Human Resources committee  Unfortunately, in the education system and among educational researchers, there's quite a divide between the educational research and the practice, what happens in schools. Unfortunately, in schools, that has contributed to a lot of things happening that aren't necessarily working—I guess we're on a theme here—but it's what we know and what we do, so that's what the practice continues to be.

Human Resources committee  I'll just mention there, too, on our theme of leveraging existing resources and infrastructure with parallel programming, that we can offer a program in the south end and also offer it in the north and the west, but responsive to those neighbourhoods. There will be emerging needs from the different neighbourhoods that may be different, or they may be the same.

Human Resources committee  Thank you for your question. At Elementary Literacy, we're doing two things. There's the whole literacy file. We know that people with low literacy are more likely to be unemployed and to be engaged in the social system and the criminal justice system. There is a range of impacts that are costly to government and also to the person in terms of the opportunity cost loss.

Human Resources committee  I think I followed you. You're asking me about numeracy in the children. Can I confirm if that's correct? It is? Right now, the literacy that we're working on with the children is very narrow to their reading literacy. We're looking at children's reading comprehension. There is—and we have our eye on it—research around children's numeracy, scientific literacy, and the links between foundational reading and those concepts.

Human Resources committee  The research is very clear. The longer children spend in child care early learning facilities is what impacts their development. I know that in Ontario there's the four-year-old pre-K. In particular, for children living in poverty, that is not enough time for them, due to all the disadvantages they may have gone through in the early years.

Human Resources committee  I'm somewhat prepared for this question, because I do honestly battle with it in my own head. As I tweeted the other night, I spend over $10,000 a year for one child. Part of the reason why we've waited so long—not so long, but long enough—to have another child is that I could not pay for two children in day care.

Human Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am very pleased to be here today and to welcome you and the entire committee to our beautiful home of Saint John, New Brunswick. I received my doctorate in education from the University of New Brunswick in 2014. I continue an active research program there as an honorary research associate.