The first comment I would make, and unfortunately I don't have the data--and I'm going back to Ms. Brown's point--is that we should be researching how much of the $200 billion we're spending is on redemptive measures. How much are we spending on our prison system? How much are we spending on broken people who need fixing, in terms of all sorts of issues, social dysfunction, health care as opposed to health prevention? If we're going to break that particular cycle, it seems to me that we have to invest in prevention.
That OECD study I referred to is there to be looked at. There's also a study by Cleveland and Krashinsky, two Canadian economists, that was done about 10 to 15 years ago, in which they've indicated that over a generation we would be talking about billions of dollars of savings. Certainly our level of education is good in comparison with education internationally, but it could be even better.
Our debt-to-GDP ratio has come down and it continues to come down. We've even been complimented by the OECD in terms of the extent to which that ratio has come down. When we're talking about a $13 billion surplus and the amount of good that could be done by investing at least a part of that surplus in some of these programs and services, and not even giving an opportunity to the various organizations that are in fact appearing before this committee to at least discuss that particular issue by having a pre-emptive statement made by the finance minister saying this is the way it's going, it's certainly not the route to follow.