Apology by the Speaker  Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for that apology. I am parliamentarian, a Canadian of Jewish origin and a descendant of Holocaust survivors. A majority of my family walked into Auschwitz-Birkenau and only my grandfather and his brother walked out. I think this hurt all of us in Parliament.

Business of the House  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for his warm congratulations, and as this is my first time at providing the Thursday statement, I would also like to say that I look forward to working with him and the other House leaders to advance legislation. This afternoon we will continue with second reading debate of Bill C-33, which deals with strengthening the port system and railway safety in Canada.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, while the Conservatives stay focused on us, we are going to stay focused on Canadians. While the Leader of the Opposition is making personal attacks, we are going to continue to support the personal lives of Canadians. Whether that is by helping them through tough times like COVID or helping them through difficult times right now with inflation, we are going to continue to be there for Canadians, and that will remain—

Carbon Pricing  Mr. Speaker, what the government has been focused on for the last eight years is making sure that we are advancing measures that help Canadians. We increased the Canada child benefit, and instead of sending cheques to millionaires, we made sure that the poorest and most vulnerable were getting the maximum they could have.

Carbon Pricing  Mr. Speaker, it is incredibly disappointing to hear from the members opposite when it comes to being there for Canadians because, over the past summer, there have been hundreds of thousands of Canadians who have been displaced from their homes due to wildfires and climate change-related disasters.

Finance  Mr. Speaker, when the Conservatives were in government, they had higher unemployment, lower wages and stagnation when it came to poverty rates. When they are talking about cutting, they are talking about cutting things like child care. They are talking about cutting things like dental care.

Housing  Madam Speaker, I am glad to see the Conservatives have a renewed interest in housing, because for the 10 years while they were in government, they actually underspent and cut programming when it came to affordable housing. I will just quote something: “Housing insecurity is widespread and homelessness is on the rise”.

The Economy  Mr. Speaker, what Canadians are sick and tired of is the Conservatives' hypocrisy that they care about affordability for Canadians. Right now in the House they are holding up BillC-35, an act respecting early learning and child care. There are only 19 minutes left in debate to get this bill passed through the House to go to the Senate.

Canada Early Learning and Child Care Act  Madam Speaker, I appreciate my colleague's speech because in it she points out all the reasons why Bill C-35 is important. As my colleague in the NDP had said in his last question, when we had a market-driven system these issues existed before, and they are only going to be fixed with intention and with purpose.

Canada Early Learning and Child Care Act  Madam Speaker, I am glad that, when the member was growing up, she had the opportunity to be cared for by her grandparents, but we know that for many people in Canada, that is just not an option. They do not necessarily have family nearby or a family that is able to do that, so having access to affordable child care is really a lifeline for most parents in Canada.

Canada Early Learning and Child Care Act  Madam Speaker, my colleague and I had our babies around the same time, so I experienced a lot of the same challenges she did, although I had just one, whereas she had two at the same time. I commend her for that. I really want to thank her for her support of this bill, and I really want to thank her for talking about all the advocates who have come before us, because, really, we stand on their shoulders, and this moment is the result of their hard work.

Canada Early Learning and Child Care Act  Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the leader of the New Democratic Party and the entire NDP caucus for their collaboration and for their support of Bill C-35. This is something that all parliamentarians can be extraordinarily proud of. It is historic and it will transform this country.

Canada Early Learning and Child Care Act  Madam Speaker, there was a lot in my colleague's speech that was simply untrue. Conservatives talk about fighting for choice, and there is nothing in this legislation that prevents parental choice about what kind of child care they choose to pursue. That is very much a Conservative ideological point.

Canada Early Learning and Child Care Act  Madam Speaker, I congratulate my colleague for bringing forward what I think is an important private member's bill that is going to address an important need. I think she is raising a really important issue that is affecting thousands of people across this country, so I look forward to having more conversations with her and with others on this bill.

Canada Early Learning and Child Care Act  Madam Speaker, it is disappointing that the Conservatives focus on the negative instead of focusing on how we are trying to work to improve this bill. At the end of the day, they did vote in favour of the bill, so I hope they will continue to do that. What is also important is that while the Conservatives keep saying that private operators are shut out, that is just not true, particularly in Alberta, where we have negotiated an increase in private for-profit operations of 22,500 additional spaces in the for-profit sector.