Research by economists about early childhood education and policy
Doug Ford’s promised in the last election to deliver child care affordability for a small amount of money ($389 million per year) for all children in Ontario 0-14 years of age. That’s a total of 2.2 million children. In other words, Doug Ford thinks he can make child care affordable for a price of less than $180.00 per child per year. On the face of it, this cannot possibly be true.
Continue reading “How much will Doug Ford’s tax credit for child care cost?”
Pour mes amis francophones, here is the final report (in French) of the Affordable for All study on child care funding in Ontario! There is much analysis and many lessons in here about what funding approaches will have positive and negative impacts on accessibility and affordability for families. Des Services Abordables Pour Tous_Rapport Final
I just had a piece published in Policy Options/Options Politiques, from the Institute for Research in Public Policy in Montreal. It’s titled “Child Care in the Ontario Election“. Have a look! No matter who wins the election, this debate about what constitutes good child care policy in Ontario is a really important one.
Here’s the PDF from my presentation to the Atkinson Centre Early Years Task Force from this morning May 9th. This is a crucial election for families who care about child care and the different policy approaches to child care funding would have VERY different effects. Presentation at OISE on Affordable for All report
I’m a collaborating member of a research team in Quebec called “Equipe de Recherche Qualite des Contextes Educatifs de La Petite Enfance”. Nathalie Bigras, an excellent researcher in early childhood education issues from UQAM, is the leading member of this team. Their recent newsletter contains a useful clickable list of recent press coverage and other resources
I wrote this response to an opinion piece by Andrea Mrozek published by CBC News Opinion. My response didn’t get published. Here’s a flavour:
“Child care in Quebec is very affordable, and is very popular with parents. Its affordability has had dramatic positive impacts on women’s employment, family incomes, and child poverty. Reputable economists claim that these effects are so positive that funding child care affordability can completely or nearly completely pay for itself. However, as Ontario develops its child care policies, it is important to imitate Quebec’s successes and avoid Quebec’s mistakes.”
My article in The Conversation Canada (sign up here to get this digital publication – https://theconversation.com/sign_up) argues that providing free child care for Ontario’s preschool children will avoid many of the problems Quebec had in expanding its child care system. https://theconversation.com/why-free-preschool-makes-the-most-sense-for-families-94716
The Toronto Star published my op-ed today. See more below:
What will Ontario PC leader Doug Ford do for children and families in this election? The Liberals and the NDP have set a high bar with their child care funding announcements – free preschool child care with the Liberals and fees based on income averaging $12 a day with the NDP.
Parisa Mahboubi complains (Globe and Mail, April 11th) about Ontario’s new plan to provide free preschool child care, but I think she should be cheering instead. I agree with her that the cost of child care is a major barrier to increased labour supply, to gender equality in employment, and to children gaining positive experiences in child care.
Speech to the Institute for Research on Public Policy Roundtable – “Assessing Family Policy in Canada”.