We're not opposed to a subsidy made directly to families to help them pay child care expenses. However, the problem here in British Columbia is that there aren't any Francophone child care centres. There's one in Vancouver: there's space for 15 children, and 60 more are on a waiting list. Right now, there are four institutional child care centres in the province providing service to Francophones. That's not a lot.
If we can't afford to put our own structure in place, the subsidies will be used by Francophone families to put their children in Anglophone child care. That's the greatest tool for assimilation. When children are in an Anglophone environment at the preschool stage, in the vast majority of cases, they remain in that situation until they enter English school, because they've already begun to develop a network of friends and so on.
The memoranda of understanding that were signed last winter or fall, a year ago, for learning and early childhood care services were really focused on the development of programs and services in that sector, because that's where the need is.