Mr. Speaker, I am the father of five daughters. If I accumulate the ages of my daughters together they come close to 100. I can speak with some experience on raising children, on being at home and on being a responsible parent. The comments across the way reflect what the Alliance thinks.
I said very clearly that it was incumbent upon us to support families. Sometimes, because parents cannot afford it, they need to go out to work. I am not saying that the Government of Canada should go to every household and say “Here is the money for your mortgage”, but why not have universal daycare? Why not discuss the issue? Why not provide support for the parents who choose to go out and work?
The thoughts of the gentleman across the way are that the father goes out to work and the mother stays at home, or the mother goes out to work and the father stays home. The idea of both parents working is not something that appears on his radar screen.
I am quite the opposite. I certainly think that my daughters can be good mothers as well as work. Therefore, when they are out in the workplace why should they not have the support they need in order to raise their children?
If the gentleman across the way ever wants to tell me how to raise children, I have news for him. I raised five of them and I am very proud of the way in which I have raised them.