Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't think we have seriously realized the implication this harmonization will have on different segments of our population, especially single mothers. We have a lot of single mothers who, for reasons of their own, may have had break-ups with their relationships and have had children and have gone on their own. They've made a choice with regard to bettering themselves, getting off income support, going to school, getting a trade or being an accountant or working within an office administration position. They are on their own. They are raising their five children.

Mr. Speaker, I had a call Friday from a single mother who has five children. She's on her own. Presently, she pays $678 for public housing. She has a full-time job. Yet, because of the harmonization program, she met with the Housing Corporation and was told as of April 1st, her rent will go from $678 to $1,269, almost doubling what she's paying right now. Mr. Speaker, it's because she is receiving maintenance payments from her ex-spouse.

At the same time, it costs the individual to shop for her five children, she spends almost $800 every two weeks just to feed herself and her children. I don't think the intent of this program was to seriously affect those types of people. You can hear from the Minister, you can hear them saying there are no major impacts. That is a major impact. I, for one, have a real problem, Mr. Speaker, when we see the direct effect where single mothers find themselves on their own making a productive choice to go to school, get a trade, get themselves a full-time job but now are told you will now have to pay more for rent because of maintenance payments.

We talk about really understanding what this harmonization would do to individual people in our different sectors, our seniors, students, single mothers, single fathers. I don't think we've really thought this through. I have a real problem when I get calls from my constituents, especially single mothers, telling them their rent will double as of April 1st.

We talked about doing justice of the people of the North, make positive choices, get off income support, go to school, get a trade, get into the workforce and when they do, what do we do? We hit them in the head with a hammer. We have to start realizing that this harmonization is a lot more than just slapping two departments together. It might be easy for the Minister of Health and Social Services and the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation to sit back and say it's going to do great. Sixty or 70 percent of the people won't be affected. The 60 or 70 percent of the people you are talking about are on income support. What about the people who have gotten themselves off of income support, made that positive choice and now they are saying I have made it and I am going to be able to raise my children knowing the income I have. Now they are being told sorry, your rent has just doubled as of April 1st.

I think, as a government, we aren't being fair. I think the implication of this decision is going to go a lot further than single mothers and our seniors and our students. This is a political gamble and a government that's on its last legs before an election is committing political suicide. As a government, on that side of the House, who stood up and voted down the bill a couple of days ago, I hope they take the moral choice here and let the people decide on this side of the House which way we should go. We've given you some direction and maybe you should follow it for once instead of asking questions.

So I would like to ask my colleagues on this side of the House who support this type of inequity with regard to harmonization on our single parents who right now aren't on income support. They are in public housing paying their way. They have full employment. They are taking care of their children. What is this going to do? Put them back into the cycle of saying I am better off going on income support. Why should she struggle to feed five children knowing this will have a direct implication on the cost of living to herself, her children and the community that she's in? I don't think we have calculated what it costs to maintain a home with five children or what it costs to maintain a home with ten children.

So I would like to ask my colleagues to support me on this one, knowing that this is injustice at its best. So at the appropriate time, Mr. Speaker, I will ask for a recorded vote to ensure that we do see where people stand on this one. Thank you.