Madam Speaker, this is such an important reality that women face. I remember knocking on a door and having one woman say to me, “I really want to work, but by the time I get my pay I get $20 because everything else goes to child care costs, so I am not working because it is cheaper in many ways for me to not work.” Women are making decisions that are not decisions. They are forced into positions that they should not be.
I think of a message that I just got from Jen in my riding. She said to me, “I am a single mom, and my kids cannot go to school and I cannot get child care, so I am saving up to pay back the $2,000 I get every month.” I am going to make sure she knows she does not have to, but this is the reality.
They are hard-working women who are totally put in a place where they cannot make the best decisions for themselves and their families, and they are often left. That is invisible work that should be valued better, and this is a motion that would start moving us in a direction where justice would be in place for women across Canada.