I understand Mr. Lessard's comments with respect to recommending that the House implement our report, although that report is not yet done, nor is it written, so it's kind of premature to actually make that recommendation. It might be more appropriate to do so at the time, because right now we're recommending something that the House has not yet seen, nor will the House see it for a little while yet--but definitely before Christmas.
To go back to the motion, to my mind, I think there are two things that we're trying to capture here in regard to what both Mr. Martin and Mr. Savage have said. We want to acknowledge that it's been 20 years, and the progress, while we've made some, has not been good enough to eliminate child poverty. We haven't eliminated it, and I think maybe we need to just say it in those exact words, but also, to encourage the government, we need to note that government programs do work.
We say that with respect to the seniors, but it doesn't hurt to say that with respect to the comments made by Mr. Savage with respect to the child benefit. For the programs that do work, we want to make sure they're not weakened or undermined. We want to make sure they're strengthened in some way, in fact, to do the job they need to do. Then there are other programs like housing and what have you. If they have prevented a 30% increase in child poverty, that is not what we're looking to eliminate. It's at least a move forward.
So I would support the amendments or the suggestions by Mr. Savage, only because for me it's important to ensure when we're talking about government programs that we keep reinforcing the fact that government programs do work. In this case, they were't perfect because they needed a lot of other stuff for them. They needed child care and housing. They needed a proper plan for an integrated strategy to eliminate poverty in the country as a whole, which of course would also affect children. That didn't happen.
The recommendation does mention an integrated plan. I don't have a problem with the timelines given. I just think it's important to note that government programs do work, and that while one of them, the child benefit, in and of itself didn't do all of the job, it needs to be increased as well. Many people know that at least they'll have $5,000. It was a good beginning. I would encourage us to leave that in, because it encourages governments to accept the fact that their programs can work if they're willing enough to put them on the table and make them work.