Finance committee  If there is going to be a benefit directly to families, then certainly it's always been the position of the child care movement that child care is just one piece of a family policy to make sure that money is flowing in a way that is non-taxable, that does not penalize low incomes, that really is there to provide support for all families.

Finance committee  I'm not sure whether any of our associations have a real position on that, but I guess it really gets to the issue of how we value women's work, and whether women are caring for children in the home or in a child care system. It is a very undervalued, under-recognized, and important contributor to our economy that is just not counted in anywhere.

Finance committee  So that may be of interest to you folks that are here from the investment industry, as well, because there aren't very many investments out there that give you that kind of return. Judy, I think your question about how we help the Conservative members understand the child care dilemma that we face really goes to people's familiarity with the kind of child care that we're talking about.

Finance committee  Thank you very much. In my two and a half minutes I'm going to talk quickly and hope that you've had a chance to read the full brief. I want to focus on the fact that in a time of increasing labour shortages it's very ironic that a significant subset of the Canadian population eager and ready to work is doubly ghettoized.