Mr. Speaker, as we enter the holiday season, Canadians have unwrapped that we are an inflation nation and that our housing costs are the second highest in the world. In Bay of Quinte, a newly retired senior reached out to my office this week asking for help to get additional funding because her dream of retirement had become a nightmare. She lives in a modest home, but with rising costs she cannot survive on her CPP and OAS. She takes home over $820 a month, and does not know if she can afford to live in her home much longer because of the inflation tax on housing. Mrs. Hannah wrote to me, “Everything has increased in cost and we're not able to afford some groceries or heat our home.” She worries that she is going to be homeless.
It is not fair to say that it is just inflation when it comes to housing, and that it is just world problems when it is Canadians' right to afford to put a roof over their heads and to afford a home. We must work together to fix this inflation tax on housing to ensure we keep roofs over the heads of our seniors and all citizens of Canada. That is the gift Canadians want to see from their government this season.