My background is as an educational psychologist, so I will be the first to say that early childhood education, early childhood intervention, is critically important in this country. It's not only for the children; it's also for the mothers, who then are able to go ahead and look for meaningful work or for education.
I will mention that my son was looking for child care and wasn't able to get child care. When he did, it was $1,000 a month. For a young family, that is atrocious and very challenging. In rural communities, it's not just access to it; it's to ensure that it's quality child care and that the people running the child care centres have the qualifications and the training to make sure it's very successful for the children involved.
I think you hit the nail on the head. It's one of the most important things. I think in the closing comments of my opening speech, I mentioned child care as critical, as an equalizer in our country for women.
With regard to the cost of tuition, well, I'm in a province where the tuition is $2,500 for a full year. I think a $20,000 investment in a university degree is a great investment, but I also spoke to, as I told you, the father in St. Anthony who has three children going to university. With the travel to the St. John's campus and the cost of accommodations, the cost was much more than tuition. I think when we talk about the cost of post-secondary education, we have to look holistically and beyond the tuition.
I think it's critical that we look at bursaries for students in financial need, non-repayable bursaries. I think the federal government has done a fabulous job on that. I hope they continue to do so. There should be no student in this country who cannot go to university because of finances. We always have to make sure that university is accessible to all of our youth. I think what you said is critically important.