Conservatives fail the Torstar test

Vincent J. Curtis

9 Sept 21

RE: Conservative child-care plan fails the test.  Torstar editorial published in the Hamilton Spectator 9 Sept 21.

It comes as no surprise that Torstar, a semi-official organ of the Liberal Party, would find fault with a Conservative Party platform plank.  In this case, it happens to be child-care.  At least the editorial hints at the fact that the Liberal child-care plan is simply an election plumb pulled out in desperation, never implemented in the calm of office.

The difference between the Liberal and Conservative plans reflects differences in political philosophy and differences in the power relationship of government to small business.  The Liberal plan has the government writing cheques, where the Conservative plan has people keeping more of their own money.

With the power of writing cheques comes the power of enforcing compliance with whatever mandate the government of the moment fancies.  We see this power used all the time in the United States, where the recipient of federal tax dollars is obliged to comply with this or that or lose their funding.  The Conservative idea of a tax deduction grants the government no power over those on whom the money is spent, but retains the full power of the parents, who spend the money.

The best child-care idea of all is to have an economy in which moms can choose to stay home and raise their kids because dad is earning enough money to run a decent home.  We don’t want both parents having to work for a decent family income.

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