I think what's important with the funding and investment is that strong outcomes and accountability frameworks are attached to it. Funding for a community, but at the same time having that federal perspective and expectation and guidelines about how that funding will be invested in the community is going to be key.
It needs to be even taking an approach whereby you know x percentage will go to prevention initiatives and x to addressing things like chronic homelessness, and there needs to be more long-term planning.
Investment into quality assurance is going to be so key. If you don't have someone monitoring, you may have invested a lot of money, but you will not see outcomes. Data is so important as well, and making sure we have.... When I came to Medicine Hat about six years ago, we had a saying that “data drives your dollars”. If you're not demonstrating outcomes, you will not receive funding.
Part of that boldness I talk about is ensuring that message is given when the national poverty strategy comes out. Data has to drive the dollars in the investment. If things are not working, don't fund them anymore. Don't continue to invest in things that are not showing results.