new federal housing bureaucracy—would solve the housing crisis or simply add another layer of red tape, and whether the government’s economic policies were responsible for job losses or whether those losses were caused by external factors such as the U.S. trade war.

On Government Business No. 8, the House approved the appointment of Anton Boegman as Foreign Influence Transparency Commissioner for a seven-year term. The motion was moved by the government and passed on division, with no recorded debate or opposition.

The Build Canada Homes Act (Bill C-20) was debated at length. The bill would transition Build Canada Homes from a special operating agency into a Crown corporation, giving it the authority to hold assets, enter into complex financial arrangements, and deploy $13 billion in additional capitalization to build affordable, non-market housing in partnership with provinces, municipalities, non-profits, and Indigenous organizations. Liberal speakers argued that the private sector does not build deeply affordable housing and that the new entity would fill that gap, citing partnerships with British Columbia, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, and Ottawa that have already committed thousands of homes. Conservatives opposed the bill, arguing it would create a $219-million bureaucracy that, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, would build only about 5,000 homes per year—far short of the 500,000 homes the government promised. They proposed instead cutting the GST on new homes, tying federal infrastructure funding to municipal housing approvals, reducing development charges, and ending the capital gains tax on reinvestment in housing. The Bloc Québécois expressed concern that the bill centralizes power in a field of provincial jurisdiction and argued that the government should instead transfer funds directly to Quebec and the provinces; they also pressed the government to support the struggling forestry sector to ensure a supply of lumber for construction. The NDP did not speak on the bill. At the conclusion of debate, the House agreed by unanimous consent to put the question at second reading, and the bill passed on division.

Oral Questions focused overwhelmingly on the February jobs report, which showed a loss of 108,000 full-time jobs and youth unemployment above 14%. Conservatives repeatedly accused the government of causing the job losses through high taxes, red tape, and anti-energy policies, and demanded the government adopt Conservative proposals including a youth jobs plan and tax cuts. Government speakers replied that the job losses were caused by the U.S.-imposed trade war, not by Canadian policy, and pointed to new trade deals, investments in defence and infrastructure, and affordability measures such as the groceries and essentials benefit and tax cuts for 22 million Canadians. Other themes included the government’s delay in disclosing an Iranian strike on a Canadian military base in Kuwait, which the Bloc Québécois raised as a matter of public trust; the government’s handling of IT failures in the Phoenix and Cúram systems; and ethics questions about a $206-million loan from the Canada Infrastructure Bank to a wind project linked to Liberal-connected firms. The government defended the loan as an arms-length decision and pointed to broader investments in energy and infrastructure.