Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you for your presentation. You have certainly put forward some thought-provoking suggestions, and perhaps they're required.
I found it interesting that you said many of the programs we have today are patchwork programs that have been created over time, and maybe some of them are counter-productive in terms of what they're trying to achieve.
If I look at the seniors, I agree with you that we have certainly done quite well. I think we have reduced the poverty rate to about 4.8% as of 2007, which is certainly significant when you compare it worldwide. We have used the OAS and the GIS fairly significantly. That's about a $34 billion bill.
I noticed that on the EI side you made some suggestions about how you might help those who have been attached to the workforce longer, and we've put in some measures more recently for long-tenured workers. I look at the suggestions regarding the self-employed; we've done some of that. And you talk about EI training and skills upgrading. We've invested $1.5 billion, on top of $2.8 billion that is going to the provinces.
So there are significant dollars going forward. But have you done a costing of what your recommendations might entail? Forgetting the offsetting economic benefits that may come, putting that aside, have you done any costing of your suggestions, based on what already exists, compared to what you would like to see, using the existing patchwork of programs?