Thank you very much. I will start with Mr. Saul.
For what it's worth, to me it is unconscionable that in a nation as wealthy as Canada we still have questions about our neighbours being able to afford food.
You have quite articulately pointed out that food won't solve hunger, but that income will. You cited the Canada child benefit as one example of a visible and meaningful reduction in food insecurity when we simply got money to people who didn't have it before.
For what it's worth, to pick up where Mr. Falk left off, I'm hearing from food banks in my community that when CERB landed on people's kitchen tables, they didn't go to food banks as often as they did before the pandemic. This indicates the magnitude of the problem to me.
You made a couple of specific suggestions, but I'm thinking more broadly. Can you comment on the importance of finding people who don't have money and who might be going through the demonizing process of applying for social assistance where their life choices are judged.... When people are given money, in your experience, do they spend it on things like food and housing and basic needs, or do they fall into the tired old trope of people who spend it on vices, whether it's drugs or alcohol?
The answer is clear as day in my community: People spend money on what they need.