If I understood correctly, the question was about the role and responsibilities of the cities.
That is an important question because the cities are now recognized as local governments. But they do not have the financial means of the higher levels of governments, the provincial and federal governments. In Quebec, a debate is currently going on about taxation for cities, which depend largely on property taxes. That brings us back to the problem of speculation that we are discussing today.
Cities have a role to play. As I was saying earlier, when higher levels of government do not play their part, cities can establish their own programs. We have actually seen that in the past in cities like Montreal. However, we cannot rely primarily on the cities to establish programs, because they have fewer means. That is why we are discussing the role of the federal government today. In the past, it played a major role in financing thousands of social housing units.
In Quebec, in some years, 8,000 social housing units were built whereas, at the moment, we are building fewer than 1,500 per year. This lack of social housing is primarily because the federal government withdrew. The cities are taking the lead in asking for more resources to meet those needs because they have front-row seats to the housing crisis. They see a part of their population living in dreadful housing conditions and being in poverty as soon as they pay the rent. They have to be helped.
Provinces have a role to play, but Ottawa must provide the financial resources and ensure that those financial resources are sent first and foremost to where the needs are the most urgent, and that they are used to establish productive programs. If the programs are not productive and self-sustaining, at the end of the day, the cities may very well end up with problems in the medium term. That is why we need to think about the programs we are funding to make sure that they are productive. They must meet the needs but they must be viable on an ongoing basis.