Mr. Deputy Speaker:

The Hon. Member for Louis-Hebert (Mrs. Duplessis) for a question or comment.

Mrs. Duplessis:

Mr. Speaker, I followed closely the speech made by the Hon. Member for Winnipeg-Fort Garry (Mr. Axworthy) and I would like to reiterate to him that the strategy we want to put in place is aimed first at honouring a commitment to significantly improve the child care situation, and it is a flexible, humane policy that respects the rights of parents as far as the care of their children is concerned, that respects the provinces' jurisdiction and that ensures the quality standards we want to put in place.

We carefully studied the child care policy put forward by the Liberal Party, as well as liberal propositions on child care services, and we find they include no objectives, no time table for increasing approved places. Also, they include less tax support than this Government's proposals or the existing system, and they venture into dangerous constitutional ground by proposing direct federal intervention through an appointed board and through involvement in the program's administration and the setting up of program administration standards, and they make the system's expansion conditional on the reduction of the deficit, something no Liberal Government has accomplished since 1969.

And when the Hon. Member for Winnipeg-Fort Garry stated earlier, and gave as example their national health system, that they could set up one system across the country,

Canada Child Care Act

there is nothing in the Canada Health Act that says how many hospitals there should be per capita, in all provinces, and when earlier he also gave as an example post-secondary education, there is nothing in the Act that says how many professors there should be per university, nor what qualifications professors should have.

I feel the Hon. Member is venturing into highly dangerous ground, and I wonder, Mr. Speaker, what Premiers such as Mr. Bourassa, Mr. McKenna, Mr. Ghiz, Mr. Peterson could say if ever the Government came up with very specific standards it wanted to have.

Therefore, I think this would intrude upon provincial jurisdiction.

Mr. Axworthy:

Mr. Speaker, in answer to the Hon. Member, I accept the good intentions of the parliamentary task force chaired by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works (Mrs. Martin) which developed a day care program, but I said it was not a good program, for the reasons I mentioned, particularly the lack of national standards to establish whether the program would be the same throughout the country. When it comes to the rights of children it is very important that they be given similar treatment under similar circumstances, region by region and province by province. That is the responsibility of the national Government, and as far as I am concerned this Government did forget all about its responsibility, more specifically as it relates to such an important program as child care services. This is my opportunity to point out that our national Government is responsible for this service, but unfortunately you forgot that responsibility. Besides, parents and children in Canada have no guarantee that comparable services will be available everywhere.

Mr. Deputy Speaker:

It being 6 p.m., pursuant to order adopted on Monday, June 27, 1988, the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 11 a.m., pursuant to Standing Order 3(1).