Mr. Speaker, again, congratulations to all hon. members on being elected. I will start by thanking the voters of my riding of Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles.
In 1989, 23 years ago, the House of Commons unanimously passed a resolution to eliminate child poverty in Canada by the year 2000. Canada currently ranks in the unenviable position of 25th out of the 33 OECD countries in terms of the percentage of gross domestic product devoted to social programs. We cannot turn a blind eye: poverty exists in Canada.
The voters in my riding and the rest of Canada expect the government to take concrete action to eliminate poverty in Canada.