It’s an honour to rise to this issue, and do you know why? Because the history of affordable housing in this country is the history of the New Democratic Party. Let me tell you why. In 1944, when people who fought for our freedom returned from a war overseas and veterans and their families were being gouged, who stood up for them? New Democrats, social democrats across this country. We linked arms with them, and we stood up for them, while the Liberals and the Conservatives did nothing as price gouging of veterans and their families happened in droves.

And then I’m proud to say that once that standard was set and when the business lobby, the big corporate lobby, counteracted and took away rent control when it was given in 1944—took it away in 1949—the NDP didn’t give up. Did the NDP give up?

So I’m not going to take any lectures from these members opposite, certainly not when the great Evelyn Gigantes is my neighbour back home. Evelyn Gigantes stood in this place, was the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, and under her leadership—not this government’s leadership—non-market housing increased in Ontario by 60%.

Co-op housing, community housing—that’s the NDP record on housing. And do you know why? Because when you go to any one of our fundraisers, you’re not going to find the DeGasperis family. You’re not going to find the Cortellucci family. You’re not going to find the real estate investment trusts like Smart Living, which—in my community back home, Smart Living is throwing 121 tenants out of their homes, in the south end of our city, to create gentrified units of $3,000 to $3,500 a pop. And these are some of the last remaining affordable housing units in this area. Who fought for them to remain? Who stood by the tenants? The New Democratic Party stood by the tenants. ACORN stood by the tenants while these vultures from Smart Living swoop in, buy up housing stock that they know is dilapidated, refuse to fix it, and throw people out on the street.

The member for University–Rosedale mentioned that the average rent in this city of Toronto is 3K; it’s 2K in Ottawa—that’s up 11.5%.

Everything in our lives is becoming more expensive under a Conservative government—groceries, rent, gas. The way to get out of this mess, on this day when we are fighting for affordable housing, which is an NDP tradition, is to get rid of the Conservatives who serve the rich and powerful. You should have a government that works for you.