Thank you very much.
Millions of Canadians aspire to a life free from poverty—the hungry, the homeless, and the disenfranchised, the working poor, the unemployed, and the socially assisted, the aboriginal, the immigrant, and the person of colour, the person with disabilities, the parent, the pensioner.
In support of these aspirations, a number of organizations from various sectors are mobilized in a multi-year, multi-partner, non-partisan campaign, the Dignity for All campaign. This campaign's vision is to make a poverty-free and more socially secure Canada a reality by 2020. The conviction behind this campaign is that Canadians must respect and defend the rights of every person to live with dignity.
Two principal goals of our campaign are, first, a comprehensive federal plan for poverty elimination; and second, a federal act to eliminate poverty, to promote social inclusion, and strengthen social security.
In closing, we wish to underscore that poverty renders an unacceptable cost to all Canadians, due to the well-known connection between poverty and health care costs, poverty and criminal justice outcomes, and poverty and diminished workplace productivity. Canadians thus have a profound self-interest in seeing poverty reduced and eventually eliminated. A poverty-free Canada will be a healthier, safer, more just, and more prosperous Canada.
Thank you.