Mr. Speaker, in the very good intervention by the member for Parkdale—High Park, she talked specifically about housing.
In Duncan, in my riding of Nanaimo—Cowichan, the emergency shelter recently was not able to open because it did not fit the very narrow criteria available in terms of providing support to people who were cold and wet in an unseasonably cool fall.
In a recent report by the UN special rapporteur on adequate housing, he talked about the national emergency in housing in this country and in fact specifically cited the tax system in Canada, which has actually contributed to eroding support for social and rental housing.
There is an argument being put forward here that the tax system will somehow or other solve all our problems. I wonder if the member could elaborate on the pressing and urgent need for a national housing strategy in this country to deal with the inadequately housed and the homeless in this country.