44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 6, 2023 10:00AM
Mr. Speaker, as my hon. colleague knows, I was here for the report stage debate and can attest that no new arguments came from the Conservatives during the six hours of debate, so I do not think we are rushing anything. Let us recall that the only thing the Conservatives were looking to amend was the short title of the bill, which actually does not propose any real amendment to the legislation. If the Conservatives do not have anything actual to propose, then I think it is fair, and Canadians would expect, that we move this important piece of legislation—
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The minister is not allowed to, even inaccurately, refer to the presence or absence of members. I do not think she was actually here for the whole debate, but regardless, she is not supposed to claim she was here, if I understand the rules around presence and absence.
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Mr. Speaker, the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan may want to revisit the rules. Members are allowed to refer to the absence or presence of themselves.
Some hon. members: Oh, oh.
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- Jun/6/23 3:22:27 p.m.
- Watch
I am just going to wait for this debate to subside, and then I will move on.
Members can refer to whether they are here or not, but they cannot refer to other members' being here or not.
Questions and comments, the hon. member for New Westminster—Burnaby.
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Mr. Speaker, I remember the 10 dismal, terrible years under the Harper regime, when there was no support at all for child care in this country.
It is time now for things to change for child care. The NDP has been a strong advocate for putting in place agreements that would actually allow parents, who are sometimes paying up to $2,000 a month, that relief. This is part of the NDP package that includes dental care, the grocery rebate and affordable housing. These are things that opposition parties should be working on. Tragically, we have seen the Conservatives block every single piece of legislation that would actually benefit people. While NDP members, the worker bees of Parliament, have been working hard to actually make sure the government does the right thing, Conservatives have blocked everything.
Would my colleague tell us why the Conservatives would block something as valuable as child care? It just does not make sense when we know the needs of parents and families right across this country.
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Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague's question is one that stumps all of us.
During the report stage debate, the Conservatives kept saying that they care about child care, yet they were doing everything they could to delay the advance of Bill C-35. We believe very strongly in making sure this legislation is in place.
As my hon. colleague was referring to, one of the very first things that former prime minister Harper did when he formed government in 2006 was rip up the child care agreements with provinces and territories. We hope that Bill C-35 would make it harder for a future Conservative government do just that. Conservatives would have to justify to Canadians why they do not actually believe in providing them affordable child care.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the minister for her intervention.
In the child care program, the government was kind enough to recognize Quebec's expertise and the fact that Quebec already has a good system. It gave Quebec the right to opt out with full compensation.
Is the government considering doing the same thing with its dental care plan?
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Mr. Speaker, what I can say is that the substance of Bill C‑35 falls squarely within federal jurisdiction. It does not impose conditions on the provinces and territories. This bill is exclusively federal in scope.
We have an excellent relationship and an excellent agreement with Quebec. It is an asymmetrical agreement with the Province of Quebec recognizing its leadership on child care and early learning.
Since we are debating Bill C‑35, I will stop there.
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Mr. Speaker, I come from a rural area and hear from young moms and other moms all the time. We do not have child care spots available; that is just the reality in our rural areas.
Privatized child care spots are all that can be found, if people can find them in home day care. We do not have enough workers. There are not enough people going through programs in colleges to support the day cares that we do have. We cannot get after-school or before-school child care for hours for people who work shift work.
What would the member like to say to those moms in rural areas who just cannot find child care, when this bill would actually do nothing to help them find child care?
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Mr. Speaker, I would say through you to the member and those moms that this is exactly why Bill C-35 exists. It is so typical of the Conservatives to say there is a problem, throw their hands up and do nothing. What Bill C-35 would do is commit the federal government to long-term funding to create additional spaces to make sure there is that access right across the country. In fact, included in the legislation is a comment specifically about rural child care. The member should talk to the provinces and territories, because they have really good access plans when it comes to increasing access to child care.
However, if it were not for this legislation and those agreements, none of those problems would be solved. We are working to do that.
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Mr. Speaker, the minister really hit the nail on the head. Conservatives are complaining that they want to get this bill right and want to do all this work on it, yet the only amendment they brought forward was to change the short title. Let us think about that. They are satisfied with everything except the name of the bill, as if that has any significance to Canadians.
This is a bill and a program that has been adopted by every jurisdiction in the country, including those of all the Conservative premiers throughout the country. I wonder if the minister could comment on the success of getting a program together that has been bought into by the entire country.
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Kingston and the Islands is right. There is only one political party in this country that is opposed to it, and it is the federal Conservatives. Every provincial Conservative party has signed on to the early learning and child care agreement. It does raise the question as to what is wrong with the federal Conservatives that makes them not believe in affordable, accessible, high-quality, inclusive child care.
Even some of the provinces that were the last to sign on, provinces led by Conservatives—Alberta, New Brunswick and Ontario—have fully embraced the Canada-wide early learning and child care initiative and are doing an excellent job of rolling it out. It is not going to be built in one day, but they are doing a really significant job in terms of adding additional spaces, creating more affordability and ensuring high quality.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank everybody who has contributed to this debate, a debate that feels like it is going to go on forever with the Conservatives' stalling tactics.
I certainly agree that we are in a child care desert. The Conservatives made note of the CCPA report time and time again. It was never about privatization of child care, however. It was about a worker shortage and the need to ensure that workers are provided with benefits, livable wages, retirement provisions and better working conditions, and the need to put forth a real workforce strategy in the child care field so that we have caregivers who can help deal with this crisis.
I am wondering if the minister can confirm whether or not her government is ready now to put forward a comprehensive workforce strategy that is funded and supported by the federal government.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for her collaboration on Bill C-35. It has been an absolute pleasure to work with her on advancing this bill. We have had many conversations, and I share her deep commitment to ensuring that workers are fairly compensated and have the supports they need to thrive as child care workers.
Workforce supports are indeed part of each of the bilateral agreements and action plans. I will be meeting with my provincial and territorial counterparts this summer to come up with a more comprehensive workforce strategy.
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Mr. Speaker, it is really frustrating to hear nonsense coming from the member for Kingston and the Islands, but that is nothing new.
He said that Conservatives only had one amendment; that is not true. In committee, there were a lot of Conservative amendments, a lot of very thoughtful, reasoned amendments that were brought forward to try to improve the bill. To then say that we are going to prevent any further debate on this bill because we do not like what the Liberals are bringing forward is frankly disrespectful to all parents who are struggling to find child care right now. That is so disrespectful.
I have heard from hundreds of families, parents, moms and dads who cannot even find a space. They need flexibility. They do not need Monday-to-Friday, Ottawa-knows-best child care. Frankly, the government has not been listening to them. I am asking not to have this time allocation and to listen to the families and allow some time for this flexibility.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate my colleague on the birth of her second child and welcome her back to the House. It is great to see her here with her baby.
I would just like to set the record straight, though, because there is actually nothing in the legislation that would prevent flexibility. In fact, in her home province of Alberta, when it comes to auspice, there is a mix of for-profit and not-for-profit care in the growth plan. There are also some really creative ideas about after-hours care and irregular time schedules in her own home community to make sure that child care is available.
Despite what the member was saying and despite what the Conservatives are saying, there is nothing in the bill that would prevent that kind of innovative, flexible child care from advancing. Home care is included as well.
We want to make sure parents have choice across this country; they do not currently have it, because it is not available.
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Mr. Speaker, I just went to the Boys and Girls Club in Parksville and met with the staff there. They shared with me that there are 45 kids on their wait-list and talked about the impact of child care and the agreement with British Columbia and Canada and how critical it is that we continue to move forward.
This is also well supported by the chambers of commerce and the business community in my riding. It is absolutely critical in helping to solve the labour market shortage. As cited by my colleague from Winnipeg Centre, the biggest challenge is the workforce and to make sure there are early child care educators who are trained and will be able to be paid well and receive a living wage. That was absolutely essential. Of course, affordable housing came into the mix.
Is the minister going to come back with a comprehensive strategy on how she is going to resolve these differences? Absolutely, the situation is urgent in all the communities in my riding, and it is urgent that we move forward rapidly.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the NDP members as well as the Bloc Québécois members for their support, because we are going to be able to move forward with Bill C-35 despite the delay tactics of the Conservatives. For all of the reasons he mentioned, it is important to move this legislation through the House so that we can ensure Canadians have access to high-quality, affordable and inclusive child care.
When it comes to the workforce, British Columbia is doing some excellent work. It has instituted a $4-an-hour increase for all child care workers. It will be coming out with a wage grid soon. We are going to continue to work in partnership with British Columbia and in fact all provinces and territories to make sure the workforce is well compensated and well respected right across this country.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by applauding our colleague's leadership. I thank her for what she said about the connection with Quebec families who have reaped the very real benefits of affordable and accessible child care for almost 25 years now. I have certainly experienced it myself.
I would also like to mention the $6 billion allocated to the Government of Quebec to further improve the system, which is not perfect yet.
I would like her thoughts, as a young mother, on how investing in accessible and affordable child care can have a positive impact in terms of promoting gender equality, reducing poverty and ensuring the equitable, meaningful development of all children across the country.
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague held my position before me and I know he is also a champion of child care and early childhood development centres.
This is an excellent question. We are seeing results already. Since November, more women have been active in Canada's workforce than ever before. Part of the reason is our early childhood and child care program. We are seeing an increase in women's economic empowerment.
I wonder why the Conservatives do not support economic empowerment, based on their track record over the past 25 years in Quebec.
We also know that early childhood is the most important stage of development in every person's life. This program, which is based on quality and inclusion, is critical to ensuring that current and future generations of children have greater opportunities than we did.
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