Michael Ignatieff Makes Moral Commitment to the Family

"The test of serious moral commitment to the family is a willingness to spend public money. Effective child protection, universal access to health care, affordable child care, first-rate primary and secondary education - these are the building blocks of the protective arch that society must raise over its families. This institutional arch doesn't come cheap, but those exponents of family values who won't stump up for it are just engaging in cheap talk." (The Rights Revolution: CBC Massey Lectures, Michael Ignatieff, Anansi, ISBN: 978-0-88784-762-2, pg. 111)

I was glad that Michael Ignatieff was brave and bold in announcing that the Liberals would re-visit a national child care program, when the economy allowed. I was so angry with Jack Layton when he voted to topple Paul Martin's government before it could be initiated. For all his bluster about wanting to help families, it just made him a hypocrite.

Instead the Reform-Conservatives squandered our 13 billion dollar surplus and though Harper promised thousands of daycare spaces, so far he has not provided a single one.

Those in the political movement known as the Religious Right, are probably spinning out of control, speaking in tongues and foaming at the mouth over this; but as Mr. Ignatieff states; 'family values' is just cheap talk if you're not willing to make a sound commitment to working families.

A national child care program does not mean a free child care program. Payment will be based on income, enabling many to remain in, or enter the work force; without the worry of how they can afford to pay for their children to be looked after in a safe and secure environment.

The trouble with the Reform-Conservatives is their ideology. They believe that a woman's place is in the home. That's fine if she (or he) chooses and can afford to. But unfortunately, many parents have no choice.

I hope that the Liberal leader will continue to just say what's on his mind, and to hell with the self-righteous. Maybe he should call it the 'Karl Marx Plan', just to get their goat. I'm so sick of their holier than thou attitude, that I just don't care any more. If we don't start fighting back we are going to be eaten alive, and Canada as we know it will cease to exist.

Any legitimate Christian would put families first, not corporate interests. If they want to believe that personal wealth is the key to salvation, fine. But don't pretend to follow the teachings of Jesus, because his philosophy was the exact opposite.

Go Michael and to hell with the polls. They don't mean much at this stage of the game anyway.

Ignatieff commits Liberals to national daycare
But timing of program would depend
October 20, 2009

OTTAWA – A national child-care program is among the top priorities for the Liberals in the next election platform and any future government, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff vowed this morning.

"It's a clear commitment," Ignatieff told reporters after a visit to an Ottawa daycare centre. "If you have commitments, you don't have 20. You have three or four and this is one of them."

Ignatieff acknowledged, however, that delivering on a national child-care program will be difficult if Canada remains mired in deficit — a condition that Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has already forecast to last another five years.

"How you phase it in depends on what these guys leave in the till — and they've spent the cupboard bare," Ignatieff said. "It's a very clear commitment... It's a legacy issue for the Liberal party."

Ignatieff declared the child-care promise after spending the morning at an Ottawa daycare centre, reading to four-year-olds and touring the facility, which has a waiting list of 900 children vying for rare spaces.

The Liberals were in the midst of delivering on a $5-billion national child-care program before they were thrown out of power in the 2006 election. When Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives came to office, that program was abandoned, in favour of the $100-a-month cheques to Canadian parents known as the Universal Child Care Benefit.

Ignatieff said that if the Liberals are returned to government, that money will keep flowing to parents, but a national child-care program will also be phased in, as soon as the budget can handle it.

"They give the money to families, fine. Anything that helps families is a good idea. But there aren't the spaces. If you don't create the spaces, families don't have a choice. That's what we're saying."