Tory child-care program will begin July 1, Harper says
06 Feb 2006
CBC News
EXCERPT

The Tory cabinet kicked off their first day in office by pledging to move ahead on July 1 with a campaign child-care plan that includes a $1,200 a year payment for every child under age six.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, after his first cabinet meeting on Monday afternoon, said he would reconvene parliament on April 3 and put the child-care proposal before the new minority parliament in a spring federal budget.

The first part of the Tories' Choice in Child Care program would give $100 a month for each preschool child in every family, regardless of income, to spend as they wish.

"On the first of July, we will put in place the new universal payment to families with children under six," Harper told a news conference.

He also said the current national child-care funding deal with the provinces would be phased out by March 31, 2007.

The second phase of the Tory child-care program, which offers incentives to create daycare spaces, would be brought in at that point, Harper said.

In the last election campaign, the Liberals promised to build a $5 billion Quebec-style national child-care system that they predicted would create 250,000 licensed child-care spaces by 2009.

Harper will need to get the support of at least one opposition party to pass the legislation under a minority government.

The Tory program, which is expected to cost about $10 billion over five years, has drawn fire from critics who say it is a poor substitute for day-care and early child-care development plans. ...