Thank you very much, Mr. Blaikie, for that question.
There is always a question that comes forward when we talk about basic income, and that is what the cost is. It's a difficult question to tackle, but it is something that was tackled first on this island during the Special Committee on Poverty. This was an all-party committee that, when I was an elected member, I had the pleasure of chairing. That committee put forward costed recommendations for a full basic income program for Prince Edward Island, and that was a starting point.
Costing basic income is very complex, and it involves interaction between provincial programs as well as federal programs. Since then we have seen economists across the country working on this question, and they've been able to show that it's very much possible with a very minimal impact on the Canadian taxpayer. There is an initial cost to a program like basic income, but we also need to talk about the social return on investment that you get.
For example, we know that poverty makes people sick. We know that it is stressful to live in poverty when you don't know if you're going to be able to meet your basic needs and you can't afford to eat healthy food. We know that this causes people to become ill, whether with physical or mental illness, and we also know it puts additional strain on our health care system.
When we are investing in reducing and eventually eliminating poverty, we are really also investing in our larger social systems and in the future of all Canadians.
Marie, do you have anything you want to add?