Mr. Chair, I want to first of all congratulate the minister for taking a seat in the House and becoming the Minister of Housing.
Housing is really important to a lot of people across the country. We heard it at the doors, and I can say the same thing for my riding of London West. It is especially important for young people, people in our generation.
I believe the minister was a mayor before he came to this House. I was on city council, and I know how important the work of housing is for people who work at the municipal level. I think of all the important work we learn to do when managing budgets in municipal government and the wealth of knowledge we bring to the House. I like to joke around sometimes and say that people who want to come to the House should start at the municipal level to make sure they learn how things work at the city level so they can bring it to the national level and bring it all together.
Maybe the minister can talk to us about his experience in his time as the mayor of Vancouver at the city level, the importance of managing budgets at the municipal level and how he is going to tie all that experience into his new role as the housing and infrastructure minister in the House of Commons.