The Winnipeg Sun’s editorial today repeats the Conservative’s pro-family ideology in contradistinction to the ridiculous Liberal Party’s socialist, anti-family universal daycare program.
Nothing so gladdens the heart of social engineers and other proponents of the nanny state as the idea of a national day-care program. With Prime Minister Paul Martin poised to deliver one in this week’s federal budget, they’re salivating.
During the last election, Martin promised such a program, which the Liberals first pledged in 1993.
The $5-billion plan is to be modelled on one already in place in Quebec. Problem is, while that program is popular, its costs are spiralling out of control and poor families are often excluded.
Disturbingly, Martin may fund this new program by creating yet another federal foundation—exactly what Auditor General Sheila Fraser severely criticized last week for being closed to pubic scrutiny.
Worst of all, the program as sketched out by the Liberals will offer no assistance to parents who care for their children at home or who use other forms of child care aside from day-care centres.
A survey of 2,000 Canadians conducted by the Vanier Institute of the Family in 2003 found that day-care centres were in fact only the fifth choice of parents with small children.
Most would rather (1) look after their own children at home; (2) have their parents do it; (3) have another relative do it; (4) have access to some other form of home-based care.
Given that 47% of Canadian children are today being looked after by stay-at-home parents, how will Ottawa’s plan help them?
What about parents who use some form of child care other than day-care centres? Why is the entire $5 billion going to create day-care centres when they look after only one in four children in Canada?
And given that many parents must use day-care centres, will there be any help for those who use private facilities as opposed to public ones?
The Vanier Institute noted that “if, as many researchers claim, high quality ‘professional’ child care has the potential to contribute more to children’s well-being than parents seem to realize, a much better job needs to be done of showing (them) why that’s the case.”
Better yet, Ottawa could use the $5 billion to lower the huge tax burden it imposes on all families.
That would give parents more disposable income to make their own choices about how to care for their children.
But clearly that would be asking too much of this government.
The editorial notes that “The $5-billion plan is to be modelled on one already in place in Quebec,” but Liberal Minister of Wrecking Families Ken Dryden has been quoted as saying that the Liberals intend to model it on the Canadian health care system. And he said it with a straight face.
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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