I wrote another letter to a politician today. Reading some of Ken Dryden's remarks on the child care program over the past couple days has left me pissed off and sputtering. One speech in particular left me so nauseated that I couldn't finish it, I'm really that worried about the kind of 1984, Big-Brother-esque stuff that Ken Dryden is saying. And now the personal insults are coming out, as seems to be Liberal policy when faced with opposition. It's not just the fact that we will be punished through unfair taxation for having one parent stay at home with our (future) children; now we're being put down for it as well. I guess it's one more thing the Liberals and NDP can use to tell us how evil and un-Canadian we are.

Here's my letter, sent by email to Ken Dryden:

Honourable Mr. Dryden;

I am writing to you today concerning your plans for a national child care program. I am very concerned about the lack of choice for parents in the system you are proposing. Many families make the choice to have one parent stay home to raise their children, and I feel that they will be unfairly punished for this choice under your new program.

Since one parent working full time is (in general) taxed at a higher rate than if both were working part-time, or if both parents were working and able to claim child care deductions, this program will likely amount to little more than a transference of wealth from families who are raising their children and already making do with less to those who, quite frankly, don't need it. I would be supportive of a program for those worse off in society (single parents, welfare recipients) but a universal program, as proposed, is simply unfair. More consideration needs to be made for those people raising their children and for those who have relatives care for their children, which amount to a very significant fraction of the Canadian population.

I am also quite offended by comments you made in Parliament on February 15. When you said that without a national child care program we would "waste the time, the opportunity and the possibility of the early years", I felt as though the decision to have one parent stay at home to raise one's children was being demeaned. Since this is the choice my husband and I will be making when we have children, and the choice we believe to be best for our children, I would appreciate if you could keep your rhetoric to a minimum and at least pretend to have respect for the thousands upon thousands of stay-at-home parents in this country who are doing the important job of raising the next generation's good citizens.

Tamara Hughes
Victoria, BC

If you feel like ranting incoherently at Ken Dryden, you can email him at Dryden.K@parl.gc.ca. The last time I wrote a politician, I got a reply right in time for the election. I wonder if that was to remind me right before I voted how much the Liberals cared about what I was saying? If that's accepted practice, I hope to hear back from Ken Dryden's secretary reeeeeeal soon so we can get a few more Liberal jackasses un-elected.

On a tangent, does writing to politicians actually do anything? I get to at least get some of my frustration out, but I don't know if it will ever actually make a difference. Matt suggested that I cc this email to newspapers, or edit it slightly for a letter to the editor, but I think it's a bit to long for a newspaper letter and I'd hate to see what kind of a jerk I look like after it's been "editted for length".