Mr. Speaker, obviously the member for London West is here on behalf of women and certainly to advocate for them. I might say though that the word “advocacy” itself, if used in the proper context, is not a bad word, but the fact is in the context of this program, it represented lobbying.
The one important component of what the program is offering in its present state after we changed it is the fact that it will go to programs that actually are implemented, that actually allow women to use the funding for its intended purpose, and that is to deliver programs.
To simply fund organizations with taxpayers' money, regardless of what those organizations may be, to simply lobby the government is not an appropriate expenditure of funds. It is not an appropriate expenditure of taxpayers' dollars. It is obvious because we have been able to take the money that was used for lobbying and invest it in programs where we are seeing sustainable and great benefits for women in this country.