Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to present petitions in the House today.
The first petition comes from the last Parliament, but I think it is one that is still very much relevant. The petitioners point out that Canada made us all a promise, a promise that anyone from anywhere could do anything. They say that, after nine years, the promise of Canada has been broken, that we have seen a lot of promises broken. They say the promise to balance the budget was broken. The promise to reduce taxes on the middle class was broken. The promise to build more affordable housing was also broken.
Petitioners say that many hard-working Canadians who are 35 years old are living in their parents' basement. This never happened before the government came along with policies that have doubled housing costs. There are 1,800 homeless people in encampments across Ontario; this has never happened before. This is the type of thing we would see in third world countries. People are dying in these encampments. Gun violence is up 120%, yet we have a government that goes after hunters while letting criminals and gun smugglers go free.
The petitioners want to see a reduction in taxes so servers, truck drivers and plumbers can work more, earn more and earn powerful paycheques. For this to happen, people need a roof over their head. They say that Canada has fewer homes per capita than any other G7 country. There is too much red tape. We need to incentivize municipalities to speed up—