Madam Speaker, yes, it was a very interesting process, and at times a challenging one, to negotiate with the 13 different provinces and territories, but as my colleague alluded to, regardless of political stripe, in the end, every single province and territory signed on to the initiative and are now moving forward enthusiastically. In fact, the current Premier of Alberta, Danielle Smith, campaigned on $10-a-day day care in the most recent provincial election, and Alberta was one of the last jurisdictions to sign on.
However, what the premiers have come to understand and what they have seen borne out is that this is not only an extraordinarily popular program with parents but also an incredible economic driver. The return on investment to our economy is huge. The prediction is that anywhere between $1.80 and $2.60 will be returned to the economy for every dollar that is invested. There is a prediction that there could be an increase to the GDP of 1.2% over the coming years.
These huge contributions will take place because of additional people in the workforce, and we are already seeing that with the labour stats that I cited in my speech.
This is a tremendous policy that is having a tremendous impact on Canadians across the country.