For those of you who aren't familiar with us, the Canadian Council on Social Development has been around for almost 90 years. It's one of the organizations that has really come up with unconventional ideas at some of the most challenging times in Canada. For example, CCSD was the organization that came up with the concepts of EI, disability pensions, and old age pensions, and worked with the government on those key programs that are now literally part of the fundamental fabric of Canada.
We're here today to flag for you that Canada has a ballooning social deficit. This is not solely linked to this economic downturn; it's actually compounded by it. The protection that has historically been in place for Canada's most vulnerable citizens has silted away significantly over the past several decades, and the buffer that used to be present for those Canadians is no longer there at a time in Canada when we need it most.
We're here today to put forward some unconventional ideas about protecting the most vulnerable. Consider the buffer that's required for those who have recently lost employment, but also think about the future workers of Canada and what the economy should look like as we move forward. The test and challenge for all of us is not how we get through this recession, but what we learn from it and change as we go forward.
If we look back 10 or 25 years from now and see that we haven't made fundamental changes to some of our economic structures, policies, processes, and silos, we won't have learned a thing from this and will live through another cycle in a couple of decades.
I'm going to ask our head of research, Katherine Scott, to walk you through a couple of the recommendations we have for you today.