Thank you. I'm representing the ONE campaign.
Honourable members, about 130 million girls are out of school. If they were a country, they would be the 10th largest—let that sink in for a moment—behind Russia and just ahead of Mexico.
Canada contributes about 2¢ per Canadian per day to global education. According to the Education Commission, it is indispensable to double our contributions to education if we want to close the 130-million gap, and provide every girl with the opportunity to go to school.
This means that with just 2¢ more, Canada can lead the way. Today, we ask Canada to contribute to the financing of the Global Partnership for Education in 2018 as part of the solution, so it can help millions of girls in the poorest countries get the education they deserve.
I want to close by asking honourable members and the audience, where would we be without our education?
Thank you.