Good morning, everyone.
Honourable members, members of the audience, 130 million girls are out of school. If they were a country, they would be the tenth largest. Let that sink in.
Canada contributes about two cents 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 two more cents—two cents—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 that it can help millions of girls in the poorest countries get the education they deserve.
I want to close by asking this to the honourable members and the audience: where would you be without your education?
Thank you.