Well as predicted Harpers Child Care policy was re-announced today. It was orginally announced after the Liberals made their child care program announcement last spring. So it's old news.
It is a made in Alberta policy. Modeled directly off the Klein Reichs policy of not funding public daycare centres in favour of giving everybody a hundred bucks to hire their grandmother to babysit. This is NOT an early childhood education policy, its a two tier day care program.
Tax credits are a sop to parents who can afford nannies. But it leaves working parents ( usually with two jobs to make ends meet) out in the cold trying to find space in overcrowded public daycares. And when they are rejected being forced to cough up extra dough for private day cares, which are notoriously under regulated and prone to child accidents. Yep nothing to see here move on.
2 comments:
Reg, Call this Reply #1 with a more itemized response pending. Eugene
See my ariticle Whose Family Values? where I quote the following.
Babies and Bosses: OECD Recommendations to Help Families Balance Work and Family Life states: the recent OECD report exposed English Canada's failure to develop a cohesive program of childcare, unlike Quebec, that is not just babysitting services. In comparison with other OECD countries, capitalism in Canada fails to pay for the social reproduction of itself, relying on increasing its profitability not only off the surplus value of its workers, but the expense of the family being a further economic burden on these workers.
“Declining fertility rates are a concern in most countries, particularly in Japan, where birth rates are dropping as more people put jobs before childbearing. In Switzerland, as many as 40% of women at age 40 with university degrees are childless. Strong economies and manageable pensions systems depend on both higher fertility rates and higher employment rates. Many governments are investing in family-friendly policies which have societal benefits for the next generation. Support for working mothers will reduce the poverty which impacts negatively on child development and support for pre-school care outside the home can better prepare children for formal schooling. Pay gaps still affect the relative earnings of men and women. Even in families where both parents work, men typically earn 33-66% more than women, so it is usually mothers who take time off to look after children. In most countries, fathers work more than men without children while mothers spend less time in paid employment than other women. “
The National Child Poverty 2004 report from Campaign 2000, shows an increase in child poverty amongst working families, reveals the need for a comprehensive social wage campaign.
The child poverty rate in Canada is up for the first time since 1996. After five consecutive years of decline, the child poverty rate increased to 15.6% in 2002, which means 1,065,000 children, or nearly 1 in 6 children in Canada, live in low-income families. Fifteen years after Parliament's unanimous all-party declaration to end child poverty, Campaign 2000's 2004 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Canada reveals that governments are failing to take sufficient action to reduce child poverty and low-wage labour markets are letting parents down.
Hey Reg got rid of some sidebar drag by changing the Bloggers I belong to from rolling to just buttons. Does that help now?
Glad you read my piece so here is where I think we should be going, wages for housework, a social wage. And none of the existing political parties have addressed the real value of womens unpaid work in the home. The right wing tax credit movement has been pushed by professional women whose husbands work and they could afford to give up a career to raise their children. After a couple of years of dirty diapers, all nighters, colic, etc. the joy of child rearing quickly wears off and they hire a nanny. Tis always been so for the bourgoise family. Tax credits to the family are a waste. We used to have the family allowance check when I was young, and babysitting was cheaper.
Nothing new here, lets move on.
The corporations should be hosting onsite day care so you are right that is real value for investment. They should do it out of their own profits, but since they won't a tax credit for that purpose works for me as a reform.
All further funding should be for a basic public daycare facility tied to wages for the workers, again a guarnteed living wage with benefits of at least $14 an hour to start.
We are losing qualified workers cause the wages and benefits are better at MacDonalds.
Having these spaces subsidized for oh say $20 per day per child for the family would then allow more folks reasonable access.
While we are at it check out my Peoples Program for Alberta....and let me know what you think...I actually call fror tax breaks for anyone earning less than $100,000 a year...Harper can't top that...and I am a socialist...
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