Mr. Speaker, it is good to see you back in the chair.
I know my colleague is very passionate about the housing issue, but in a broader context, I want to talk about the functioning of our democracy and what has gone on over the last four years.
In committees, we have heard questions from the Conservatives about poverty. There was good work done by the human resources, skills and social development committee before the 2011 election. It put forward quality recommendations to the minister that were cast aside by the last government.
In conversation with the former NDP member, Peter Stoffer, he and I reminisced a couple of weeks ago about how committees used to get together. We could have John Cummins on one end, who would be considered a little bit to the right, and a social democrat like Stoffer on the other end, but they would come together and make a unanimous recommendation to the minister and the government to go forward and help those stakeholders.
Does my colleague see that there is potential to change what has happened over the last four years where committees have been used as a vehicle to drive home a specific ideology? Does he see some kind of hope for it in this Parliament?