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The federal Liberals are promising to put a national child-care program at the forefront of the next election campaign and any future government, with leader Michael Ignatieff describing it as a "legacy" item for his party.
"It's a clear commitment," Ignatieff told reporters after a visit to an Ottawa daycare centre on Tuesday. "If you have commitments, you don't have 20. You have three or four and this is one of them."
Human Resources Minister Diane Finley immediately poured cold water on the suggestion, arguing Ignatieff is making expensive promises that he can't afford, and that Canadian parents are already well-served by the $100-a-month cheques they receive under the Conservative's child-care program.
"Mr. Ignatieff is making grand promises that he absolutely refuses to cost out, or say how he'll pay for them," Finley said.
Ignatieff did acknowledge that delivering on a national child-care program will be difficult if Canada remains mired in deficit - a condition that Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has already forecast to last another five years.
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"It's a very clear commitment. ... It's a legacy issue for the Liberal party."
The Liberal leader made the vow after spending the morning at an Ottawa child-care centre, reading a story - Little Bear's Big Sweater - to a group of 4-year-olds. At the end of the reading, Ignatieff was mobbed with a spontaneous group hug from the children.
The New Democrats, meanwhile, are skeptical about the child-care promise, recalling that Liberals spent most of the 1980s and 1990s promising a universal daycare program.
Back then, as Ignatieff is promising now, it was also a top priority among Liberal campaign promises, but it was only in 2004-05, under then prime minister Paul Martin, that a $5 billion program was negotiated with the provinces.
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"It's not just about money," NDP MP Olivia Chow said on Tuesday in reaction to the Liberal promise. "They've got to remove that condition - `if we have the money.' When there's a condition, and we've seen this, it doesn't happen."
The only solid promise, said Chow, would be one accompanied by legislation that no future government could undo.
Finley said Tuesday the $100 monthly cheques introduced by the Conservatives had made a real difference to many parents, by allowing them to choose whether to get child care or stay at home with the children.
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Ignatieff said that any future Liberal government would also keep in place the Conservatives' scheme, because "anything that helps families is a good idea."
- reprinted from the Toronto Star