Thank you very much, Chair.
I want to thank our witnesses for their contributions today. As a mother of four young children where child care is an issue, I have lived it and not been able to access it. It is very frustrating, because I'm just one drop in the bucket of the parents who can't access it.
I believe that all parents should have access to affordable child care, but also high-quality care. That matters as well. We have to recognize that there is limited access right now. I believe this bill is picking winners and losers, and it is going to hinder access even more.
I come from a rural community. I represent communities that don't have public child care and don't have not-for-profit care. What happens in those situations when they don't have access to funding to expand? Some of these small communities are growing, because it's more affordable to live in a smaller community as opposed to an urban area. What happens to those children and to those parents if they already have limited access, but maybe their child care provider in that community, or a community farther over, doesn't fall under what the government of the day thinks is important?
Ms. Ballantyne, with regard to access in communities like the ones I've listed that don't have public or not-for-profit care, is it your suggestion that if there is a private day care it should be excluded?