Five Priorities - What we should have voted for...NOT

Well, these five priorities are not my priorities, I sure didn't vote for them!!

Civil society organizations promote five priorities for new parliament OTTAWA, March 30 /CNW Telbec/
- On the eve of the new parliamentary session, leading Canadian civil society groups have joined forces to send a message to Parliament. In response to the government's five priorities, the Council of Canadians, the Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada, Egale Canada, Quebec-based Coalition Solidarité Santé and Friends of Canadian Broadcasting announced five priorities of their own at a press conference on Parliament Hill today.

"We fear that the Harper government, despite being one of the slimmest minority governments in Canadian history, will roll back decades of progress on social issues that are fundamental to Canadians," says Maude Barlow, national chairperson of the Council of Canadians. Together, the organizations are calling on members of all parties to embrace the following five priorities:

1- Honour the child care agreement negotiated between the previous federal government and the provinces;
2- Stop the drift towards private, for-profit health care in the provinces;
3- Strengthen the country's national public broadcaster, the CBC, through new, stable, arm's-length funding;
4 - Reject any effort to reopen debate on the issue of same-sex marriage;
5- Cease talks on deeper integration with the United States.

"These issues are vital to the social fabric of Canada," says Barlow. Same-sex marriage legislation, public health care, public broadcasting and the previously negotiated child care agreement were hard-won achievements for Canadians. "These issues, not further integration with the U.S. should be the focus of the new parliament." For further information: please contact: Meera Karunananthan, Media Officer, Council of Canadians: (613) 233-4487 ext 234, (613) 795-8685 (cell); meera@canadians.org; www.canadians.org http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2006/30/c0558.html

So, let's see what's wrong with these priorities, one by one.

1- Honour child care agreement...I notice they have changed it from DAYcare, now it's child care. This plan still leaves 75% of parents with no help, but 100% of us paying for something only 25% use, if that many.

2-Dictate to provinces about health care...NDP Layton and old PM Martin use private health care but I can't choose?

3-Strengthen the CBC??... I have been tracking our families watching of CBC, it's zip, nada, ziltch, not even hockey night in Canada! So, the 1B spent on CBC every year is going where?? No-one is watching it!!

4-Oh, good old SSM,... this one I'll give them, but can I now call my marriage a union, so I know that means one man one women?? Watch for poligamy next!

5- CEASE integration with US... ummm everyday BILLIONS of trades with the US take place, and we should cease it?? Why no mention of trade with China? Who is scarier, the US our biggest trading partner, or China with their disregard for even basic human rights?

These people are so misguided in their thinking they think they are making sense.

Choosing for families

I have to make my voice heard on this issue.

If the Conservatives used to be scary because of their hidden agenda, socialists are even scarier with their desire to institutionalize our children by taking away the choices of parents. If 75% of families are being ignored by socialists who want a "national" daycare, how can their program be justified? We all know what a money pit "national" healthcare is, so, why would rational people support another money pit?

On International Women's Day, a day that was supposed to honour women, all I saw on TV were special interest groups spouting off about how a "national" daycare was needed. What really ticked me off was that they were using daycare children. Is this their idea of how to educate our children? Make them little robots?

Well, I say honour ALL parents by supporting choice in childcare.

Allow parents to choose between daycare, staying at home (Mom or Dad), neighbours, nieces/nephews, GMa's/GPa's, nannies, the list is endless. Rural families and shift workers depend on family and friends more than urban families and 9to5er's do, but they are being ignored in this "national" daycare. This "national" daycare suits Toronto socialists such as Olivia Chow, who on Women's Day was telling us how this "national" daycare is the way to go, but she represents her riding in Toronto, not the rest of the country.

One of the reasons I voted for the Conservatives was because of their choice in childcare program. Even the word childcare as opposed to daycare shows the distinct difference between their way of thinking. One is interested in supporting children and ALL parents; the other is interested in supporting daycare workers and their union supporters.

Make a choice for families, support choice in childcare. If the Liberals, NDP and Bloc want to make this an election issue, I say, "Bring it on!!"

Please make the word "national" disappear from any discussion of daycare, as I'm really sick of typing it.