Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister, for being here today.
My husband is a supply teacher in the Gatineau region, and yesterday he came home and told me that he had contributed to a fundraiser. The teachers at a school were chipping in so that a special education technician who was a mother of two could pay her rent, which has gone up so much that she can't even do that anymore.
For a while now, I've been hearing you talk about programs over five to seven years, building millions of housing units, massive targets, but what are you doing to help that individual who's unable to pay her rent right now? Obviously, there are many other issues. Her salary may be too low, and that's a provincial jurisdiction.
However, you do have tools at your disposal, Mr. Minister. One of them is to create an acquisition fund, which we've suggested to you several times. In fact, some provinces have already acted on this. It's about acquiring housing from the private sector and renting it out at an affordable price. It would be a meaningful solution you could apply today, not three, five or seven years from now, to help people in this situation.
What are your thoughts on the federal government creating an acquisition fund?