Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I recently had the opportunity to be in Manitoba to speak with some parents about what they are facing there. I had the opportunity to announce, alongside the Deputy Prime Minister, that we have come to an agreement on our national school food program that will see, this school year, over 19,000 more children receive food at school. It is an over $17-million commitment over three year…
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Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we continue to fight for Canadian families. How do we do that? One way is the Canada child benefit. Families with children under the age of six can receive almost $7,800 each and every year per child. This is tangible support that arrives each and every month to help families afford the basics or whatever their child needs. This is how we fight on this side …
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Mr. Speaker, we all suffer when we see folks in our communities who are struggling. There is more work to be done, which is exactly why, on this side of the House, we continue to fight for Canadians, to fight for high-quality child care, to fight for the Canada child benefit and to fight for the environment and the carbon rebate. However, let us not kid ourselves. We know that the programs Canadia…
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Speaker, I recently got to meet a young mom named Madeleine from my community, who shared with me how important the Canada child benefit has been to her young family in these early days. The Conservatives have made their position very clear. They would cut the Canada child benefit and leave the 4.3 million moms across this country like Madeleine without the support they need. That is what Conserva…
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Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, I am proud that in 2016 we introduced the Canada child benefit. There are 4.3 million families and over seven million children across this country who receive this benefit each and every month. That is $547 a month for parents with children ages six to 18, or $648 each month. I got to speak recently with a new mom named Madeleine, who shared how impactful th…
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Mr. Speaker, we all suffer when some of our fellow Canadians are suffering. We have made some historic investments, including in 2016 when we brought in the Canada child benefit, which is providing support to over 4.3 million families each and every month. An allowance goes in their bank account every month to help with the basics. This is how we are fighting for and supporting Canadian families.
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Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House we are focused on fighting for Canadian families. What does that mean? It means making a billion-dollar commitment to families and children across this country to bring forward a school food program that will feed over 400,000 children each and every year. We have already seen progress with Newfoundland and Labrador on board with putting it forward in their s…
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Mr. Speaker, we all suffer when we know that fellow Canadians are struggling. We have made historic investments as a government to ensure that our social security net is strong for Canadians, whether that is with $10-a-day child care or restoring the retirement age to 65. However, let us not pretend that the Conservatives really care about helping Canadians. If they did, they would be supporting t…
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Mr. Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to talk about the child care numbers that are up. Just last week, Comox Valley Schools announced a new child care facility with 108 new spots for children. In Winnipeg, the Splash child care centre has announced an additional 40 new spots for children. That is 148 new spots for kids here in our country. High-quality, affordable care is what is up.
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Mr. Speaker, I am thrilled to have the opportunity once again today to talk about what is up. I will tell members what is up. Women's participation in the workforce is way up and has reached a record high. New child care spots are being built, and that means 250,000 new spaces by 2026. We know the Conservatives would like to cut these programs, but on this side of the House, we will fight for Cana…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity that the Conservatives have given me to speak about what is up. Do members know what is up? The number of child care spaces available for families across this country is up. In addition, women's participation in the workforce is at an all-time high. Because of our investments in the early childhood educator workforce, we have also seen that wages have gone…
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Mr. Speaker, we all suffer when we know that some of our fellow Canadians are suffering. We have made historic investments as a government, delivering programs and investing in the well-being of Canadians. However, let us not kid ourselves. Conservatives would cut these very programs that Canadians are relying on. They would cut child care. They would cut the food program for kids in schools. They…
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Mr. Speaker, Conservatives have just admitted they would cut the very programs that Canadian families are relying on, families who are benefiting from—
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Mr. Speaker, as we have just returned from the summer break, I would like to take a moment to talk about the programs that a Conservative government professes to want to cut. Over the summer, we have made a number of announcements on new, affordable, $10-a-day child care spots. Look at this: 600 new spots in B.C., 950 new spots in Manitoba, and here we have 5,000 new spots over the next year in Sa…
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Mr. Speaker, there we have it. Conservatives have just confirmed they will cut the programs that Canadian families are relying on, the $10-a-day child care that is saving families thousands of dollars, the national school food program that is ensuring that children are not at school hungry. We heard it here. They plan to cut the supports that Canadian families need.
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Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we are proud of the programs that we have put in place to help Canadian families get ahead. Generational fairness means asking the most fortunate Canadians to pay a little more. It means ensuring that our tax system is fair. Today, Conservatives have made it clear that they are not in favour of fairness. They would rather cancel $10-a-day child care, cancel …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for her advocacy. I know she cares deeply about early childhood education. I am happy to share back in response to her question that we are working with the provinces and territories on a national strategy for the workforce. I look forward to moving that forward. There is a lot of work to be done as we work to create 250,000 new spaces, and the early childhoo…
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Mr. Speaker, I have a really hard time believing that suddenly the Conservatives have an interest in doing what is best on behalf of Canadian families. If that were the case, they would have supported the Canada child benefit, which will be indexed to inflation next month, supporting Canadian families even more. They would have supported moving forward with early learning and child care at $10-a-d…
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Mr. Speaker, in terms of what we just heard, it is quite the contrary. We know that 750,000 Canadian families are now able to access affordable, inclusive, accessible child care through our child care plan. That translates into thousands of dollars of savings each and every year for Canadian families. We will continue to work with the provinces and territories to ensure more spaces are created, bu…
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Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives want to talk about numbers today, so let us talk about a few of those numbers: four, the number of consecutive months that we have seen inflation decrease in this country; 750,000, the number of families benefiting from our affordable early learning and child care; 1.3 million, the number of Canadians who have been lifted out of poverty with our policies; and 400,000…
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Mr. Speaker, we all suffer when we see fellow Canadians suffering, which is why we set concrete poverty reduction targets. We set a target to reduce poverty by 50% by 2030. There are 1.3 million fewer Canadians living in poverty today than there were when the Conservatives were in government, and this includes hundreds of thousands of children. That said, more work needs to be done, which is exact…
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Mr. Speaker, I find this question very disingenuous. We will take no lessons from the Conservatives when it comes to food bank usage, when they refuse and they vote against providing food to hungry kids at school.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to share today some of the feedback on our announcement of a national school food program in budget 2024. The Coalition for Healthy School Food released a statement applauding the federal government for the investment and urging all provinces and territories to sign on to the new policy to provide nutritious, culturally appropriate, sustainable and affordable food to scho…
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Mr. Speaker, I will say it once again: We see the Conservatives stand in the House and we hear them profess their support for Canadians, but I have to say that is not what we see day after day. When we put forward measures like the national school food program to ensure 400,000 more children have access to food at school, what do we see? We see the Conservatives vote against. We put forward the Ca…
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Mr. Speaker, I have a really hard time listening to the Conservatives on that side of the House profess concern for Canadians who are struggling, when we continue to see them vote against the measures that we put forward to support Canadians when they need us, such as efforts to support and strengthen the social safety net, like $10-a-day child care, like moving forward with a national school food…
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Mr. Speaker, today I would like to share one of the responses to budget 2024 and the announcement of the funding of the national school food program. Breakfast Club of Canada released a statement saying that this program “marks a turning point in the country's commitment to the well-being of all children”. Children learn best on a full stomach, and investments today in children are investments for…
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Mr. Speaker, I was actually just in Manitoba last week, where we were announcing supports for Canadian families with more investment in creating more child care spaces to relieve the burden for families. These are programs that we continue to invest in, such as the Canada child benefit, dental plan and investments in Canadians, while we see the Conservatives continue to vote against them.
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Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to be part of a government that believes that every child should have access to food while at school. That is why we announced our national school food program, ensuring that an additional 400,000 kids have access to food while at school. I do not understand why the Conservatives would oppose such a measure. How would this be controversial, getting food into children's…
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Mr. Speaker, what Canadians need to know is what the Conservative response is to the affordability challenges that Canadians are facing. It is cuts to the programs that they need and that are supporting them in a time of need. It is abandoning them when they most need it. On this side of the House, we have put forward a national school food program, $10-a-day child care and the Canada child benefi…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her continued advocacy on behalf of early learning child care workers. Our government continues to work with the provinces and territories, as evidenced most recently in our budget announcement, which includes loan forgiveness for early childhood educators who choose to work in rural and remote communities where we see the need for more educators and more chil…
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Mr. Speaker, do members know what helps moms and dads across this country afford a home? It is being able to have access to $10-a-day child care and get back into the workforce. We are seeing record numbers of women, of moms, getting back into the workforce, giving them the opportunity to contribute to their family finances and afford a safe place to live. In contrast to the Conservatives' continu…
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Mr. Speaker, I know my colleagues, fellow moms and dads, on this side of the House agree that no child should go to school hungry. That is why we announced, just last week, a $1-billion investment through budget 2024 for a national school food program. The program would ensure that children who arrive at school hungry have access to food, ensuring an additional 400,000 kids will be able to access …
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Mr. Speaker, it is quite the contrary. I have had the opportunity to speak with many moms and dads across this country about the programs that we have been putting in place to support them. I recently spoke to Chris, who lives in Peterborough. She is a Trent University student. She shared the impact of our waiving of the interest on student loans. She shared the impact of being able to access $10-…
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Mr. Speaker, it was wonderful to be in the Northwest Territories with my colleague. I met with Jude from the Yellowknife Day Care Association, Jennifer at Aurora College and many others who were able to share with me first-hand the impact of our Canada-wide system on making life more affordable. As of April 1, families in the Northwest Territories will see their child care fees reduced to an avera…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague is absolutely right. This is not just good social policy; it is incredible economic policy. We have seen, to date, the impact of that. We can look back, even to when Quebec first introduced this in 1997. We saw the impact, in that province alone, of women's participation in the workforce. We know now, here, across the country, that we are seeing an increase of participati…
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Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to speak to that question here today. Obviously, Bill C-35 is a bill that is critically important to families, to children and to our partners, our provincial, territorial and indigenous partners across this country. The bill has been thoroughly studied, both at the House committee and at the Senate committee. I would add that there have been numerous days of debate he…
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Mr. Speaker, what we are talking about here in the House is the importance of enshrining in law a national early learning and child care system. We cannot overstate how important this work is that we are doing here today and what this means, not only for today's parents and today's kids but for families for generations to come. As my colleague has pointed out, unfortunately we have not seen the su…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for her question. Truly, this is really about moving forward this important legislation for families and children across the country, as I have already said. It is worth pointing out that as we have entered into agreements with the provinces and territories and we work with our partners, including our indigenous partners, they are waiting with bated …
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Mr. Speaker, quite the contrary to what has been presented by the member opposite, women across this country are rejoining the workforce and are benefiting from this national early learning and child care program. As was mentioned, we entered into historic agreements, with almost $40 billion of investments made across this country, with the provinces, territories and indigenous partners. There is …
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for her question. This bill is very important for every family and every child across the country. We are doing critical work here, and this is really important to families and children across the country. As I mentioned earlier, this law was studied at length here at committee and also in the other place in its committees. There have been many days …
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Mr. Speaker, as we entered into agreements, and as we worked to build this nationwide system, it was incredibly important that we took a rights-based approach and that we worked alongside indigenous partners across the country, along with our provincial and territorial counterparts. I can tell members that, on the ground, it is really translating. I had the opportunity, just last week, to be in th…
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Mr. Speaker, let us be clear. Today we are passing into legislation the early learning and child care act, and it is a framework based on the principles of high-quality, inclusive, accessible and affordable child care. My colleague is referring to the mechanics of our agreements with the provinces and territories through which funding flows. We have made a $30-billion investment with the provinces…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague and I have had some great discussions about this bill over the last number of months. I appreciate her commitment to the workforce, and we are also very committed to the early childhood educator workforce. In saying that, we are working with the provinces and territories at our federal-provincial-territorial table to bring forward a workforce strategy to better support th…
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Mr. Speaker, undoubtedly, this government has done more for families and women than any other government in history, and I am incredibly proud to be part of that government and that work. This legislation, Bill C-35, is, rightly put, just one piece of the hard work we have done to support women and families. I look to the Canada child benefit, a program that families can rely on each and every mon…
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Mr. Speaker, I am really glad to sit on this side of the House, where we invest in families and continue to do the hard work. We recognize that, from day one, it is not going to be perfect and not everyone is going to access it, but that does not mean we would abandon it. It does not mean we would stop. It means we would work harder. This is important work. With rose-coloured glasses, I hope the m…
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moved that the second reading of, and concurrence in, the amendment made by the Senate to Bill C-35, An Act respecting early learning and child care in Canada. Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time today with the member for Sherbrooke. I am honoured to rise today to speak to Bill C-35 as amended by our hon. colleagues in the other House—
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Madam Speaker, as I mentioned, I am honoured today to rise to speak to Bill C-35 as amended by our hon. colleagues in the other House. First, I would like to acknowledge the important work and the recommendations from the Senate as we look for ways to always improve on our policies and legislation to better the lives of families in Canada, and in this case, on such an important piece of legislatio…
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Madam Speaker, as we moved forward in building this nationwide system, undoubtedly every province and territory came to the table and recognized our core vision and principles around inclusivity and access to high-quality and affordable child care. As we move forward and as we are now about two years into our commitments with most of the provinces and territories, we see new spots being created ac…
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Madam Speaker, absolutely. Of course, as we have negotiated the agreements with the provinces and territories, there have been many conversations about the future of early learning and child care across the country and in Quebec. If I may say so, Quebec has been held up, frankly, as a model and has done incredible work, decades ahead of the rest of Canada. We see that. We have seen the impact of t…
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Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to work with the hon. member as well. As we were negotiating across the country, we worked very well with indigenous governments and indigenous partners. We have been really focused on ensuring that early learning and child care is provided that is culturally appropriate and led by indigenous leaders. That is continuing to roll out across the country, and I b…
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