I'm delighted that this program has worked so well in Toronto. I understand that it's having success elsewhere.
It really goes back to some fundamental principles. One is that as a federal government we can't see what's happening right on the ground. Municipalities are closer to the ground. They can see what their needs are and they can see what causes the problems. That's why we formed the partnerships: because we have the funding, but they have the expertise and the knowledge, so let's work with them.
We're doing just that. As I mentioned a moment ago, we've also recognized that it's not only in, say, 14 cities across Canada that we see homelessness. Unfortunately, it's right across the country. It's in the cold of the far north, and it's even in my own riding, where you think everything looks beautiful, but unfortunately we do have homeless people there and their needs are just as great.
When we worked out the homelessness partnering strategy with the provinces, we said that we had to help everybody in all parts of the country, and that's what we did. We've also made funds available to rural areas for the first time. Secondly, we've put funding aside specifically to deal with the very pervasive mental health issues that are associated with homelessness.
When you start putting all of that together, you get a winning program.