Mr. Speaker, I appreciate, as do my NDP colleagues, the hon. member's support for the NDP's better balanced budget that we are pushing through the House.
He understands fully that the NDP's better balanced budget actually responds to a whole variety of issues that have not been dealt with for years. One of them of course is the housing crisis that we are seeing in the country. There are more and more homeless families in my region, particularly in the lower mainland of British Columbia due to federal Liberal and provincial Liberal cutbacks. We have seen homelessness triple tragically. We have over 1.1 million poor children in the country and this number is growing, again tragically. Therefore, the NDP's better balanced budget addresses that critical area for the first time in quite some time.
There is the post-secondary education crisis as well. We are seeing a crisis in training and a crisis in post-secondary education. I know from my experience in the last election campaign going door to door, and I knocked on over 6,000 doors in my riding of Burnaby--New Westminster, there were young adults who were telling me consistently that they could not afford to go on to post-secondary education because of the lack of funding in that area and high tuition costs.
The environment has seen an increase in greenhouse gas emissions of 20%. We have seen an increase this summer. We are seeing smog alerts across the country. Therefore, the environment must be a priority. The NDP's better balanced budget addresses that.
On the issue of protection for workers in the event of bankruptcy, workers have always been consistently last on the list. We have seen many workers who have invested their life savings in businesses and when that company has gone bankrupt, they have lost everything. There is protection there again that the NDP forced through in its better balanced budget.
International aid is a key area. As we know we are seeing a more unstable world. Many parties, particularly the Conservative Party, believe that by making more guns we will somehow develop more stability in the world. That is not how we do it. We well know that it is by providing water, health care, food and housing for populations around the world. Canada has not been paying its fair share. The NDP's better balanced budget addresses that issue of international stability through the provision of development funds.
These are five key areas where the NDP's better balanced budget addresses key and important issues for Canadians. We are also attacking the issue of public health care in getting waiting lists down and building better jobs. Increasingly jobs in our economy, because of the jobless trade policy that we have seen in the past from the Conservatives and Liberals, are part time or temporary in nature. The average Canadian worker is earning 60¢ an hour less in real terms after the last decade.
I have a question for the hon. member for Mississauga South. Given that he is supporting the NDP's better balanced budget initiative, will he also be supportive of our initiatives to protect public health care and to build better jobs in our economy?