Human Resources Committee on April 26th, 2007

[Yves Lessard, Bloc, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Madam Chair, on a point of order.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB]

—you would note that they're still waiting.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Ruby Dhalla]

Mr. Lake, just one second.

[Yves Lessard, Bloc, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Madam Chair, I am being attributed statements that I have never made.

I believe that the other provinces should receive the same treatment as Quebec, as long as they make the same choice. If they choose, as Quebec has done, to develop their own child care programs, to invest their money in the right places for that, then that is their choice.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Ruby Dhalla]

Mr. Lessard, that's not a point of order.

Mr. Lake, you have a minute and a half.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB]

I just want to comment on some of the numbers. These are interesting statistics that we have here. We've heard some numbers on the former Liberal program that never really ever got signed by most of the provinces.

For example, in P.E.I. the Liberals in 2006-07 would have promised $3 million. In the first seven months, we delivered $6.5 million in universal child care benefits, plus $1.1 million in the most recent budget for the creation of spaces.

Now, Stéphane Dion is on record as saying that he wants to repeal the universal child care benefit, so I guess one question I would have is, first of all, do you concur with Mr. Dion that we should tell the parents—? What kind of feedback have you had from parents demanding that they should not have that universal child care benefit, for example?

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Ruby Dhalla]

Thirty seconds, please.

[Charles Dent]

That's a tough question, because parents never regret having money in their pockets.

I would have to say it is really difficult for us to assess now whether or not that's turned into more support for child care in the territory.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB]

Right. I guess the point being, though, that the design of the—

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Ruby Dhalla]

I'm sorry, Mr. Lake, your time is up.

I just want to take the opportunity on behalf of all of the committee members to thank our witnesses.

There was one question raised during the meeting with regard to the amendments that were mentioned by Ms. Chow and a few other individuals. The amendments, as of yet, have not been submitted. There is a deadline of May 9 to submit amendments to the bill because we will be listening to witnesses up until May 8.

Once again, thank you to our witnesses. It was an enjoyable session.

The meeting is adjourned.