Child's play

A couple of notes on the Cons' impending announcement that they'll provide a small amount of funding to the provinces for child care after all.

First, if anything should be able to kick-start the NDP's drive for a federal Child Care Act, this should be it. Any framework for child-care funding may have seemed largely theoretical when no such funding existed...but now that it's entirely possible for money to be flowing before long, there's every reason to set out the terms under which that money can be spent.

Second, the Cons' plan to offer only the limited amount of money otherwise budgeted for tax credits is one that some of us may have seen coming (and criticized). But the response from both the provinces and the other federal parties should be a simple one. Rather than merely allocating the same dollar amount, the Cons should be talking to the provinces to see what new spaces will cost, and allocating enough money to meet their original space commitment - or else be seen as breaking even their own ineffective promises on child care.