Liberals can afford to spend $8 billion a year on daycare program, IMF says
International Monetary Fund researchers say the federal government can afford to spend $8 billion annually to reduce the cost of child care spaces nationwide because the program would pay for itself.
The proposal is more than 10 times what the Liberals have promised to spend annually over the next decade on child care.
The IMF predicts the cash would bring down the national average for child care fees by about 40 per cent, a figure expected to be high enough that it could entice more women into the workforce and drive greater economic growth.
By the organization’s estimates, there are about 150,000 highly-educated women who are stay-at-home parents.
If they all entered the workforce and started paying taxes, the IMF says, they would boost economic growth by two percentage points, equal to about $8 billion more in federal income tax revenue _ enough to cover the cost of the program.
But the IMF adds a caveat to the proposal: It should be conditional on employment so that highly-educated mothers are prodded into the workforce.
A spokeswoman for Social Development Minister Jeanyves Duclos said the government’s commitment of $7.5 billion over 11 years towards child care would increase women’s labour market participation.
“When quality educational child care services are affordable, parents _ particularly women _ can more easily participate in the labour market and invest in their careers. Taking gender equality seriously means taking child care services seriously, and our government will continue to work on improving gender equality,’’ Emilie Gauduchon-campbell said.
“Canada succeeds when women and girls are given opportunities to succeed.’’
The Liberals’ economic growth council, which met with IMF researchers as part of the study, recommended in a February, pre-budget report that the government consider creating a national child care program to boost productivity by getting more women, particularly those with younger children, into the workforce.