Right, but it points to the need for some sort of input into the budget process, especially when dollars are scarce.
Let me ask Debbie Frost, who has given a very compelling case about the depth of poverty in this country. I think by now folks around this table should see that as a national disgrace.
It must just gall you to hear how the government is making decisions, especially at a time when international studies put us at 14th out of 26 industrialized countries in terms of child poverty, and when a study has come out, just as it did this week from the Canadian Association of Social Workers, showing that poor Canadians die earlier than wealthy ones, and that poor women in Canada have only a 73% likelihood of reaching the age of 75, whereas rich Canadian women have almost an 80% chance of doing so.
What advice do you have you for us as we try to get this government to practise some sort of balance in its fiscal policies and budgeting practices?