Day 11: Big dollars for daycare, but trouble for a Tory
Vancouver Province
By: David Akin, Norma Greenaway, Mike De Souza and Jack Branswell, Canwest News Service
September 17, 2008

It was a good day for families on the federal campaign trail….

…. earlier in the day the NDP and Liberals unveiled competing national daycare programs.

Layton announced in Toronto an NDP government would invest almost $1.5 billion in the first year of a new mandate to create a national child-care network.

Their plan would produce 150,000 daycare spots at launch, but ultimately aim for universality.

The Liberals daycare plan would create 165,000 spaces and cost $1.25 billion annually once it was phased in over four years, the party said. The Greens, who presented their campaign platform Wednesday, also targeted daycare by promising universal access to child care, but offered no detail.

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion also promised to make federal maternity and parental leave programs more flexible for parents by allowing up to 18 months leave at a lower benefit level, or giving the option to take less time, but at a higher benefit level.

Also earlier in the day, Harper continued to cast his opponents as manic-spenders on a quest to put the country back in deficit.

… Layton was also asked about the similarities between his platform and Liberal policies.

"You may have noticed I haven't said much about (Liberal Leader Stephane) Dion in this campaign and I don't intend for that to change," Layton said. "But since they have followed our announcements on health care and child care, let me simply say this: this is a party that 15 years ago promised to bring comprehensive child care to Canada; it's a party that merely 11 years ago promised to bring pharmacare to Canada."…