Thank you.
International human rights law says that state governments have to realize economic and social rights progressively, that is, over time. They can't sit back and put their feet up on the table. They have to realize that it takes progressive steps, and they have to use their maximum available resources.
In a country as wealthy as Canada, we may cry poor at times. In light of our historic wealth, we may cry poor now, for example, compared to other countries. We have the 10th largest GDP in the world so we're doing pretty well.
In light of that wealth, we have to use our maximum available resources. That's been defined as the money that is available. It has also been defined as the money that could be available and isn't available. What tax rates are being used? Who's being taxed and at what rate? Are corporations being taxed?
The tax base itself becomes open for exploration. The United Nations doesn't micromanage states. They say only that you need to be looking at all of your potential sources of funding. That's what maximum available resources means.
The question that governments should be asking themselves is whether we are meeting that criterion. There may be a defence for Canada to say, ”You know what? We are actually spending a fair bit on social expenditures, but we're not getting the bang for our buck, and maybe we should be doing this differently somehow.” That's a legitimate position for the government to take. They would have to defend that position, but it's a possible position.
People always worry that social and economic rights require a huge expenditure. They really don't. They ask for a reasonable expenditure to the maximum of available resources in light of all of the demands on a country. It's not a matter of not spending anything on security or defence and putting it all in the social and economic realm. That's not what international human rights say. They say that it has to be reasonable.
Obviously, a state has many competing demands. We have 4.9 million people living in poverty or approximately 235,000 people who are homeless in a year. For a country as wealthy as Canada, those are very high rates.
I travel the world. Those are high rates in light of our wealth and in light of our fairly small population.