I woke up today and fired up the DVR to watch my recording of the early episode of Politics with Don Newman to see what the Conservatives had managed to come up with today.
This Child Care idea is by far the worst of them, and that's saying something because the GST one was horrible as well.
Setting aside for a second that there are no guarantees this money will ever get to the children it's supposed to help, it's just bad government policy. Especially with the precedents set in Canada.
With a national daycare strategy we can ensure that proper standards are being met, that early learning programs, which I would have loved to have had when I was a kid, are available for all children. It would help eliminate the need for single parents to live on welfare because they need to stay at home and look after their children. And most importantly we can guarantee that every single dollar goes toward the purpose for which it was intended.
If the Conservatives want to give parents more choice, I understand how that would be appealing. However simply handing out money is not the way it should be done. Instead they could create a health care style card that parents could use to purchase child related items. (and only these items) It could either be set up to work like a credit card or a debit card.
Now of course people could buy the items and sell them on Ebay or in the classifieds or something, which is why I advocate a daycare program, but it still offers more control than simply handing out cash.
You see? I didn't even go to University and it took me all of 2 minutes to come up with an idea that is better than the Conservative proposal.
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A chunk of asphalt broke off my driveway today, and ten minutes later it had an idea better than the Conservative child care proposal.
I am now campaigning for said lump of asphalt to be included in the televised debate, where it will no doubt wipe the floor with Stephen Harper.
Harper made his announcement today at a childcare centre in Ottawa.
Does anyone know how much money it costs to send a child to that centre? Because I think it would be interesting to know how far $5 a day would go at the very place where the announcement was made.
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