Massive Deficit Won’t Stop Spending On Child Care, Ignatieff vows

Michael Ignatieff says a Liberal government would pour money into child care and early childhood education, no matter how deep a financial hole the Tories may have dug the country into by then.

The Liberal leader’s promise Monday marked the clearest attempt yet at differentiating the Liberals from Stephen Harper’s Conservatives when it comes to managing the country’s finances.

The Tories are expected to launch a government-wide spending review in the upcoming March 4 budget aimed at eventually eliminating the $56 billion deficit racked up during the last year’s global recession.

But Ignatieff rejected the Tories’ contention that the massive deficit means the country can’t afford new spending on social programs.

“Well, who created (the deficit) in the first place? I’m not going to allow the deficit discussion to shut down discussion in this country about social justice,” he declared following a Liberal-sponsored roundtable on poverty and homelessness.

He did not say how the Liberals would reduce the deficit while hiking spending on daycare and early childhood education. He essentially suggested Canadians could trust Liberals to do both, given their “gold-plated record” of balancing the country’s books while investing in social justice measures during the 1990s.

However, a spokesman for Harper pointed out that Liberals did not actually do both in the 90s; they tamed the deficit in large part because they actually slashed transfers to the provinces for health care, post-secondary education and social assistance.

Nor did Ignatieff put a price tag on his promises. He said the cost “depends where I am when we get into government” – presumably suggesting that his ambitions might be scaled back somewhat depending on the size of the deficit at that time.

But he insisted he won’t back off new investments in early childhood learning, that he’ll “find the money” no matter how big the deficit.

“I’m aware of the (financial) hole this government has dropped us in, but one (promise) I will not drop under any circumstances is an investment in our kids because I’m absolutely convinced this is the game changer that makes us more equal, more fair and more just and gives every kid an equal start,” he said.

“I’ve made it very, very clear this is the No.1 social priority of an incoming Liberal government. Why? Because we think it’s the best way to create more equality, more opportunity, more fairness in our country. It’s also the best anti-poverty program.”

The cost of the last Liberal national child-care program, introduced by Paul Martin’s government, was pegged at $5 billion over five years. The program was scrapped in its infancy by Harper when he took office in 2006.

Harper replaced the program with $100-a-month, child-care allowances for parents of young children and capital grants to employers who create child-care centres.

He promised his initiatives would create 250,000 new child-care spaces. The government says 60,000 have been created thus far but critics say the actual number so far is closer to 30,000. Meanwhile, some existing daycare facilities are shutting down due to lack of government funding.

Ignatieff has said a Liberal government would not rescind the child-care allowance but would provide funding for daycare as well.

How the Liberals intend to pay for Ignatieff’s promises remains to be seen. Toronto MP Gerard Kennedy said out loud last week what many Liberals have been saying privately – that a two percentage point hike in the GST may be the way to go.

Ignatieff has vehemently ruled out any tax increase as long as the country is still feeling the lingering effects of the recession. But he has not been so definitive about what a Liberal government would do once the economy stabilizes.

A spokesman for Human Resources Minister Diane Finley said Ignatieff “needs to come clean with Canadians about how he is going to pay for this costly scheme.”

“At a time when Canadian families can least afford it, Michael Ignatieff wants to impose a $6-billion one-size-fits-all model of day care,” said Ryan Sparrow, citing the current price tag advocated by the Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada.

“Our Conservative government has listened to Canadian parents who have told us that they want more money in their pockets to spend on the child care of their choice.”

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