Child Care Program Wanted

[FiveParadox]

A YWCA Canada report has found that a majority of Canadians would prefer to implement the National Early Learning and Childhood Program proposed by the previous Government of Canada, than implement the now-proposed Choice for Child Care direct payment method of the current Government under the Conservative Party of Canada.

Liberal Party of Canada[/color]]The Conservatives are planning to scrap childcare agreements signed by the Liberal government and the provinces to develop a National Early Learning and Child Care Program. Instead, they will provide parents with direct payments of $1,200 a year per child.

But as YWCA study director Jenny Robinson points out, the Conservatives’ payment would amount to only $8 a week for a middle-income family once it is taxed – a sum that will come nowhere close to meeting basic child care needs. In addition, the study also finds that even if parents have money to buy child care services, there is still a shortage of services to buy.

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:arrow: My Opinion

I am surprised at the insistence of the Conservative Party of Canada on this issue; there have been many protests in relation to the suggestion of a direct payment method, perhaps the most notable of which taking place on International Women's Day — on that date, Olivia Chow, M.P., the Member for Trinity—Spadina and Children and Youth Critic for the New Democratic Party of Canada, suggested that the three opposition parties push a measure through the House of Commons to enshrine the child care agreements (signed by the previous Government) in legislation, protecting them from the hands of a hasty government.

If the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, P.C., M.P., the Member for Calgary Southwest and Prime Minister of Canada believes that he is going to convince the House to pass the proposed program through the House while tearing up the previous one without a fight, I would suggest that he has another thing coming.

:?: Sources
1. Click here for the Web site of the Liberal Party of Canada.