Mr. Speaker, the child care initiative announced yesterday by the Minister of Human Resources Development is a small step in the right direction, but only 12 per cent of Canadian children who need licensed child care have access to it, compared with 80 per cent in many European countries. The 362,000 regulated child care spaces in Canada barely scratch the surface, as there are 3.1 million children in need.
The Liberal government is using budgetary restraint as an excuse for not developing a real national child care program and it has already slashed $7 billion in social programs, thus compounding the problems the less well off children in Canada face.
The government has also chosen to download its responsibilities on to the provinces, which are already strapped for cash. Plainly some provinces will not be interested in participating in this offer of child care partnership, and then what will become of the children in those provinces?
Unfortunately the government does not understand our children are our future and that now is the time for real and full commitment to Canada's greatest resource in the form of universal, accessible and non-profit child care.