Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to ask a question of my colleague from Winnipeg South Centre. I certainly agree with her last comment, that it helps through a Speech from the Throne for all of us here in this place and across Canada to know where we are going and where the government is going. Part of the problem we have is that sometimes the government stakes out where we are going and then never lives up to that commitment. Then we do not know where we are at.
There is an issue no more pressing in that regard than child care. The member for Winnipeg South Centre knows that we have a very active child care community in Winnipeg that was dearly hoping that finally the longest running broken promise in the history of politics, that of a national day care program, would have ended with a clear commitment in the Speech from the Throne.
The member will know that instead of that clear commitment we have some very vague general statement about cooperating with the provinces to accelerate initiatives under the present agreement to identify children at risk and to ensure the safety of children, blah, blah, blah.
That is not a clear commitment to a national day care program, something which the Manitoba Child Care Association would like to see and has long requested. That association has also asked the government if it would look at the Manitoba model, which is seen as one of the best in this country, as the example for the rest of Canada and that it become a pilot project for pursuing this goal.
Does the member support that idea? Will she advance that idea with the minister responsible? Will she at least get the Manitoba model used as an example for furthering our objective of a national child care program?