By John-Henry Westen
OTTAWA, December 12, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The anti-family remarks of two Liberal Party spokesmen Sunday has garnered criticism from all opposition parties. Chief Liberal spokesman Scott Reid and his colleague John Duffy in televised comments said that Canadian parents would squander child-care money (if it was granted to parents directly rather than to state-run institutions) on “beer and popcorn”. (see LifeSiteNews.com coverage: https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/dec/05121202.html )
NDP Leader Jack Layton and Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe while maintaining their disagreement over the Conservative child-care plan, nonetheless took issue with the anti-family stance of the Liberals.Â
Layton, speaking at a Toronto daycare said, “The mask has come off the Liberal approach to childcare.” In comments to the Globe and Mail he added, “Certainly, attacking families is not the way to go.”
Duceppe told the Ottawa Citizen, “It is profoundly contemptuous, I don’t agree with Harper’s proposal, but to say such a thing … it reminds me of Jean Chretien’s declarations on unemployment. He said people in the Gaspe, all they want is their cheque to go buy beer. I remember that.”
For the Conservatives, spokesman Dimitri Soudas told the Citizen, “This is how out of touch the Liberal party is with Canadian parents. Mr. Reid’s comments are unacceptable and insulting. Canadian parents work very hard to raise their children and offer them everything they can.”