Thread by @youseepeeYYC

Median household income in #Calgary is about $100/k.

This is literally designed to exclude more than 50% of of families.

https://twitter.com/cbcedmonton/status/1419755695512113160

“but @youseepeeYYC, the families who earn much more than median income don’t need subsidized childcare as badly, they can afford to pay out of pocket, and therefore should”

Someone, probably.

Let’s briefly examine why this is the wrong way to look at a social program.

When a service is universal and benefits *everyone* it is more difficult for politicians to play identity politics and wedge issues to divide people over cutting it.

That’s why *universal* programs are so much more powerful than boutique programs.

“What about programs like childcare? Shouldn’t the people who can afford to pay do so?”

Well, yes. But the way we do that with healthcare is to charge those who can afford it through progressive income taxes instead of at the point where service is delivered. (Hospital etc.)

So doing the same for childcare means everyone pays the same at the point of delivery—$10/day—and those who earn more end up paying through taxation to help their neighbours.

For a program like this, a rising tide lifts all boat.

#ableg

The other benefit of treating everyone the same is that sometimes people of different backgrounds end up bumping elbows.

In the current system people of similar economic means end up using the same facilities.

People with more means end up at more expensive providers.

The people scraping by end up at the cheapest.

Imagine how this plays out in practice.

Imagine if all services were like golf clubs.

Confederation Park in #yyc charges $36 for a round of golf—not too bad. The Fairmont Banff Springs Golf Course that charges $374+tax including club rental.

High prices are meant to exclude the poor.

Imagine how obscene it would be of we treated public libraries like that.

With the “good” books in one room, and the books for “everyone else” in another…

#abed

Imagine how obscene it would be if we treated public education like that.

With the “good” books (& class sizes) in one building and books (& class sizes) for “everyone else” in another…

…it would be segregation. #abed

https://twitter.com/youseepeeyyc/status/1301240594056929280

I mean, you know why Charter Schools were first started in the 50’s, right?

“The desired outcome was few or, better yet, no black students in white schools.”

#abed
salon.com/2015/01/07/the…

That’s why Conservatives are so against universal programs.

At its core, their movement is about treating the rich better than the poor.

When people are seen as equal, it’s harder to treat the poor like dirt.

Segregation is essential to conservatism.

When you apply the idea of “exclusion of ‘the other’” to the actions of the #UCP a lot of their policies start to make more sense.

A two-tiered healthcare system, for example, excludes those without capital—workers—from those with capital.

#ableg #abhealth

https://twitter.com/ctvedmonton/status/1419405645309255682

I could come up with tons of examples of how modern society “others” people to exclude them.

This is considered “acceptable” because capitalism needs someone at the bottom for the people at the top to exploit.

Remember: wages are an expense that capitalists don’t want to pay.

When you hear about Conservatives crying about the wages of highly-trained healthcare workers (nurses) they are trying to push down the wages, break unions, and deprive the poor of healthcare.

See this @kim_siever article:

kimsiever.ca/2021/07/07/res…

#IStandWithABNurses

Then there is the way Conservatives treat kids.

By suppressing the wages of youth—an “other” group the #UCP can discriminate against—they effectively suppress the wages of *ALL* workers. #ableg #BoycottUCPdonors

See this thread by @ABFedLabour👇

https://twitter.com/abfedlabour/status/1420068232216539139

In this thread we’ve examined how boutique policies allow the normalization of “othering” of different groups.

We’ve looked at how capitalism needs to have groups of underpaid workers to exploit.

We’ve focused on how Conservatives create policies to enable this…

#cdnpoli

…But Conservatives are not alone in using boutique policies to create or reinforce “othering.”

Earlier this year the @liberal_party denied millions of Canadians from finally being able to access #dentalcare.

#cdnpoli
ipolitics.ca/2021/06/16/lib…

That’s not to say that the Trudeau Liberals haven’t had successes.

They did a decent job with vaccine procurement, and I’m grateful for policies on cannabis, & finally putting a national childcare policy into motion.

Childcare is how we started this 🧵
cbc.ca/news/politics/…

When the Federal Government announced the national childcare plan, Kenney was quick to denounce it.

A program that removes a barrier-to-entry into the workforce for parents of young children makes it more difficult for them to be “othered.” #ableg

cbc.ca/news/canada/ed…

This week, the #UCP announced that #childcare is essential for [Alberta’s] economic recovery.

They are celebrating *increasing* the household income ceiling to include families with an income of $90k/y.

That’s great, but it isn’t universal.

#ableg #DroptheUCP

https://twitter.com/rebeccakschulz/status/1419726575218544667

But great that the #UCP are finally accepting some version of Trudeau’s national childcare program, right?

Well, that might be what they want you to think.

@JasonOnTheDrums puts this nicely:

(Seriously, if you’re not following the beat of @JasonOnTheDrums, you should be.)

https://twitter.com/jasononthedrums/status/1419872244067569670

.@pancholi_rakhi, the NDP's Critic for Children’s Services points out that "the income threshold for child care subsidy was $105,000 a year ago."

The #UCP are playing politics with people's lives so they can gaslight voters.

h/t to @giraffami

https://twitter.com/pancholi_rakhi/status/1419868488827490304

.@LiseGot asks an excellent question.

Why Albertans will be paying [federal] taxes to fund affordable #childcare in other provinces without getting the benefit of the service those taxes are for here?

#ableg

https://twitter.com/LiseGot/status/1419835086564954112?s=20