Mr. Speaker, it is amazing how the member will start to pull out statistics. We can go with statistics of any kind, anywhere. It is the old story: figures lie and liars figure. We have all heard those stories.
As we know, probably half the people in this country do not want some form of official child care, whether they are stay at home parents or parents who have their own arrangements with family or friends. Is that number going to 30%, 50% or 60%? We can play with the semantics of numbers all we want.
To go directly to the member's question, I have an editorial with me from a local paper in my own riding. The timing may be apropos. A journalist went to our local mall and asked people walking down the corridors what they thought of our government program and our approach to child care. He talked to the average person. Are they wealthy? Are they poor? These were just simple everyday individuals who talked to The Intelligencer for its local news:
Providing day care for their two young children just got a whole lot easier, say Tonya and Steven Greaves.
The Trenton couple will have extra money in their household under the new Conservative budget to help pay for day care expenses for three-month-old Deja and three-year-old Dezirae.
“It's great news. I'm glad to see that because day care is so expensive and every little bit helps,” said Tonya, during a break in shopping Tuesday evening at the Quinte Mall.
Steven agreed.
“We'll be able to send both our children to day care. Without a supplement from the government, we would have found it very difficult. So this really is a bonus for us”.
The article continued:
Pat and Heather Ketcheson also welcomed the child-care allowance.
“Day care is so expensive that any little bit helps,” said Heather. “Even with both parents working, it still hurts to pay day care expenses.”
Her husband agreed, saying the child-care allowance “is good news for the employed because it puts more money in their pockets.”
The couple, who lives just east of Belleville, has a three-year-old daughter, Courtney.
Heather operates a day care out of their home. She looks after three other children, besides her own daughter.
“I believe these moms will be happy with the government's budget because they will certainly benefit from it as well,” she said.
I could go on with comments from other people, but they are all similar in nature. These people are so thankful that we have moved a step forward. It is not the total solution, but it is certainly a strong step forward.