Thanks, Harriett.
Thank you, Mr. Chair and the committee, for giving us this opportunity to appear.
The June throne speech highlighted the government's desire to advance a caring society. What we all want is not only a caring society but a society that is healthy and as prosperous, safe, and secure as it can be, as well as a society that honours its human rights commitments.
These ends cannot be realized while millions of people live in poverty today, while millions more are highly vulnerable to becoming poor, particularly now in these troubled economic times. The good news is that by making the prevention, reduction, and elimination of poverty one of the highest public priorities—we urge within the top three priorities—multiple benefits will flow back to us all, in fact, helping to address many of the concerns of our colleagues who are also meeting with you today.
Simply put, ending poverty has the most compelling business case. We are at a moment in time that has never been better for capturing this opportunity. We are not here to ask for money but in fact to help save money, for poverty costs 5% to 6% of our gross domestic product each year.
We are here to urge the federal government to set targets and timelines for poverty reduction and elimination. We are also asking the government to act on all fiscal mechanisms that are available, federal as well as intergovernmental, to help reach these targets and then to lay out options for this committee's consideration and consultation.
Knowing the scale of the cost of poverty to Canada, we are confident that the return on investment in poverty prevention and elimination will be massive. We also know that when governments set targets and timelines and then let the players figure out the how, great things can be accomplished.
This government has the opportunity to leave a very great legacy. We and hundreds of other organizations that have endorsed Dignity for All, the campaign for a poverty-free Canada, are ready to help make that happen. We'd be pleased to answer questions when the time comes.
Thank you very much.