Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I will ask my questions in French.
From what most of you are saying, it would seem that income inequality is an important issue but that it could be resolved by making a few adjustments, through some fine tuning.
I would like to focus my questions on the way in which these incomes are divided up. There's a lot of talk about market income, but that is made up of many things. For example, it could be divided into two major categories: wages and capital income.
I think you would agree that over the last 20 or 30 years in Canada, there has been substantial growth in terms of GDP. However, the indicators such as real incomes, whether they be hourly, weekly or annual, have remained relatively stagnant.
If we talk about capital gains, whether they be dividends or other capital income, you would also agree that, in general, those who are among the 40% with the lowest incomes do not really have access to these incomes. They rely more on government transfers, or wages.
Do you not think that the relative stagnation of wage incomes compared to capital incomes is a significant factor in growing inequality?
My question is for Mr. Poschmann first, followed by Mr. Alexander.