- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- Conservative
- Peterborough—Kawartha
- Ontario
- Voting Attendance: 67%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $106,196.43
- Government Page
- Jun/3/24 3:30:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present the dissenting report that the Conservatives are tabling on behalf of what we call the “Supporting Women's Economic Empowerment in Canada” study done in the Standing Committee on the Status of Women.
This is a seven-page dissenting report that we feel is important to put forward, because some of these points were not covered well in the study. There are four main points that we have put into the dissenting report, because one of the key messages that was overlooked throughout this study was the access to affordable, quality child care.
In 2021, when the Government of Canada rolled out its national early learning and child care program, one of the fundamental pillars it presented was making it easier for women to return to the labour force. However, as we heard continuously throughout testimony during this study, it is quite the contrary.
Here is what we heard throughout the study. Women entrepreneurs are being targeted for extinction with no room for private representation; child care operators are closing their doors; parents have lack of choice and face long wait lists; and women's participation in the labour force is declining.
I will conclude with the following, “Canada's child care entrepreneurs are asking...whether they have a place in Canada's national child care program or a future in child care at all.” “It's to the detriment of all women that child care entrepreneurs are being targeted for extinction through the nationalization of Canada's child care sector.” Those are quotes from one of the witnesses, Andrea Hannen.
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- Feb/29/24 1:24:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as you can see, I am very happy to get up all day, every day to elevate the voices of the families that have been left out by this failed Liberal-NDP policy, in particular, families with kids with special needs. We know that both neurodivergence and the need for the labour force to accommodate these kids are going up. When fees are capped, as they have been under the Liberal-NDP program, we are seeing those most vulnerable suffer.
Has my member for Northumberland—Peterborough South heard these stories? Have his constituents shared with him how kids with special needs are missing out, particularly with this program?
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Madam Speaker, that is a great question. There is no national labour strategy.
We have seen it. We saw it in the Order Paper question that this is what the Liberals are doing, but they are not going to track it. They are not going to measure it, and they are not going to include the labour minister.
That is the reality of what we have been pushing for. That is what I would say. I would say it is not being addressed. The government is not going to just pull people from the sky for these positions. In fact, there is a mass exodus from these positions. Early childhood educators are incredible humans, just as are all the people who care for our children in safe environments.
However, there is no national labour strategy, which we put forth as an amendment. The Liberals voted it down and unfortunately, so did the NDP.
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Madam Speaker, I think there is a lot to unpack. In Quebec, there are still 70,000 kids on a wait-list. I think it is great to look to Quebec because, as I say, it is the DeLorean. We can go back to the future and learn from it.
In terms of the private sector turning a profit, I find it interesting. If we have women entrepreneurs who are just putting money back into the system, is that not what the public system is doing?
How is Quebec closing this gap of 70,000 without accessing that? How is it addressing the labour shortage?
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Madam Speaker, I really enjoy working with my hon. colleague. I know she is fighting for autonomy for indigenous peoples as well, which we support.
I think what is important here is to say that we absolutely put forward that amendment. When we are looking at recruitment and retention of a labour strategy, there is nothing in this bill. We put it forth in committee, and it was turned down.
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Mr. Speaker, one of the things I am seeing come out of this debate is that there seems to be an inability to see the word “and”. The Liberals and the NDP love to put the word “or” in their policy and legislation.
My question for the member opposite is this. Does he not believe that all families have different circumstances and different needs, that this policy or legislation excludes so many families that are on wait-lists and so many women entrepreneurs who cannot access this and therefore cannot provide the day care needed for those people on wait-lists, and that it does not provide a labour strategy to help with frontline burnout?
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Madam Speaker, the member is absolutely right. There is a wild promise of 250,000 child care spaces, but I have not heard one detail on how that is going to be achieved. It is certainly not in the bill. Let us sit down and listen, especially to these places that have no more space.
What are we going to do? Well, the private sector is critical. We cannot meet the demand without both. We need equal access. We need fair access. Parents need to be able to choose, and then we need to figure out the labour strategy. There is no mention of a national labour strategy in the bill, and until that is addressed, this problem is not going to go away; it is going to get worse.
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Madam Speaker, I just got called an hon. minister, so I thank the minister for that.
The reality is there is nothing in the bill that shows any solutions. Yes, we are addressing the problems; that is what my whole speech was dedicated to doing. However, how is the government going to create 250,000 spaces when many of these day care locations physically do not have the space? How is it going to increase the labour force? There is no national strategy in this bill. Why is private day care not represented? Why is there no private representation on the national council? Yes, affordable quality child care is critical, but if it cannot be accessed, it does not exist. This bill does not cover it.
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- Sep/20/22 2:13:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the new Conservative leader will put people first: their retirement, their paycheques, their homes and their country.
We will bring hope to doctors, nurses and engineers, and others who are immigrants to this country but are blocked from working in their professions for no other reason than that they come from another country. We will team up with provinces to guarantee that, within 60 days, an immigrant applying to work in their profession will get a yes or no based on their tested abilities, not based on where they come from.
We will back up 30,000 small study loans for those in need of time off work to study up to Canadian standards. The current labour challenge felt in my riding of Peterborough—Kawartha and across our nation is substantial. Increased immigration is key for getting through it.
Enough talking. Remove the gatekeepers to get more doctors, more nurses, more engineers and more inflation-proof paycheques for newcomers to Canada.
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