Madam Chair, I just wanted to point out that we support much of the work that has been done over the last two years in this House to support Canadian businesses and workers because, as I said, most of it was from our initiative on the NDP side. There are still some big gaps that could be easily fixed, yet the minister is just getting up and talking about the other stuff. That does not help these businesses that are going under.
I want to switch now to the big issue facing tourism operators and many businesses in my riding and across the country. That is the labour shortage. In my riding, the big factor in the labour shortage is housing. In my riding the average income is $30,000 a year and the average house price is $900,000. It is one of the worst ratios in the country with that disparity between housing costs and wages. Workers come to the Okanagan and the Kootenays looking for work. There is lots of work but they cannot find any housing. They cannot find rental housing and they certainly cannot afford to buy a house.
What is the government going to do to build affordable housing? I am not talking about just getting more housing stock going or helping people to buy their first home. I am talking about real affordable non-market housing. What will the government do to help our workers and our businesses?