The biggest gaffe of the Canadian campaign so far

I was going to continue blogging about what the polls mean in different areas of the country, but we might have to throw out all the old polls after Scott Reid, the The Director of Communications for the Prime Minister of Canada made probably the worst mistake of any senior party operative during the young Canadian election campaign.

The issue behind this is child care. The Liberals have, as a policy in their platform, promised to legislate into existence a government-run child care system. Basically the government will fund a health care system that is either free or really cheap for working parents. The Conservatives have countered with a child tax credit, on the order of a $1200 credit per child given back to families to spend on their own on child care.

In a telephone interview today, Scott Reid criticized the Conservatives's plan, inferring that the Liberals care more for children than their own parents do, and therefore that the money is better in the hands of the government. Reid said in part: "Don't give people $25 a day to blow on beer and popcorn."

Wow. Just, wow.