Human Resources committee  As a general comment, I would like to just make the point that the demand for the RHI funding exceeded the amount of funding that was available. We received almost in excess of 3.5 billion dollars' worth of applications for the $500 million that was available. It is true that, unfortunately, we had to put many very worthy applications on hold.

Human Resources committee  Yes. We like to think of ourselves as a learning organization, so we have taken all these comments into account, and we will try our best to make improvements in the second round to address these issues going forward. Thank you for the comments.

Human Resources committee  You asked that question at a very interesting time. Our 2030 goal was challenging prior to the pandemic, and I think the challenges are greater now. The pandemic has had a disproportionate impact, as I said in my opening comments, on the most vulnerable in our society. When you look at how the pandemic has impacted Canadians, you see that homeowners have in some cases done better economically than renters, and our most essential workers are in the lower levels of our income distribution.

Human Resources committee  I would like to thank MP Trudel for his kind words of congratulation. In terms of the first round of the RHI, the province of Quebec, including all the projects, received approximately 18% of the funding. When you look at how we distributed the funding, you see that there was $1 billion in funding available, and $500 million of that was provided for the major cities.

Human Resources committee  No, we have not.

Human Resources committee  I have to point out, Mr. Chair, that anything related to tax regulation is the responsibility of the Department of Finance, so it may be better to direct this question to the officials there.

Human Resources committee  Again, Madam Chair, I'd like to thank MP Dong for his warm words of congratulation. In terms of the national housing strategy, when you look at what is perhaps the flagship program within the national housing strategy, the national housing co-investment fund, that's a program that provides financing, primarily to the non-profit sector, to promote the creation and repair of affordable housing.

Human Resources committee  Thank you, Madam Chair, for that question. There's no doubt that there's more that CMHC can do to improve our client service and ensure that our non-profit clients have access to the NHS programs. I welcome any type of feedback that you may have from your constituents, and we can definitely look into that in terms of things we can do to improve.

Human Resources committee  Thank you very much, Chair. I'd like to thank Mr. Vis for his warm words of congratulation. On the subject of foreign buyers, CMHC collects information on this through our rental surveys. We can provide you access to our rental surveys after this meeting. With respect to just the topic of foreign buyers, I believe there were actions in the recent budget to address this issue.

Human Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Vis. There are a number of programs under the national housing strategy, and most are supply-based programs. We have a number of programs in place that promote the creation of supply. The tools are there at the federal level to create supply, especially supply directed towards the most vulnerable elements of our society.

Human Resources committee  Yes, I think that would be something that is definitely worth pursuing. Ultimately, the decision is at the local level, but I think there is merit at the federal level in thinking about what types of incentives we could create to create alignment at the municipal level.

Human Resources committee  Thank you so much. Thank you to the chair. Before I begin, I'd like to acknowledge that I'm joining the committee today from Toronto, which is the traditional territory of many first nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples.

Public Accounts committee  I ran out of time in answering this question previously, so my apologies to Monsieur Blanchette-Joncas. With respect to the second phase of the rapid housing initiative, I will confirm that there were additional funds provided for this in the amount of $1.5 billion in the most recent budget.

Public Accounts committee  I'll just clarify. There was $1 billion dedicated to the first round of the rapid housing initiative—$500 million for the large cities and $500 million for the projects—so all the monies associated with that have been committed and spent, including for the province of Quebec. Where there is a lack of knowledge and clarity, because it was just in the most recent budget....

Public Accounts committee  If I have time, I'll just answer very quickly. The program design for the $1.5 billion has not been completed, so I'm not able to provide a response to Monsieur Blanchette-Joncas's question at this time. We're working very hard to provide this clarity, and we'll provide it as soon as we're able to.