I think one of the enormous frustrations that, certainly, I have is that when government looks at poverty in both the immediate and the long term, there doesn't seem to be the kind of recognition that an upfront investment in poverty reduction through child care, increased support for people on low incomes, training programs, increased security through an enhanced employment insurance program—all of those things—has an immediate payback in terms of reducing costs around health, the criminal justice system, and those kinds of things. But they also have a long-term payback that's enormous. It's like investing money in your house. There's some immediate benefit in terms of insulation or whatever, but it's a payback that extends over decades and generations. Governments tend not to be as far-sighted in terms of looking at the impact of those investments over a longer period of time in terms of the way they play out in children's lives as they grow and then the lives of their children's children.
It's a real frustration that the countries that have taken that longer perspective—the Scandinavian countries, in particular, where those investments have been made over a number of years—are now seeing a payback in terms of being among the most productive economies in the world, with the lowest poverty rates, highest literacy levels, and among those with the highest standards of living on almost every indicator of quality of life. Countries that have taken that long-term perspective and invested in the security of children and families have seen enormous dividends in their quality of life. I think there is a real opportunity to say that other countries have done this and we're starting to see it at a provincial level, so let's embark on this as a national enterprise.
I think it's something we can do. It's something that I think the polling indicates most Canadians would support. They're looking for leadership from the federal level on this. That was one of the key indicators that came out of some polling done by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives: that 90% of Canadians are looking to the federal government for leadership to eradicate poverty.