Mr. Speaker, first, I do not accept for one moment the premise behind the hon. member's question when he made a blanket statement and suggested that child care facilities in the country are of low quality. He has just insulted thousands of people who are committed to providing quality child care and have done so over the years despite the refusal by the government to participate and support those initiatives. He has just insulted organizations like the Manitoba Child Care Association which has made an incredible contribution to the country by supporting and working to ensure the achievement of one of the best, second only to the Quebec system, models anywhere in the world for providing quality child care.
The problem is that when a province has to do it on its own there is only so much it can do. The Manitoba government has made a huge pioneering effort, a huge inroad into this area, and has provided quality, non-profit, accessible, regulated day care spaces where children get safe care and parents do not have to worry.
When the member makes that kind of disparaging remark, we know exactly where he is coming from. He is trying to drive another nail in the coffin of this election promise, never mind the fact that it is a Liberal promise. That Liberal member has the audacity to stand up and begin to tear apart his own party's suggestion and in fact is doing what he can to kill this idea before it even gets off the ground. We are not going to let that happen.
We do have a problem in some provinces because there has not always been the same commitment in every province as we have seen in the provinces of Manitoba and Quebec. That is another reason why we need a national day care program with national standards and legislation to ensure that care is provided on a quality not for profit basis. That is the whole point of the Liberal promise. That is the whole point of this debate. That is why we are so devoted to it and why we want to make it happen this time once and for all.
This initiative is about addressing the concerns of working families and ensuring that those families who choose to work, those mothers and fathers who choose to work or must work, which is largely the case, are able to put their children in safe, loving, caring, child care centres which must be made available to meet the needs of the changing workforce, to address the concerns of part-time women working in the workforce, the needs of shift workers, and those who must work only at night. It is something that is there where it is known that the kids are safe.
This is not a program about addressing the needs of every single person in the whole society. We have other measures to address the concerns of those families who choose to have a parent staying at home full time. We do that through tax provisions. We do it through extensions in terms of maternity and parental leave. We do it through decency in terms of leave for school activities and other commitments, and ensuring that we have caring arrangements in the event that there are elderly parents or people with disabilities.
We do not do it by playing one group off against the other and leaving this most fundamental question out to dry yet again. That is a disservice to the country and the children. It is contrary to everything the member believes in terms of ensuring that those at the very youngest ages are able to get that loving environment and care that they need to proceed, grow, mature and be responsible and committed citizens of the country.