Status of Women committee  Do I think the universal child care allowance is satisfactory to help parents? No. And I think the example in Quebec shows us that a universally accessible child care system at a very reasonable price has been very successful, both in terms of supporting women moving into the workforce, and generating increased tax revenue that is now being used to help pay for the program.

Status of Women committee  What is this bill proposing in terms of self-employment?

Status of Women committee  It could be. Ideally, we would like the moneys that are being spent on that program to be directed to build a universal, accessible, affordable, national child care system. We're talking about child care. Let's build the spaces, because you don't get a space with a piece of money; you're still on the waiting list.

Status of Women committee  From our perspective, it's very important that it be for not-for-profit child care--regulated, high-quality, not-for-profit child care, and that there would certainly be strings attached to that federal money that flows to the provinces.

Status of Women committee  Definitely. When we talk about a universally accessible child care program, so parents have the choice, if they're in the workforce, if they're receiving training, they have the comfort of knowing there's a space there for their child. If they're a stay-at-home parent, but they want their child to benefit from the stimulation of early learning programs, they have the possibility of enrolling their child part-time or whatever.

Status of Women committee  Just to comment on your comment in terms of raising the tax exemption level, I would say the recommendations we've made would certainly be a higher priority for us than raising the exemption level, because many low-income people don't pay taxes because they don't earn enough money to pay taxes.

Status of Women committee  That would be my comment on that.

Status of Women committee  The working income tax benefit?

Status of Women committee  I think you've answered the question. Caledon has done the more detailed analysis on that gap, so I would just defer to their work and reiterate that the recommendations we make would be our highest priority, certainly.

Status of Women committee  Good afternoon, everyone. I'm happy to be in Ottawa to speak to you this afternoon. My name is Jacquie Maund, and I'm the coordinator of Ontario Campaign 2000. Campaign 2000 is a national non-partisan coalition of over 120 organizations across the country that is committed to ending child and family poverty in Canada.