Message received

While most of the talk today is about the messages sent by Harper's cabinet choices, the undertones of his latest policy announcement (which I'm not surprised to see buried under the cabinet news) may say a lot more about the course of Harper's government:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he will move forward July 1 with his child-care plan, including a $1,200 payment for each child under age six.

Harper, speaking after his first cabinet meeting today, said he will put his proposal before the new minority Parliament in the federal budget this spring. He also announced that the House of Commons will resume April 3...

He said he will end the current national child-care funding deal with the provinces effective March 31.

The most obvious content of the announcement is that regardless of the fact that all three other parties want to see some form of child care funding to the provinces, Harper has no intention of putting a cent toward that. And indeed he's apparently willing to let his government fall on the principle that public daycare shouldn't be offered anything. While it's a bit more adversarial than I'd expected Harper to be before unveiling a budget, nobody should be all that surprised to see the Cons ideologically opposed to any positive government action.

But while the stop to public funding is telling, Harper's attitude toward child care is best reflected in the timelines involved. In his view, it shouldn't make the slightest bit of difference to Canadians if there's a three-month gap where not a single cent gets put toward child care under either the existing agreements with the provinces or under the Cons' "child-care" plan. And in fact Harper won't even call Parliament back to debate the issue until after the existing money has stopped flowing.

I'm sure more than a few Canadian parents might have their own opposing opinion as to what a difference a few months may make in the life of a child. But in Harper's government, offering nothing whatsoever to parents is a legitimate way to save the cost of three months worth of child care policy. And any parents caught unexpectedly short in the meantime, whether based a need for an affordable child care space or merely for the cash offered instead under the Con platform, shouldn't forget that lesson next time Harper claims to be standing up for families.