Mr. Chair, I am not sure where to begin. There were a lot of comments and a lot of questions.
In terms of the early comments that were made and in talking about invasions and interventions, and all of the rest of it, all the hon. member had to do was to be in Winnipeg, Regina, Gander, Hamilton or in Halifax for those child care announcements. The public in the room did not feel intervened upon. Those ministers responsible did not feel intervened upon. Those premiers, and four out of the five premiers were there for those particular announcements, did not feel intervened upon.
As I said earlier in my remarks, we are talking about our understanding of what a federation is and what the role of a federal government is and can be. In those areas that are understood as big priorities, things that are of importance to Canadians, we must find a way of delivering what is needed to the public. In a lot of instances the provinces or territories are simply not in a position to deliver on that kind of priority at a particular time.
If anybody went back 12 or 13 months, there were no big changes projected over a five or ten year period in terms of early learning and child care. They were not going to happen largely because outside of the province of Quebec there were not any provinces or territories in the position to, or with the ambition and priority, give a big push to early learning and child care that would make that much of a difference.
That is why all of this and why those five announcements had the kind of reaction that they did. In terms of the main estimates for 2005-06 as compared to 2004-05, the main estimates for 2005-06 total $29.4 billion which is a net increase of about $945 million over the 2004-05 estimates.
The major changes are: an increase of $953 million to the income security programs due to changes in the average rate of payments and in the population based on revised demographic data; an increase of $39.3 million in voted grants and contributions mainly due to the budget 2004 items that were approved as part of the 2004-05 supplementary estimates; and an increase of $19.4 million for payments to private collection agencies. This item was transferred to SDC which has responsibility for the management of collection activities.
There was a decrease of $44.4 million related to the employee benefit plan contributions due to a decrease in salary costs and in salary rate for benefits passing from 21.5% to 20% and there was a decrease in $21.6 million in operating expenditures resulting from the allocation to HRSD Canada of shared corporate services provided by SDC and from other technical adjustments.
I guess beyond that we could talk about what it is we do. Is there a question about early learning and child care?