Mr. Speaker, as I said, I have no hesitation in welcoming a push by the party opposite. Having 56,000 people in poverty is 56,000 people too many. The reality is that it is very hard to retroactively fix programs. One has to proactively project them into the future and start fixing problems systemically. Otherwise, they reoccur.
One of the challenges we have with the two methods we are using to alleviate poverty, the Canada child benefit and the GIS, is that they are tied to the income tax system. They need to be because of the way in which they are calculated. However, we also have put in place other programs, such as the CPP enhancement and the new Canada housing benefit, which attempt to get at different populations outside of the Income Tax Act as a way of supporting our anti-poverty initiatives. That is the way to do it.
Is there room for improvement? The Prime Minister will say every single time he is asked that better is always possible, but this government takes poverty reduction seriously. Our campaign to create new and innovative ways to support people, regardless of what stage they are at in life and regardless of what part of the country they live in—