Thank you.
Again, thank you for the good work that you're doing. I want to say right at the outset today that I'm hopeful, probably more hopeful than I've been in a long time, that we might actually get to a place where we get something done. We're not arguing any more about whether there is or there isn't; I think we all agree there is. We've begun to measure it, we've identified some of the groups that are most at risk, and we also, I think, agree that the federal government has a role to play.
You've tabled a report. We're going to table a report soon based on the work we're doing, offering suggestions as to things that can be done.
The one suggestion that I have certainly heard from you, Mr. Segal—and I believe Mr. Eggleton supports it as well, because it comes out in some part in your report—is the recommendation that there be a guaranteed annual income. Just as we found ways for children with the child tax benefit and for seniors with the GIS, for working-age adults...some kind of a guaranteed income.
I guess the first question is this. Can we afford to do that? That, I would suspect, is the first question any government would ask.