Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Welcome to all the witnesses today.
I only have five minutes to ask all of you questions, so I'll do my best within the time allotted.
I'd like to begin with you, Professor Hulchanski. I was interested in your comments about Canada ranking near the bottom of the 15 similarly wealthy western democracies, because we hear a lot from the current government about how we are the best of the G-7. What I take from your comments is that we may be the best, but many of the people within our society are actually not doing very well at all.
I know you've done a lot of work on identifying the changes in income and what that means for the racialization of poverty, the suburbanization of poverty.
Is reducing inequality essential to a sustained, strong overall economy?