Mr. Speaker, while the parliamentary secretary talks about what the government is doing, more than 3,500 people are sleeping on the streets of Calgary and in shelters and many of them are turning to drugs, crack and crystal meth, which gives them a sense of not being hungry, not being cold and being fearless. The only problem is that the hit lasts five or ten minutes and then they have to go after another, which makes the streets of Calgary a very dangerous place.
The member spoke about a program that was unfolded in Victoria of four 3-bedroom homes. Those home would only house 12 people. I am sure she is aware that there are 700 homeless people in Victoria.
If the minister had told me, when I asked her the question in December, that she was coming forward with a program, I would have been willing to sit down and talk to her about how we might do it better.
I was pleased today with the response of the new minister. At least he recognized that we had a problem and he offered to work with us. He also talked about things that perhaps we could do together.
The member for London—Fanshawe was not thanking the government for these initiatives. She was saying that it was not enough, that this announcement came too late. The agencies that are working day and night, seven days a week, to try to serve the homeless in their communities have no money left. Because the announcement came so late, these agencies will have to shut down before they can access the new money. The member was asking the minister today to commit to some bridge funding for some of those projects.