From an article by Dr. Brett Taylor, an associate professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at Dalhousie University.  His website can be found here.

We love our kids, and we try our best to feed, clothe, house and raise them, but we just don't vote as though they matter very much, leaving one to wonder why.

My job exposes me to the cracks in our medical and social systems, and I am a father. Sometimes, these characteristics lead to a certain impatience with the "seen and not heard about" attitudes so often demonstrated by our leaders about our children and youth.

So I have a bias, and it is probably best to just get it out there, right off the bat, by stating what will become the key question of this piece: When it comes to the social and medical health of children, where the heck is Harper?

For instance, just what is going on with daycare in Canada? Competent daycare decreases the incidence of child abuse and neglect in our communities, and is an enabler, allowing parents (very often women) to seek employment and thus escape from the trap of poverty that so often accompanies single parenthood.

Three years ago this month, Harper announced a child-care subsidy of $100 per month for parents of young children, stating that he expected this would "help parents find that balance" between raising a child and making a living. Harper predicted that this plan would create 125,000 new daycare spaces across the country.

Well, that hasn't happened; daycare spaces in Canada are nearly as hard to come by today as they were in 2005. The Liberals, NDP and Greens have all announced measures to provide a federally funded daycare program. On the Conservative website, the only mention that I could find of a national child-care strategy was a restating of the 2005 program.

While the world of work-life and child care issues are the usual focus of this blog, I feel I would be remiss if I did not mention the huge struggles we are experiencing in the world economy right now. 

For months, my friend and colleague Robert Paterson has been doing excellent blog postings on this topic. If you are looking for a way to better understand what is happening do spend some time on Rob's blog.  You will find it to be both helpful and informative.  Rob has a great way of relaying what is very complicated information. 

Chris Corrigan also feels the same about Rob's postings.  Here is what he wrote recently:

My friend Rob Paterson has not only lived in the high levels of the world of high finance, but has alos been through a stock market crash before, in 1987.  As such the story he is telling on his blog is deep and informed, and it’s also accessible.  This is because Rob cares about storytelling, and he has spent a number of years now working with public radio and television in the United States helping stations in their effort to create news that is useful.  Nowhere has this been more important than now, when the meltdown in the mortgage and now the financing sectors of the American economy has devastated families and communities. 

Another great source of information on this is the story that ran last evening on the CBC show,Sunday Night.  The story was called The Great Wall Street Swindle.  It is a very helpful summary of what is happening in the United States ecomony and how it has already impacted us in Canada.  If you are looking for a quick lesson on what has happened with the sub-prime mortgage crisis and the related fallout make sure that you should watch this story.