As regards indicators, I could suggest that you go and see what's being done in Quebec. I think Quebec can serve as a model for the introduction of child care services and access to legal aid, in particular. Quebec has made major progress and listens closely to women's groups. Social development is a real concern for it. What is slowing it down today, and my colleague Christiane Gagnon criticized this earlier, are the financial resources required to put in place measures designed to preserve that equality or to improve the situation.
I find it somewhat unfortunate that we're dealing with a government that will probably rack up a surplus in the order of $13 billion for the fiscal year ending in March. Would associations like yours be closely listened to by the Minister of Finance, since he must currently be consulting all of Canada in order to polish up the next budget that will be presented to us in March?
I think he should be listening closely to everything being said today. He should attach priority to the comments by your associations.