The Conservatives came around in the last election babbling about how they were going to use "tax incentives" to get business to create child care spaces.
Just like their piddling $100/child/month (taxed) offering to parents, this actually does little to actually create child care spaces because business in general isn't interested in that domain:
An analysis of the possibility of getting Alberta employers to create child-care spots says: “Discussions with employers, businesses in Alberta, were mainly reflective of what we heard across Canada in terms of child care not being their line of business, shared concern that it would be too costly and complex for small business to consider.”
As for the idea of tax credits, those performing the analysis said: “shareholders are skeptical that a tax credit will create an adequate incentive for employers to create new child care spaces and are concerned it unfairly favours large enterprises.” Nor would tax credits work for non-profit organizations, they say.
That was obvious last election - because childcare, like medicine and a few other domains, are places were the oh-so-benevolent "free market" doesn't work. (Try finding child care spaces in Alberta, where the Con$ got their brilliant ideas from in the first place!)
The Con$ could have saved a lot of taxpayer dollars by simply asking themselves an obvious question - "Why would any business not already in the childcare game get into offering childcare when it's not their core business?" Tax credits aside, it's highly unlikely that any business that isn't a child are business to start with is going to get into the field just because the Federal government offers up a "tax credit".
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