Thank you for being here. Thank you for what you do and for the contribution you all make.
I want to add my congratulations to you, Brett, on your achievement. Of course, you couldn't do it without support from people such as Mr. O'Reilly and Mr. Reid.
I've been very interested in what a number of witnesses have said respecting the need for education. In fact, next week I'm meeting with two groups in my riding in London who are very involved in this. These are charitable organizations. Well, one is St. Paul's Anglican Church; they do remarkable charitable work in all of our community. The other is the Aeolian Hall.
The Aeolian Hall is this incredible old music hall. I'm sure you know it. You know Clark and the incredible people who have made the hall come alive by supporting Canadian artists and upcoming artists. They are doing an educational program for kids in the poorest neighbourhoods in my community, and I can tell you, there are some incredibly poor neighbourhoods.
Like St. Paul's, they are bringing in these kids after school. They're providing instruments, and they're finding that not only are they giving these kids something positive after school—another outlet for whatever else is going on in their lives—but they are able to do some real community building with these kids. It's not just the musical skill, although that's absolutely key, but these kids go on to have a lifelong appreciation for music, the kind of appreciation that's going to feed that next generation of the incredible talent we have here. It also helps them to communicate respectfully and positively. It just gives them a whole new outlet.
While I'm very grateful that there is this willingness to go and get the private funding, it seems to me that what you're saying about a role for the federal government in this is very real.
, I know there needs to be broad consultation, perhaps with groups such as Brio Music and St. Paul's, but what should we be doing in terms of the federal government? I don't want them to get off with saying that this is the purview of the province. I want them to understand how important it is to be a part of those communities. We're not separated from our communities in the way we seem to pretend we are, up here in Ottawa. We have to be very much a part of this.
I want you to comment on this and tell me your experience and what you think.