Mr. Speaker, since Ed Broadbent's motion that called for the abolition of child poverty by the year 2000 was passed unanimously by this House approximately seven years ago, child poverty has actually grown by 41 per cent. This is at a time when the families of wealthy corporate executives, who in the 1980s made 12 times as much as the poorest families, now make 24 times as much.
The Liberals have allowed the most privileged and powerful in Canadian society to turn their backs on the children who make up Canada's next generation. Many Canadian families are under severe stress, while the prosperity of the new economy is blowing into executive pay packets but not into children's lunch buckets or into their educational opportunities.
The leader of the NDP, Alexa McDonough, has called for the restoration of balance into our economy. We are calling for a cap of $200,000 or less on executive salaries that can be deducted from corporate taxes as a business expense and to direct the tax savings to programs to reduce child poverty.