Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to note that there has been a significant drop in the number of welfare recipients in Quebec over the past year.
The solid growth in the economy has encouraged job creation and brought about a 7% reduction in the numbers of people on social assistance province-wide.
The measures put in place by the government to battle poverty and exclusion have resulted in close to 42,000 people being able to get off the welfare rolls. In all, there are 137,661 fewer than in 1996.
I am particularly proud to learn that Laval is one of the places where the drop has been the most significant. The number of welfare recipients in Laval has gone down 8.4%, and thus Laval continues to be the dynamic city in full economic expansion that it has always been.