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Home My WebLink AboutThe Times Advocate, 2006-04-05, Page 7Wednesday, April 5, 2006 Exeter Times–Advocate 7 Problems with Conservative day-care program As many people know, the new Conservative gov- ernment recently announced that they have can- celled the National Day Care funding the previous Liberal government had provided and replaced it with a cash payment of $100 per month for each child under the age of six in a family household. In Ontario, "Best Start" was initiated with the pre- vious Liberal government funding. Many parents who do not work out of the home criticized this program, as they viewed it as free day care for working families Their opinion was that it did nothing for families who decided to stay at home with their children, or decided to have in-home day- \/ care. There are many misconceptions about Best Start and many mis- conceptions about the Conservative initiative as well. Best Start was in no way a "free pass" to parents who use day care. In fact, as anyone who attended the meet- ings knows, it was essentially an initiative to have children start full-time schooling earlier than age six. In fact, it was being implemented for all children, not just children in day care, or children with working parents. Also, if you did not want to use it, you did not have to. It was your choice. (My wife was the only parent who volunteered to sit on the implementation committee for Huron -Perth. She did this out of concern that parents were not going to be heard. If this was such a big deal, why were there no other parents?) The program was to also take into account the needs of stay-at-home parents with the establish- ment of "hubs" to centralize services for parents on a drop-in basis or by appointment. Surveys were distributed to parents in the community to ascer- tain the biggest gaps in service. The new Conservative government's decision to hand out free money to everyone has many prob- lems. The first is the amount they are giving to parents. What is $100 per month going to do? This is even a misconception as the money is taxable! The government is going to get approximately 20 per cent of the money back! Wow, aren't they nice? I I am a financial planner. I have clients who make $25,000 per year and I have clients who make over $1,000,000 per year. The client who makes $25,000 per year should have more help available to them than the person who makes $1,000,000. I recently spoke to one of these "high-income earn- ers" and he actually joked about the $2,400 per year he is going to get. Do you really think this fam- ily needs this money? Are you happy giving a mil- lionaire $2,400 per year of your money? I know AIR I am not. They have a live-in nanny. They have a Porsche, an Escalade, and a 6,000 square foot home. The pr whole family goes on vacation three times per year, they have a pool, they have everything (it seems). They don't need it. However, the family who makes $25,000 per year, just trying to make ends meet, needs a heck of a lot more than $100 per month before tax. In fact, although I am no millionaire, I even feel guilty receiving our $2,400 per year, when I know very well there are people who need it more than we do. My last point is something that nobody wants to talk about. Politicians dare not mention this, as their foes would say they don't trust the "Canadian parent." I feel terrible even mentioning it here. However, we must face reality. The majority of parents are caring, nurturing par- ents who want what is best for their children. We all know that education begins at home and we make sure our children are getting the best avail- able to them. However, in the real world, there are many parents out there who feel the exact opposite. They feel it is the teachers' responsibility to teach, not theirs. After all, they pay the teachers' salary, right? They feel the government "owes" them. Unfortunately, many of these parents see this as just free money from the government. In many cases, this extra income is going to be spent on large -screen TVs (24 months, no interest, equal payments!), new computers, booze, and maybe in extreme cases, drugs. In fact a child welfare work- er I spoke to mentioned they are actually having clients question who the money goes to if the CAS has control of the children. This worker is worried Letters to the Edltor POLICE BRIEF Mischief to SHDHS EXETER — Sometime overnight on March 27 unknown par- ties damaged property at South Huron High School in Exeter. The parties destroyed the flagpole and smashed a win- dow. SAVEA LOp s, Midwest 04� 96 Thames Rd West Exeter Televisions Furniture Dehumidifiers Air Conditioners Generators Garden • Lawn Items Tools • Saws etc. Electronics Air Compressors Air Tools Toys - ATV's Microwaves Freezers - Fridges Trailers OPEN TUES TILL SUNDAY All items are new and 100% guaranteed they are going to get pretty busy nine months after the effective date comes around. Sorry to be blunt, but this is reality. This money is not going to "fund the child," but to "fund the parents of children." After all, you have to be 18 to vote. Here is an idea — why not call it what it is? A baby bonus. In the good -old days, our parents got a lump -sum of money for each child they had. Then, the government cut back that payment based on family income. If your family income reaches $35,000 per year, you start to get clawed back. Why not save millions in administration costs and bureaucratic red tape and just increase the baby bonus and increase the income threshold? This will accomplish the same thing and cost much less to make happen as we are not paying even more peo- ple to administer the program. Another, better idea — give tax incentives to parents who actually try to do what is best for their children. Get rid of the GST on children's books and educational games. Allow parents to deduct the enormous fees they pay to enrol their children in athletic programs, art classes, educational programs. Pass down sufficient funds to the provincial government so parents do not have to fundraise for text books and schools. This, in my opinion, is what "funding the children" is all about. The Liberal plan had flaws as well. I am not say- ing the Liberal government was right; all I am say- ing is that there has to be a better way than just giving money away for nothing. Government needs to be accountable and responsible for the weakest in society. After all, this is what government was set up to do. JEFF KELLER, BA, CFP, FMA Father of three, Exeter. Capsule Comments by Ernie Miatello If you are a diabetic, how rigorously do you control your blood sugars? It's a proven fact that when your blood sugars are controlled well, you can significantly reduce your risk of eye and kidney damage and heart problems. Those lite blood sugar machines are inexpensive and easy to use. It's important. A new drug about to make its debut in North America is varenicline. It is purported to help smokers quit the tobacco habit. Early results show that 23% of patients were still not smoking after one year. This compares very favourably with only 16% for other methods of smoking cessation. A vaccine to treat nicotine addiction is also in the works but will be a few years before it's available. Stopping smoking is the best step you can take to improve your health and reduce your risk of many diseases. Make this your goal for spring. One of the most common causes of mental and learning problems in children is fetal exposure to alcohol. 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