I think on the data and the information, we have the best statistical agency in the world, StatsCan, and they have done some remarkable research on a number of these issues. I think they lead the world with regard to their surveys and research analysis with respect to the economic benefits of working in the home and in recognizing that and the importance of the contribution it makes.
So I agree with you wholeheartedly. I don't think we need analysis. I think it's a matter of connecting some of these dots and providing some incentive within it. I think a lot of it begins at the political level. What is the stance of a political party with respect to how it wants to deal with issues of gender? We know that gender can be quite divisive, but we know it's also an important part of fairness. It's an important part of dignity in society and it's an important part of who we are and the kind of people we want to become. All those aspects become very important.
It then becomes looking at those issues in a broader context and in the political debate and asking fundamental questions: do we want to work on the demand side with respect to child care, as one government did? Another government wanted to work on the supply side with respect child care. We should fundamentally analyze the implications that is going to have with respect to gender, not just with respect to how efficient it's going to be or the federal-provincial ramifications of this. Let's face it, one of the reasons we have such large federal tax expenditures is largely that it allows the federal government to enter areas that are often in provincial jurisdiction.
In terms of the incentives, I think what we need are better opportunities for--and I come back to this word “interaction”--interactions across the individuals and across the parties. I think we've failed to realize there are human elements and fundamental political questions to this. When political questions need to be resolved, analysis can take you part of the way in solving some of those disputes and differences. In the end of course it may well be a political decision, as most big tough budget decisions are, and that's well understood, but we need to have the analysis and have the work done. As others have said, it's not just in government that it has to be done; it has to be done in the universities, in the think tanks, in the media across these issues as well as within the political parties themselves.