International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia  Mr. Speaker, May 17 is the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. In 2003, Fondation Émergence, a non-profit organization in Hochelaga, created the first-ever national day to fight homophobia. Today, it is celebrated in over 100 countries. I am pleased and proud

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, I just want to remind my colleagues about the co-investment fund. It is $979 million. Since 2015, it is more than 8,000 units. If we take the rapid housing initiative, one and two, there was $200 million on one, $185 million on two and more than 1,000 units. Those a

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, over 32% of the national housing strategy is focused on working with women and children to ensure they get the housing they need. We will continue to increase funding because we want all women across the country to be safe.

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, I would like to invite my colleague to ask questions about the national housing strategy and not about the programs that fall under the purview of the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and the Minister of Health.

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for her question. She knows very well that we are working on that. We have recognized that many women across the country are fleeing violence, and we must do more to ensure that every one of these women has housing that will give them the sense o

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, I have a great deal of respect for my colleague, and she is quite aware of that. I visited her riding in the first few weeks after I was named parliamentary secretary. I would like to remind her that our goal is to have 2,000 shelters for women who are fleeing—

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, I understand that more needs to be done. My colleague and I agree on that. I find it rather deplorable that she cannot even acknowledge that, in her own riding, our government has worked with representatives of Velma's House. It was to make sure that we were taking

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, we have answered a couple of my colleague's questions around speculation of the market, and we agree. We have engaged in doing a reform of the investments in residential estates. There is a lot more work to be done. I think the member would recognize that we are mov

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, in terms of the national housing co-investment fund, we have listened to a number of people across the country. What we want is to make sure that this fund, which is primarily for community non-profits, is quick and easy to access because we want to increase the numb

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, I am very pleased to answer that question because I have lived in a housing co-op myself. I have helped establish two housing co-ops in my lifetime, and I am a firm believer in that model. After 30 years, we finally have a program dedicated to co-operatives. The gove

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, this comes back to what I was saying earlier. We need to work on market speculation. Slowing down market speculation will allow for more housing units and homes to be available for Canadians here and not for foreigners who do not live in the country.

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for telling us about a project in her riding. There are projects like that one right across the country. One thing we wanted to ensure was that we created shelters for women fleeing violence. These shelters are built in such a way as to provide s

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, there is no such thing as a small project. Every home represents an individual, a family, a woman fleeing violence or someone who was homeless. There is no such thing as a small project or small housing. Every home meets a specific need and that is exactly what the

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, we must also talk about the right to housing and working on market speculation, and that is exactly what we have done. We have imposed a 1% tax on the value of real estate belonging to non-resident Canadians. We have banned foreign ownership for two years by imposing

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, of those 500,000 immigrants we want to bring to the country, we are hoping that one of the areas we can focus on is construction workers, who will enable us to build these units. Yes, it is a great project. This is a good project for the future, to address the labou