When the Trudeau Liberal Party crafted their poorly thought-through 2021 election platform for their embarrassing shotgun election, they promised $10/day daycare. We thought they were lying, we thought it was hilarious and we certainly never thought they would try to do it.Ten dollar per day daycare!!! This is a concept so ludicrous only a Liberal would think of it and only a naïve Canadian would vote for it. Yet here we are and welcome to the next economic train wreck rolling out in slow motion.A simple grasp of math and an ounce of common sense can figure out what's wrong with this proposal. If the age ratio dictated by the province dictates that there needs to be one adult per eight children in a particular age range, that means that adult can only generate $80 of revenue in a 10-hour day.That is less than minimum wage and far below what people need to live. This does not even account for kids snacks, toys, cleaning supplies, heat/electricity, insurance and all the other costs associated with running a daycare. I am also certain that inflation and the rising costs of living were not taken into consideration during this process either.Oh, but the government is going to subsidize the difference. Really? You actually believe that?! Even if they did, how much more in taxes will that cost Canadians?The Liberal government promised to solve the housing issues facing Canadians in 2021— that situation has only got worse. They promised to keep moving forward in the fight against climate change, but the Carbon Tax has made life expensive and they just admitted they can’t track the effectiveness of the Carbon Tax anyway. So, is it a surprise that this ten dollars per day daycare scheme has already caused daycare shortages and is stressing families?The complicating factor in all of this, and this is so typical of government incompetence, is that all the provinces signed up for this, so no one knows who to blame fully. This might be the only part of this fiasco the Liberals actually spent time planning and thinking about.Forget managing this day care program successfully, how do we set it up so no one can blame us when it doesn’t work?One cries out— why? Why would the Liberal Government be so keen on trying to make this happen?Well, the Liberals believe that by bringing in this $10/day policy they will help more women enter the workforce. Call me cynical, but they are not driven by warm and fuzzy Liberal emotions, but rather a need to bring in more revenue and grow the economy.They need more humans they can tax because they have already burdened Canadians above what they can handle.Who loses in this scenario? In short — everyone.Taxpayers will have to pay more and more for a program that never should have been created in the first place. Families will lose time together and the next generation will learn to depend on government to help them and raise their children.This again is a systematic failure of our Canadian society and a profound reality that was well understood only a couple generations ago. However, it must be said because it has been utterly lost today.It is the responsibility of parents to look after their children, not the government. Can anyone think of any other areas where parents are supposed to be the ones taking care of their children? Maybe helping them with important life changing decisions, giving them advice and helping them navigate their way into adulthood?Stop normalizing systems of care where more reliance on the government, more taxes and less freedoms are the end result.Ryan McMillan is a fourth year Journalism student at Mount Royal University. X @RyaniMcMillan
When the Trudeau Liberal Party crafted their poorly thought-through 2021 election platform for their embarrassing shotgun election, they promised $10/day daycare. We thought they were lying, we thought it was hilarious and we certainly never thought they would try to do it.Ten dollar per day daycare!!! This is a concept so ludicrous only a Liberal would think of it and only a naïve Canadian would vote for it. Yet here we are and welcome to the next economic train wreck rolling out in slow motion.A simple grasp of math and an ounce of common sense can figure out what's wrong with this proposal. If the age ratio dictated by the province dictates that there needs to be one adult per eight children in a particular age range, that means that adult can only generate $80 of revenue in a 10-hour day.That is less than minimum wage and far below what people need to live. This does not even account for kids snacks, toys, cleaning supplies, heat/electricity, insurance and all the other costs associated with running a daycare. I am also certain that inflation and the rising costs of living were not taken into consideration during this process either.Oh, but the government is going to subsidize the difference. Really? You actually believe that?! Even if they did, how much more in taxes will that cost Canadians?The Liberal government promised to solve the housing issues facing Canadians in 2021— that situation has only got worse. They promised to keep moving forward in the fight against climate change, but the Carbon Tax has made life expensive and they just admitted they can’t track the effectiveness of the Carbon Tax anyway. So, is it a surprise that this ten dollars per day daycare scheme has already caused daycare shortages and is stressing families?The complicating factor in all of this, and this is so typical of government incompetence, is that all the provinces signed up for this, so no one knows who to blame fully. This might be the only part of this fiasco the Liberals actually spent time planning and thinking about.Forget managing this day care program successfully, how do we set it up so no one can blame us when it doesn’t work?One cries out— why? Why would the Liberal Government be so keen on trying to make this happen?Well, the Liberals believe that by bringing in this $10/day policy they will help more women enter the workforce. Call me cynical, but they are not driven by warm and fuzzy Liberal emotions, but rather a need to bring in more revenue and grow the economy.They need more humans they can tax because they have already burdened Canadians above what they can handle.Who loses in this scenario? In short — everyone.Taxpayers will have to pay more and more for a program that never should have been created in the first place. Families will lose time together and the next generation will learn to depend on government to help them and raise their children.This again is a systematic failure of our Canadian society and a profound reality that was well understood only a couple generations ago. However, it must be said because it has been utterly lost today.It is the responsibility of parents to look after their children, not the government. Can anyone think of any other areas where parents are supposed to be the ones taking care of their children? Maybe helping them with important life changing decisions, giving them advice and helping them navigate their way into adulthood?Stop normalizing systems of care where more reliance on the government, more taxes and less freedoms are the end result.Ryan McMillan is a fourth year Journalism student at Mount Royal University. X @RyaniMcMillan
