Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Welcome, Minister.
I'll get us back to committee business. Last week, I had the opportunity to meet with Michael Braithwaite from Blue Door. They work out of the York, Durham and Peel region, otherwise known as “Tony Van Bynen territory”. They're well known in the region for providing transitional housing, as well as emergency shelter support for those people who need it. What most people don't know about Blue Door is that they offer the construct program, which is a skills training program that's launched about 500 people into the skilled trades.
I know you're very well aware, Minister, that we have a very aggressive housing policy. Our national housing strategy promotes new housing in both the non-profit sector and the market sector.
I'm wondering if you can share with the committee how we could seek to support organizations like Blue Door, which is offering these services in co-operation with LiUNA, local colleges and the private sector.
Can you share with the committee what ESDC's doing with our housing plan, and how we're supporting the building of skilled trades numbers across the country?