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An emotionally charged battle over the Conservative child-care plans is unfolding in Parliament, with shouting matches and accusations about who has the best interests of children at heart.
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Diane Finley, minister responsible for child care, and Liberal child-care critic Carolyn Bennett, got into a shouting match in the Commons over remarks Bennett made on a CTV show on budget night. Finley accused Bennett of insulting "every single Canadian who chooses to raise families at home."
Bennett had told an interviewer: "There's actually no plan for early learning and child-care spaces. So it's a good job they're putting more money for prisons in the budget because we're going to need them if we don't get this early childhood right." Moments later she clarified she meant "early learning."
Yesterday, Finley pounced on Bennett's statement during question period. "She insulted every single one of us who was raised at home by implying that parents who want to raise their children at home will be bringing up future criminals."
Bennett, a Liberal leadership candidate, was furious: "The research shows that if we do not invest in early learning and childhood, for every dollar we spend in that, we will save $7 later in special education and corrections, and you know that," she hollered.
Earlier yesterday, daycare activists interrupted a news conference Finley held at an Ottawa community centre to unveil a website on the Tory plans (http://www.universalchildcare.ca).
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Meanwhile, Paul Martin will make his first speech in the Commons today as an ex-prime minister and will defend a national child-care program. He will also speak in defence of the $5.1 billion Kelowna aboriginal deal. Both arrangements, made between federal and provincial governments, have been nixed by the Tory government.
- reprinted from the Toronto Star