Human Resources committee  Absolutely. I'll submit some stuff in writing.

Human Resources committee  Actually, the countries that always come out the best in international rankings by organizations like UNICEF and the OECD, are actually the Nordic countries, particularly Sweden and Iceland. Are they perfect? I wouldn't argue they're perfect because if you talk to people from these countries, there are things that they don't like.

Human Resources committee  Are there any missing parts? I think there are things that could be further elaborated. The parts are there. I agree that the workforce is only mentioned; it really needs to be strengthened and elaborated on. I also think something that's missing is any kind of recognition of the idea of inequity.

Human Resources committee  Wages are kind of the core of the workforce issue. While they're not all there is to it, they're undeniably the core. I think in Ontario that wage floor, which is so low, and it actually is only of benefit in those instances where the lowest wages are already being paid. It brings them up to a low standard.

Human Resources committee  If you're asking me whether I think treating it as an asymmetrical agreement is a problem and will create a problem in the program in the future, I've always supported an asymmetrical approach in Canadian federalism. I think it's critical to the success of this program that Quebec be treated differently.

Human Resources committee  A licence is supposed to be a floor. It has never been assumed that a licence, in other words being compliant with the regulations, translates necessarily into quality. Quality is above that. The Ontario government used to say that very clearly. I'm quite familiar with the research on quality of a whole variety of kinds.

Human Resources committee  Thank you.

Human Resources committee  I ask whether I can table a paper we produced that summarizes all this research. I'd be happy to do so. I want to mention the second reason why I make this recommendation. The reality is that child care, especially when there's public funding available, has become a favourite asset for international private equity firms—

Human Resources committee  Hello, I'm Martha Friendly. I'm the executive director of the Childcare Resource and Research Unit, CRRU. I think you have my written brief, which I submitted to the clerk. I'm just going to speak for five minutes, and it's going to be a small summary of that. CRRU is a small child care and family policy research institute.

Finance committee  I think that's precisely the point I'm making. In fact, child care is embedded in all of these agendas. It's embedded in the indigenous education agenda. It supports post-secondary students. It certainly supports women in every way that you can imagine. I'm only talking about it as a program for adults, but that's only one of the two main facets of early learning and child care.

Finance committee  Yes, I checked that. Thank you.

Finance committee  Thank you, members of the committee and Mr. Chairman. I'm Martha Friendly, executive director of the Childcare Resource and Research Unit, which is a small policy research institute. Actually, the August pre-budget brief of my group shows in detail how universal child care is essential to Canada's competitiveness, and why gender equality isn't possible without accessible quality child care for all.

Status of Women committee  Years ago a national study was done of the workforce. I think it's time for another one.

Status of Women committee  A study of the workforce was done in the 1990s, but this is 2017. I think one of the pieces of what the federal government should convene in its role as social policy convenor is a national workforce strategy. It is within provincial jurisdiction. One of the things that unites the provinces and territories is that the workforce issues are relatively the same across Canada: training, low wages, low recognition, poor working conditions, and not enough people.

Status of Women committee  In answer to your question, I think it really goes back to this question of building a system and moving away from the market. I think that's the key thing we really need to do, and this goes right across the country. We leave it to the market to let child care appear wherever somebody decides to put it at this point.