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Letter to Editor
ShareTories failing families
Published: September 25, 2008 6:00 PMDear editor,
I hope that you will permit me to comment on the ads placed by John Duncan in the local newspapers. I strongly disagree with John Duncan’s assertion that the Harper Conservatives put the needs of families first.
The Harper Conservatives have a disastrous record since being elected to a minority government.
They said no to the Kelowna Accord, which would have given First Nations a much-needed economic boost. They said no to a National Child Care Program and instead give out a measly $100 per month to families, even though Canada’s child care system is a mess.
Any family looking at options for returning to work is always already at a disadvantage. Because we have no federal legislation, no real pan-Canadian, provincial, or even municipal plan or system-wide approach.
Families are left to sort through the patchwork of options — public, private, licensed, unlicensed, for-profit, non-profit — with nothing to go on but gut instinct, dumb luck and perseverance. There are still not enough child care spaces available for working parents.
The Harper conservatives have said no to funding for women’s advocacy groups, no to labelling of food containing genetically modified foods, no to funding for arts and literacy. The Harper Conservatives has steadily cut funding for food safety programs and shifted responsibility for safety assurance to the food companies themselves.
According to current Treasury Board of Canada forecasts, funding for food safety programs will have declined by almost 30 per cent from $359 million in 2006/07 to $254 million in 2010/11 under Mr. Harper’s watch. The result is 15 people died from an outbreak of listeria contamination.
The Harper Conservatives policy agenda does not support safe injection sites, urban transit, social housing, or measures to eliminate inner city poverty. They have called for a vote on same-sex marriage, questioned a woman’s right to choose, ignored the Kyoto accord and promoted Canada’s military might while sending soldiers to their death in a losing war.
Harper’s Conservatives in their latest budget have taken their lead from the Bush administration. They are simultaneously increasing the military’s budget and cutting government revenue by giving tax cuts to large corporations.
These tax cuts have set the stage for future cuts to social programs, which working families depend on. It is very clear that John Duncan and Harper’s Conservatives will continue to put the needs of big business first, not the needs of working Canadian families.
David Stevenson,
Comox
