Leading by example
Quebec’s daycare model provides inspiration for provinces to develop their own
When it comes to affordable daycare, Quebec’s low-fee program is the envy of many a parent in other parts of Canada.
Under the much-vaunted but polarizing program introduced in 1997, the bulk of Quebec parents pay but a fraction of the astronomical amounts their counterparts shell out elsewhere.
Some pundits argue the Quebec model is too costly and fails to deliver, but others say the benefits of getting more women into the workforce and improving work-life balance help offset the annual $2.5 billion investment.
But how exportable is the made-in-quebec solution?
One political scientist says Quebec’s lesson to other provinces is they should chart their own path and not wait for a federally driven daycare plan as some have in the past.
“When the federal government tried to implement a national program, it met a lot of resistance in the different provinces,” said Olivier Jacques, a post-doctoral student at Mcgill University and one of three authors of a recent
study published by the Institute for Research on Public Policy that examined Quebec daycare.
“So maybe it’s better that each of the provinces does their own so they can make something sustainable.”
In 2005, the Liberals under Paul Martin tried to implement a national childcare program, setting aside $5 billion and signing on with all 10 provinces before losing power to the Conservatives, who then eliminated the program.
Some detractors have been critical of Quebec’s universal approach and believe the province should have instead targeted certain segments of the population.
But Jacques counters the wide appeal has allowed Quebec’s plan to persist.
“If a provincial government wants to make a program that will be politically robust and survive a change of government, they need to make sure the program will be broadly popular and covers most children
and most parents,” he said.
One factor that favoured Quebec was that the political divide in the province along federalist and sovereigntist lines meant the absence of a true small-c conservative opposition - the very type of government that historically has cut such programs elsewhere, Jacques noted.
The other is that activists and proponents insisted the province promote such a program.