Skip to Content News Archives Economy Energy Oil & Gas Renewables Electric Vehicles Mining Commodities Agriculture Real Estate Mortgages Mortgage Rates Finance Banking Insurance Fintech Cryptocurrency Work Wealth Smart Money Wealth Management Investor Personal Finance Family Finance Retirement Taxes High Net Worth FP Comment Executive Women Puzzmo Newsletters Financial Times Business Essentials More Innovation Information Technology FP500 Podcasts Small Business Lives Told Tails Told Shopping Financial Post Store Obituaries Place a Notice Advertising Advertising With Us Advertising Solutions Postmedia Ad Manager Sponsorship Requests Classifieds Place a Classifieds ad Working Profile Settings My Subscriptions Saved Articles My Offers Newsletters Customer Service FAQ News Economy Energy Mining Real Estate Finance Work Wealth Investor FP Comment Executive Women Puzzmo Newsletters Financial Times Business Essentials HomeFP CommentMatthew Lau: Child-care money shouldn’t be funding the revolutionFollowing child-care money indicates some is going to organizations whose politics are far outside the Canadian mainstreamLast updated 1 hour ago You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.Whether it’s for child care or anti-racism programs the track record of governments seems always to be one of sending taxpayers’ money to all the wrong places. Photo by Nadezhda1906/Getty ImagesHow do hundreds of thousands of tax dollars, including for anti-racism and child-care inclusion training, end up in the hands of a radical anti-Israel, anti-capitalist activist group in Prince Edward Island? These are the sorts of unhappy questions that arise when trying to follow the tens of billions of additional dollars governments have poured into child care since the federal government’s national child-care program launched in 2021.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman, and others.Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman and others.Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorFor background: there has recently been significant consternation in the P.E.I. child-care sector because the provincial government cut $1.4 million in funding for support staff. The effect on operators is significant, the cuts took place without consulting the sector, and some operators have considered service disruptions such as strikes to protest them. Frustration is understandable: expanded government control of child care made operators reliant on government funding, and now some of the funding is going away.Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns.By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of Top Stories will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againBut while the provincial government said it cannot afford the $1.4 million for staff funding, its child-care spending plans for the past year included a combined $1.25 million for administration (such as IT costs) and diversity and inclusion programs. This is what happens when the government takes over a sector: more money for bureaucrats and pet projects and less for actually providing services.The P.E.I. government’s plan says its inclusion strategy included consultations with various organizations, including one called BIPOC USHR (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour United for Strength, Home, Relationship), which the provincial government has funded and partnered with prolifically in recent years. In the past, for example, the government paid BIPOC USHR to deliver a series of anti-racism workshops to child-care workers and Department of Education and Lifelong Learning staff.The benefits of such anti-racism training are dubious, especially when you consider the list of “educational resources” on BIPOC USHR’s website, including such titles as “Information on the Hamas Charter,” “Zionism is white supremacy,” and “Kwame Ture on Zionism and Imperialism.” I learn from Wikipedia that Kwame Ture once said in a speech, “I have never admired a white man, but the greatest of them, to my mind, was Hitler.” But Kwame Ture apparently considered other white men great, too, because the “educational resource” on the BIPOC USHR website is a video clip which begins with him referring to “that great man, V.I. Lenin.” (Vladimir Lenin’s middle name was Ilyich).Meanwhile, the “Information on the Hamas Charter” resource is an Instagram video in which a lady says she does not excuse Hamas’s October 7 terrorist attack, then goes on to excuse it by insisting Hamas is not antisemitic and does not hate Jews, but is simply fighting Zionism. A video about how Hamas is not antisemitic is not education. It is stupidity.Also according to its website, “BIPOC USHR recognizes intertwined systems of capitalism, colonialism, patriarchy, and white supremacy that actively work to undermine the overall well-being and achievements of BIPOC communities.” More nonsense. Economic evidence — notably the pioneering work of Gary Becker, which won him the 1992 Nobel Prize in economics — has shown capitalism and free markets reduce racism, not increase it.So prolifically has the P.E.I. government funded BIPOC USHR that the 2022 and 2025 provincial budget addresses both highlighted government funding for it. It has received money not just for child-care anti-racism training, but also hundreds of thousands in handouts from P.E.I. taxpayers for climate change projects, diversity and inclusion programs, and on at least four separate occasions, anti-racism initiatives.When BIPOC USHR isn’t taking money from the provincial government, it is taking it from the federal government. Since 2022, Ottawa has given it at least six grants totalling $306,829, most recently a $90,000 handout last year for — of course! — anti-racism programs. Whether these taxpayer dollars were used to teach people that capitalism is racist or that Hamas isn’t is worth looking into.Returning to the issue of child-care spending, the P.E.I. government’s spending plans included, in addition to this diversity and inclusion spending of dubious value, administration costs for communication and promotional materials, research studies, nine administrative staff, travel costs, materials and technology expenses. But, evidently, not enough money for child-care support staff.Such is the messy world of government spending, made much messier by the dramatic expansion of government control over child care since 2021. Unfortunately, whether it’s for child care, anti-racism programs, or anything else, the track record of governments seems always to be one of sending taxpayers’ money to all the wrong places. Join the Conversation This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.