Mr. Speaker, the United Nations special rapporteur on adequate housing, Miloon Kotheri, released his preliminary findings after a cross country tour of Canada, He had some very strong messages for Canada and the Canadian government. He said that he “was very disturbed by the housing situation in Canada”. I also want to quote him saying that he “hopes to see a radical shift in government policy when it comes to housing issues”. He also denounced the decision in the 1990s by the previous Liberal government to summarily abandon what he called a very progressive housing policy.
The throne speech does mention housing but only in the most general terms. It mentions homelessness only in the most general terms. Mr. Kotheri has travelled across Canada and heard from people who are homeless. He has spoken with aboriginal communities where the housing situation is most inadequate. He has spoken to women who are one of the groups most affected by the housing situation here in Canada. He has said that Canada can do better, that there is a surplus and that there are trust funds established with NDP money from the last Liberal budget, I might add, to do something about housing.
I would like to ask the minister why we still do not have a tangible federal housing program in Canada.