Whoops, Canada...!

What's this all about, anyway? Canada is one of the best countries of the world in which to live. A parliamentary democracy, a proud heritage, a country that offers equality and freedoms, one that cares deeply for all its people, offering opportunities for advancement not seen in too many other wealthy, resource-rich countries. We've one of the most differentiated, beautiful geographies in the world, a vast landscape of boreal forests, rich farmlands and vibrant cities.

The country's people are industrious, hard working, with efficient and capable entrepreneurs, brilliant scientific minds, and a commitment to egalitarian opportunities; respect and fairness the order of the day through societal convention. We enjoy a high standard of living, our children are well educated, we're well served by a universal health care system, and take our obligations to those less fortunate among us, seriously. We're very nice people, collectively.

So how is it that UNICEF has, in its first-ever global report card on child welfare, placed Canada very low in good marks for meeting its benchmarks for early childhood care? Oops, guess it's because that very same Canada managed to meet a mere one out of a total of ten benchmarks, set for the purpose of identifying minimum standards for ensuring protection of children's rights.

Sanguine Canada is behind its North American counterparts, and out of a study that compared 25 members of the OECD, Canada is given last place in accomplishment. We've a failing grade, without a national child-care plan, prioritizing the needs of children at the lower spectrum of society. We don't adequately subsidize early education services, unlike 15 other countries on the list.

Sweden takes top spot, with Iceland hot behind. The president of the Canadian Child Care Federation points out that Canada has no unifying national childcare program, and there lies the problem. "Canada has no national standards, no national accountability as to how things are paid and so, as a result, we have a huge component of our economic culture where there is no structure...We have, at best, a patchwork of services, province to province."

"High quality, early-childhood education and care has a huge potential to enhance children's cognitive, linguistic, emotional and social development" says Marta Santos Pais, director of the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre. Obviously, we're failing our commitment to the country's citizens of the future. One can only wonder where parental responsibility to support, inform, teach values and ethics and expose children to learning situations comes into the equation?

And if our failure, an inexcusable one, is not enough there to make us blush with embarrassment, how about another report ranking 57 industrialized countries and economies, the Climate Change Performance Index, which places Canada near the bottom of annual ranking. We've managed to put ourselves deep down there in incompetence, ranking with the second worst climate change plan in the world, after Saudi Arabia.

It's no comfort to read that there is no single country that has been judged as wholly satisfactory in attempts to protect climate. No country is yet committed to follow a protocol that would lead to success in staying within the carbon emissions limits pledged. Sweden, Germany, France, India, Brazil, the United Kingdom and Denmark, however, managed to place themselves in the top rankings based on emissions levels and policies.

The bad news there is many of the leaders of those same countries appear to be sliding away from those rankings. Attributable, perhaps, to the precarious economic position many now find themselves in with the global financial problems all are facing. Germany in particular is highlighted as one country whose ranking promises to plummet because of its government's seeming unwillingness to come down hard on polluting industries.

Russia, Australia and the United States share poor ranking at the bottom of the scale, yet still above Canada. There are certainly some surprises there, and others not so surprising. As for Canada's standing - pretty awful, no doubt about that. Not at all good, nothing to be proud of. We can do a whole lot better, so why aren't we?