Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, witnesses.
I'm going to follow up on the first of Mr. Adler's questions, not the second. My focus is on federalism.
By way of overview, I'm looking at what practical measures a federal government can take to implement measures to address income inequality. There are three witnesses I'd like to have respond.
First, Mr. Broadbent spoke of welfare reform, acknowledging that it was primarily provincial. He wrote this morning in the National Post about the welfare wall and what we do about it—again, provincial issues.
Professor Fortin acknowledged that education, the minimum wage, and collective bargaining are mostly provincial.
Ms. Yalnizyan recommended that we support provincial poverty reduction measures. Again, all are matters provincial.
We have this federal social transfer, and it tends to be essentially a “no strings attached” type of process more and more, yet we have the federal spending power, which is robust.
I'd like to ask the three of you—Mr. Broadbent, Professor Fortin, Ms. Yalnizyan—what we as federal politicians can recommend to specifically address the issues I've referred to in your various presentations, starting with Mr. Broadbent, please.