I want the people to know why it is important and why it is not a matter that pertains to one committee only. This has an impact on everything that we do in the House of Commons and we need to plan for the long term. Whether we vote today or in September, we will have to vote some day. I think it is important that all my colleagues understand that we cannot talk about taxation only. The issue of guaranteed annual income has an impact on taxation and deeply affects our economy.
How much should you tax someone? How much should someone receive, how much from social programs? For instance, if you give a guaranteed annual income to a student and you decide they're getting a guaranteed income, do they need the student loans anymore? Do they need to have student grants anymore? Do we eliminate that from some of the government programs? Do we eliminate those jobs and those people working on that?
There are other issues related to our economy. Our economy is moving in a far different direction related to guaranteed annual income. If you think about our economy now, our jobs are moving offshore. They're moving to other places, and not everyone has the same levels of support.
We have seen the stagnation, in a lot of cases, in the types of employment. For family income, you have to have two work incomes now, and it has become more and more difficult for people simply to get by.
I'm sorry, Guy, but I'm really passionate about this because I have people coming up and asking me about it.
People come to see me and are asking me what I am doing about this. I have to at least be able to answer that I am studying the issues, that I am not passing them on to someone else and that I will take care of them. That is why it is important and I think we can move on to the vote.