Roundup: Mulcair offers $15/day childcare

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The NDP announced their national childcare plan, promising $15/day spaces across the country, with $5 billion over eight years intended to create 370,00 spaces by 2018-19, and one million spaces after the eight years, with the federal government paying 60 percent of the tab, the provinces 40 percent. The Liberals, of course, are pointing out that there would have been a similar programme a decade ago had the NDP not sided with the Conservatives to bring down the Martin government, as they had already done the hard part of negotiating deals with the provinces – something a hypothetical future NDP government would have to start over from scratch in a different fiscal reality. They also don’t think the maths work out in terms of per-space funds. The Conservatives are making doom sounds about the universal child benefit, which the NDP say they’re going to maintain, putting that much more of a hole in the fiscal picture. It’s not seen as a model that benefits all families, and there are better models of getting more women into the workforce using existing federal tax deductions that could be tweaked. Economist Stephen Gordon re-upped a previous post of his with regards to the problems with the Quebec model and how it tends to fail both vertical and horizontal equality tests, and also responds to some of the critics he’s heard from all yesterday.

While a member of the Canadian Forces who delivered protective gear to west Africa waits for results to see if he has Ebola, the nurses’ union says that they are afraid that Ontario is not ready to face Ebola cases and are looking to institute a “buddy system” for ensuring that protective precautions are taken properly and that any gaps get noticed.

Joe Oliver gave more hints that tax cuts are on the way, but hasn’t yet given a date for the fall economic update.

Copyright lawyer Howard Knopf gives his critical analysis of the government’s proposal regarding use of news clips for political parties, and doesn’t see a big problem with the proposal as it stands (but may have more to say once the actual txt of the legislation becomes available). Michael Geist also notes that the problem may not be copyright law, but that there may be other problems with broadcasters colluding to not air certain content. Kady O’Malley looks at how the proposal could backfire politically for the government.

Emmett Macfarlane takes his own look at the Supreme Court challenge to the ban on doctor-assisted suicide, and the tension between the role of the Court in interpreting the Charter in such a case and the responsibility of Parliament to reasonably deal with these kinds of situations while respecting the Charter. Here’s a Q&A about the issues involved.

Stephen Harper announced yesterday that the federal government and Quebec were nearly ready to table a legislative framework for resource development in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, much to the chagrin of environmentalists.

The military is reviewing their universality of service rules, which were used to oust injured members or those with PTSD before they were eligible to collect their pensions.

Suspended senator Patrick Brazeau has been charged with impaired driving, blowing over the legal limit, and breach of bail conditions (as he was in possession of a knife at the time). After spending a second night in jail, he’s being taken directly to a rehab facility in Sherbrooke. He recently spent a stint in rehab after a previous court order.

A study at Ryerson looked at ethnic media and the Conservative government, and found very little negative press for said government in those papers.

And over in Canadian Lawyer, I profile Mike Duffy’s criminal defence lawyer, Donald Bayne.