Mr. Speaker, as the late Fernand Dumont used to say “Collective problems do not vanish because we have talked too much about them: they persist because we did not solve them”.
We can never say often enough that the persisting gap between the health of our economy and the increase in poverty is a real shame for our society. That gap directly impacts not only on the physical and psychological health of individuals, but also on the chances of success, in their adult life, of children living in poverty.
Even though the Prime Minister feels that Canada is among the best positioned countries in the world to make other rich nations aware of the need of less fortunate people, the fact is that since he took office in 1993 we have had seven years of social deficit.
This is why the Bloc Quebecois solemnly pledges to make the necessary representations to the federal government, asking that it alleviate the harm it has caused to hundreds of thousands of women, men and children, by making the fight against poverty a priority.