There has to be more inclusion in terms of the position of the municipalities or the level of government above our citizens.
We see day to day what's going on and what's working and what's not working in a city. Most of the time when we're engaging, we're engaging in bilateral conversations with cities and federal governments or cities and provincial governments. This issue came up yesterday in metro Vancouver's meeting with Minister Duclos that we have meetings with the federal government, but the province was not there.
The province administers the funding that you give it. It needs to do that responsibly. What we saw in Maple Ridge of late with our situation with the shelter is that the city put forward a piece of land, and we bought a piece of land for $1 million for supportive housing because the government's experts told us that we need supportive housing to which we can transition these vulnerable people in the shelter. We have done what we needed to do as a city, but there are decisions being made at the provincial government level that the federal government is not looking at, such as how the money is being spent. Is it being spent to match our Canadian values? Is it being spent in terms of the agreements that we have internationally?
This is really important, because this case that has happened in our city is a perfect example of how the multiple levels of government are not working from the same value systems. We have a set of values as Canadians for how we deal with people who are in poverty and in need. I believe as a Canadian historian that a fundamental value that we've always stood behind is the treatment of people. The treatment of people who are vulnerable right now in the city in the shelter that you're going to see is absolutely substandard.