Madam Speaker, I would first like to thank my colleague for the extra time granted to me. Ten minutes go by real fast. This reaction from a well-known Quebec journalist is sound and I was recently getting to the same conclusion although in a different way. Let us take for example the issue of maternity leave. I can tell you that most of those who phoned my constituency office had the simple reaction to say that the unemployment benefits are so low that instead of having a full year off, they would much rather have a shorter leave and get real benefits that would equal to much more than 55% of their salary.
We all know that working women often do not earn much more than minimum wage. They also often do not work many hours, which means that they earn very little money. Consequently, even if we allow those low-income women to take a whole year off, if they do not have a spouse with a good salary, they will not be able to take advantage of it.
It is a very simple way of answering to the government, by looking at ordinary people's reaction. If the government was really taking their problems into account instead of only reacting to the plans that the government of Quebec advanced and that it has a hard time to implement because of the lack of co-operation from the federal government, the government would grant real maternity leave. Real maternity leave is not one that only a few women can take advantage of. It certainly does not generate enough income, even if it is extended. There is a lot more to say about this Speech from the throne and the generous gifts that it contains, without taking into account the real situations and the problems that the government itself is responsible for.