Mr. Speaker, I certainly agree with the hon. parliamentary secretary that this program permits us to enhance the quality of life of Canadians.
If we want to recognize what the quality of life means in terms of housing all we have to do is leave our country and go to many other countries in the world. In June I had the opportunity to visit Haiti as an election observer with the OAS. I certainly got a real appreciation of how fortunate we are to have the kind of housing we have and what it really means to quality of life when I saw the kind of housing that exists in Haiti.
Haiti is the poorest country in this hemisphere. It is not by any means the only country in the world with a lower standard of housing than we have. In fact, the vast majority of the world's inhabitants do not have the quality of life and quality of housing that we enjoy. Some do not even come close.
It is very important to recognize that this measure of expanding the loan insurance of CMHC is critical to the quality of life of Canadians. It is important for the housing industry in terms of job creation.
When I was in Haiti I saw houses that had dirt floors. Imagine the problems with disease and insects. There were houses that did not have facilities which we consider proper in Canada such as indoor plumbing. We are very fortunate to the ability to expand a program like CMHC which will add benefits to Canadians and to an important resource such as our housing stock.
When I visited Haiti I was struck by the many problems of extended families living in a house which would be the size of a small room in a normal Canadian house and how that affected their quality of life. It was really a shock. We often hear about people facing cultural shock when they visit foreign countries. Well, I certainly experienced it. When I came back to Canada it made me much more aware of how fortunate we are to live in this great country and to have the opportunity to live in good quality homes.