Child allowance a disappointment
Vancouver Island News Group - Saanich News
February 6, 2008
Opinion: Michelle Kirby, Oak Bay

The $1,200 taxable annual supplement is apparently offering Canadians choice in child care. Give me a break! If $75 a month is enough money to allow parents to leave their jobs and stay home with their children, I would love to see how that's possible.

After all these years with both parents in the workforce, we are still fighting to provide access to quality, affordable child care. And just as we're on the brink of a major step forward, the Conservatives decide to put an end to progress.

The majority of the MPs in the House support the Early Learning and Child Care Act, because the majority (nearly 80 per cent) of Canadians support a national child care program. For the Conservatives to ignore that fact is undemocratic.

Future generations of Canadians should start out with the very best care available from well-paid staff and in safe, healthy care homes and centres. In most places in the world it's commonly accepted that it takes a village to raise a child. Why should Canada be any different?