Finance committee  What we found with low-income folks is they're not benefiting from the tax cuts or from the so-called Alberta advantage, as people at the high incomes are. We don't honestly feel that the tax cuts by the federal government or the provincial government have benefited low-income folks.

Finance committee  I haven't seen a lot of increase in that. I also sit on the Calgary Children's Initiative Council of Champions, and they've been very involved in children's initiatives for the last half-dozen years. We've been lobbying for a national child care program for decades now, and when Minister Dryden came out with a proposal, I guess it was a couple of years ago, it was a first step.

Finance committee  Actually, as an example, when I researched this, not just in Canada but around the world, we've very proud of the example we have in Quebec, and many times we use that as an example here in Alberta.

Finance committee  For the record, my employer has two employees, so, no, they would not have done that.

Finance committee  Yes, I'll conclude here now. When we look at low-income Calgarians, they spend each and every cent right here in the city. What we really and truly would like to do, to sum up, is increase spending in our health care, our education, our environment, poverty reduction, and our social infrastructure to take care of things so that there is tax fairness, and to add to literacy, and to look at all the individuals in our society.

Finance committee  Thank you.

Finance committee  Thank you. First I'd like to thank the committee for the opportunity to put forward our presentation this morning and welcome you to Calgary. The Calgary and District Labour Council has approximately 30,000 members, and the Public Service Alliance of Canada has about 5,000 members in the Calgary district.