Thank you.
I agree with you. I think it's very unfortunate that there are cuts to something like literacy at a time when there is a $13 billion surplus.
We recognize there is a financial benefit from literacy skills; there is an economic benefit from literacy skills. But there is certainly an intrinsic value to literacy skills. They help people communicate; they help people have a high quality of life; they help people read books to their children, to send emails to their friends, to read letters. That is of huge value.
To have that cut in a time when we can pay off $13 billion and make investments in other areas is certainly very disappointing.
While I don't expect my opinion on the value of literacy should change an entire government's budget, I do think that as Canadians we really value our desire to help people who are in less fortunate situations, and we would certainly like to see that.