SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 288 - Feb/29/24

Mr. Ziad Aboultaif (Edmonton Manning, CPC)

Feb/29/24 3:38:36 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the speech from the member was sort of all over the place. I just want to ask him a very simple question: Is he aware of the closure of so many day cares in Alberta because of the $10-a-day program?

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux

Feb/29/24 3:38:56 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-35

Madam Speaker, what the member needs to do, along with others who have raised that particular issue, is start to get serious with the jurisdiction of the Province of Alberta. He tries to imply that the millions of dollars Ottawa is providing to Alberta is causing closures in day cares. I suggest it has a lot more to do with the ways in which it is being administered in working with the child care providers. It is somewhat concerning in the sense that this is not just about the status quo of overall numbers. It is important that the number of spaces actually increases, and I believe that is what Bill C-35 is all about, good-quality child care and increasing the availability of spots. Working with certain provinces, in particular the province of Alberta, and seeing what they are doing is something that is worthwhile. Maybe the standing committee can look at that—

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

Feb/29/24 3:40:05 p.m.
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We need to allow the same amount of time for answers as for questions. Questions and comments, the hon. member for Laurentides—Labelle.

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Ms. Marie-Hélène Gaudreau (Laurentides—Labelle, BQ)

Feb/29/24 3:40:15 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I really appreciated my colleague's comments. Quebec has been using the early childhood centre model for 25 years. We are well aware that the role of the official opposition is to oppose, which is what it is doing. However, we know this program's value and its economic benefits. We know how much it contributes economically, and we also know its preventive benefits from a health perspective. My question is simple. I would like my colleague to tell me, is there is any hidden reason that would explain why we should not move forward and why the Conservatives are still against it?

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux

Feb/29/24 3:40:57 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is very concerning. That is why I highlighted in my comments the wording the Conservatives use all the time when they say they are going to “fix the budget”, because fixing the budget means cuts. That is why I drew the analogy with the Canada Health Act. It was the Province of Saskatchewan that initiated the idea, which the national government jumped all over. We got a national health care program, we brought in the health care act, and now, through time, it has become very sacred to all Canadians. At the end of the day, let us recognize that Quebec did a wonderful thing, which has really contributed. It liberated a lot of people and is having such a positive impact. We need to try to take advantage of the Quebec idea, nationalize it, bring in the legislation and enable more people across Canada to be liberated to do the things they want to do, as a direct result of having affordable child care. That is something the Conservatives should be supporting, but I am genuinely concerned that part of “fix the budget” means getting rid of child care, and Canadians need to be told.

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Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)

Feb/29/24 3:42:13 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-35

Madam Speaker, again I put on the record the Green Party's strong support for early learning, enriched child care accessible to all across Canada. I note that in Bill C-35 there would be a number of improvements, but one of the pieces is that while funding would be required, there is no particular funding mechanism mentioned. I want to reference that I was honoured to know the amazing Canadian social justice activist and journalist June Callwood. June always argued that what we needed was a baby investment tax. She would have put it on corporations, and every corporation would be asked whether it had done its bit. Are we investing in our toddlers, our children? It is the strongest investment we could make. Is the Government of Canada considering mechanisms to ensure strong, sustainable funding directed to early childhood education?

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux

Feb/29/24 3:43:16 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, this is the second major investment the government has put into the children of Canada. The first one was the Canada child benefit, which lifted hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty by making substantial reforms. Today it is making child care more affordable. I must admit this is the first time I heard the idea the leader of the Green Party put on the table, and I look forward to no doubt having more discussion on that particular issue. I do not know too much about it.

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Mr. Alexandre Boulerice (Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, NDP)

Feb/29/24 3:44:08 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, obviously, as Quebeckers, we have known for quite some time now how important it is to have accessible public child care. Not only is this a feminist and forward-thinking policy, but it is also good economic policy because it gives women in particular the opportunity to return to the labour market. Economist Pierre Fortin estimated that, in the first few years of Quebec's child care program, 70,000 women were able to return to the labour market, since they no longer had to stay home because child care costs were far too high. I would like my colleague to tell us more about how this is a feminist, social and economic program.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux

Feb/29/24 3:44:51 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the member is so correct. We often talk about the social benefits. I must not underestimate the impact it has on the economy itself. When we free up opportunities for wider participation in the workforce, that contributes immensely to the Canadian economy, thereby raising the standard of living for all of us. Not only, as I say, is there a social benefit to it; there is also a very healthy and strong economic benefit to it. That is why it has proven to be so successful in the province of Quebec and ultimately would be equally successful nationwide as a direct result.

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Mr. Tim Louis (Kitchener—Conestoga, Lib.)

Feb/29/24 3:45:54 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the last question was much the same, but I would like to hear more of an explanation. In Kitchener—Conestoga, I have talked to many parents to whom the affordability and accessibility of child care are very important. At the same time, there is a labour shortage right now. I was hoping the member could expand on how early learning and child care that is affordable and accessible is not only a good social program to have but would also help get more people back to work and not have to make the decision of staying home or getting back into the workplace.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux

Feb/29/24 3:46:24 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, let me give a bit of a generalized, hypothetical situation: There are many women who would go into post-secondary education at a technical vocational facility or a university shortly after having a child. Child care can be a challenge in terms of affordability. Making it more affordable enables an individual to practise what they have studied or to get into the workforce. There are so many jobs that could be filled. That is why I say it creates opportunities in many different ways, and that is just one very small example of the type of impact it could have in a real, tangible way.

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Mrs. Cathay Wagantall (Yorkton—Melville, CPC)

Feb/29/24 3:47:20 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am hearing a misrepresentation of what the members are hearing from this side of the House and that I know Canadians are hearing clearly: it is the people who are low-income, single moms and individuals who truly need day care, who are not able to afford it who need the $10-a-day child care supply first. What has happened with the route the government has gone is that the $10-a-day child care is going to people who already have their children in day care. All the other people are having to wait for spaces to be developed and for new people to be prepared to teach and care for children, so this is not a good business plan. Why did the government not choose to put the funding into those who need it most? Those who can afford it could wait until the program develops further. At the moment, day cares are having to shut down because $10-a-day care is not providing the finances that the care providers need. Therefore there are children who need care. There are parents who are poor, who cannot get the care, and there are not enough spaces. What we are saying on this side of the floor, to which the member is welcome to respond, is that the model is not being provided in the most beneficial way to Canadians and in the most efficient way for the tax dollars that are going into the program.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux

Feb/29/24 3:48:40 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I completely disagree with the member. What this tells me is that the Conservative Party does not understand what is actually taking place in the agreements between Ottawa and the different jurisdictions. The agreements that are in place not only help facilitate the spaces that currently exist but also provide additional incentive to expand the overall number of spaces. The Conservative Party is all over the map on this. Pre-election, the Conservatives were going to rip up the bill. Who knows what they are really going to do?

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Mr. Ben Carr (Winnipeg South Centre, Lib.)

Feb/29/24 3:49:25 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-35

Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Surrey Centre. I appreciate, as always, the opportunity to rise in the House on behalf of my constituents in Winnipeg South Centre. It is timely that I have the opportunity to talk about this bill because just last week, during our constituency week, I visited Splash Early Learning Centre in my riding. It was a wonderful opportunity for me to get a tour of the facility. I noted that there were some really interesting and innovative things they were doing, and I will come back to that later on in my remarks. As my hon. colleague from Winnipeg North has mentioned on a number of occasions today in the chamber, our home province of Manitoba has realized $10-a-day day care, and this is part of the $30-billion investment over a five-year period that is going to help benefit families, kids and ultimately educators throughout our public education and private systems across the country as a result of this investment. A system that helps to ensure families across Canada can access high-quality, affordable and inclusive early learning and child care is critical no matter where they live. As has been said many times in this chamber, child care is not a luxury. It is a necessity. Parents should have the opportunity to build both a family and a career, and children deserve the best possible start in life. As members know, I spent a good chunk of my career as a teacher and as a principal, and there is no doubt, in my experiences working with young people and families, that when they had access to early child care and early learning opportunities, we saw the benefits of that later on in their educational journeys. Bill C-35, which we are debating at the moment, would reinforce the Government of Canada's long-term commitment to early learning and child care. It would do so by articulating the federal goal, vision and principles for a Canada-wide system. Bill C-35 would also enshrine our commitment to sustained and ongoing funding to provinces, territories and indigenous peoples. In addition, Bill C-35 would enhance accountability through regular reporting to Parliament on the progress towards an early learning and child care system. Finally, Bill C-35 would establish in law the national advisory council on early learning and child care. I will say that I think one of the most important and critical components of this bill is those last pieces I referenced. In particular, they are the necessity that Parliament report back on the progress that has been made in the agreements across the country and the national advisory council. I think it is critical that the input of experts from across Canada is taken into consideration. Early learning and child care are essential needs. The early learning and child care system will drive economic growth, increase mothers' participation in the workforce, and guarantee that no parent will ever have to choose between returning to work or staying at home to take care of children. To achieve these goals, we need to put in place mechanisms that will ensure that the early learning and child care system runs smoothly. One of those mechanisms is without a doubt the National Advisory Council on Early Learning and Child Care. The National Advisory Council on Early Learning and Child Care will play an important role in providing third-party expert advice and thereby complement federal expertise for designing the system. The council will serve as a consultative forum on the issues and challenges that the early learning and child care system might face. The council will represent the early learning and child care sector. Its members will reflect Canada's geographic, cultural and linguistic diversity. I am pleased that my colleagues from the Bloc Québécois and my colleagues from Quebec in the other parties are here. I think that the Quebec model is outstanding. As my colleague from Winnipeg North mentioned a few minutes ago, there are many lessons we can learn from the Quebec model, which has had many success stories in recent decades. I recognize there are ongoing challenges, just as there are at the beginning of any program. Of course, $10-a-day day care is a critical component. The cost is essential to ensuring that families can access this much-needed service. However, at the same time, we do need to continue to focus, and I acknowledge that, on some of the other challenges that face our system. This would include making sure that we have enough early childhood educators, they are well paid and there are incentives, such as benefit packages, that come along with the work so that these educators do not get scooped up into the system to go on to be, for example, educational assistants. This also means working with our colleges and universities. I am really pleased to know that, when I speak with early childhood educators and those post-secondary institutions and families on the ground in my riding of Winnipeg South Centre in Manitoba, I am seeing that this is starting to take place, but there is no doubt that there is room to grow. One of the really interesting opportunities that are presented is the partnerships that can arise through early childhood learning centres and other community infrastructure, and this was displayed to me last week. As I mentioned, I went to Splash Early Learning Centre. What was really interesting, and I think it is perhaps something we should be talking about across party lines and across the country, is that, in this particular instance, there was a church in my riding, and the church was starting to see that the congregation was diminishing over time for a variety of different reasons. The church decided that it was going to invest upfront and renovate a substantial portion of the space that it occupied and then, in turn, after the renovation was made, it was going to rent this out to the early childhood education centre. That is exactly what happened. This has provided the faith-based community, as this particular example is a church in my riding, with the ability to generate more revenue, which it was losing through other means, while, at the same time, making sure we can contribute to the well-being of young people in our riding by creating the spaces they need to experience quality child care. I am not sure if I completely understand some of the arguments I have heard from colleagues of mine across the way. I come from a profession, as I have mentioned before, in education. This included working for a number of years in the northwest part of Winnipeg. This is a part of the city with large numbers of newcomers to Canada, large indigenous populations, large numbers of members of our community who are typically disenfranchised and who suffer as a result of a variety of barriers and obstacles, both historical and current, and challenges in accessing systems. I think this is truly inspirational. I think this is truly beneficial. I think that, when we look back in the future at the investments the Government of Canada made and the laws we passed in relation to early childhood education in the country, they will be looked upon as some of the most important and most beneficial we have made in our history. As I mentioned, when we see students by the time they get to middle school and high school, where I spent most of my time as an educator, the benefits of having access to early childhood education are very obvious. It is not only the benefits to the children that are of the utmost importance in the context of this conversation, but also what it does to the workforce. We know that there has been a historic increase in the number of women who are participating in the workforce by virtue of the fact that they now have access in greater ways, with more opportunity, and more affordable opportunities, than they have had in the past. That has allowed for us to have more economic drivers, greater economic participation and more equity and equality across this country. In conclusion to my remarks on this important and historic piece of legislation today, I want to note that one piece of criticism that seems to be coming from certain colleagues across the way is on the challenge of there being people who can afford child care, and this seems to be their preoccupation while, at the same time, we hear, day after day, criticisms about an affordability crisis in Canada. We are addressing that affordability crisis, of course, in a variety of different ways. One of the marquee ways in which we are addressing it is through ensuring that there is access to low-cost, quality child care in this country.

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Mrs. Cathay Wagantall (Yorkton—Melville, CPC)

Feb/29/24 3:59:36 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am going to make a comment and extend a question on the member's last statement about making access available. That is the whole issue here. The spaces that already existed, that are now $10 a day, were already filled, and individuals who truly need care for their children are not able to get it because the spaces are not available yet. The access is available for people who can afford the care because they are already in the system. There are people who truly need that space, and we want those people to be involved in the workforce because they are people who probably have a single income. Why would we not work toward creating more access, as the priority, so that people are not being bumped? Institutions and day care centres can no longer afford to run their facilities because they are not getting the funding they need. The government, I know, has pushed a lot of it down to the provinces, but it is flipped backward—

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

Feb/29/24 4:00:40 p.m.
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We need to give the hon. member the opportunity to answer.

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Mr. Ben Carr

Feb/29/24 4:00:43 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the question from my colleague across the way. I will answer it in two parts. The first is that we are. Part of the money that is being invested into the provincial deals we have signed is to make sure that we have an increase in the number of spaces, that we subsidize wages, and that we look at partnerships with colleges and universities so there are more spaces. To the second part of the question, I do not quite understand what my colleague means when she says those “who truly need” it, as though those who do not currently have access do not truly need it. There are lots of people in our community that do not have the access. Of course, I cannot speak to the context in the province she comes from, but I know that $10-a-day day care is a critical component of supporting the needs that people in my riding of Winnipeg South Centre and my home province of Manitoba require.

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Ms. Sylvie Bérubé (Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, BQ)

Feb/29/24 4:01:47 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we know that the federal government has signed a five-year agreement with the Quebec government. Regarding this announcement between the two governments, the Prime Minister suggested that the federal government would continue to help Quebec while respecting Quebec's jurisdictions. Will the government keep its word and continue with the agreement after five years?

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Mr. Ben Carr

Feb/29/24 4:02:22 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, that would probably be a question for the minister. As I mentioned a few minutes ago, Quebec has an outstanding model. We have learned a lot of positive lessons about creating a national system based on what Quebec has put in place. Unfortunately, that is not a question I can answer on behalf of the government. It would probably be better to ask the minister.

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Mr. Peter Julian (New Westminster—Burnaby, NDP)

Feb/29/24 4:03:02 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, child care is vitally important. We have seen the Quebec model. British Columbia has also done an amazing job. The B.C. NDP government has provided and worked on building a child care network across British Columbia. What perturbs me about the discussion on this bill is that the Conservatives are blocking the bill, refusing to let it go through. The Conservatives are very clear about what they want to do. They have a four-point program: axe the services, build up the billionaires, fix elections and stop democracy. That is what Conservatives are all about. I do not understand, when they say they are concerned about cost-of-living issues, why they would block a bill that would help so many families. Child care is essential for raising families. Why does the member think the Conservatives are refusing to let this bill go through?

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