Madam Speaker, I certainly do share those concerns, and it is part of why the NDP has been such a loud and consistent advocate for seniors who have seen their GIS clawed back. That is why we have been talking for a while about trying to get the guaranteed income supplement level up to the poverty line so our most vulnerable seniors are not legislated into a life of poverty.
When it comes to housing, I mentioned in my remarks some of the initiatives we have been contemplating. I would be curious to hear some concrete measures from the Conservatives that might help. They are good on the critique right now, but on the solutions we have not heard a lot that would make a big difference, including on inflation. There is a lot of talk about the impact of inflation, and we share their concern about that.
The Conservative finance critic is very adamant that we need to not talk about things like a dual employment mandate, like they have in the States, or have more interesting mandate ideas like they have in New Zealand, which asked its central bank to consider housing prices in the way it sets monetary policy.
Instead, he was very focused on the 2% inflation target, which is what is going to cause the rise in interest rates that his leader was just talking about earlier today. Those interest rates in the current economy, given how stretched Canadians already are, will also cause a real crisis for those who were able to buy into what is a really hot market. They are not going to be able to sustain their home if we see massive interest rate hikes, which is what it means to doggedly pursue a 2% inflation target.
There are some big discussions we need to have here. Conservatives have been big on the critical side lately, but I think they really need to get their act together on proposing some solutions, because that is where the dialogue on that side of the House is falling apart.