Mr. Chair, we just extracted quite a stunning admission from the minister at this late hour. He has admitted that he has no idea of the full cost of implementing the program he sets out. It reminds us of the gun registry. It was supposed to cost a net $2 million. It cost a thousand times more than that, $2 billion to Canadian taxpayers. This program in its sheer enormity could have cost overruns that are far beyond the imagination considering that his department and his office have apparently not done the research to ascertain what it might cost three, four or five years down the road.
He said that he does not even know what it will cost. Taxpayers know that a $10 billion or $12 billion new bureaucracy will cost a lot to them. It will mean fewer dollars to make child care decisions in their homes. His program fails to provide new choices to stay at home parents or parents who use a family member or a neighbourhood based system of child care. Not only does his program fail to provide those choices, it actually takes more choices away by imposing new costs on taxpayers. Those costs will surely mean fewer dollars in the pockets of parents with which to make those choices. Not only is he failing to provide choices, he is taking choices away.
My question is very simple. This program is going to cost $10 billion to $12 billion. How will he pay for it? Will he cut health care? Will he increase taxes? Or will he run a deficit?