Mr. Speaker, a cold chill exists on Parliament Hill, a cold chill from the office of the minister of the homeless.
Four years ago homeless counts in Edmonton showed emergency shelters as full and overflowing. Four years and $20 million of federal homeless funding later, exactly 12 shelter beds were added, even though the homeless counts were up 60%.
Homeless emergency shelter planning was so abysmal that they did not provide the most basic of human needs, a few square feet of warm shelter floor space to sleep on. Two people died on the streets of Edmonton this winter. Seven hundred and fifty-three million dollars has been spent nationally but the homeless still die on Canada's streets because of a lack of permanent basic shelter space.
Shame on a minister who has failed so miserably. Shame on a Liberal government that obviously does not care. The true cold chill on Parliament Hill is in the hearts of those in the Liberal government.