Thank you. A very good afternoon to you, Mr. Chair.
Madam Minister, I have a quick comment.
I feel that, in Quebec, the response was clear in terms of national standards for long-term care that you keep mentioning. We have no national standards in long-term care. It is up to the provinces to organize health care services. What we want, however, is for the Canadian health transfer to match the needs including, let us not forget. the aging population. The demographics are clear.
My question is about the guaranteed income supplement, or GIS. You are certainly aware that GIS beneficiaries are among the most impoverished in our society, with an annual income of scarcely $18,000. They have no real life, they just survive.
Last May, the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities heard from Canada's Association for Retired People. Their suggestion was to not count emergency benefits in the income of seniors when calculating the guaranteed income supplement for next year.
Is that a possibility you could foresee?