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EXCERPTS
Re: 'Harper makes a play for parents' (Dec. 13)
As I read this article, I became increasingly angry at the implications of Conservative Leader Stephen Harper's $500 tax break for families with kids in sports activities. This, coupled with the $1,200 tax break for each child under six, shows how little Harper understands about how Canadian families operate.
My children were active in sports in school and day care. We paid karate, swimming, and dance lessons. Our connections with our community were through the school, friendships and music.
Despite his insistence that politicians should not tell parents how to spend their money, Harper is indirectly doing that with this latest announcement. Not all children are inclined toward, or interested in, sports activities.
Will Harper be expanding his tax break for families to pay for music lessons? Chess? Books? Crafts? Clubs? Brownies? All of these have the potential to enrich children's lives, increase community involvement and support success in school. Why are sports singled out?
Harper says the Liberals are trying to replace families -- how? By funding day-care spaces? By suggesting the money they set aside for childcare actually be spent on childcare? The implication is that people who decide to put their children in day care are not "families."
This is outrageous. What we need is not more money for individual parents to spend as they wish, nor financial incentives for women to stay home with their children, nor money to pay for private sports lessons or club fees.
We need quality, well-financed day care spaces with well-qualified, well-paid and motivated teachers who will provide the kind of stimulating programs, including sports and other activities, children need to stay safe, healthy, and happy.
And although not a topic of discussion in this election campaign, we also need more money for public school physical education programs. My own children are now young adults. As a public school teacher, I paid for day care throughout their early years so that I could continue to work in a career I loved and contribute to the income of my family. I believe our government needs to support working parents with improved services, not pocket money.
- reprinted from the Hamilton Spectator