Senator Martin: The CIBC estimates that the Trudeau government is not counting about 250,000 international students pursuing their education in Canada. Last month, the new Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, Sean Fraser, told the media that a cap on international students is “one of the options we ought to consider.”

Leader, the housing crisis is not the fault of international students. They have simply followed the rules put in place by the Trudeau government — yet there are reports of international students who are homeless, living under bridges or in cars. Everyone in Canada deserves safe and affordable shelter. Instead of always looking for someone else to blame, when will the Trudeau government accept responsibility for the housing crisis it has created?

Hon. Yonah Martin (Deputy Leader of the Opposition): Government leader, according to The Globe and Mail, members of the Trudeau government’s cabinet attending a retreat in Charlottetown last month were told that roughly one million more non-permanent residents live in Canada than the government’s official estimate suggests. This briefing to ministers — by an economist from the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, or CIBC — included a warning that by undercounting the number of people in Canada, the Trudeau government is also underestimating the number of new houses required to meet our country’s needs.

Leader, this occurred under the watch of the previous minister responsible for immigration, who is now the new minister responsible for housing. How is it possible to lose count of one million people in our country?