New details for Conservative Child Care Plan

The details announced by Harper today are good for the Conservative campaign and good for Canadians:

Releasing the details of the plan will finally get some attention a much neglected part of the child care strategy. Liberals and the media have both been ignoring the $250 million/year ever since the announcement was made. Liberals will no longer be able to get away with saying that the Conservative plan to give $1200/year to parents won't create new child care spaces because the voters will be more aware of the rest of the plan.

The plan is also a good solution to the problem of waiting lists. I've been saying for months upon months, that the best solution to the lack of child care spaces is to provide funding for non-profit day cares to expand or start new centres. It is very difficult for non-profit centres to raise the funds needed to expand or start a new centre. As the waiting lists get shorter, parents will have a choice of which day care centre to send their kids to, instead of just sending them to any centre where there is a space. Once parents have this choice, centres that provide a quality program will keep expanding and centres with poor quality, "babysitteresque" programs will decline. This could be a lengthy process without the aid of the government though. Ministry officials, which already visit and inspect child care centres routinely, should be able to vito any funding for poor quality centres to expand or open new locations.