Human Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you very much for the invitation to bear witness to this remarkably hardworking and august committee. Yesterday, the Bank of Canada told us that the worst could soon be over for the economy, but the pace of rebound is truly far from certain. For Cana

Human Resources committee  I greatly appreciate the question. I recognize that my comment is controversial in the context of jurisdictions. I tried to make my case as to why I believe this is necessary in the pandemic period, because in most jurisdictions, schools are not open and child care centres are cl

Human Resources committee  This is precisely why I'm turning to child care as both a source of employment and a liberator, a liberator for women who do find work to be able to get work because without child care they can't return. The schools are not opening until possibly next fall. Child care centres an

Human Resources committee  Let's start with the inadequacy of child care, which is a market failure. The Royal Commission on the Status of Women report that came out in 1970 is going to mark its 50th anniversary in December. We've been talking about the need for child care as part of the early education sy

Human Resources committee  I have a lot of thoughts on it. I've been quite public about my position that I do not think the CERB is a portal to a basic income, and I don't think a basic income is the right approach, given the needs. We need excellent basic services. We don't need money. We need to make s

Human Resources committee  The short answer is yes. In Ontario, we had essential workers supported by free, around-the-clock child care for shift workers. That gives you a sense of how essential they were. They are essential workers, doing their essential work, so, yes, they should have been deemed essenti

Human Resources committee  Sure.

Human Resources committee  It's an excellent question and I thank you for it, but I do believe it would help professional women far more than low-income women. What we have seen is that most of the people who lost their jobs, that were deemed not essential, are low-paid workers. We have to get them back in

Finance committee  Thank you, Chair, and thank you for this hard-working committee. I don't now how you guys do it. That's a lot of witnesses you are hearing from. I'm going to do my best to be quick. Yesterday, the Bank of Canada told us that the worst could soon be over for the economy. That's g

Finance committee  If you think we're facing a wave of mortgage failures—and we are—the wave of debt that is going to be coming at us can't be ducked, nor can the wave of insolvency for businesses and households. That is going to happen, so the question is simple: Who holds the debt? As I said in

Finance committee  Wow, there's a bunch of stuff there. I don't know what to do immediately about the lost generation. We're looking at numbers that we have never seen before. About half of Canadians aged 25 to 34 have lost more than half of their income. They have to get back into the workforce.

Finance committee  It has been sent already. It's in the clerk's hands.

Finance committee  I'm going to pass. I'm happy to answer Mr. Julian privately, because I don't think most people much care what's happening to child care, based on the conversation. My views are out there. You have seen them. Also, plenty of you can see them in the report I did to HUMA. I'm just

Finance committee  It is.

Finance committee  Sweetheart, we've been talking about it since 1970. We're coming up on the 50th anniversary of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women report. We've been talking about it for 50 years now, or at least women have been—not so much governments—but we keep trying.