Mr. Speaker, in a report released this past summer, the United Nations singled out Canada as one of the developed countries in which the gap between rich and poor is widening at a rate that is cause for alarm.
Social development is often impacted negatively by international competition, because the decisions and actions required to enhance social policies are too often perceived as needlessly costly.
In addition, the hypothesis that increasing world wealth means decreasing poverty and inequality is not correct, according to the analysts, and they call upon the states to focus more on social development.
On this, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, the Bloc Québécois urges the federal government to heed the UN report, to have its heart in the right place and restore the transfer payments to Quebec and the provinces to enable them to continue their fight to eradicate poverty.