Mr. Speaker, aboriginal children are a wonderful reason to invest. The $8.4 billion will not be wasted. It is an investment in the personal futures of our fellow citizens.
The premise of the hon. member for Sturgeon River—Parkland is that this idea is a wasted investment, that indigenous children are a wasted investment, that lifting 300,000 children out of poverty is a waste.
I have spoken at many churches in Winnipeg, and they have the ideals of compassion. They have the ideals that collectively we have the responsibility to our fellow citizens and that indigenous people are not just pet causes. They are an integral part of Canada. They are Canadians who deserve not to be ignored but to be engaged.
Should we waste another generation of indigenous Canadians, or should we engage in the future of all Canadians together?