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moneysense.ca, 12/12/05
Beer and Popcorn
Current issue:
Commenting on the Tories plan to give families with pre-school children $1,200 a year, Mr. Scott Reid, a top aide to the Liberal party said:
Don’t give people 25 bucks a week to blow on beer and popcorn.
If such a plan was implemented, as a new parent with two young children, I want to assure Mr. Reid that there are some things I won’t be “blowing” money on:
- Sponsorship deals for my friends in Quebec ad agencies.
- A gun registry that was estimated to cost $2 million, but ends up costing $2 billion and counting.
- Job creation grants worth millions with little or no oversight.
- A $138 pizza dinner for two.
It could be a really long list, so please leave some comments.
moneysense.ca, 12/12/05
The full quote is:
We are not trying to take people’s time away from their grandparents but working families need care. They need care that is regulated, safe and secure and that’s what we’re building here. Don’t give people $25 a day to blow on beer and popcorn. Give them child care spaces that work.
While it was an idiotic comment, the point he was trying to make is that the $1200 is a tax rebate, and will not (directly) address the problem of creating child care spaces. I think it is a valid point.
Not to mention I know more than a few (and I hesitate to use this word,) parents who will do exactly that. Well not exactly, more like blow it on beer & smokes.
I mean seriously, 35 Billion of the money the Liberals are throwing around are tax cuts.
While I’m not sure I trust any government to spend money better than its citizens, what the Liberals are trying to say is that there is a shortage of child care spaces, and just giving money to parents wont address that. The money has to be focused specifically on child care spaces (either under the Liberal/NDP plan or a tax credit that can only be used on child care).
Of course the plus of the Conservative plan is it recognizes parents who stay at home too (who are of course a key part of their base).
ps – Im really not a trolling here for the Liberal party, I’m an undecided voter, but this whole beer and popcorn thing bothers me.. I think its been blown way out of proportion.
I want to clarify that I am an undecided voter also. I liked the Liberal plan for income tax cuts better than a cut to the GST.
Jason: What bothers me most about the comment is the implication that the govt. will do a better job than the vast majority of Canadians, when there is a record of corruption and mismanagement of public money.
Stephan: Yes, some people are irresponsible. The Liberals plan to spend less than the Conservatives on child care (as far as I can tell). So, how are they going to create quality child care spaces using the same $1200 per child?
Just a side-by-side comparison (remembering of course these are all just promises):
Conservatives – Offer a child-care allowance of $1,200 a year for each child under six to parents across the country. Another $250 million in annual tax credits to fund a community child-care investment program, which the party says will create 125,000 new child-care spaces over the next five years
Liberal – During the 2006 election campaign, Martin said the Liberals would commit an additional $6 billion to child care when the first allotment runs out in 2009. This is in addition to a $5 billion, five-year spending commitment to kickstart a national affordable child-care program inspired by the $7-a-day child-care system pioneered in Quebec.
From http://www.ctv.ca/mini/election2006/static/issues/index.html
To me to Liberal and the NDP plans offer direct creation of daycare spaces, and has the potential to offer truly cost effective daycare. On the downside if the system is underfunded, mismanaged, etc. etc.
The Conservative plan offers money direct to parents, with the goal being it will indirectly create daycare spaces through market demand. It also recognizes stay-at-home parents.
I’d agree with the $1200 give-away by the Tories as long as they give me (a non-parent) $1200 as well. I would then have the same choice to give money to a daycare or blow it on beer and popcorn. Or maybe I could put it into an RESP and get some more of my own tax money back, oh, can’t do that, don’t have kids!!