Canada's Fork In The Road

It is very fitting that high-level Liberal spokespeople like Scott Reid are clearly speaking their minds on how childcare should best be provided to Canadians. What he said was not an accident, for other high-level Liberals have echoed his thoughts precisely.

The discussion that has now ensued is about much more than just childcare. It's actually a strong metaphor for how Canada moves forward as a country.

Voting for the Liberal plan means that you agree that Canadian parents, on average, are not yet mature enough to spend the money wisely and are still in need of guidance and direction from the nanny state. Otherwise all havoc might just break loose and the social fabric of this country may fall apart. Who knows, maybe it will.

Voting for the Conservative plan is an acknowledgement that we, as a society, have grown up somewhat and no longer need to have every part of our lives run by Nanny Gov. Those of us who think this way don't want 'her' to disappear but just to back away some and give us more freedom to make our own decisions. We know she cares about us but it's time we left the nest and started flying on our own.

The vote on January 23rd is a pivotal moment in Canada's history. In many ways it is a referendum about Canada's maturity level as a nation. Entering that polling booth, each person needs to make up their own mind about where they stand on this. Change is never simple and sometimes it's downright scary. But change is an inevitable fact of life and one that responsible adults accept and deal with; most often very well indeed.