As a woman in politics and the mother of a two-year-old daughter, I face challenges, but I meet them with my family's help.
I think it's about having options. That's why Quebec chose to set up a child care system. The economist Luc Godbout proved that this also allowed women to rejoin the workforce. So it's important to provide options. On the one hand, women who want to stay at home must be given maternity leave that doesn't penalize them. On the other, child care services must be available to those better suited to that model. I think that's the take-away from all of this.
Earlier, we discussed with you the impact of COVID-19 on women entrepreneurs. Recently, we talked about paying back Canada emergency business account loans. During the pandemic, the government had introduced this account and set a deadline for paying back loans. However, we realized that this put pressure on the smallest businesses in particular. I'm talking about small businesses with only a few employees.
In the second round of questions, I may speak with Ms. Cukier about those very small businesses. Women entrepreneurs often have very small businesses.
By setting a deadline, the government showed a lack of flexibility. If you or I are unable to pay the taxes we owe, at least we can talk to a Canada Revenue Agency representative to pay off our debt over time or come to an agreement.
Why wasn't the government able to show some flexibility instead of forcing women to take out a second mortgage on their houses to pay back the loan? It's a bit like forcing them to pay the balance of a credit card with another credit card. I'm very concerned that a number of businesses led by women won't make it. As I said, they found a very temporary solution, but it could be a dangerous one.
I only have about 30 seconds left in my speaking time, but I'd like you to tell me about the importance of flexibility. Too many federal programs are not flexible enough. Can you tell me how important the word "flexibility" is when efforts are made to help women?