The current estimate is that the National Daycare Initiative will cost between $5-$10 billion dollars a year to implement so that anyone in Canada can choose whether or not to make use of daycare for their children.
Let's think about this: our taxes are paid to the government, who then pay it back to anyone and everyone who want child care for their children. So in effect, a childless couple like myself and my wife are helping to pay for childcare for anyone who happens to have kids, whether they can afford the daycare themselves or not. (Look, if I'm wrong and low income families get more of a break then higher income families, then I think that's worse. That's like saying the government thinks low income children are more valuable than high income children. I say if you're going to do it, pay everyone the same per child.)
In turn, do you think fertility treatment is covered by our medical insurance? Not a freaking dime, not for a single service beyond diagnosis. Whether you try hormonal drugs, In Vitro fertilization (IVF), etc it all comes out of your own pocket. Unless your insurance through work covers some of the costs you have to find the money yourself. And its not cheap. A typical round of IVF can cost almost $10000 when all is added up and has only about a 33% chance of success. Hormonal treatments can cost upwards of a $1000 for drugs. And all of it is hard emotionally on the people involved, especially if it fails.
I don't know if a National Daycare is truly vital or not to our society, but it disgusts me that our government would implement this while fertility is still considered non-essential health care. If you ever experience infertility (and I sincerely hope you do not), you'll quickly realize that is not true.
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