Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Todd is not here now, but he is always referring to his former life and it bothers me a little bit. It makes me wonder what all those former lives of his were like.
The concern I have, Mr. Chairman, is that we have received some bad news about the kind of allocation that we are going to get in housing, as a result of the three percent federal cap, on all federal departments.
I happen to know, first hand, that two particular agencies of the federal government immediately went for exemptions on this three percent, and they were turned down the same day that they tried to get them. What concerns me is that the Minister may be very aggressive, and he may convince us that he is going to fight to the last drop of his blood to get the federal government to change its mind about the way we are treated, in the terms of allocation of money for housing.
At the same time, I would hope that in his back pocket he will have an alternative plan and not just simply depend on S.C.O.F. to come up with all the answers. Although I do agree that the committees of this House is where the action should be, in this whole budget session. I believe that since 1979, S.C.O.F. has played a lead role of informing Members on the implications of the budget. We have not just listened entirely to departments and taken all their words at face value without checking them with our own people.
That is the concern that I have is that we seem to be holding out some promise that maybe we have some strategy to get the federal government to change its mind, but I am not too optimistic that is in the cards. In fact, I am sure it is going to be impossible to do that.
I said the other day that although I have been very much in favour of balanced budgets and making sure that we kept our accounts straight, and that we did not mortgage the future for our young people, and carry debts that we can never get out from under, I still feel that on some things you are quite justified in going to the marketplace to get money to do the things that matter to you. You do not need S.C.O.F. to tell you that. If there is a problem that has to be resolved, then you have given it some priority, as long as you know that over a certain period of time, you can discharge that debt, and it is planned properly I see no problem at all in going to the market to borrow money to do the work that you need to get done.
I say that for one reason. Six years ago, there was a special committee on housing with over a 100 recommendations. It was debated, and it was clear from that document, as well as from the more recent needs survey, that we still have a very heavy demand for quality housing. I said earlier today, in my response to the Commissioner's Address, that if we are going to develop as a territory, we have to do something about infrastructure.
People do not think of a house as infrastructure, but that is the most basic infrastructure there is. Unless you can have a family with a decent roof over its head, with some space where kids can grow up in a healthy fashion, some place for kids to study if they want to, you have a place where a worker can feel comfortable. That is the most basic infrastructure that exists in the world, your home, the place that you live. You are not going to go anywhere until you say, that is where we start, infrastructure starts at home.
So, if you have to borrow money to do it, you do not have to wait for S.C.O.F., you do not have to say, well, magically I am going to convince that guy, MacKay, that I need more money, and he is going to listen to me. The sob story that used to work a long time ago, does not work any more. It is always good politics, I suppose, and it is very theatrical, and it worked at one time, to tell people that you cannot just go and sleep in Stanley Park and put a blanket over yourself and survive. Try doing that north of 60 and see where you get. Those stories about the terrible harsh conditions that we live under, just do not wash any more.
As far as I am concerned, if we really want to be a responsible government, we cannot just simply expect that we are going to get sympathetic treatment. That everybody is going to rush forward and recognize how unique, and different we are, and how our needs are so different to everyone's needs, because there are other parts of this country, where there are also people that need housing. In many rural parts of Canada there is desperate demand for housing.
My suggestion is that if we really believe that we are a responsible government, we should look at that issue, and say okay infrastructure is important. The basic form of infrastructure is a house, and we look at some way in which somebody can get, preferably ownership. A house that you actually have, that is yours, and find some way of financing it. That would be my suggestion, Mr. Chairman, and I do not think you need to wait for S.C.O.F. in order to give you wonderful ideas about how you get the money.