Mr. Speaker, in 1989 the House of Commons unanimously supported Ed Broadbent's motion to eradicate child poverty by the year 2000.
Eighteen years later, far from eradicating poverty, we have not even made progress. In Hamilton, one in four children is living in poverty. That is enough to fill Copps Coliseum one and a half times over.
Yesterday's Campaign 2000 report indicates that the poverty rate is essentially unchanged. UNICEF Canada concluded last week that Canada is failing to meet its obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
We had a budget surplus of over $14 billion. When is the government going to--