Thank you, Chair. I appreciate that.
Thank you to all the witnesses who have given their time to be with us today.
I couldn't agree more and I know that all of us, regardless of what party we come from or what region we represent, agree completely that safe, secure, affordable homes are critical to quality of life, to standard of living and to health outcomes.
I have to confess that I sit here as a Conservative who's a proponent for limited government and responsible spending, but I am shocked and disturbed by what is clearly a colossal humanitarian failure to ensure sufficient housing for fellow Canadians in northern and remote communities. What I'm grappling with here is that governments of all stripes and over the years have failed to provide this very core necessity for human beings. I really am interested if we can get to learning about whatever other options or partnerships might be available through private sector partnerships or community partnerships to help be part of the solution.
Before we get there, I invite each of you to boil down the specifics in any way you wish on the existing challenges to your public housing programs and for your residents. If there are key barriers you could identify and a number of key solutions, I would welcome each of you to start off by talking about those.