Mr. Speaker, the homelessness minister's claim in question period yesterday that everything was fine with emergency shelters is dead wrong.
Advocates across the country have confirmed to me that we face a desperate shortage of emergency shelters and another winter of death on the streets. I cannot believe that after spending this summer on a cross-country tour the minister is in denial about the extent of Canada's homelessness emergency.
The minister says her staff has been in touch with every community she visited, but the fact is shelters in Toronto and elsewhere in the country are already turning people away, even before winter moves in.
The Liberals have to face reality and take decisive action immediately. We need both a short term emergency solution to prevent death in the streets, and a national housing strategy for long term solutions.
It is a disgrace that despite having more than 100,000 homeless people Canada remains the only industrialized country without a national housing strategy.