Madam Speaker, I thank the member for her interesting story, describing what is happening in Thompson.
Similarly, in the riding of Halifax, Spryfield lost its one and only licensed non-profit daycare, so there is very little child care in that community.
I have worked with a lot of women who are on welfare. Even though they had a job at one point, they went back on welfare because they could not afford to work and pay child care. At least if they collected welfare, their children were safe for the day. These women are desperate for work, and there is way too many of them.
Even though these organizations need more federal funding, or sometimes provincial funding, the problem is they are afraid to do advocacy work around these issues. There is a limited amount of advocacy work they can do under the Charities Act, but they are afraid of crossing the line. I have had organizations tell me they do not want to sign a letter to government saying that this is an important issue or that they need more funding for X and Y because then they might lose their charitable status.
It is a bit of a crime if people have to depend on charity to take care of their children and to fund child care.
There are definitely some problems. There is some pretty profound reluctance by organizations to embark on this kind of advocacy, which is why it is important for us to raise it in the House.