Human Resources committee  The problem is that the child tax credit is not available to the poorest families. That's the problem I was pointing to.

Human Resources committee  The problem is that the child tax credit part of it is not available to the poorest families. The child tax benefit has been a good program, but I wish the additional money that was put into the child programs had been put into the existing child tax benefit, because then it would have been accessible to the poorest families.

Human Resources committee  Yes, and I already commented on that. It is welcomed. The one missing thing is there's not much money for building new housing. Most of it is dedicated to retrofitting, which is urgently needed, as well, so that's welcome.

Human Resources committee  That's right, yes.

Human Resources committee  Yes, but again—

Human Resources committee  There are a number of things that need to be done to fix the employment insurance. A few things got fixed, but I would say the most important things did not get fixed. The most important thing is that these benefits be available to more Canadians falling into unemployment. The reason is, if you fall into unemployment and are not able to get employment insurance, you have to sell off all your assets and sink down to a really low level of supported welfare, from which it is much more difficult to climb back out.

Human Resources committee  Well, there is still some room in the premiums. There was a large surplus. I know that's going to get eaten down pretty quickly in this current economic crisis, but yes, I think it's more important to ensure more people have access to employment insurance. That's the most urgent thing that needs to be done, and that was not fixed in the recent budget.

Human Resources committee  The Make Poverty History campaign has over 250,000 people who have signed up in support of our campaign. We have an online network. I'm sure you've received emails from Make Poverty History supporters, because we have supporters in every riding across the country. I think even pollsters have commented on the change in public opinion.

Human Resources committee  That amount would mostly eliminate child poverty. There have been annual increases over the years, but now they have stopped. It's time now for the government to decide to continue to increase the child tax benefit to get it to a level where it could reduce child poverty to almost nothing.

Human Resources committee  Definitely.

Human Resources committee  In terms of the measures that could be taken right away, I would say that in addition to employment insurance, which is the top priority, and raising the child tax benefit--and again, the system is already in place, so it really doesn't take much to raise it, and it would deliver the assistance to those who need it most--the other one would be a national housing strategy.

Human Resources committee  I'm concerned that there is a real shortage of available affordable housing, so just subsidizing it may not be good enough.

Human Resources committee  Yes.

Human Resources committee  Thank you very much for this opportunity to share in the important work you're doing at this committee. I want to start by saying how much we appreciate that this committee has taken up this study. We wish you all the best. There are more than one billion people who live on less than a dollar a day, and half of the world's population are living on less than two dollars a day.

Finance committee  It makes poverty reduction--