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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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The new Angus Reid poll on child care

Great News for Supporters of a National Child Care System Cardus must really be kicking themselves.  Cardus is a Christian research and advocacy organization that spent a lot of money on that recent Angus Reid poll on attitudes to a national child care program.  I’m sure they expected to hear a lot of support for their view that governments should just give money to parents with children.  Cardus opposes building a child care system that is universally available to families.  And they believe that Canadian families support their point of view. Imagine their surprise then when Angus Reid found that …

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What Lessons can the Rest of Canada Learn from Quebec Child Care?

children's artwork

Article Link What is “the Quebec model” of early learning and child care? There are several different lessons to learn about the Quebec model.  Generally, the decisions to rely on direct funding, on building good quality not for profit child care, on building a system that includes enhanced maternity parental benefits/leaves as well as schoolaged child care have been very positive.  But, we also need to learn from the problems Quebec has had.  They only had sufficient supply for 15% of the child population (0-4) at the time that they announced low-cost universal child care, and they’ve been behind the curve ever since.  That really is …

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Ontario’s Full-Day Kindergarten – a report for ETFO

hand and blocks

Executive Summary Download the Executive Summary Main Report Download the Main Report The Background Story In early February this year, the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario released my report on Ontario’s Full-Day Kindergarten. It was written as a reponse to Conservative Government plans to reform kindergarten in negative ways. My review of the literature found that these plans were badly off base – full-day kindergarten in Ontario is very good and worth preserving (and improving). There’s a hidden story about that study on full-day kindergarten in Ontario.  I actually wrote it towards the end of 2019, in response to the …

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Presentation on AFFORDABLE FOR ALL report

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

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Links to Child Care Press Coverage in English and French

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