Finance committee  Okay.

Finance committee  I want to recall that in one of the earlier consultations with the finance minister, the representative of the Canadian Bankers Association was calling for an investment in child care. The reason was that a number of the leading corporations are very concerned about the looming labour shortage.

Finance committee  I didn't go into the details, but basically we would support the recommendations made by the parliamentary committee two years ago that lay out the ways in which that program could be improved. On the question of federal jurisdiction and the child tax benefit, I should note that there is a pre-existing Quebec program of a similar nature, and federal funds go directly to the Quebec government to help contribute to that program.

Finance committee  The millennium development goals and the goal of ending child poverty are achievable goals, but these worthy goals will not be realized unless our government stands up and delivers on measures that would help to make poverty history in the next federal budget. Thank you.

Finance committee  Thank you very much for the opportunity to make the case for the next federal budget to be a budget to make poverty history. The Canadian Make Poverty History campaign has the support of over a quarter of a million Canadians and of over 800 organizations that have signed on to our platform calling for more and better aid, trade justice, cancelling the debt, and ending child poverty in Canada.