In short, this program (universal child care) is here to stay – because it’s right for Canadian families, and it’s right for our children. (. . .) Government supported child care means that your children will go to regulated facilities that are safe, secure and inspected. It means that your children will be cared for by people who are properly trained. -- Paul Martin
At the inception of our universal health care system, the idea was that the government would be obligated to pay for the health services of citizens. It has evolved to the point where citizens are obligated to accept the health care services of the state.
We live in a country where most people believe it is 'unfair' for an individual to pay for his own medical treatment.
Under the Liberal plan, how long will it be before the obligation is no longer on the government to provide state run daycare -- but on a parent to accept it?
It means that your children will be cared for by people who are properly trained.
Read those words carefully and remember that just this summer, Ken Dryden said that parents and family members:
(could be trained) "so long as the end result is something that meets the standards of regulation and meets the standards of the QUAD [quality, universality, accessibility, developmental] principles."
Who's scary?
canadianna
5 comments:
Yikes. I'm so glad my daughter is past daycare! Good catch.
More than any other issue this is the one that is now more than ever starting to get me nervous.
This is important in ways that I cannot even articulate.
Thanks for the post.
I think this is the most ideological issue in play in this election - big government style daycare, vs choice for parents. Someone people will note that the more play this issue recieves the better it could be for the Liberals as people "trust" them more on things like health care and daycare or at least that's the traditional pattern.
On the other hand the Liberals have cried "wolf" on this one since 1993, and are now promising to phase in a multibillion dollar program which would create spaces for 1 in 8 children over 10 years. Personally, I'm happy if we talk about this plan all the time. Given that there is a good chance that assuming a good number of people don't enter into that system, another large percentage still gets shafted. Its an arrogant "government knows best program", it doesn't accomodate people who don't work a 9-5 job, it doesn't allow families to make their own decisions. Furthermore, the Quebec model the Liberal wish to copy never manages to have enough space open and is always wildly over budget. Oh and in Quebec it winds up being nothing more than a subsidy to double income families pulling in upwards of 70k.
Maybe it isn't our issue but on the other hand, attacks on someone strengths sometimes aren't anticipated like attacks on their weaknesses.
This issue is so critical I'd like to see a referendum on it, just to know what Canadians actually think on this specific issue.
Chris is right: the whole argument revolves around ideology. The salient point is whether Canadians desire freedom of choice and value the individual higher than the state, or vice versa.
This is HUGE, people.
"The Vanier Institute poll shows that 90% of parents prefer parental care for their child and rank parental care first and daycare fifth in quality." Read this for more such nuggets - it's time to start fighting back with facts - before it's too late.
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