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| BARRY
DEVOLIN
ON CHILD CARE PROGRAM |
Mr. Barry Devolin (Haliburton - Kawartha Lakes - Brock, CPC):
Mr. Barry Devolin (Haliburton- Kawartha Lakes -Brock, CPC):
Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to the speech from my colleague across the way.
I want to clarify one point for the record: There is no national child care program. There never was any national child care program. In 1993 the Liberals ran on a platform that they would create a national child care program. They did not. In 2000 they ran on a platform that said they would create a national child care program. They did not. In 2004 they ran on a platform that said they would create a national child care program and they did not. Those are the facts.
People can debate whether there ought to be one or not, and I am sure my colleagues in the NDP will argue that there ought to be one, but I think they would agree with me that there is not one.
In the last Parliament I sat on the human resources, skills development, social development committee. When the then minister was appointed to that file, I thought that there probably would be legislation. There was no legislation brought forward. There is no national child care program. After 12 years of promising it, the Liberals never delivered it.
The bottom line is, the last government committed funds to national child care. The minister negotiated a series of one on one deals with the provinces. Some were signed; some were not.
My question to the member is, why does he perpetuate the misconception that there is or ever has been a national child care program? There never was, and under your government, there was not going to be. Why do you keep putting this idea forward as true when it is clearly not?
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