I want to talk briefly about consultation. I know that since 2000 there has been a series of discussions. The first one was called the early childhood development initiative. At that time, there were four principles, and one of the principles was to deliver early learning and child care. Unfortunately, even with all the discussions, the funding—$5 billion over five years—certainly came through, but hardly any child care spaces were delivered from that initiative.
Then there was the multilateral framework agreement. Of course, there were a lot of discussions and a lot of consultations with the provinces and territories, year after year. There was then the beginning of some movement on creating some child care spaces, but by far, there was not any kind of national program whatsoever.
Then there was the bilateral agreement that was signed in principle with all the provinces. Again, there was a lot of discussion and a lot of consultation. I'm curious as to why there were that many provinces that did not sign on as a funding agreement, because the plan really was that the agreement in principle was okay for the first year. In the second year there was supposed to be a funding agreement that would govern how the funds would be transferred. There needed to be a plan, the plan to be approved by the federal government, and then the funds would be transferred.
The plan was based on four principles—equality, universality, accessibility, and developmental—which are, in fact, the basis of this child care bill. Other than the bill enshrining these principles in legislation, there is not a lot of difference from signing those funding agreements and having the federal funding transferred.
I believe there was an intention to sign. Was it because we ran out of time? I understand that the Northwest Territories had discussions about the dollar amount. But in terms of P.E.I., why wasn't it signed?