Thank you very much.
I also want to say how pleased I am to have Judy join me here this morning. Judy is a great champion for a comprehensive national anti-poverty strategy and has been very supportive of me in caucus as I've moved it through that vehicle. She understands the relationship between health care and poverty and in a very meaningful way.
We're almost at the end of a long process here. We've crossed the country and heard from various people who work with poverty, who are living in poverty, who advocate on behalf of people living poverty, and I have to say I've been pleased with the sincere participation of everybody around the table--Conservatives, Liberals, and Bloc members. We're all trying to find a way to do something meaningful here, and finding that formula is the big challenge.
So far, three things have presented themselves as needing to be addressed. One is income security. Another—and this comes up everywhere we go—is housing: affordable, safe, accessible housing. The third thing is a bit more nebulous, but it's one that Brendan spoke about this morning: the issue of social inclusion and how you define that and how you get to that. Certainly they're all interrelated as well.
I know Manitoba has just recently come forward with a plan, and whatever we do in terms of a federal role in a national anti-poverty strategy has to be integrated. Maybe I could get some quick response on how you see those two plans integrated, the Manitoba plan and a federal plan.
From speaking with some provincial jurisdictions where they have strategies in place, I know one of the comments is that without the federal government we can't accomplish all that we have the potential to accomplish. So maybe I could get some initial comment on the Manitoba plan and how it might connect.