Canada is at its economic peak right now. There's an amazing report called Growing Concerns: Canadian Attitudes Toward Income Inequality, published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. We have the lowest unemployment rate in 30 years. We have the highest corporate profits in 30 years. We are in a strong fiscal position, one of the strongest in the OECD countries. If we cannot afford to invest in reducing child and family poverty in this country now, when will we ever be able to?
The cost of not doing it, the cost of children growing up in poverty--there are numerous studies that show the impact on health, in terms of increased obesity, increased diabetes, increased asthma, numerous studies. They're at risk for lower performance in school, and then as adults, at higher risk for more periods of unemployment and low pay. So if you're talking about the longer-term cost in terms of health, education, criminal justice, social services, it's there.
In Campaign 2000, we can't see what we're waiting for. Obviously, the research is there both in terms of the cost of not doing anything, in terms of what needs to be done and what we can afford to do. Research has costed out what needs to be done. We would say, let's do it. If it took us since 1989 to get this far, what are we waiting for now?