I agree with you perfectly. In fact, I moved a motion on that.
The agreements are about to come to an end. I spoke to many people who live in cooperatives and who are going to be facing that problem. I will give you two examples
In my own riding there is the Odyssée housing cooperative. I spoke with Ms. Carole Parent on this topic. This woman cannot work and she has already reduced all of her expenses. Her housing subsidy is going to end in 2016. At that time her monthly rent is going to increase by $200 from one day to the next.
In Montreal there is also the Cloverdale Village housing cooperative, which is in the borough of Pierrefonds. It is the biggest cooperative in Canada. For the residents of this cooperative, the subsidies will end in one year. That will be when the agreement ends. There are 277 families, that is to say about 1,000 people, who will be affected not only by the end of the agreement, but by the end of the subsidies. They are going to lose their subsidies. On average, their rent is going to increase by $350 a month.
This is the situation throughout the country. Some provinces like Quebec are considering giving these people a helping hand. We cannot very well let them wind up in the street. This is the federal government shovelling problems into the provincial backyard. At a certain point the provinces will no longer be able to cope with the issue and this will wind up on the doorstep of the municipalities.
Will the municipalities be able to deal with problem? If so, how will they do it?