Mr. Speaker, once again the hon. member for Mercier is in a bit of a time warp in a number of respects. We have already indicated to the provinces and to other partners that we are prepared to cost share child care. We had a major meeting of deputies almost a year ago at which we offered to pay 50 per cent of the cost of new spaces.
Fortunately a very important initiative was taken up by the First Nations people. We are almost ready to conclude an agreement with the First Nations Assembly for 6,000 new child care spaces sponsored by our First Nations people. We hope to have that concluded in a couple of weeks.
Because certain provinces are now engaging in restricting child care, I simply wrote to the Ontario minister to remind him the federal government is willing to be a partner in sharing the cost of child care so these spaces do not have to be closed.
I hope the hon. member will help carry that message because child care is very important to many Canadians.