Human Resources committee  That's a fascinating example. I think that's where we're going next, because you're absolutely right that a lot of parents who get to the centres are already doing okay. There's a wonderful pilot happening in my community in London. It's a partnership with the Children's Aid Society.

Human Resources committee  I'll respond in English. I apologize. Thanks to the federal funding, we started the Best Start Hub program in the province of Ontario. They were pilot programs, and we've been unable to move forward with them for financial reasons. There's a wonderful example in Hamilton of a Best Start Hub centre.

Human Resources committee  We're continuing to fund some of them and we would like to have a lot more. In my own community of London, the local municipality and school board, plus some other provincial and probably federal programs, are coming together in a hub to provide supports for families in low-income neighbourhoods.

Human Resources committee  Absolutely, and part of our strategy addresses that to enable communities to develop community hubs. We're wrestling right now with the whole idea of what is in a community hub. Lots of people talk about community hubs, but we all have slightly different ideas about what that really means.

Human Resources committee  The WITB we want to go to $2,000.

Human Resources committee  And we want to increase the NCBS by $1,200, an increase of $1,200, which would take it to—

Human Resources committee  Yes.

Human Resources committee  What we would need immediately is.... What we did when the agreement was cancelled is we took the last payment, divided it by four, and stretched it over four years. That four years is coming to an end a year from now. If we do not get that $63.5 million, it will mean the closure of spaces and the cancellation of subsidies.

Human Resources committee  It is enormous, for the reasons I mentioned earlier. One of the measures we are going to be tracking is the early development indicator. That's the readiness to learn. We know that kids who are exposed to early learning do better on EDI scores than those who aren't. We know that families living in poverty don't have the opportunity to engage their kids in those things that enhance their ability to learn once they arrive at school.

Human Resources committee  It sounds like a boxing match.

Human Resources committee  There's no question that social infrastructure is essential to the health and well-being of a community. We heard over and over, everywhere we went, that access to services was very difficult for people living in poverty. Everybody expressed it in a different way, but the idea of a community hub, a place located in their neighbourhood where people could go to access services....

Human Resources committee  Thank you very much, Chair. First of all, I want to say thank you so much for inviting me here today. I'm very excited about the strategy we've tabled and embarked upon in Ontario. I'm delighted to have the opportunity to speak to the committee about what's in the strategy, how we got here, why we're doing it, and how we're going to move forward to achieve the success we are determined to achieve.