Christian "Independent"
I'm an evangelical Christian, member of the CPC, but presently & unjustly exiled to wander the political wilderness.
All opinions expressed here are solely my own.
posted by Christian Conservative @ 2:58 p.m.
I'm a Born-Again Christian, redeemed by the shed blood of the risen and eternal Lord Jesus Christ. My wife and I are both active in our local church, where our life's focus is on giving all Glory to Jesus Christ, on missions, the preservation of Biblical truth, and the strengthening believers everywhere.
8 Comments:
At Thu Apr 20, 04:55:00 p.m. EDT,
Anonymous said…
If Harper has been engaged in a "phony war" (as Ralph puts it) it was started by the Liberals constant sabre rattling over this issue.
At Thu Apr 20, 05:10:00 p.m. EDT,
Blake Kennedy said…
http://victorjr.users.superford.org/pictures/various/owned/owned4.jpg
View that picture for a frank and graphic depiction of Ralph Goodale's credibility.
At Fri Apr 21, 08:21:00 a.m. EDT,
Christian Conservative said…
Scroll further down on the right... some error with Blogger, happened before and it fixed itself.
At Fri Apr 21, 10:21:00 p.m. EDT,
Anonymous said…
nice blog.
wow i didn't know you were born-again-conservative ;)
next time i see you i'll grill
ya (play the devils advocate)
hummm... so many parties to choose from.
At Sat Apr 22, 10:48:00 a.m. EDT,
Anonymous said…
The bottom line is that Childcare was not a really important issue for most Canadians in the last election. I don't think most people hinged their decision on which brand of childcare support they liked the best. But the Liberals decided to make it an issue to prove that they were still Liberal, and in the business of stopping up the holes in the social saftey net.
The Conservatives needed a response to this issue so they came up with the childcare allowance. Now they are following through on their campaign promise (novel idea I know!)
How conservative this policy is, is a legitimate question. I think this is a perfect example of conservativism filtered through the Canadian political mentality. Canadians expect the gov't to help them with all aspects of running their lives, tax credits and allowances are the conservative response.
It is important to remember that part of the Conservative plan (that gets little play) is providing tax credits to businesses to create childcare spaces. Many businesses have a hard time retaining valuable employees, and are looking at providing suplemental perks such as on site childcare to attact long term employees. Providing a tax incentive is a good way to encourage companies to become good corporate citizens.
Economics is all about creating incentives to acheive a goal. Good economics push people in the direction of the right choice, socialism makes the choices for them. Economics are at play in all parts of our lives. Our Prime Minister is an economist and understands this more than most.
At Sat Apr 22, 10:49:00 a.m. EDT,
Anonymous said…
The bottom line is that Childcare was not a really important issue for most Canadians in the last election. I don't think most people hinged their decision on which brand of childcare support they liked the best. But the Liberals decided to make it an issue to prove that they were still Liberal, and in the business of stopping up the holes in the social saftey net.
The Conservatives needed a response to this issue so they came up with the childcare allowance. Now they are following through on their campaign promise (novel idea I know!)
How conservative this policy is, is a legitimate question. I think this is a perfect example of conservativism filtered through the Canadian political mentality. Canadians expect the gov't to help them with all aspects of running their lives, tax credits and allowances are the conservative response.
It is important to remember that part of the Conservative plan (that gets little play) is providing tax credits to businesses to create childcare spaces. Many businesses have a hard time retaining valuable employees, and are looking at providing suplemental perks such as on site childcare to attact long term employees. Providing a tax incentive is a good way to encourage companies to become good corporate citizens.
Economics is all about creating incentives to acheive a goal. Good economics push people in the direction of the right choice, socialism makes the choices for them. Economics are at play in all parts of our lives. Our Prime Minister is an economist and understands this more than most.
At Sat Apr 22, 08:47:00 p.m. EDT,
Blake Kennedy said…
I don't see the "socialism" at all in what the Conservatives are doing. It's just demand-oriented microeconomic policy; by shifting the demand curve up by $1,200, they are hoping normal market mechanisms are in play and the supply will meet the demand accordingly. It's not laissez-faire economics, but it certainly isn't socialism, either.
At Sun Apr 23, 06:30:00 p.m. EDT,
Blake Kennedy said…
"But this "shifting the demand curve up by $1,200" does amount to the redistribution of wealth, since it's paid for by the government. And wealth redistribution is a centre/left idea moreso than a conservative one."
I would say that these subsidies are not designed with the intention of wealth distrubtion, because they are per unit subsidies as opposed to income-geared. The ideal of this policy seems to be to create a better childcare market by these per-unit subsidies, which it should. There should be more spaces filled and created with a higher equilibrium price. Whether or not we think that this manipulation of the market is good, bad or indifferent can be discussed further.
I believe that by leaving the choice of service provider in the hands of the famillies, this is a more market-based policy than the alternatives, which pretty much amount to state oligopoly. But whatever our preferences for what kind of programs we wish to see estabilshed, I'm sure we can all admit that it was politically necessary. To have offered no policy than laissez-faire market mechanisms would have been a political disaster in this past election. In this way, the market dynamics remain intact while some aid - however token - is offered to parents needing child care.
Post a Comment
<< Home