fwiw: i have no strong opinion on child care. it really has absolutely no effect on me at all, whatsoever, as i am violently opposed to the premise of raising children, in any gender context. life is too short to give it away to your children; my life belongs to me, and they can't have it.

that said,

1) i recognize the benefits of a potential universal child care plan, probably modeled after the one in quebec, but i would even go so far as to consider it invasive for me to get involved in the details.

2) from a broader social context, i'd argue that there ought to be a strong focus on minimizing the role of "babysitters" and putting a stronger emphasis on ece-style early learning. so, i would support the professionalization of child care.

but, this isn't an issue i have much to say about.

i understand that this is a distraction. the hope is that the media will run with this story instead of the real one, which may be nasty. this will give them the opportunity to do some photo ops on terms that are mutually beneficial: trudeau gets to avoid bad press, and trump gets to reach out to a demographic he's no doubt apprehensive about, despite overperforming with in the last election.

....but, i hardly think that canada has anything positive to gain from discussing child care plans with the americans.

i can imagine a universal american child care plan. the way it would work would be that you pay an insurance company through your employer. your employer would then determine the basic rules about the plan. you would have the opportunity to buy in at different levels of coverage, and your rates would increase or decrease depending on how challenging care for your child is. children with pre-existing conditions would be unlikely to get coverage.

i think canadians should look to canadian models for successful social systems, and to american ones for warnings on failed systems that should be avoided. this would consequently actually be extremely scary, if it weren't so obviously contrived.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/trump-trudeau-to-discuss-women-in-the-workforce-1.3282108

you have to get your head around the reality that a lot of liberals - and i'm going after legitimate liberalism, this time - just don't understand that their value systems aren't universal. it's a subtle logical error to deduce that the equality of individuals implies the equality of cultures. if we're all equal before the law, we should believe in the same laws; or, so goes the exercise in circular reasoning.

i'm not talking about these make-believe "moral relativists" that the alt-right goes after. the vulgar marxists are truly their own kind: nihilists. they're neo-cons.

liberals do not believe in relativism but in a higher concept of universal morality arrived at through reason. they reject authority in favour of logic, but that is not relativism; they reject relativism, in favour of logic, as well.

but, to them that means that all people must have the same value systems, because we all arrive at our value systems through appeals to logic. muslims and jews and christians and buddhists all really believe the same thing. this is the deism that defines the lodge, after all.

of course, it's wrong. but, it's really hard to get it across. just because the law should treat everybody equally doesn't mean everybody believes in the same laws...

that guy in edmonton may very well not think he's done anything wrong. and, in syria, he may not have been charged.

from the terrible alt-right nazis at the bbc:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-37617523

i can't tell if this article is being disingenuous on purpose or not...

the reason that the background of the accused is presented in the story is because the culture the accused was raised in is widely perceived by westerners as being unacceptably permissive of sex with minors. there is plenty of evidence to support this narrative, as well. the story, from this perspective, is that the incident is an example of a refugee bringing a moral value system into the country that is considered to be incompatible with canadian values.

we can discuss whether this is accurate or not. but, to suggest that it's irrelevant to the story is absurd. if this is the line the government is adopting, it should expect a reaction. that is horribly tone deaf.

these discussions are necessary. value systems are not interchangeable. non-western cultures and customs exist. our laws are not rooted in a universal morality, because that is something that doesn't exist.

if you bring in thousands of people from a culture that has different attitudes towards sex with children, you have to put programs in place to deal with it. you can't just expect that they'll leave their culture at the door.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/syrian-refugee-west-edmonton-mall-sexual-assault-reaction-racism-1.3973831