Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for this highly pertinent and interesting question.
I have been an MP since 1993, and we were discussing that just last evening at a committee we had struck precisely for the purpose of looking further into poverty in Canada, the poverty I see every time I am in my riding, every time people ask to meet with me. The needs that they list have changed over time, and it is most unpleasant to see this. Basically, the government has surpluses. What the President of Treasury Board tabled yesterday, or the day before, represents a $6 billion increase in expenditures.
Going through it, one notes such items as a $1 billion addition to the National Defence budget. Why was that not allocated to poor children? With 1.5 million Quebec and Canadian children going to school hungry, it is no wonder that the illiteracy and dropout rates are on the rise. How can children learn anything on an empty stomach?