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Harper's Conservatives make an about-face on policy
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| amb_ |
It seems federal Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper is fine-tuning his stance on issues that have traditionally been major stumbling blocks for the PC/Reform alliance.
Harper is promising to honour any child care deal the feds make with the provinces, as well as coming full out in support of the Canada Health Act:
| quote: | Tories ante up in health-care spending
OTTAWA and CALGARY -- In an extraordinary turnabout, the Conservative Party promised yesterday to outspend the federal Liberals dollar-for-dollar on new daycare programs across Canada while offering additional tax cuts for families with children.
"I do realize that it is a significant change from our policy in the last election," said Tory intergovernmental affairs critic Rona Ambrose. "It's because we have a great deal of young parents sitting in our caucus and it became a big issue for them."
A Conservative government would budget more than $5-billion over five years for child care, in the form of direct subsidies to families as well as for conventional daycare space, Ms. Ambrose said. In addition, the Tories propose to slash taxes for families with young children, and provide tax credits for businesses with on-site daycares.
The party also proposes measures that would allow parents to work part-time or take time off to be with young children, Ms. Ambrose said. "It's more than what the Liberals have on the table," she added.
The Conservative announcement was a direct response to bilateral daycare deals Prime Minister Paul Martin and Social Development Minister Ken Dryden unveiled yesterday with Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
The agreements comprise $26-million and $22-million in new spending this year, respectively. Similar deals with other provinces are expected in the next few weeks.
Those announcements are part of a Liberal budget commitment of $5-billion for a national daycare program over five years, with $700-million in the first year. "This is a great day for Canada," Mr. Martin said in Winnipeg, later adding that the deal is "about the good government can do."
The Conservatives have long insisted that Liberal proposals for a national child-care program would be exorbitantly expensive and a bureaucratic intrusion into an area best managed by parents.
As recently as last month, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper said the Liberals were "creating a bureaucratic daycare system so expensive that young couples won't be able to afford to have children."
But, yesterday, Ms. Ambrose said the government isn't spending nearly enough. "The amount of money that's on the table won't even scratch the surface of the daycare needs in this country," she said.
The Prime Minister's Office pounced on the policy shift.
"Small wonder Canadians believe that the Conservatives have a hidden agenda when they try to persuade people that they support today's child-care agreements after opposing national child care in the most ideological and emphatic terms to date," spokesman Scott Reid said.
Ms. Ambrose and Mr. Harper said yesterday that a Conservative government would honour any signed federal/provincial agreements, including daycare deals.
Mr. Harper and other senior Tory officials said this was simply to avoid the kind of legal costs the Liberals incurred in the early 1990s after they walked away from contracts reached by the previous government. "The agreement signed today is frankly so small that it's not going to put any kind of crimp in our plans," Mr. Harper said.
The Tory announcements follow polls showing the party once again trails the Liberals in public support, despite weeks of explosive testimony at the Gomery inquiry into the sponsorship scandal.
Polls show that many Canadians suspect that Mr. Harper is more rigidly ideological than he purports to be, which may explain why the party has not taken off in the polls, despite widespread disgust with the Liberals over the scandal.
But if Mr. Harper was dismayed, he didn't show it.
Rather, he repeated his vow to bring down the Liberal minority government as soon as he can. "Next week, when I meet my caucus, I will ask them to vote against . . . this government at the earliest possible opportunity."
He said the election, when it comes, will be a "battle over the direction of the country," and framed the debate in near-apocalyptic terms. "This battle will determine . . . whether this country is going to take the plunge and be among the top-tier nations on Earth, or whether it is going to slip among those that chronically fail to achieve their potential."
In his speech at a lunch hosted by the conservative Fraser Institute, Mr. Harper took pains to appear moderate, rejecting a call for private health care from conservative luminaries Preston Manning and Mike Harris. |
Unfortunately, it seems that this might not be able to sway the opinions of many:
Canadians suspicious of Tory 'hidden agenda'
And still the Conservatives demonstrate their penchant for gaffe, which goes to show they're still not ready for prime time:
Veteran Conservative MP labels Liberals 'whores' |
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| naesean3 |
| Steven "HARPING" Harper GIVE IT UP!:whip: |
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| Jayx1 |
Yuck... this is BAD...
shame on you harper. Socialized day care is bad news. We cant even manage our health care system for god sake. |
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| rabbitjoker |
A federal child care program is a farce.
It offers no benefit for parents who choose to stay home and raise children - which is a much better option developmentally speaking. |
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| MarkT |
| Harper flip flops again...what a shocker, lol. |
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| St_Andrew |
| quote: | Originally posted by rabbitjoker
It offers no benefit for parents who choose to stay home and raise children - which is a much better option developmentally speaking. |
That is not really true, tho! They made a huge investigation in Sweden, to prove what you are saying, but they found out the opposite!
They found out that children that went to child care before they turned 1 had a much bigger chance of success in life.
70% of all the children that started at child care before they were one, had a very positive development (more socially competent, better to adjust and greater academic success). Meanwhile only 38% of the ones who stayed home with their parents before they started school had a similar development. Only 15% of the ones who started child care before the age of 1 had a negative development, but 52% of the children that stayed at home had.
They also tried to seperate the children in groups, for example what kind of incomes/education their parents had, but even within those groups the percentages were pretty much the same.
The study were made on the same children at 4 different times, when they were 8, 13, 16 and 25 years old. |
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| amb_ |
| quote: | Originally posted by St_Andrew
That is not really true, tho! They made a huge investigation in Sweden, to prove what you are saying, but they found out the opposite!
They found out that children that went to child care before they turned 1 had a much bigger chance of success in life.
70% of all the children that started at child care before they were one, had a very positive development (more socially competent, better to adjust and greater academic success). Meanwhile only 38% of the ones who stayed home with their parents before they started school had a similar development. Only 15% of the ones who started child care before the age of 1 had a negative development, but 52% of the children that stayed at home had.
They also tried to seperate the children in groups, for example what kind of incomes/education their parents had, but even within those groups the percentages were pretty much the same.
The study were made on the same children at 4 different times, when they were 8, 13, 16 and 25 years old. |
They need to fund classes for parents here. That is another big piece of the puzzle that is missing.
Also, I recommend this book:
http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/AS...4954972-6627553 |
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| Jayx1 |
| quote: | Originally posted by MarkT
Harper flip flops again...what a shocker, lol. |
Almost as bad as Martin and Layton.
Almost... |
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| amb_ |
| quote: | Originally posted by Jayx1
Almost as bad as Martin and Layton.
Almost... |
Mr. Harper is quickly realising that to compete they need to cater to *all* Canadians, not just the right wing idealogues.
Too little, too late. |
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| Jayx1 |
| quote: | Originally posted by amb_
Mr. Harper is quickly realising that to compete they need to cater to *all* Canadians, not just the right wing idealogues.
Too little, too late. |
which is why we will never have real change in this country. Too many people want too many things and we cant afford them. |
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| amb_ |
| quote: | Originally posted by Jayx1
which is why we will never have real change in this country. Too many people want too many things and we cant afford them. |
We can afford the "right" things... we just need a government who has the balls and the support of the people to bring them to us. |
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| Jayx1 |
| quote: | Originally posted by amb_
We can afford the "right" things... we just need a government who has the balls and the support of the people to bring them to us. |
We can? then why do taxes keep going up and services keep being cut? Why is health care a mess?
We are already overburdened as it is. |
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