Madam Speaker, four months ago I stood in the House asking for a commitment to a national child care program and received a half-baked answer about how the government supposedly tried and was stopped by provincial governments.
The fact is that if the government had the will to do so, it could implement a national child care program right now. Instead, the government has tried to pass the buck of responsibility as it has with many other programs and services.
What happened to the 150,000 spaces for children in child care that was promised in 1993? The government promised $720 million for child care in 1993, but it has in fact cut spending. In too many provinces, like my home province of Nova Scotia, the child tax benefit is clawed back when families' main source of income is social assistance, a perverse attempt at addressing poverty which has ensured that the needs of children in poor families have not been addressed.
If the Prime Minister and the Liberal government really took the needs of children seriously, they would know that the parents of these children have clearly stated that a federally funded national child care program is what both the children of Canada and their parents need to start off on the right path.
Liberal double-talk on child care is just one more example of how the government has been saying one thing and doing another. Over four months ago the government made a speech about how children would be a priority in the 2000 budget. But what has it done over the last six years in power? Broken promise after broken promise has meant simply more poverty and more poor families.
We all agree on the benefits to children of quality care in and outside their homes in their early years. We all agree that children are a priority. We all know that money exists to make a national child care program a reality. We all know that the only reason we do not have such a program is because of the lack of will and commitment to Canada's children shown by the Liberal government in its race to the bottom.
As the mother of two children and as a Canadian I think it is unacceptable that only 9% of children in need of care have access to regulated child care.
Today I would ask the government when it will finally agree that we need a federally funded national child care program and when it will commit to a date when it will provide access to quality, affordable child care for all of Canada's children.