Careless

Olivia Chow rightly criticizes the lack of representation for advocates of provincial participation and public-sector investment on the Cons' new advisory committee on child care:

Daycare advocates slammed the federal Conservatives yesterday, saying a new ministerial advisory committee on child care is unnecessary and biased against non-profit daycare.

MP Olivia Chow (NDP—Trinity-Spadina) said the nine-member committee appointed this week by Human Resources Minister Diane Finley is "packed" with private-sector appointments while provinces, and not-for-profit experts in child-care delivery are marginalized.

"The advisory committee is unbalanced, unaccountable and shows the minister's extraordinary unwillingness to work with the provinces and experts to create real sustainable child-care spaces," said Chow...

Chow said five committee members are on record or work with organizations "which are on record supporting the Conservative child-care scheme as opposed to public, not-for-profit child-care spaces."

She questioned the appointment of the head of Syscon Justice Systems Ltd., Floyd Sully, saying he "has expertise in developing computer programming for prison systems; perhaps Mr. Harper has a prison model in mind when it comes to child-care spaces for Canadian children."

About the best that can be said about the probable outcome of the committee is that it may not make a whole lot of difference in any event given the Cons' consistent track record of ignoring any advice which doesn't fit their own plan. But it's clear that the Cons are once again refusing to offer more than token representation to the large number of Canadians who see a positive role for all levels of government in meeting the glaring need for child care.