Thank you, Mr. Chair.
You didn't answer the question asked by my colleague Mr. Robillard about the efforts under way to develop a national poverty reduction strategy.
I contributed to those efforts by introducing Bill C-245, which seeks to establish such a strategy. This morning, you went over a range of programs aimed at reducing poverty. In order to truly know how those programs are performing, we need to have clear targets, indicators and mechanisms in place. That's what I'm trying to achieve with my bill. It proposes that an independent commissioner report to the parliamentary budget officer and Auditor General on all of those programs and indicate whether they are truly reducing poverty. It's important not to go this way or that way without delivering concrete results.
The deputy minister told this committee that her department had done an analysis of my bill and found that it was perfectly in line with the government's intentions.
Can you tell us whether any members of your team took part in that analysis? What elements led to the department's determination that the bill was perfectly acceptable?