Madam Speaker, the hon. member cited Joseph Stiglitz, who recently put together one of the most important books that I have read over the past few years. He hypothesizes in the book that it is essential that we not only pursue GDP, but that government should focus on improving the quality of life for middle-class citizens who reside within its borders. If it is our collective hope as a nation, and I would suggest it should be, to improve the quality of life that Canadians enjoy, then it is essential that we do a better job of measuring what matters. Thankfully, we have already started this important work of going beyond GDP to improve the quality of life of Canadians by focusing on their health and safety, the access they have to a healthy family situation and taking action to protect our environment and ensure that the growth that we do experience is both sustainable and inclusive.
Before I get too far, I want to emphasize the importance of recognizing that GDP does have a role to play. We should not for a moment necessarily reduce the importance of focusing on how investment can grow the economy or the importance of managing our fiscal situation in a prudent way. In fact, these elements of governance are essential to achieving a high quality of life. However, increasing Canada's GDP is not, in and of itself, enough.
As Canadians, we have been going through a challenging time together this past year and a half. This pandemic has made it abundantly clear that our quality of life is so much more than our country's gross domestic productivity and the people in our lives are far more important than the money in our bank accounts at the end of every month. Our ability to thrive is linked to our health and safety, good housing, access to the outdoors, access to clean water, education, leisure time with our friends and family, social connections and so much more. Our government agrees with the vast majority of Canadians that it is time to move toward a much more holistic decision-making process, one that takes these factors into account.
I would point the hon. member to budget 2021 where we brought forward Canada's first-ever quality of life framework located in annex 4, for those who want to dig in. I want to congratulate, in particular, the Minister of Middle Class Prosperity, who I have the honour and privilege of working alongside, for all of her incredible work in bringing this framework forward. This has helped guide decisions in the most recent budget that will in fact enhance the quality of life for Canadians. It helped lead to the decisions to formulate Canada's first-ever national affordable universal child care system, a robust climate plan that is going to create jobs and protect our environment for generations to come and to focus investments not only on growth, but also on measures that will improve the quality of our health care system, mental health, in particular, and so many other aspects of this recent budget.
This is a made-in-Canada approach that goes beyond looking at traditional macroeconomic indicators and will be used to enhance the quality of life that Canadians experience day to day. By using a broader suite of indicators, measuring, for example, factors such as mental health, the environment, employment and social trust, our government is going to be able to better measure and evaluate the impacts of key initiatives that are essential to Canadians' well-being. This includes looking at the distribution of outcomes and opportunities across demographics and in places ,and whether today's prosperity could potentially undermine the future living standards of the next generation. We need to ensure that gender equality, diversity and the well-being of Canadians are at the centre of decision-making. It is fundamental, if we are going to create a thriving and successful country that reflects our values as a nation, that we implement those values in the decision-making process.
Frankly, this is the right time for this framework. As we look forward to rebuild the inclusive growth—