Mr. Chair, the minister has said many times that this is the first of many steps. I have taken the Quebec model and used the numbers to determine how many spaces are being provided in Quebec and extrapolated that cost structure across the country. It would cost in excess of $10 billion a year to implement that nationwide for all children.
The federal government is talking about $1 billion a year which begs the question, where is the other $9 billion coming from? If I were a provincial or municipal official, I would be deeply concerned that the federal government was going to launch something with great fanfare and I was going to end up with a large part of the tab.
Ontario has early years centres which are actually geared toward parents taking their children in. The children and the parents can have an enriched learning opportunity. Many stay at home parents use these centres on a regular basis, including my wife with our own children. It would appear that the Ontario government is moving away from that. It is starving the early years centres of funds and moving those dollars into the school based system. I see there may be some disagreement with that point.
I would like to ask the minister, does he support the early years centre program in Ontario? Does he think it is valuable for the work it does for stay at home parents? Will he ensure, in his negotiations with Ontario, that early years centres are properly supported?