Promise them anything
Mood:  bright
Topic: Federal Politics
I downloaded the campaign platforms for all the parties as soon as they were available. The Liberal flavour is 86 pages long so, no, I won't be printing that. Reading it? Well... The Tories have a 46 page offering that 1) used up a lot of blue ink, and 2) for some reason printed 2 up pages so you really have to squint to read it. The NDP platform is 52 pages; again, not gonna be printed.

I looked at the section on child care in the Tory hymn book. They say they will honour the government's existing bilateral child care commitments for one year. Then what? Presumably parents would've signed on to whatever the Tories put together, right? Well, all the Tories are offering is a $1,200 a year taxable benefit (it ain't free and only works out to $100/month)to the partner who makes less money and tax credits to employers and non-profit associations to entice them to set up daycare spaces. There are no guarantees that the spaces will materialise. Here's a quote:

We estimate that this program will create 125,000 new child care spaces over five years...

Again, nothing promised but boy it sounds good. This is not universal, guaranteed child care, it's a bunch of estimates and maybes.

A lot of the language in the Tory platform is meaningless, sounding more like a big padded resume. Much talk of planning for things, and the word "framework" is frequently used. Everybody does it. A frame is meant to either accent something, as in a picture frame, or to provide hidden support, as in a house frame. Actually, I think the word "framework" is redundant. It's a frame, that's what it is.

Many of the grand ideas contained in the Tory platform have no deadline, so they might as well not exist. There's a lot of the "we promise to figure out how to do X" but not necessarily do X. No wonder they issue these things at the last minute.

That bastard Harper will probably do well tomorrow. Chantal Hébert has a really good column explaining why the left got shafted again and the source may surprise you. Or not. There is a discussion on this subject in rabble that raises some excellent points. The rest is made up.