Major James William Coldwell
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (C.C.F.)
Mr. COLDWELL:
The hon. member can put his own interpretation upon my words.
Subtopic: AMENDMENT WITH RESPECT TO POWERS OF APPROVED LENDING INSTITUTIONS, ETC.
Mr. COLDWELL:
The hon. member can put his own interpretation upon my words.
Withdraw.
Mr. SPEAKER:
Order.
Mr. RICHARD (Ottawa East):
You made your own coat.
Mr. COLDWELL:
I have said nothing I need to withdraw. I said that any hon. member-and I repeat it-who defends the kind of housing conditions which can be found from one end of this country to the other is not a fit representative of a municipality, a province or the dominion.
Mr. RICHARD (Ottawa East):
I defend it.
Mr. COLDWELL:
In discussing this bill hon. members have a perfect right to expose the deplorable housing conditions which exist in this country.
Mr. PROBE:
Certainly; why cover it up?
Mr. COLDWELL:
We have to face the fact that thousands of people from one end of the country to the other are living under conditions which are unfit for decent Canadian citizens, people who with their families are in overcrowded areas where the children cannot be brought up in a proper manner. Anyone who will read the statements made by the judge of the juvenile court of this city of Ottawa will see that he has said on more than one occasion that delinquency is caused by these bad housing conditions; and he has mentioned some of the projects we have discussed here this afternoon. So that when my hon. friend is criticized for referring to a condition which is right under our noses, I say it is time we took notice of what is going on around us.
I will say this, that I do not think these conditions are peculiar to the city of Ottawa. They can be found in Toronto; they can be found even in my home city of Regina. They can be found in Vancouver. As I said once before in the house, I have seen slum conditions in Halifax that are as bad as or worse than any I saw in London thirty or forty years ago. We have to face these facts. It is all very well to talk about a housing bill, but it is only going to build houses for well-to-do people. What group of people in this country can afford to pay $75 a month for a housing unit?
Mr. HOWE:
How much do you pay yourself?
Mr. COLDWELL:
I am in the happy position of having an income which enables me to pay a rental of around $100 a month.
Mr. HOWE:
People like you and me have to live too.
Mr. COLDWELL:
I beg the hon. gentleman's pardon?
Mr. HOWE:
We have to have houses too.
Mr. COLDWELL:
I know we have houses, but I say to the minister that if you have
National Housing Act
sufficient income you can get a house. According to the last census, eighty-two per cent of the people in this country had incomes of less than $2,000 a year.
Mr. HOWE:
You mean the 1941 census?
Mr. COLDWELL:
Of course it is higher now, but even that will not help so much. The social service workers give 20 per cent as the appropriate portion of income that should be paid for housing. I do not know what the average income of this group is today, but I suspect it is not much higher. But suppose we put it at $2,400 or $2,500; twenty per cent would be $500, or just over $40 a month.
Mr. HOWE:
Fifty per cent of rental housing in this country rents at $40 or less.
Mr. COLDWELL:
But look at the housing. How many houses renting at $40 or less have the proper sanitary conveniences?
Mr. HOWE:
Most of them.