Taxpayer group arguments not based in logic
Okanagan Saturday
July 19, 2008
Letters By: Neil Cadger, Kelowna

I don't understand why the opinions of … (B.C. director of Canadian Taxpayers Federation) on the desirability of subsidized daycare are tagged Let's Talk Taxes or Education.

Her arguments stray quite far from financial matters when she claims "research shows some children are made worse off from (sic) institutionalization." What a ridiculous, deceptive claim.

Some children no doubt also benefitted from having somewhere to go with responsible adults trained to look after them instead of being left at home alone or given to a relative. I have rarely read such a transparently ideological piece masquerading as an informed argument.

If she had looked a little further into the situation of childcare in Sweden (or any other northern European country for that matter) she might have noted they are proud of their subsidized daycare systems and children from all income groups regularly attend, which creates a stable, supportive community for all children.

Her bizarre assumption that children will be ensured more affection and personal attention from their "mom or dad or another family member" than could ever be expected from a daycare worker clearly is based not on reason or common sense. What planet is she living on?

Children of single parents, whether these parents are single by choice or by necessity, are much more likely to be left alone to their own devices while the parent is out working than children with a stay-at-home parent. This is not the fault of the child.

… seems in favour of reducing taxes in order to allow parents more choices. She is clearly referring to those of us who are earning good incomes and consequently paying high taxes. There are many, many others who pay little because they don't earn very much. These numbers are increasing.

Single parents with an average Canadian income will not be helped at all by a tax reduction. They still won't be able to afford private, unsubsidized daycare.

Does ...have any idea what daycare costs? She seems more interested in widening the gap between the haves and the have-nots rather than improving the lives of the nation's children. Perhaps she is forgetting that poverty and crime are directly related. Increased poverty means increased crime…. Wake up, ...and stop trying to sell your ideological beliefs in the guise of rational argument.