Father knows best. Not in a Liberal world.

There is no more clear example as to the Conservative vs. Liberal viewpoints are than the case of the childcare tax credits that exploded over the weekend.

For those who might not know the details, the Conservative party has promised a $100/month credit for families for each child under the age of six. The Liberals (and NDP for that matter) want to put money into some form of federal daycare program.

This whole debate blew up this last weekend when Scott Reid, a top aide to Liberal Leader Paul Martin, made this comment on air:

"Don't give people 25 bucks a week to blow on beer and popcorn,"

To make it worse, John Duffy, another senior aide repeated a similar statement later in the day:

"'There is nothing to stop people from spending (the Tory cash allowance) on beer or popcorn or a coat or a car or anything,

Reid later withdrew his comments and issued an apology but the damage was done. Now this type of accidental comment is said all the time in the heat of a debate, but the very fact that Duffy would later try and defend it just goes to show how much contempt the Liberals hold for the average tax payer. The very idea that average Canadians should be allowed to make their own decisions when it comes to childcare is almost an insult to the people who drive the Liberal agenda. Instead, they believe a bloated government run bureaucracy should be put in charge of raising your children. After all, they know best don't they.

Conservatives, on the other hand, want to get the government out of areas they should not be involved, but at the same time understand that for many Canadians, childcare is an issue of tantamount importance.

If our government had a track record of well run federal programs I might be on board with the federal daycare program. The problem is, we don't. You'd be hard pressed to find one large scale program run by the feds that works efficiently and since this national daycare idea is more of a hasty measure put forward to try and buy votes to begin with, the odds of another gun registry like fiasco occurring is astronomically high. So, in my opinion, it only makes sense to give families with small children a little help in the form of credits so that they can decide what is best. In some cases that extra $100 a month might enable a parent to stay home full or part time, in others it may enable them to get professional help so that both parents can return to work. As each case is different it is best to let the individuals decide what to do, not some MP in Ottawa. And I'm sure some people will just blow the cash on beer and popcorn, but that is their choice, and is it truly any worse than some Liberal MPs spending taxpayer money on 5 star hotels and chardonnay.

See some CBC viewers responses in their Your View section. And as usual, the Captain has his views.