The Senate  Mr. Speaker, Canadians are having a hard time believing that the Prime Minister is, as he likes to say, very, very, very committed to fixing the democratic deficit. What has he done to bring democracy to the Senate? What premiers have you talked to about your Senate reform propos

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, in a recent study by the Vanier Institute, nine out of ten Canadians said that they would ideally have one parent stay home to raise their kids. In fact, almost all working moms and 84% of working dads said that if they could afford it, they would choose to work part

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, the Government of Quebec has set up its own child care program and does not need any federal interference. Will the minister confirm that he will respect Quebec's jurisdiction and that the province will receive full and unconditional compensation for its child care

Fiscal Arrangements Act  Mr. Speaker, it is correct to say that Premier McGuinty was at the negotiations in September and agreed to the terms of this agreement that is laid out in the framework of Bill C-24, but something has happened in the meantime and that is of course the deal signed today on offshor

Fiscal Arrangements Act  Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to address Bill C-24, a bill that authorizes greater and more stable equalization payments for Canadian provinces and sets into motion a review of the current equalization formula by a panel of experts. Equalization is an important national progra

Fiscal Arrangements Act  Madam Speaker, my colleague rightly pointed out that there are 33 parts of the equalization formula, which, yes, is a very highly complex formula. In the preamble to his question, he answered it himself, which is the point about non-renewable resource revenues. I think the situa

Fiscal Arrangements Act  Madam Speaker, I think that most of the territories believe the territory financing formula does not meet their needs presently to build the infrastructure necessary to develop not only the human capital but the fiscal capability to develop those natural resources. Right now the

Child Care  Mr. Speaker, this weekend it became clear that the Liberal vision of day care is not shared by Canadian women. Canada has the highest rate of working moms in the industrialized world. Close to 100% of these working moms have said that if they could afford it, they would stay home

Child Care  Mr. Speaker, Quebec already has its own child care program, and a federal program is only diverting funds that should be put into the hands of parents. Will the Liberal government stop invading Quebec's areas of jurisdiction and give the province full financial compensation with

Questions on the Order Paper  Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the Leader of the Opposition for tackling this important issue. I would also like to commend my colleague, the member for Saskatoon--Rosetown--Biggar and the Conservative critic on social development, for her fine work on this issue. I would

Questions on the Order Paper  Madam Speaker, quite a number of questions are wrapped up in those remarks. First, let me be clear that the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, the leader of the official opposition, has used and accessed all types of day care for his own young children, as he indicated

Questions on the Order Paper  Madam Speaker, as I alluded to, there have been discussions, actually on both sides of the House for years, but particularly in industry and among economists, about how the tax system is very unfair to families, and about how in particular it is unfair to working women and to wom

Questions on the Order Paper  Madam Speaker, the hon. member and I have discussed as colleagues on the finance committee the issue of eliminating the discrepancy or the discrimination in the taxation system between dual and single income families, and how this obviously would be a benefit not only to working

Child Care  Mr. Speaker, almost 100% of young working moms and dads in Canada have said that if they could afford it, they would stay home part time to care for their own children. Today in the House the Minister of Social Development said that young working moms only say that because they f

Child Care  Mr. Speaker, my question for the minister is clear. Why is this minister so opposed to providing choices for working women?