I think it's important that we send a strong message to the government from this committee, given the work we're doing, that we need to be moving aggressively to reduce poverty. So to set some targets and some timelines is not a problem, particularly given that there is no plan in place right now. What you have are a number of provinces out there with strategies rolling out, who are saying to us that the reason they're setting some of these targets and timelines fairly low—and they are low, in my view—is that they don't have the resources to go higher. If the federal government were to come on board and provide the leadership that is necessary and provide the resources the federal government used to provide to provinces back when we had the Canada assistance plan, in fact we'd be able to achieve a whole lot more.
I think that for us to indicate in a motion today to the House that, after 20 years of not having achieved the goal that was set out in 1989, we want to reduce poverty by 50% by 2020 is modest, actually. I think we should be asking the government to lift everybody out of poverty as quickly as we can and to put in place a strategy, in partnership with the provinces, territories, and municipalities, to do that in fact.
But this is certainly a good start in that direction.