Mr. Speaker, today I would like to talk about the value and the significance and the importance of having a home. Wherever one lives in the North, in Canada or around the world, a home is more than just a shelter or a place to get away from the elements. It has to be something that is comfortable, that is secure, that offers shelter, especially here in the North, Mr. Speaker, where so much of our year is spent in the cold and the dark. A home must be the place where we want to go to at the end of the day. It must be something that we can share with our families and have a sense of hope and love in.
This is one of the things that is becoming more and more difficult, as I have continued to press, Mr. Speaker, especially for low or middle-income people in communities like Yellowknife or Inuvik where the economies are doing so well. These people are having a harder and harder time finding a home, and I mean a real home in the sense that we all need to be able to live and grow and share with our families. It is rewarding in this job, Mr. Speaker, to get the encouragement and the endorsement of constituents and others to find that at least on this issue I am on the right track in trying to make a difference for them in their lives. Even when I do not get the results or do not see the movement that I would like to on issues like affordable housing, it is this kind of encouragement that keeps me going.
The whole issue of housing is something that is dominant in our society and in our economy. One constituent told me yesterday, Mr. Speaker, that her rent is now $1,225 for a one-bedroom apartment. If we used the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation guidelines of 25 percent of income for housing, you would need an annual income of about $58,000 a year, or the equivalent of just about $28 an hour. Mr. Speaker, during this session we have been dealing with the new minimum wage and I would just ask Members to reflect on what that wage is, compared with the cost that this person is going through to try to keep a house.
Mr. Speaker, I am running the clock down. I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.