House of Commons photoWon her last election, in 2019, with 47% of the vote.
Child Care April 27th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, I would encourage the hon. member to have her province join with five other provinces across this country to make sure that parents, and not politicians, get the benefit of this child care allowance. I would also encourage her to wait until the budget next Tuesday so that she can deal with the rest of the story.
Child Care April 27th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, as I explained to the hon. member the other day, we are very keen that this be a universal benefit available to all parents of children under the age of six. We want to ensure that the net benefit to them is fair and equitable no matter what their family structure and no matter what their income range.
In fact, Quebec families are going to receive less than their neighbours in Ontario, New Brunswick or Prince Edward Island unless the hon. members across the floor urge those governments to ensure there is no clawback because we are encouraging equity.
Child Care April 26th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, as I explained to the House yesterday, our intention for our choice in child care allowance is that it be a truly universal allowance available to all Canadians from coast to coast, regardless of their incomes, and that is not just at the gross level, that is at the net level. I have been working since my very first week in this job with my officials to ensure as many families as possible get as much money net as possible from this new program because we want it to be a universal benefit.
Child Care April 26th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to report to the House that the numbers released in the report regarding this situation were in fact inaccurate.
Child Care April 25th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, as I announced yesterday, five of the provinces have already agreed to not hold clawbacks on the child care allowance. This is great progress. As for the federal government, I am afraid we will have to wait until we see the budget.
Child Care April 25th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, our commitment to Canadians is to create 125,000 new child care spaces and we will do that.
We will do it in partnership with businesses, both large and small, because when they see--and many of them already know this--how much more productive their employees are when they know where their children are and know they are being well taken care of, when they see that employees' productivity goes up and their absenteeism goes down, that is good for business.
This is why we are putting $1.25 billion into the creation of new spaces.
Employment Insurance April 25th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, the EI program, part I and part II, benefits a lot of people right across this country. That is why we want to make sure that as we proceed with changes, if any, they are in the best interests of all Canadians. When we have a pilot project, we think it is the responsible thing to wait until we have the results to make a decision on how to move forward.
Employment Insurance April 25th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member said, the pilot program, and that is what it is, expires on June 4. A review of the results of that pilot is under way. I look forward to seeing the results of that review. I would be happy to report back to the hon. member on the results when I receive them.
Child Care April 25th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, we are serious about creating these spaces and about child care overall. We will be investing $1.25 billion in the creation of these child care spaces. We will be putting forth legislation for parents to receive $1,200 a year to help with their choice in child care.
If the Liberal Party is serious about helping parents with child care, then I suggest it support our choice in child care allowance.
Child Care April 25th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, our program to create new child care spaces will be developed with business, large business and small business, and with community groups so that kids can get child care in their home community or at work so that if it is in their small community the kids will not have to commute.
This is a true vision for child care, one that we have never heard before and certainly in 13 years of promises never saw from the previous government.