Hon. Yonah Martin (Deputy Leader of the Opposition): Honourable senators, my question is also for the government leader in the Senate.

On December 15, 2020, the Trudeau government announced $724.1 million to launch a comprehensive violence-prevention strategy. More than half of this funding was to support at least 38 new shelters and 50 transitional housing for First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples across the country, including on-reserve, in the North and in urban areas.

On Tuesday, The Globe and Mail reported that, as of May 31, none of this funding had been allocated. As well, out of the more than $700 million promised through the strategy, just $12.6 million had been spent on violence prevention, or less than 2% of the total amount announced a year and a half ago.

Leader, could you tell us why this program to support Indigenous women and girls has been such a failure?

Senator Martin: The NDP-Liberal government says it expects to provide an update on how this funding will be allocated sometime over the summer.

Leader, does your government have a timeline to begin construction on these new shelters and transition housing? Does the Trudeau government commit to having any of these shelters up and running, and serving communities, this year?

Hon. Yonah Martin (Deputy Leader of the Opposition): Government leader, today, I’m going to give you an opportunity to provide a better answer than you did yesterday when I asked you about the lack of details on changes to the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive. Last month’s budget provided no details on how the NDP-Liberal government will change this program or when these changes will be in effect.

This is a serious matter for Canadians. April’s record inflation, which Senator Plett referred to earlier, was largely driven by the cost of groceries and the cost of shelter. In fact, Statistics Canada revealed that in April, shelter costs rose at their highest pace since 1983 — almost 40 years ago.

Leader, when will Canadians learn how you will change the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive and on what date those changes come into effect?