All things Canadian.....

Sara from Choice for Childcare has called for people to stand up today if they support programs that give parents more choices - not the Liberal and NDP plan to only subsidize institutional daycare spots.

During the election I wrote this:

There are roughly 600,000* children in Ontario between 0 and 4 years. The Liberal plan is to create 25,000 spaces by 2008. Currently there are about 125,000 spaces*
in Ontario. The Liberal plan will not be subsidizing the cost to the parents of those spaces.
He compares his daycare program to Medicare. Imagine - his solution for Medicare would be to increase hospital spaces by 20% - to total 25% of the patients and then make them still pay for it.It's not a national program. It's a sound bite and a photo op.
The Conservative policy isn't a national program either - they don't claim it to be one. It's a small government solution to help address an issue that most Canadians agree needs to be addressed - helping parents.
We know that creating a real national daycare program would cost billions more than what either the NDP or Liberals have proposed. It would put more pressure, through increased taxation on the working parent and from societal pressure, to have both parents in the work force. Is that good? Is that bad? I don't know.
I do know that we don't quantify the benefit that a stay at home parent provides to our society. Helping out at our schools, helping the libraries and community centers, and helping to care for elderly parents are just a couple of the things that come to mind.
It doesn't actually matter as no party is proposing such a national program.
I think the Conservative plan is better, realistic, and more honest than either of the other parties are proposing.

If the Liberals and NDP think that the Conserverative party didn't get a lot of votes from traditionally non-Conservative voters because of their childcare allowance they are seriously out of touch.