Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Everybody knows that I'm not a regular member of this committee. I thought it was kind of interesting that what I'm hearing from everybody is that they want to work together and they want to see the minister appear and they want to all work together for the benefit of Canadians and everybody's on the same page on that, yet it's interesting that there doesn't seem to be the will to do that. I just hope that the committee will actually begin to talk about functioning better as a committee. This is the place to start, from what I can see.
Of course, as I said, as an outsider, I'm new to this committee. It seems like this is a pretty simple motion. The amendments, I think, are reasonable. I think a good way to start the new fall session would be with some good progress on that motion. I think it's very reasonable for the minister to appear before this committee as well.
I want to also mention that people are struggling in my city of Saskatoon, as has been mentioned before. Many people with modest incomes live in my riding. I was speaking with one particular woman in the summer, a single mom who can't buy meat for her family, so she's feeding her children cereal. That's not an isolated story; I've heard that kind of thing many times. Our food bank usage in Saskatoon is up 35%. According to the CEO, 18% of the users are working people and 43% of the users are children, so this is a big issue that's affecting all of us, regardless of party, regardless of where you are in the country. I would really put my pitch in to have the minister appear to talk about some of these things and see what the plans of the government are to solve these problems, to fix things for the benefit of Canadians.
Thanks, Mr. Chair.