Cynics Unlimited

Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party laid out their short-term agenda during this week’s throne speech and there were no major surprises. The speech generally echoed the government’s previously-stated 5 priorities:

• A 1% cut to the GST, with another percentage cut in the future
• Cancellation of the national daycare program in favour of a $1200 allowance for each child under 6
• Reduction of hospital wait times
• A crack down on crime (particularly violent and/or drug-related)
• A clean up Government practices via the Federal Accountability Act

Of all these promises, the child daycare allowance is the most contentious. Battle lines have been drawn between people who would like the freedom to make their own childcare decisions and those who do not believe that a small cash back substitutes for a subsidized daycare system.

A recent Statistics Canada study showed the number of children in child care has jumped significantly over the past 8 years. For single-parent working families, daycare centers were the most common form of child care (other types of child care include care for a child in the home by a relative and child care outside the home by a non-relative).

A $1200 yearly allowance would allow for an additional $23.07 per week for child care duties. Imagine you are a single parent in Toronto under the CPC’s allowance: what are some of your new-found options?

Daycare Centers
According to the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, the average cost of licensed childcare in Toronto (without subsidies) is $750 per month, or $187.50 per week

Nannies
ABC Nannies Canada:
Live-In - $850-$1400 per month (at least $212.16 per week)
Live-Out - $1500-$2000 per month (at least $375.00 per week)
Part-Time - $9-$15 per hour (This allows at most 2 hours per week until the allowance is exhausted)

Storage facilities
TSC Moving and Storage offers a comfy 50 square foot space for $59.00 per month, or $14.75 per week. Since this space is intended for furniture, one can make the leap that it is illegal to store a child in this type of facility for any length of time.

As you can see, $23.07 doesn’t provide many options apart from what grade of beer one can get with with his popcorn. This revelation is about the only redemption the Liberals can expect over next 12 months.

This minor survey suggests that the child allowance will do little more than put some extra pocket change in the hands of families who can either afford to pay for their own childcare or don’t require childcare. It’s perhaps no surprise that many groups backing yet another universal child allowance also back the idea of further subsidizing mothers who already stay at home in the “traditional” manner. In other words, Harper’s allowance is at best June Cleaver Welfare for a group of women who have the economic freedom to run a household on their spouses’ pay.

Even without the financial consideration, the Conservative Party appears to have a remote chance of passing this legislation under a minority government. The Liberals obviously won’t kill their own initiative, meaning Stephen Harper will have to win support from one of the two parties to the left of their chief rivals. With more than half of Quebec children in child care using daycare facilities, the Bloc Quebecois can hardly be counted on for political support. The NDP’s general tendency to oppose any legislation diminishing the “nanny state” has been confirmed by the party’s child critic Olivia Chow, who has publicly joined children’s activists critical of the allowance.

Safe passage of the Tories’ measures, especially early in the term, will secure the confidence of Canadians and greatly increase the chance of Stephen Harper winning a majority in the next election. Passage of any legislature will rely heavily on bringing together opposing groups of people, both in the House of Commons and on the street. The child allowance is easily the most divisive and financially questionable tenet of the CPC’s platform. A strategic thinker would move this piece of legislation to last priority … and consider making some serious modifications (like multiplying that cash back by 10).