Thank you very much.
I really do appreciate the focus on poverty here today because it needs to be talked about and talked about more. You're absolutely right. As politicians and as government we don't respond to things unless the public out there are making a hue and cry about it, and then we act. It's unfortunate that we don't take that leadership more often. I liken it to walking around with a gangrene foot and not doing anything about it. Eventually it'll kill you. It seems that oftentimes what government is more interested in is giving society a facelift and never mind the gangrene foot.
We heard a lot this morning about a huge resource of people out there--people struggling with mental health issues, people with disabilities, the poor--who are underutilized, underappreciated, and undervalued. Certainly in that, income security is huge. We talked a bit about that.
Housing is huge. Again I heard last night about affordable housing units being torn down in this community and expensive condos going up in their place. I heard people tell me that we have shelters in the downtown, but more and more people are being pushed out to the burbs, where transportation becomes a problem, and those kinds of things.
I heard a bit about this last night too. Education is a problem--affordable education. Poor families are sending their kids to college or university, and having the funds to pay the tuition is a huge problem.
Again, Ireland is a country that seems to be leading the European Union in economic growth. When it decided to change its fortunes in the seventies, the first thing it did was invest in education, and it made sure that absolutely everybody and anybody who lived in Ireland and called themselves an Irish citizen was given the opportunity to be educated to their maximum potential. That has paid off in spades. Not only do they provide free tuition for post-secondary and college, but they also provide grants to people who have to leave home to cover the cost of living. What a concept.
Do you have any recommendations for us to consider in terms of taking advantage of the talent that's out there, the education that's needed in the economy we live in, which is always changing? Should the federal government be working with the provinces to make sure that post-secondary education, for example, is free?