Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for that great question, and yes, that would be wonderful.
What I want, as I said in my speech earlier, is for the federal government to stop imposing conditions. The member has suggested taking the equivalent of the money collected for the GST and returning it to the communities to fund non-market housing, in other words, community or affordable housing. I applaud and would welcome that.
The problem my colleague raised in his question goes deeper than that. He mentioned the housing deficit. Our governments are too focused on short-term action, on four-year horizons, to win votes. The $250 cheque is a good example of that. Such measures are hogwash.
We need to think about the long term. We should not be having a housing crisis. Long-term plans should have been made ages ago. There is a labour shortage. I taught my high school students about this in the 1990s. I told them there would be a labour shortage if nothing was done to prevent it. I cannot believe that I knew that, but our leaders did not. There are no long-term measures.
It is important to look ahead to the future.