Mr. Speaker, I thank the member, who is a new colleague of mine at the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. I welcome her to the committee.
Right now, I am genuinely deeply concerned about the federal government's attempts to interfere in Quebec's jurisdiction once again, instead of taking concrete action to lift women out of poverty. Here is an example. Some women stay in violent situations because they are afraid of ending up on the street, but funding for shelters was blocked this summer.
I would like to thank my colleague, the member for Abitibi—Témiscamingue, because he is the one who told me that Ottawa was withholding money for shelters where he is in Abitibi, in Rouyn-Noranda, and elsewhere in Quebec. The government was slow to get that money out the door. As a result, women and children were forced to return to their abusers.
Instead of trying to interfere in Quebec's jurisdictions, the government should transfer the money because we need it for our shelters. Health and social services are within Quebec's purview.