The Institute for Gender and the Economy recently sponsored a workshop on Care Work in the Recovery Economy. I did a short presentation with slides looking at Alberta’s new child care policies – following on the funding agreement with the federal government. Do the new policies get us to $10 a day? Are low-income families still disadvantaged with the burden of child care costs? I thought you might like to see the slides and draw conclusions. And how about this neat graphic provided to me after the workshop by the workshop organizers!! It summarizes some of my main themes.
ARMINE IS WRONG ABOUT DOUG FORD
I like Armine Yalnizyan. Usually, I agree with her. But I don’t appreciate her recent sympathy for Doug Ford (https://www.thestar.com/business/opinion/2022/01/25/doug-ford-is-the-only-premier-who-has-yet-to-sign-ottawas-10-a-day-child-care-deal-hes-right-to-push-back.html ). She sympathizes with Doug Ford’s reluctance to sign an agreement with the federal government to get billions of dollars per year to make licensed child care more affordable and more accessible for Ontario families. She agrees with Doug Ford that there is not enough money in the pot to lower fees on existing child care spaces AND expand child care capacity. But she’s wrong. There is enough money on the table to take giant steps towards making child care …
$10 a Day Child Care Will Dramatically Reduce Employment Barriers for Parents
A major new study (https://childcarepolicy.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Ten_a_day-paper-web.pdf ) addresses the question of whether the $10 a day program will truly improve child care affordability and reduce barriers to employment for families. It was written by economists Gordon Cleveland and Michael Krashinsky from the Department of Management at University of Toronto Scarborough. Their study focuses on the situation facing couple families with one infant child and one preschooler in each of the three provinces at different possible levels of income. The authors’ main conclusion is that the $10 a day program can and should dramatically change child care affordability and make employment a …
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Lies, Damned Lies, and Conservative Politicians
What a lot of whoppers! If Erin O’Toole were Pinocchio, his nose would be 10 feet long by now. Erin O’Toole, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, has now come out with a full platform of policies, including policies on early learning and child care. In it, he promises (1) “to provide increased support for working families by providing increased funding for child care” (2) that “nobody should be prevented from getting back to work because they can’t afford child care” (3) that the Conservative policy will be “covering up to 75% of the cost of child care for …
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WHAT SHOULD THE ONTARIO CHILD CARE PLAN INCLUDE?
In order to access the child care money announced in the 2021 Federal Budget, Ontario has to devise a credible, implementable 5-year plan to make licensed child care affordable, accessible and of high-quality. It’s a lot of money. I estimate that Ontario could receive about $1.16 Billion of new federal child care money in 2021-22. And more money on top for Indigenous child care. That would mean an increase of 50% in the amount of spending by the Ontario Government on early years and child care (which is now about $2.3 Billion). The federal child care money for Ontario would …
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FAQ: WHAT’S WRONG WITH FOR-PROFIT CHILD CARE?
What’s the position of the federal government on for-profit child care?The fall economic statement and the federal budget made things pretty clear. The Quebec model based on not-for-profit Early Childhood Centres (CPEs) is the model to follow. The 2021 Budget provides $30 Billion over 5 years for the building of a “Canada-wide, community-based system of quality child care.” (p. 101). A community-based system means publicly-planned and publicly-regulated not-for-profit and public services. The budget compares this to public health care and the public school system: “Just as public school provides children with quality education in their neighbourhoods, the government’s goal is …
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An Open Letter to Ken Boessenkool about the Child Care Expense Deduction (and other things)
I participated recently in the webinar at which you spoke, sponsored by the Toronto Star, First Policy Response, the Lawson Foundation and others. The topic was “Delivering on the Commitment: A Canada-Wide Childcare Plan”. I often disagree with your policy positions in relation to child care, but I think it is important in any debate that we can agree on facts before opinion takes over. So, if you will permit me, let me correct a couple of things that you said at that webinar. First, the Government of Ontario did not get rid of the Child Care Expense Deduction in Ontario. It still …
How Big Will the Expansion of Child Care Services Need to be in Ontario?
The federal budget puts forward very substantial amounts of money for early learning and child care – $30 Billion over 5 years, or more importantly $8.3 Billion of new federal money in perpetuity from 2025-26 onwards. The federal template calls for a cut of 50% in parent fees by the end of 2022, and an average fee of $10 a day for children 0-5 years of age across Canada (outside Quebec) by 2025-26. How much more child care capacity will Ontario need? It’s an important question. Ontario will need to plan a very rapid expansion of capacity, but do it …
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Why Andrew Coyne is Wrong About Child Care Funding
Andrew Coyne knows very little about child care, but feels free to pontificate about it. It’s a shame, because some people still listen to him and believe he has done his homework. He hasn’t. And so, he concludes that the federal government should help parents, especially low-income ones, by giving them a direct subsidy – money. There are more than a few problems with his opinion piece in the Globe and Mail. Apparently, Andrew doesn’t realize that we already have a direct payment to parents, similar to the one he is calling for and geared to income, called the Canada …
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Another Poorly Conceived Child Care Proposal from C.D. Howe
I believe we need a child care system across Canada that is as dependable, beneficial for children and accessible as the public school system and nearly as affordable. I think that is what the Finance Minister promised in the Fall Economic Statement when she said that “Quebec can show us the way on child care.” Ken Boessenkool and Jennifer Robson offer a different perspective on how to build a child care system in a C.D. Howe Commentary entitled “Aggressive Incrementalism: Strengthening the Foundations of Canada’s Approach to Childcare”. They argue for an incremental approach – “building on what exists”. This …
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