The Devil Run Daycare. Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.

After Diane Finley's attack on working mothers, later saying she only meant 'choice', neocon speak for private, the discussion is once again about a viable childcare plan.

The Harper government has already spent twice as many tax dollars for their ridiculous Universal Childcare Plan, only benefiting the wealthy. The middle class get hammered because it's taxable.

Gerald Caplan had an excellent column on the subject. Daycare: the plot to steal your child’s mind.

Stephen Harper's very first act as Prime Minister five years ago was to cancel a federal-provincial agreement for a $1-billion a year quality national childcare program. Happy anniversary to all those hard-pressed families whose hopes were shattered in one fell swoop. Of course it’s true that instead of regulated, trustworthy childcare, that strange man in Ottawa has been giving you $100 a month per kidlet to spend as you want. But you also know by now that proper childcare will cost you umpteen times that amount.

How do we account for this weird conservative antipathy to something as sensible, practical and non-ideological as ECE? Diane Finley, Mr. Harper's Human Resources Minister, offered a clue the other day when she decried child care because it forced parents to have their children raised by “other people.”

A childcare plan is not a handout. Parents still pay for it. The $100.00 per month, on the other hand, is a handout, with no matching revenue.

Time to expose these frauds.

The Liberals Family Health Plan is Getting the Expected Harperite Response. WE HATE HEALTH CARE!!!!!

Michael Ignatieff has unveiled a plan to help Canadians care for their elderly family members.

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff is pledging $1 billion to help Canadians care for sick or elderly relatives, a key part of his party's election platform.

Ignatieff said Tuesday he plans to pay for his family-care program by eliminating corporate tax cuts proposed by the Conservative government, including a 1.5 percentage point cut slated to kick in Jan. 1.

But he made the mistake of adding two words that are a red flag to neocons everywhere. 'Family' and 'Health', which is neocon speak for "the non-corporate sector feeding at the public trough."

Diane Finley had a meldown and her husband, Doug, is said to be running around in circles, breaking wind. Environment Canada called it a level one storm.

Yesterday, Conservative Minister Diane Finley dismissed the concerns of caregivers across the country by attacking the Liberal plan to support family caregivers by saying they don’t need any additional help: “There are a number of other devices that people, many employees do have access to in these sorts of situations. Employees do have vacation leave that they can use.”

What if they have no job Diane? Your government is intent on destroying all good union jobs, where people might actually get a good paid vacation.

It is a good plan, that finally puts taxpayer money where it belongs. With taxpayers. As James Travers says:

Even if Michael Ignatieff’s $1 billion home care plan proves less effective and more expensive than expected, it’s still sound policy, solid politics and money better spent than on a two-day bun-toss and chinwag. Getting the ill out of hospital sooner and keeping the old at home longer cuts institutional costs, eases family stress and is a logical next step for a country that often defines itself by its social conscience.

So it’s no surprise that a promise that resonates so clearly is under attack. Armed to the teeth with talking points, Conservatives are denouncing the plan as reckless, recycled and sure to raise taxes.

It’s a scripted argument central to the mantra that power-lusting Liberals can’t wait to get their grasping hands back on your money. It would be more persuasive if record Conservative spending, much of it shaped by partisan calculation, hadn’t blown an inherited $13 billion surplus, putting Ottawa squarely on track for deficits long before the financial market crash.

I love it.