Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Good afternoon, Minister, and thank you for being with us.
This is not an easy topic to discuss, and I sense that you are on the hot seat right now. I sincerely think that the 338 members of the House of Commons are acting in good faith. We all want the problems to be solved, and I think you do too. You want things to advance smoothly.
That said, you seem to be a bit optimistic. You listed a slew of figures so quickly that I had difficulty noting them, a profusion of figures, funding amounts, transfers and programs.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think I'm mistaken in saying that, of all the witnesses we've heard from since the start of this study, not one has said that things were going well. Everyone said that they were having problems related to money, organization and human resources, and that they were unable to meet the demand.
A woman came to speak to us about an organization here, in Ottawa, not some remote place. I can't remember the organization's name—my apologies to her—but she's single-handedly running her organization.
I think a lot of services have to be provided by community organizations, because they are close to the public, schools, parents, family support centres, and so on.
You began your remarks by saying that our study was timely. Why did you say that?