Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
First of all, my thanks to the witnesses for being here today. What they are sharing with us is really important and will be very useful for our study, in my opinion.
In the constituency I represent, Ottawa—Vanier, social inclusion and housing conditions are major topics.
Like a number of others, I am certain that a safe and dignified retirement begins with the opportunity to remain in one's home for as long as possible. That is one of my basic principles for this study.
In the constituency of Ottawa—Vanier, about one resident in six has reached retirement age, a statistic that is higher than the average. In addition, 40% of households have less than $50,000 in pre-tax income. This is really a feature of my constituency that I have to understand better. Compared to the provincial average in Ontario, it is 10% higher. So it is a concern.
In my opinion, data are always very important, not to say essential, if you want to really understand a situation. I very much liked the presentation by the Statistics Canada people today. So my questions are going to go to them, but if the other witnesses want to reply, they can also do so.
Is it fair to say that household income is a good indicator of the standard of living for seniors? Are there other data that you could use, or that you have looked into, in order to paint a better picture of the situation for seniors?