September 10, 2008 - Toronto

All parents needs access to high quality child care. They just don't need it at the same time. That means, while polls overwhelmingly show that Canadians support child care programs, this issue is never one of the top issues.

Every once and a while the media talk about "mommy wars" pitting stay-at-home moms against mothers who are in the workforce. The theory is that stay-at-home moms don't need child care, so spending money on those programs "discriminate" against stay-at-home moms.

But the theory is wrong. What parents need is flexible child care, part-time child care and child care outside of regular business hours. Only by investing in a child care system, do you have those options for parents. In Quebec, a third of stay-at-home moms have children in a child care program.

Child care is good for the economy - either good or bad economy. Child care gives families the ability to weather the storm of looking for work or participating in re-training.