I always found it very interesting that the Status of Women would provide money for advocacy but not money for front-line services. I know I found that very frustrating. When I was in Ontario we opened a good number of shelters around the province; we opened two new shelters for battered women right here in Ottawa. And the federal government and the Status of Women were great to give a grant to if you wanted to have a conference. But if you wanted to actually help to prevent violence against women and to give women a refuge from violence, there was no money. So I think it's a question of priorities, and hopefully the fact that we didn't cut health care and we gave a 6% increase to Ontario for the budget for health care will give them some additional flexibility. Instead of cutting them by $25 billion, the provinces will have a bit more flexibility to meet some of these demands, which I think are really important.
On October 17th, 2006. See this statement in context.