Thank you, Madam Chair.
I must tell our witnesses here today that on behalf of Mr. Mulcair, I apologize for his partisan outburst. I can tell you from my past meetings--we've had 29 in total--that Monsieur Lessard, Madame Beaudin, Ms. Minna, Mr. Savage, who isn't here today, Madame Folco, Mr. Komarnicki, and a few of my other colleagues have refrained from the partisan comments because we know that partisan comments don't address the issues. I can also say that a few of Mr. Mulcair's colleagues who have filled in when Mr. Martin is unavailable have refrained from them as well.
I find it regrettable that this has been brought in here today, because we really do have our hearts in the right place to listen to what you have to say in order to put a good report forward for the government.
With that being said, I would like to say, Janine, that I really appreciate your comment today about the financial literacy that your group provides. I feel that is a gap in our educational system. Right from high school on into university and college, we teach our young students many things, and financial literacy is not one of them. So I appreciate the fact that your group does do that.
One theme that we have heard from various witnesses is the fact of the transfers to provinces and the regrettable fact that when those dollars are transferred to the provinces, those dollars are perhaps not invested in the areas of greatest need. You've heard that in both Nova Scotia and in New Brunswick. I just wanted to ask the panel today on their thoughts about transfers, because we know they have been increased. But if those dollars are invested in specific areas, such as affordable housing and income supports and so forth....
Madame Gibeau, I think you made a comment about that, so maybe you'd like to respond to that.