Thank you all very much for coming today. They were great presentations.
We're faced with a huge task. In my career I'm an operations guy. I look at a problem, and I want to tear it apart. I want to come up with some potential things that can be acted on and then roll up the sleeves and get it done. One of the challenges we are all alluding to right now is what is poverty, how do we measure poverty, and how do we go about setting goals and executing. When we do talk about the measures that we have, I look around my riding, and it's not enough. I see people, all the seniors, who are getting the max, but it's not enough because housing is too expensive.
Yet my mom, who has lived in Montreal for the last 25 years, lives in the same place, and her rent is probably still at about $600, whereas in Vancouver that rent is anywhere from $900 and up. We have subsidies, for sure, but again, the first problem is measuring, and the second problem is how we target the people who actually do need it.
You mentioned that 25% of seniors actually are at that stage. How do we find those people? How do we measure those people and target our programs toward them? The second part of this whole process is the innovation.
My question is for you, Ms. Notten. You have a wealth of experience. Can you highlight some advice on what you think, be it policy or anything of that nature, will help us in actually taking a step forward and not taking any steps backward?