Caveat Australia? Child Care under a Neo-conservative Agenda: A Canadian Example

Abstract

The recent swing towards a more conservative (Liberal) federal political agenda in Australia parallels similar trends in Canada. A basic tenet of this neo-conservative approach is the reduction of education, health and welfare budgets, along with tax cuts to encourage business and corporate development. Policies are presented within a free market, user pays, corporate framework. Program reductions are justified through an anti professional/reduced government philosophy. This paper analyses the development of the child care system in one province of Canada. The analysis demonstrates that, despite manifold distributions to the child care system, the lack of a constitutional dimension has left the program vulnerable. In the uproar over larger programs, the dismantling of a public system of child care is proceeding quietly and with little protest. Analyses of the activities that predicated this demise present a warning as comparable circumstances arise in Australia.