Tootsall

I realized that I'd put this in the R/P forum where it is less likely to be seen so I'm copying it here.

By now you will have heard of the Conservative Government's plan to give away $500 PER CHILD to the parents of children who are involved in organised sports activities. The attached is a petition to the government to make this "give-away" available to parents of children who are involved in "other than sports" activities (especially music!)

Here is the wording of the email. Please follow the link at the end for the on-line petition.

To: Government of Canada
The decision by the Government of Canada in its most recent budget to give a tax credit to the parents of children taking part in organized sports (the so-called "soccer mom" credit) is fundamentally unfair. It provides a subsidy to one group of citizens by making a value judgement about the activities in which they choose to involve their children.

The implicit assumption is that involvement in traditional sports has a higher value than taking piano or dance lessons, taking classes in the visual and dramatic arts, singing in a youth choir or taking part in debating or chess clubs. This is unsupportable in fact and undemocratic in ts effects. Parents who choose to spend their money on developing the aesthetic, cultural and artistic gifts of their children should not be discriminated against in favour of parents who choose to support their childrens' athletic abilities.

Therefore, the undersigned petitions the government to reconsider its announced policy and to extend the tax credit to all children and to any activity in which parents enroll their children for their mental, artistic or physical well-being.

http://www.petitiononline.com/dbs201bl/petition.html

To our non-Canadian friends, I'd thank you for your support however the petition does have a "snail mail" address requirement to ensure that the signatories are Canadian. Your comments and discussion are, however, greatly appreciated.

Manny Laureano

Well done, Toots.

It's precisely why I don't like governments getting into this sort of thing. I prefer they provide incentives to people and businesses to donate to good things but not acting directly like that. Here, charitable giving has gone up since the tax breaks starting about 2003. So, that's people making decisions about where they want to give based on disposable income. Let people keep more of their money and they will give. I really believe that because I've seen it.

http://www.nsfre.org/ka/ka-3.cfm?con...folder_id=2345

http://www.afpnet.org/ka/ka-3.cfm?co...folder_id=2365

I wish you good luck with this petition.

ML

Eclipsehornplayer

Well done Ed,

I couldn't agree with you more...

Good Luck!

__________________
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Tootsall

I just want to correct what may be a missimpression: i did not start this petition but am merely bringing attention to it. I happen to agree with it 100% and, in fact, it virtually echos my thoughts when the "electioneering promise" was initially made. This thing has exploded from about 8,000 signatures on Saturday to over 20,000 today.

ptynan

I really hope this helps. Fine Art programs in the Maritimes need all the support they can get. The more kids in the Arts, the better!!!

Thanks for posting this.
PT