Toddlers Worth More Than Their Weight as Economic Engines

What the heck is going on in Dalton McGuinty's office? I expect the federal Tories to be unapologetic about eliminating daycare spending - they have a social agenda and they are implementing it. Mums, back into the kitchen! And you kids, shut up and enjoy your povery, it build character! But McGuinty's non-committal response in the Leg to the resulting loss of 15,000 childcare spaces speaks volumes about where we are going in Ontario. His recent pronouncement that Ontario spends too much on social programs now looks more like a key plank in a deliberate right-wing platform rather than befuddled musings of a panicked Premier.

The trouble is, those toddlers and mums who will now fend for themselves instead of having quality early childhood education and a chance to work for their living are critical players in the economic recovery that both levels of government want to spur. Childcare subsidies -- like increased unemployment benefits -- go right into local goods and services, right away. Unlike the massive dolops of infrastructure spending to 'shovels in the ground', those dollars do not top up balance sheets at overstretched municipalities, but instead pay wages for people who buy coffee, diapers, and tickets to Ontario Place.

Those toddlers are worth a lot to us in this crisis, and this is no time to cut them out of the equation. I detect a social program in McGuinty's new direction, and it smells worse than a diaper-pail.