Mr. Speaker, the member might find it surprising that I agree with him on a couple of points.
We do have a national housing crisis. However, I separate the issue of housing and homelessness. The problem of homelessness needs to be tied more to health. Anyone who lives on the street in Canada in February is not a well person and we have to address issues around mental health.
We have seen the cuts. The member talks about his home province. Let me talk about my province. We have seen the cuts that have happened in mental health. We have seen the people who are on the streets because the current Conservative government in the province of Ontario has used its 30% income tax cut and taken that money out of the health care system.
We can blame the federal government for downsizing the transfers to the provinces. We have to accept collective responsibility as a nation for some of that. The reality is that it is the provincial Government of Ontario that has closed mental health beds right across the province and those people find themselves on the street.
I too would like to see a national housing policy. I believe that all levels of government need to get back into providing a social housing framework that makes sense for all Canadians. I will support that and I will work toward that. If it does not all show up in this budget, the government will work toward seeing there is some equity and some housing put back in the marketplace.