Senator Ringuette responded to Minister Volpé's comments, which appeared in the Saturday, July 2, 2005 edition of the La République weekly newspaper. The Senator claimed that several of the Minister’s arguments were flawed and took the opportunity to properly inform the people of New Brunswick.
Senator Ringuette strongly believes that Premier Lord should recognize that the people of New Brunswick want their provincial government to sign the agreement so that the $109.9 million in child care funding offered by the federal government can start flowing to their children. Senator Ringuette said:
“The child care situation is deplorable. Minister Volpé failed to mention that in 2003-04, New Brunswick had only 11,897 places in regulated daycare centres, which covers scarcely 11% of the demand.”
Senator Ringuette strongly believes that children in New Brunswick should enjoy the same benefits as children in other provinces when it comes to federal grants.