If your thumb is hurting this morning, maybe it’s because the hammer missed its target while we’re all focused short-sightedly on the latest opinion polls.  Up a percentage here, down a smidgeon there … and in the meantime our government fritters its time away on positions instead of policies.  Sheer madness at a time when the world is shifting inexorably towards a new economic balance of power.

Jim Travers hits the nail on the head again this morning in the Star:  Law and order, reforming the Senate and sticking to the big tax lie are all about votes and power. They have nothing whatever to do with building a national consensus on the best way forward.

Read it and weep for the future of Canada.  Then take your thumb out of your … mouth … and start thinking about what building blocks we need for sustaining prosperity in this country.  And while you’re at it, don’t get sidetracked by headlines featuring Mr. Ignatieff’s characterization of an early childhood learning program as “social justice”.  That may well be true.  But the real story here is economic survival – even the Canadian Chamber of Commerce wants this program.  As they, and nearly everyone else except perhaps our government, recognize, without well-honed minds, our hearts will surely be broken as we struggle to maintain our place in the new world.

Funny thing is that we claim that kids are the most precious, the most important -- and then we almost never demonstrate that with our policy actions.  If kids really did come first and we really cared about future generations we would have universal daycare, early childhood education and our primary and secondary schools would not be falling apart.

Words are just that: let's put our policy might and money toward our kids for a change instead of just talking about it.

Let's hope Iggy can learn to spin his message better.  Childcare is not just a social justice issue or a women's issue -- or even a provincial matter, it is a national crisis. 

At the heart of it lies the solution to our impending labour (skills) shortage, our population shrinkage, enhanced education for future generations, and more.  It is, as the fine Senator says, an economic issue that we'd best address now.

While the Cons would like us to believe that the current $100/day gives parents the choice to stay at home...it certainly did not spark that debate in our household.  What does however, is addressing the needs of our three year old daughter.  We want to put her in and early chldhood program, but the options are polar opposites.  One is full day at the cost of $45 per day and the other is three half days.  Three half days are not ideal for working parents but the $45 is a huge hit to the pocket book.   I would certainly support it, especially given the list of things we have gone into debt for over this last year...ECD is a comparingly noble reason.