Despite its economic benefits, the so-con base will never support inexpensive child care. Years and years ago, I remember coming across an article from "R.E.A.L. Women" which outlined that cheap childcare was a communist plot to alienate mother and child & undermine families.

You see, to them daycare isn't a service to care for your child while you work, it is an agent of social change designed to destroy traditional families.
This article also outlined what they'd lobby the government for to uphold traditional family values.

Ending child care subsidies was one, making baby bonuses universal instead of means-based, and moving to tax credits for benefits, and allowing for greater income sharing.

All of this was intended to keep women home.

Universal child tax credits support married couples with higher incomes and does little to help low-income families. Which in their world means a woman may stay married because she doesn't get extra benefits for being divorced and having a single income.
They actually think this.

If a woman can't afford to work because child care is too expensive, it encourages her to take a greater role at home. Same for if her husband can offset his salary by "paying" her.

And this isn't a weird fringe belief. Jason Kenney in Alberta has alluded to some of this. https://www.albertandp.ca/jason-kenney-thinks-childcare-a-problem

To them, daycare isn't about working parents being able to afford all they need and be able to work and keep their careers even with children. It isn't about the economy.

It is the belief that "socialists" are "social engineering" with the intent to destroy the family unit.