Improving childcare
Will federal interventions improve childcare costs?
New report shows childcare costs rising faster than inflation, straining pocketbooks and raising questions
A new report shows childcare costs are rising faster than inflation, straining pocketbooks and raising questions about whether billions in new federal spending will make daycare more affordable for those who want it.
Toronto remains the most expensive city for childcare, where median daycare costs families about $21,096 a year.
The cheapest spaces are in Quebec, where provincially regulated and subsidized daycare has a median cost of $183 a month, or $2,196 a year.
The annual report on child care fees being released from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives also finds for the first time that childcare costs in some rural parts of the country are not all that different from the high prices facing parents in many large cities.
“You can categorize your issues in child care — there are not enough spaces, the quality is very variable — but affordability is a pervasive issue across the country,” said Martha Friendly, coauthor of the study and executive director of the Toronto-based Childcare Resource and Research Unit. “It’s not getting better and we still have yet to see if any of the (federal) interventions are going to be enough to really address the issue.”
The Liberals have vowed to make child care affordable for those who need it and can’t afford it.
Federal coffers will dole out $7.5 billion over 11 years, beginning with $500 million this year and increasing to $870 million annually by 2026 in order to fund services in provinces and territories.
The money could potentially create 40,000 subsidized spaces by early 2020 at a cost of $1.3 billion. The government knows not all the money will be spent on subsidizing spaces but could be used for professional development for child care workers.
The government is also working on a separate child care plan with Indigenous groups that would reflect the needs of First Nations, Inuit and Metis.
In some First Nations reserves in Ontario, the report found, parents didn’t pay anything for child care, suggesting that direct operational funding from the government makes fees much more affordable.
David Macdonald, a senior economist at the policy centre who co-authored the study with Friendly, said it isn’t clear to him that the new federal spending
will make a big dent in daycare costs. Making child care more affordable requires governments to set fees and provide operating grants to defray costs, he said.