Latest / Kvetch & Release / Ottawa lists former Canada Post distribution facility for housing

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Ottawa lists former Canada Post distribution facility for housing · Kvetch & Release

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We're keeping an eye, of course on Ottawa. How can
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: we not One of the biggest conversations that we're having
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: here in the country is about the housing shortage. Housing
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: crisis is how it's being described in some circles, and
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: virtually everyone is feeling the pinch, whether or not you're
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: dealing with renewing a mortgage and dealing with interest rates,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: whether or not you're looking to purchase, whether or not
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: you're renting. We know that there is a crunch. People
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: are feeling it here in Windsor specifically, we've dealt with
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: a massive increase in the value of homes over the
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: past ten years that has trickled across the entire sector. Well,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: the Feds want to change things, make things a little
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: bit better. They have launched the Canada Public Land Bank
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: and they have identified fifty six federal properties across the
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: country that they think, hey, these could be transformed into housing.
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  Speaker 1: One of those is here in Windsor. It's the old
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  Speaker 1: Canada Post Distribution facility at four thirty nine ten to
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  Speaker 1: come sy Road East. The Feds are saying, look, we
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: want to lease this out for a long time. We
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: don't want to sell it off and just get a
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  Speaker 1: one time cash grab. We want to own the property ourselves,
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  Speaker 1: lease it to a developer. We're looking for expressions of interest.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Do you have an idea of what you could put here?
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  Speaker 1: I think it's a pretty good idea using disused federal lands.
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  Speaker 1: I don't like the idea of doing a wholesale sale
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  Speaker 1: of the me either though. Joining me to discuss this
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  Speaker 1: is someone who understands the file intensely windsor to comesy.
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  Speaker 1: Member of Parliament Eric HUSMERICHUK joins me right now, Hey, Eric,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: how you doing?
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: Good morning, John, how are you.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Doing really well? Thank you so much. Happy summer still
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: for the next little bit in earnest here in August.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: So this is I think this is a pretty good
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: story here.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this is. This is a good news story and
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  Speaker 2: it's a first step forward here in terms of making
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  Speaker 2: surplus federal lands available to be converted into housing, and
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: especially at Fortum Housing. So on Sunday we announced we're
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: launching the Canada Public Land Land Bank. As you mentioned,
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: it's going to be a one stop shop for surplus
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: federal land that could be used for housing. And as
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  Speaker 2: you mentioned, there were fifty six surplus federal properties that
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: were listed. They In total, it's about three hundred hectares
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: of land, which is about the size of two thousand
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: hockey rinks. So it's a it's a big shock of land,
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  Speaker 2: but it really is just the first step. And certainly Windsor,
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  Speaker 2: there is one property in Windsor which is the old
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  Speaker 2: Canada Post building on to Come Sea Road and it's
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  Speaker 2: basically to Come Sea Road and plant you know, I'm
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  Speaker 2: sure you've driven by it a number of times. It's
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  Speaker 2: it's set vacant there for years, and we think it's
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  Speaker 2: a great place to be able to build housing on
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  Speaker 2: a transit route, near shops, near stores, near schools, and
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  Speaker 2: so that property has been identified as as mostly available
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  Speaker 2: to convert to housing. It's on a fast track and
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  Speaker 2: we're looking for partners to be able to help bring
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  Speaker 2: that reality life.
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  Speaker 1: And so when you say housing, we don't necessarily we're
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  Speaker 1: not imagining, you know, like a white picket fence thing
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: or even necessarily townhouses. Could this be apartments or condos,
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  Speaker 1: like what's what's division or is that really up to
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  Speaker 1: the developer to come forward?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think that's we want to maximize that land,
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  Speaker 2: and so we want to definitely build up. You got
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: to think, you know, apartments and multi unit residential buildings.
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  Speaker 2: That's what we're looking at. And what's different about this
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  Speaker 2: proposal is that we're not looking at necessarily unloading or
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  Speaker 2: selling the land. We're looking at long term leases. That's
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  Speaker 2: what's really different here is entering into a long term
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  Speaker 2: lease with a developer with a partner. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: that partner could be a private developer, it could be
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  Speaker 2: you know, great local organizations like Habitat for Humanity and others.
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  Speaker 2: But the important thing is it's it's a long term lease.
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  Speaker 2: And the reason why that's important is because it allows
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  Speaker 2: that land to be turned over to the developers quicker.
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  Speaker 2: You don't have to go through the whole complicated sort
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  Speaker 2: of divestment and disposal process of land. It's a lot
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  Speaker 2: quicker of a process. It's faster. It gets that property
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  Speaker 2: into the hands of developers quicker. But it also means
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  Speaker 2: that the federal government still owns the land, which means
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  Speaker 2: that we have still a say or we have control
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  Speaker 2: over that property. And because of that, we can actually
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  Speaker 2: make sure that it remains affordable, that there's affordable units
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  Speaker 2: in there, not just for the short term, but for
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  Speaker 2: the long term as well too, And so that's why
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  Speaker 2: we've we've introduced this new way of divesting, not divesting,
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  Speaker 2: but new way of opening up land for housing is
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  Speaker 2: by providing that long term lease option, which I think
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  Speaker 2: is going to get a lot more property into the
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  Speaker 2: hands of developers faster.
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  Speaker 1: You know, I think as long as we can start
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  Speaker 1: getting more homes built is like that's the quickest thing, right.
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  Speaker 1: We need more places for people to to be able
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: to live. And I can understand that the bureaucratic process
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  Speaker 1: that's been set up to dispose of assets that we
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  Speaker 1: have at the federal government is not meant to be
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  Speaker 1: one that is hasty. So if the lease is something
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  Speaker 1: that makes it quicker and easier, that makes sense. This
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  Speaker 1: isn't well, this is a new entity that's launched, the
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  Speaker 1: Canada Public Land Bag. Of course, this is not a
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  Speaker 1: new notion for this government. I remember that there was
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  Speaker 1: an announcement what about a year ago at the old
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  Speaker 1: Hunter on Olett Avenue, the HMCS Hunter, the former one.
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  Speaker 2: So you know, I can tell you I've I've had
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  Speaker 2: regular meetings with the Minister responsible for Housing and also
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  Speaker 2: with Procurement as well too, and we've identified a number
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  Speaker 2: of properties here and winsor HMCS Hunter Right now, we're
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  Speaker 2: pushing the Department of Defense to again go through that
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  Speaker 2: process to divest itself of that property, to get it
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  Speaker 2: into the hands of developers to convert that into housing.
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  Speaker 2: And true, that would be a real catalyst project for
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  Speaker 2: the downtown core, just like the Canada Post on tacome
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  Speaker 2: Zeer Road. I mean, you could imagine if you put
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  Speaker 2: apartment buildings in there with significant units. I mean, that
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  Speaker 2: would be a catalyst project for that to come see
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  Speaker 2: Road cord Or as well too, and that would definitely
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  Speaker 2: boost local businesses in that area. I mean there's coffee
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  Speaker 2: shops in that area, of their stores in that area.
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  Speaker 2: But we're looking at other properties as well too, not
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  Speaker 2: just in Windsor. We're looking at properties and to come
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  Speaker 2: see and other communities as well that are federal surplus lands.
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  Speaker 2: And we're going through that process right now of reviewing
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  Speaker 2: those and getting those out into the market and into
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  Speaker 2: the hands of developers and local organizations as quickly as possible.
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  Speaker 2: Because you know, as you mentioned, it's not just about
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  Speaker 2: more homes, John, it's about building more diverse homes. You know,
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  Speaker 2: making sure that we're building the types of homes that
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  Speaker 2: working families can afford, making sure that you're building the
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  Speaker 2: types of homes that seniors can afford, that young people
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  Speaker 2: can afford. And so in Windsor right now, you know,
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  Speaker 2: there's a huge housing crunch, not just for you know,
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: not just for those looking to purchase homes, but the
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  Speaker 2: vacancy rates for rentals is at all time historic lows,
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  Speaker 2: which means that the prices of rentals are going up
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  Speaker 2: if you can find one, if you're lucky enough to
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  Speaker 2: find one. And so we need to build more units,
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  Speaker 2: and we especially need to build the types of housing
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  Speaker 2: that again, like I said, working family, seniors and young
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  Speaker 2: people can afford, and that includes rental construction and multi
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  Speaker 2: unit homes. That really is the key.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it's important because we don't want to see an
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  Speaker 1: exodus of people leaving here. We've been trying so hard
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  Speaker 1: to stem that tide and we're seeing and you know,
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  Speaker 1: people actually coming here. But we don't want to have
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  Speaker 1: to deal with the situation where we're pricing people out
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  Speaker 1: of the market that they've already been living in. We
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: have just found out from Ottawa that the Prime Justin
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Trudeau says Canada is going to be imposing a one
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: hundred percent tariff on Chinese made electric vehicles along with
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: a twenty five percent tariff on aluminum and steal from China.
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  Speaker 1: This is all to protect the domestic manufacturing industry, our
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: EV industry. And you know I've got MP Eric, who's
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Meritrick with me right now on the line, Winsord to
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  Speaker 1: come see Eric. Thanks for sticking around, by the way,
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  Speaker 1: got it, I'm looking here. Yesterday at the cabinet retreat
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  Speaker 1: that the government was having, US National Security Advisor Jake
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: Sullivan was there. He spoke to cabinet in Halifax and
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  Speaker 1: he said, in regards to these tariffs that now exist,
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: but they were potential at the time, he said, Canada
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: will make its own determinations, but the US does believe
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: that a united front, a coordinated approach on these issues
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  Speaker 1: benefits all of us. First, pretty wild that the National
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: Security Advisor for the United States was at the Canadian
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  Speaker 1: cabinet retreat. But second, to be discussing EV tariffs. This
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  Speaker 1: is not just a conversation about buying cheap cars, is it, Eric.
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  Speaker 2: No, No, this was a pivotal, pivotal moment in the
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  Speaker 2: history of not just Canadian industry. But this was a
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  Speaker 2: pivotal moment for our community here and all auto communities,
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  Speaker 2: manufacturing communities in southwestern Ontario and across Canada. Pivotal moment.
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  Speaker 2: And this summer, I can tell you I was burning
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  Speaker 2: up the phones with the Prime Minister, with the Finance Minister,
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  Speaker 2: with local unions, with steel workers, with auto workers, because
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  Speaker 2: this was the decision. It's the right decision to impose
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  Speaker 2: one hundred percent tariffs and Chinese made ev vehicles and
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: steel and aluminum.
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  Speaker 1: It was.
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  Speaker 2: It was the right decision. It was a strong decision,
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  Speaker 2: and it was the strong decision that we had been
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  Speaker 2: fighting for, that I had been advocating for over the
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  Speaker 2: course of the summer. So I am very happy to
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  Speaker 2: see that this decision protects workers first and foremost. To
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: protect our workers, it protects an industry that we are
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: building from scratch, that the federal government is building from scratch,
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  Speaker 2: and partnership with unions, with industry, and this is important.
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  Speaker 2: And you look at the last three years, you know
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  Speaker 2: we've delivered fifty billion dollars, fifty billion dollars of auto
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  Speaker 2: investment to southwestern Ontario, battery plants and windsor Saint Thomas Aliston.
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  Speaker 2: We're seeing a complete revival of automotive in Canada. We're
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: seeing a revival of manufacturing, and you damn right that
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: we're going to protect it. We're going to We're going
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: to make sure we bring strong measures in place at
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: this pivotal moment to protect these investments, but first and
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: foremost to protect Canadian and windsor auto workers and manufers.
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  Speaker 1: So I guess, you know, just to break it down
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: for people who might still be listening to this, going like,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: how is this a you know, a risk to Canadian jobs,
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: to windsor jobs if I go and get to buy
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: a car cheap. So we put one hundred percent tariff
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: on and now the's what some of them nine thousand
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: dollars cars. Let's call it ten thousand though, so it's
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: ten thousand dollars cars. Now it's twenty thousand dollars car.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Is the concern, I suppose from the government perspective that
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: if China can flood the market with these vehicles, Canadians
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: Americans will buy these vehicles, and then the Fords and
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: the Stalantises and the companies that we know and we
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: love and we rely on Dodge for example, would they
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: go the way of the Dodo I suppose and disappear?
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: Is that the concern, Well, the concern is the unfair
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: practices of the Chinese government. I mean, look, they're building
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: vehicles in a country where the labor laws are non existent,
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  Speaker 2: where environmental laws are non existent, where you have the
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: level of subsidy in state support for that entire supply
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  Speaker 2: chain is astronomical. And in addition to that, it's not
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: just an economic threat that we're facing, but it really
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: truly is a national security threat. It's a national security concern,
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  Speaker 2: and it's a concern in terms of data breaches because
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: you know, cars these days, they're literally computers on wheels,
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: and so there's serious concern about about data breaches, about
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: privacy of information about all of those things, and embedding
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: manufacturers within our supply chain here in North America. So
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: real economic concerns, real national security concerns, real privacy and
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: data concerns as well too. And and again it's it's
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: no surprise that you had a high level you know,
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: a high high level leader from the United States in
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: Halifax for the national retreat, because again, it's going to
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: take a united front US, Canada, and we already saw
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: your union also impose higher tariffs on ev made excuse me,
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: Chinese made evs as well too. So you need a
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: united front for this to be able to work.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: You want to have that harmonized plan field for sure. Okay, Hey,
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: last thing, I want to shift gears here a little
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: bit while I still have a couple of minutes of
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: your time. We're still in the doul drums of summer here,
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: but you know, things are heating up politically. We're watching
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: a I don't know if we can say a surging
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: pier quality of he seems to have hit at least
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: a pretty high plateau potentially looking the other way right now.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: He's had some hits here or there that have taken
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: a little bit of some windowt of his sales. But
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: overwhelmingly we're looking at the Conservatives at a higher point
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: than the Liberals right now. I wonder what your thoughts
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: are about the opposition right now and how their tactics
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: are playing out.
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  Speaker 2: Well, John, I'll tell you what I'm focused on. I mean,
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: we delivered the battery plant here right there's two thousand
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: local workers building that plant right now. It's going to
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: provide two and a half thousand jobs for local Canadian
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: workers permanently, and I can tell you there is about
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: nine ten billion dollars of additional investment companies that are
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: looking to locate here and bring more jobs to this community.
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  Speaker 2: That's my focus. Second focus is affordability, making sure that
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: we're getting housing built in this community, making sure that
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: we're rolling out programs like childcare, like dental care that
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: are helping Canadians through some of these tough times that
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: we're facing. I'm looking at making sure that inflation keeps
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: going down, making sure that interest rates are keep going
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: making sure that we do have prudent fiscal management that
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: allows those things to take place. That is my focus.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: It's not worried about the other guy. I'm worried about elections.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: It's just what can we do day to day to
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: help our community. Look, we're seeing tremendous growth in our community,
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: not just in terms of jobs. We've seen Windsor has
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: had the second fastest job growth in Ontario this year,
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: eighty nine hundred net new jobs. And we're seeing thirty
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: thousand people moving into this region because they're seeing that
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: there's optimism here, they're seeing opportunity here. But we've got
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: to make sure to keep our eye on the ball.
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: We've got to make sure we play our cards right
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: so that we can make sure that we're prepared for
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: that growth, which means we've got to get more housing,
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: and we've got to make sure that we've got the
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: skilled workforce that we need to keep these jobs coming,
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: to keep these jobs here and keep growing those jobs
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: in our community. That's our focus.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: Hey, Eric, I want to thank you so much for
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: your time. I really do appreciate it. Have a good
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: last little couple days here of August, and then we'll
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: see you in Ernest come September.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: You got it, John, looking forward to it.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Cheers all the best. Eric Husmerichik is our Member of
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: Parliament for Windsor. To come see