Let's focus on the important thing here, and that is the people like the woman who came into your office. It is unfortunate that in a country as wealthy as ours and in an area as wealthy as Brampton there are still people who, for a wide number of reasons, find themselves homeless. It's not limited to the big cities and the wealthy areas. Unfortunately, we have them in my towns as well.
But what Canada does have--and where we are fortunate--is a wide spectrum of housing solutions that we do provide, with everything from emergency shelters to transition housing, supportive housing, subsidized housing, and affordable housing, and even incentives or discounts to help people buy their first home.
In the province of Ontario, where you and I both live, the province has assumed responsibility for these programs. We do provide funding, and we try to work with them to make sure they deliver what's required. One of the reasons we're doing this is that they said they know their local needs the best.
Let's face it. Right now, we are spending unprecedented amounts on housing and homelessness--$3 billion per year--and right now we have some 3,500 new projects under way right across the country to help ease the very situation about which you're speaking.