To begin with, this is a great opportunity that we have today to discuss children's health and well-being. This opportunity hasn't existed in several decades, as far as I'm aware, so the opportunity to think about a pan-Canadian child and youth health strategy is timely and urgent, I would argue.
In terms of a bold strategy, we need to think about how we are investing in policies and programs that support children, youth and their entire families, and how we make further investments, for example, in maternal and parental leave, children's benefits and the access to programs and services that exist.
We also need to be attentive to and respect the vision that children and youth have for their future. What we learned through the “Inspiring Healthy Futures” report is that they have a very clear vision and some very clear ideas and ambitious goals about what they would like to see in terms of opportunities to support their health and well-being. I think that is important. Inviting youth to this committee would be a great start, to hear from them directly on what some of those options might be.
Lastly, to be accountable, we need targets, measures and instruments that will hold the federal government, the provincial governments and organizations like mine to account, so we know that we're making meaningful and measurable progress for children and youth. Whether that's the idea of an independent accountability office or a commissioner or otherwise, that sort of leadership would be welcome at this time.