Housing  Mr. Speaker, in typical Liberal fashion, the member has forgotten what his party did. Liberals actually ended the agreements on social housing back in the 1990s. What we have done in response is renew our investment in affordable housing right across the country. We also have done something to address the issue of homelessness.

Housing  Mr. Speaker, what Canadians do not need are more bureaucrats sitting around in Ottawa telling them what they need and how to invest. What we have done is provide funding for the provinces through our investment in affordable housing. Together with the provinces, together with municipalities, together with our partners, we have provided support to almost a million families and individuals.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, respectfully, I will just let my colleague know that again, if housing were the priority, he and his colleagues would have been at that committee meeting. It does not really work that way, that a committee invites a minister, does not ask any questions, and then tries to get her back later.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, it is true that there are some really good things coming out of housing co-ops. In fact, I met with some organizations recently that represent co-ops. There are 600,000 housing units that we talked about, and co-ops are a part of that number. They are doing some great work.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to rise today to address the House on the motion that has been presented by the member for York South—Weston. I will be sharing my time with the member for Brant and I just want to commend the member for Brant for the great leadership role that he has taken on the housing file and talking about innovative ideas on how we can address affordable housing issues and the good things that our government is already doing.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I disagree with my hon. colleague on a number of things he asserted, one of them being about the work we have been doing to help the homeless, such as our homelessness partnering strategy, with the focus on housing first, and the major investments we have made, which I will expand on when I speak shortly.

Housing  Mr. Speaker, we have been acting since we came into office. In fact, our investments have helped almost a million families and individuals with their needs for social housing. The opposition voted against every one of our initiatives, including being against our housing first initiative, which helps those who are most vulnerable and homeless.

Housing  Mr. Speaker, I would be pleased to talk for an hour about what we have been doing on housing, but unfortunately, I was asked no questions. Neither was the president of CMHC. I have a question for that member. Was he part of the scheme? Did he contribute money to the scheme to have offices paid for at the taxpayers' expense?

Housing  Mr. Speaker, the member should know, because it was the Liberals who ended agreements on social housing. These agreements are coming to an end over the next 30 years. Mortgages are paid off, and Canadians know that when the mortgage is paid off they do not keep paying the bank.

Housing  Mr. Speaker, if that member had cared to ask me a question when I was before her committee for an hour, I would have told her about our renewal of investment in affordable housing. It seems as if this is a bit of a diversion, because the New Democrats have been trying to get affordable offices possibly.

Housing  Mr. Speaker, I was very pleased to be in British Columbia recently where we renewed our investment in affordable housing, where they are using it for rent subsidies. Let us talk about subsidies for rent at the expense of the taxpayer to subsidize offices. With our investments, we have been clear on this side of the House about the money we are spending to help Canadians on housing.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I want to believe what my hon. colleague is saying, that the New Democrats would have supported these changes had they been stand-alone bills, except I vividly recall the NDP speaking out against our changes when we introduced a large number of them in July, including the fee changes and some of the other changes.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, that is exactly what we have done. I know the Liberals did absolutely nothing. When temporary foreign workers came to Canada under the Liberals, there were no programs in place to change those temporary foreign workers into permanent—

Business of Supply  Then they had no ideas, Mr. Speaker. They did nothing to change the integrity of the program. We have a moratorium on the program for restaurant workers. Ask the restaurant workers if that is not swift and decisive action. Maybe it is time the member got back into his riding and, instead of asking for more temporary foreign workers, talk to them and see what is happening in those restaurants.

Business of Supply  I am sorry. Thank you for that, Mr. Speaker. I want to remind all of us of what has gone on over the last little while. In recent weeks we all became aware of abuses within this program and the Minister of Employment and Social Development acted immediately and directed officials to urgently look into these cases.