Thank you very much.
Mr. Paterson, I'm a fellow British Columbian. Welcome to Ottawa. I appreciate the testimony you've given.
I was looking through the report by BC Civil Liberties called “Justice Denied”. In that report and in some of the evidence we've heard through this committee, it has been noted that reports from Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States “estimated that each dollar spent on legal aid funding can result in savings to the government of anywhere from $1.60 up to $30.” Your testimony reflected that information about return on investment.
My question goes along a similar vein. In the major transfers we have to the provinces, there are equalization payments, the Canada health transfer, and the Canada social transfer. When we are looking to make recommendations to the government about earmarking specific funds, are you envisioning some kind of legislative framework for this type of funding to make it similar to the Canada health transfer, which has conditions that it meets? Can you just give us your idea of how that would look?