Gardening With the Conservatives

So, the Conservatives brought out their federal budget today, complete with a whole percent taken off our GST (now how will us Ontarians calculate the tax in our head? 15% was so easy…). And like true, blueblood Tories, all the tax cuts benefit those of us who make over $36 000, or some such comfortable number.

And their biggest folly, according to moi? This childcare credit, $1200 for parents to spend as they see fit.

Well, that’s the problem with society, you see. Not all parents see fit. This is not a rant about the misspending of that money. I’m sure many parents are happy to receive a grand from the government and will spend it responsibly. But like the Conservatives’ clamp down on crime by rounding up the criminals and givin’ ‘em longer sentences, the Tories’ about turn from national daycare connects nicely with my gardening metaphor: it cuts the weed at the stalk, temporarily removing the bad stuff - all that work and money into a national daycare programme - and ignores the roots – the healthy and vigourous development of our children.

We are seeing the results of all those Harris cuts to social programmes back in the 90s with more guns being shot off by misguided youth, failed by social programmes and trapped in poverty. Harris got rid of the weeds, but the roots remained firm and are now growing up.

I worry that this move away from national daycare will add to our social problems. If we had a nationally funded daycare programme, it would not only allow parents to work without paying half their salary to daycare, it would provide the early childhood education that is so vital and critical. I see the effects not only of ill-parenting, but of uninformed parenting everyday at my school. I see students that have never encountered a book before kindergarten, aren’t familiar with a horse or cow, don’t know how to share toys, or have never sung a song. I’ve met kids that haven’t ventured further in this city, than to the store, a hundred metres up their street.

If we want our children to grow up to be sound, contributing citizens of our society, this education doesn’t begin at school. It begins at birth. And only recently have government agencies begun initiatives based on this idea (Parenting Centres and Early Childhood Centres have popped up around the city). But these are only accessible to those who choose to seek them out. Universally funded daycare is an incentive for parents to enroll their children and then see the vast benefits of early childhood experiences.