I can talk about that in relation to our proposals. There were two areas that we felt were important.
One was the development of a housing allowance. It's allocated as a direct transfer or a tax credit and would be a benefit to low-income women. Many other countries have done this, so it's nothing new. We've also experimented with it here. We have it to a small degree in Ontario, for example, but it's not comprehensively developed. It would balance the current system of subsidies, as we see it, because under the current system it's all tied to housing units, whereas the allowance is tied to the individual. It's a very different kind of focus, and it gives the individual a lot more choice in the housing market.
The other one is in relation to housing mortgages. This is a very sensitive area in light of what's happened in the last half a dozen months in the United States and elsewhere, but nevertheless there is potential here for the development of mortgages for low-income people. Again, Ontario, and I believe Quebec, is initiating some small programs in this area. But to use the Ontario example, at the moment the so-called affordable level is what they call the fifth quintile, which if you were to take the city of Ottawa as an example would mean you'd have to have an income of $71,000. We're clearly not talking about low-income people when the Ontario program is operated. Even in Ontario it's $23 million; it's less than 3% of their total affordable housing program.
The affordable housing program in this country, as you know, is very meagre. Each of these examples, both the allowance and mortgage support for low-income people, is possible, but it's done on a very minimal scale in Canada at the moment.