I called my sister this week and asked her how important it was for her to be receiving an additional $1,200 per child (she has 3) in order for her to pay for child care costs (this, by the way, is the Conservative Party Child Care Policy recently released). She replied, "D'Arcy, I'd naturally like much more than that but it simply isn't affordable for the country right now."
I then replied, "Kathy, come on, Paul Martin has promised to institutionalize day care. He has promised to pump millions across the country into a program that will physically create more spaces. Why isn't that any good?"
Kathy replied, "What will be the internal costs of those new spaces? Will they be created, buildings and all, and then all of the ongoing infrastructure costs will be passed onto the provinces or worse, to the parents? No thank-you, D'Arcy, I'll take my money and hire who I want, where I want, and when I want?"
I then added, "But Kathy, don't you think that Paul Martin is caring enough to know what is best for your children? After all, he knows enough about money to ensure that Canada Steamship Lines floats its ships under the Liberian flag. Don't you trust Paul?"
Kathy replied, "D'Arcy, this man ran the longest leadership race in the history of the dominion, at the expense of the taxpayer. He built a political machine from the Finance Minister's Office in Ottawa and used Earnscliffe Group to rally the MPs and work the contracts. By 2002, Chretien literally was surrounded by Paul's men and was forced to begin a long kiss goodbye. And what did Paul do when he became Prime Minister in 2003? He sat on his hands and blamed his hardships on Stephen Harper. Do I trust Paul? I don't trust Paul any more than I trust Ralph Goodale."
How many more Moms are there out there like Kathy?
