Thank you.
I'll try and ask three easy questions. The first is directed to Ms. Sierra van der Meer.
I was fascinated by your presentation on the economic virtues of literacy and the inherent, intrinsic values of literacy in an evolved society. It's obvious that people must have the ability to communicate, read and write.
I find it somewhat disheartening that the last time I heard people speak of serious funding problems associated with literacy programs, I was in Haiti. To my way of thinking, Canada is a wealthy nation, wealthy enough to give tax rebates to oil companies and wealthy enough to amass annual budget surpluses of $13 billion.
Fundamentally, it rather shameful that Canada is incapable of investing what really amounts to modest sums of money in terms of its overall budget to public literacy programs. Would you not agree?