This is fundamental in a number of ways.
First of all, there's a lot of talk about labour shortages. That said, we must help parents who want to enter the workforce. I think early childhood services are essential to promote the integration and retention of these people in the workforce.
Second, there's often a linguistic challenge. The situation in Manitoba is somewhat similar to what we experience in our region. We have bilingual options, but that often means that English becomes dominant. This confirms the importance of having early childhood services in French. It's said that kids will pick up English on the street and don't need to go to day care or school to learn it. This is fundamental.
Third, there's the issue of child care affordability. Not all parents can afford to pay extremely high fees to send their children to day care. Some, unfortunately, have to make the choice to stay at home, whether it's one parent or both. Sometimes, they are single‑parent families. These parents don't do it by choice, but simply because the fees are really very high.
In that context, I would add one last element: provincial governments need to be at the table as partners, because they're the ones managing the funds on the ground. If, despite the directions given by the federal government, the funds aren't managed on the ground in such a way as to make francophone day cares truly accessible, we're missing the boat.