Committees of the House  Madam Speaker, I listened with interest to my colleague's speech. I know he has followed defence matters very closely over the years and is a former parliamentary secretary of defence. I wanted to know his thoughts with respect to where climate change fits into all of this and whether or not he understands and recognizes climate change to be not only a matter of environmental concern but also a matter of national security.

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, the member asked about tax fairness. Since 2015, the government has invested no less than a billion dollars to ensure that the CRA has the resources it needs, resources that the opposite side, the Conservatives, cut when they were in office. Tax fairness is a principle we take very seriously.

Housing  Mr. Speaker, as a result of measures introduced by the current government, two million people are now living in homes, which have been built, repaired or subsidized through the programs introduced. That work continues. In fact, we saw this week, through the fall economic statement, that there are various other supports being introduced: providing low-interest loans for builders, taking a very close look at the work municipalities are doing on short-term rentals and freeing up short-term rentals to make them into long-term homes for individuals and families.

Housing  Mr. Speaker, the member has served his country and his community since 2004, and this caucus and this chamber are better for it. He continues to advocate for measures, as does this caucus. What is the result? In the fall economic statement, we saw, as I just mentioned, real action to deal with short-term rentals.

Housing  Mr. Speaker, yes, it is true that Canada is in the midst of a housing crisis. What approach is our government taking? I believe it is an example of co-operation. It is co-operation with the parties across the way that want to do something on housing, with provinces, with municipalities and with the not-for-profit sector.

Grocery Industry  Mr. Speaker, I am glad that we have the NDP's support on Bill C-56. As we know, there are competition measures in it that would hold grocery chains to account. On the question of housing, the more we build, the more we ensure that costs come down. I have good news for the member.

Finance  Mr. Speaker, the hon. member wishes to talk about Canadians keeping their homes. Let us look at the Conservative record on housing. When the now opposition leader was the so-called minister of housing, $300 million was allocated toward housing. How many homes were built? Fewer than 100.

Carbon Pricing  Mr. Speaker, in a week where that party has been exposed for what it is, that is, a party that does not stand in alignment with the principles of freedom and has turned its back on the Ukrainian diaspora and on Ukrainians, it is hard to take anything that side has to say seriously today.

Housing  Mr. Speaker, the member fails to mention the advocacy of Toronto MPs who pushed for this government to invest no less than $290 million for the City of Toronto so that it could respond to homelessness challenges. That is exactly what is happening. We will continue to work with that municipality and with other municipalities across the country.

London and District Business Hall of Fame Inductees  Mr. Speaker, I rise to honour two new inductees into the London and District Business Hall of Fame. The first is Allan Drewlo, president of Drewlo Holdings. He helped make the company one of the country's largest leading real estate development and property management firms. On top of that, he is an important philanthropist in our community.

Housing  Mr. Speaker, I am sure the member is very good at math; he is just not looking at all the numbers. The national housing strategy has resulted in 113,000 new units that are either built or will be built, and 126,000 units that have been repaired or are scheduled for repair. In the member's community, or at least in a portion of his community, because he does represent a portion of the Peel region, in June 2021, over $32 million led to the construction of 77 affordable units.

Housing  Mr. Speaker, I listened to my colleague, and with all due respect, it is rather difficult to take him seriously here tonight. First of all, he made the mistake of not reading the most recent CMHC report on housing starts. In fact, housing starts are up. However, let us move to the matter at hand, which is really cost.

Housing  Mr. Speaker, the point on the acquisition fund is one that the member and I have discussed in the past, and it does merit further consideration, but I also point to the various other programs that are part of the national housing strategy that he mentioned: the rapid housing initiative and the national co-investment fund.

Housing  Mr. Speaker, I sat with the member on the federal finance committee for two years. At no point did he ever stand up and go against the austerity agenda of that party's leader. It is an unacceptable approach. We, on this side, do have an approach that matters. In his community in Calgary, we are working with that city council on a number of things, including the housing accelerator fund that would see more homes built, which brings down the cost of rent and brings down the cost of purchasing a home.

Housing  Mr. Speaker, there are 70,000 new units for individuals who have experienced homelessness, and 122,000 people who were close to being homeless are not homeless because of the national housing strategy. That applies to what I just said before on homelessness. The member rightly brings up the plight and position of women who experience homelessness.