Finance committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Finance committee  Thank you for the question. First, a general word of support for apprenticeship programs. They're terrific ways to enter the labour force and build lifetime income. My broader concern would be around the terms of the programs, whether they are portable from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

Finance committee  May I come back in on this?

Finance committee  Only so much of this is within federal control, and that's a big issue on reserve. It's the same with apprenticeships. There are differing apprenticeship rules across provinces, a situation that limits labour mobility among youth. It's not easy for the federal government to change, but certainly we have levers we can use on the provinces in the search for standardization.

Finance committee  I point out that the apprenticeship rules of course are mostly set by the trades and the colleges of trades.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the question and the opportunity. It's pretty straightforward. It's very much the same menu we have prescribed for youth in any other jurisdiction, but the power to effect it, to achieve change, is slightly different. The bottom line is that on reserve—and to some extent off but mostly on—we have very poor rates of public school graduation, even disastrous rates of high school completion, and low levels of literacy and numeracy.

Finance committee  Yes, I did. You have to tune policy to the identity—the issue that you've identified. You have to be clear about the issue.

Finance committee  Yes, thank you. I'm unaware of any key distinction or data that would help me answer that. I will point out, though, that chronic unemployment among youth is a significant problem in some economies like Spain and Portugal. It's much less so in Canada, unless we shift to talking about aboriginal or first nations populations, whether on or off reserve.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and Mr. Adler. I was hoping it was going to be a tough question like the meaning of complete contracts in marriage, but this one's pretty easy. There's no question that now and then you're going to bump into that kind of conflict. But to presume that it is an eternal conflict and that it is readily accessible of some logical policy response is a different question altogether.

Finance committee  Okay, I'll close off there. There is a very short policy list, and I'm done. I hope we can talk about first nations as well.

Finance committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Thank you to the committee for inviting me back. I'll only make a few brief comments by way of an overview. It's going to be hard to top Tammy's presentation. I have included a few figures, which I think tell a clear story, and I believe members should have those figures.

Finance committee  Yes, Mr. Chairman, I can hear you. May I return the favour and bid welcome to Mr. Cullen, as well.

Finance committee  Mr. Chairman, that's a tough question. There aren't any hard and fast rules here. There aren't any numbers. Excessive inequality is socially corrosive. It makes us unhappy, it undermines institutions, it makes it difficult to govern, and it morally offends us because it has a sense of unfairness.

Finance committee  Mr. Chairman, some witnesses know a loaded question when they hear one.

Finance committee  It would be difficult to point to income distributions in Canada and say that—to use the code word—the just society was a huge success. However, Canada, since the 1970s, has eliminated poverty; extreme low-income among seniors has significantly improved; opportunities for youth are more or less across the board, with howling exceptions.