Madam Chair, I would like to take advantage of the presence here of Madam Streatch. I also wish that your colleague who has just left were still here.
I would like to come back to the issue that was brought up by our conservative friends, with regard to the ability to pay and to the fact that this falls under provincial jurisdiction . The Social Union Framework Agreement, or SUFA, that was signed in 1999, goes in the opposite direction of what you were saying, Mr. Chong. On the basis of this agreement, there must be a federal contribution in the form of financial support, and this support presently comes in the form of tax deductions for families.