Finance Committee on Sept. 28th, 2006

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

Do you feel that part of the reason we don't have enough disposal income is that we pay too much in tax?

[Peter Lewis]

I would certainly suggest that is a big part of it, yes.

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

Mr. Moist, what is the cost of your program?

[Paul Moist]

Which portion of the program? We talk about child care--

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

Well, these eight points.

[Paul Moist]

With respect to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, we need to go beyond the five-year commitment on the share of the fuel tax.

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

I just meant, overall, could you give us an estimate of what it costs for what you've asked for?

[Paul Moist]

I don't have an overall costing in totality.

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

Well, it makes it more difficult for us to do our work.

I understand you want more government spending so that you have more government employees. I understand that. That's your agenda.

[Paul Moist]

No, we don't represent very many federal employees.

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

Okay, but it's important for us to get an idea.

For example, with child care, you've suggested that we quadruple expenditure on child care, basically go from 0.25% to 1%.

[Paul Moist]

Through the chair, I would suggest that we follow the establishment of something that was started with the consent of most provinces in Canada. Some provinces signed five-year deals with the federal government and put shovels in the ground to start building these things.

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

How much money did we spend on child care last year?

[Judy Wasylycia-Leis, NDP, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Chair, this is ridiculous.

[Paul Moist]

I know that the elimination of the deals as of March 2007—

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

But how much did we actually spend last year on child care?

[Paul Moist]

You probably know the answer to that.

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

I think it was zero. How much are we going to spend this year?

[Paul Moist]

Listen, the five-year deals that were started by the previous government—

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

No, that's not what I asked you, sir. In actual spending, last year versus actual spending this year—

[Paul Moist]

Let me give you an example. The Government of Manitoba relied on the five-year deal that was signed. They started capital costs—

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

Do you know the answer to that question?

[Paul Moist]

--and that's ending. You've taken over $3 billion from the commitment.

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

I just asked if you knew how much we had spent versus what we are—

[Paul Moist]

The government you're a part of cut $3 billion from the proposed five-year child care deal.