Thank you very much.
Yes, we absolutely must address the poverty issues that affect women more than men. We all know that, so I won't go into it. As a quick example, in Alberta a woman who had been experiencing significant mental health challenges turned to our welfare system. She was able to get $723. However, the rent is $700. So she had to continue to post her ads on backpage.com, an Internet buy-and-sell site, simply to meet her basic living needs. This is what has to stop.
I said a big priority of the money from the john school is for basic poverty relief. Whether it was food store certificates, paying for prescriptions for medicines, for children, or anything you can think of that you need every day, we have paid for it out of those funds. Also, we have created this beacon of hope—we have bursaries and endowments now established at two primary university and colleges. Our phone is ringing off the hook with women who want to access these bursaries so they can have the chance for a different life.
When we say we want to decrease the demand, we cannot just decrease the demand, which some people would argue will take away income. We must increase the resources. So it must be this threefold approach of decreasing the demand, heavy social investment, and public education at all levels.
Thank you.