Someone tell Ford investing in daycare strengthens economy
When the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development comes to Canada to assess this country’s quality of life, its experts usually leave us with a seal of approval. We live well here.
There was a notable caveat last year, though: Women aren’t making as much money as men, mainly because of child-care responsibilities.
There’s a simple and effective cure for that: invest more in child care.
More funding for daycare and early childhood education allows more parents to go to work. It boosts family incomes, brings more women into the workforce, gives young children a great start in life, and — in big cities especially — eases the mounting strain on household finances.
It reduces income inequality, both immediately and for the next generation. It reduces poverty. It provides muchneeded labour for companies looking to expand. It’s almost too good to be true.
Daycare support is such a quick fix to so many pervasive economic problems in Canada that it’s no wonder every province signed up readily when the federal government decided a few years ago to give them $7.5 billion over 11 years to bolster child care.
Indeed, most experts, including the OECD, say it’s not enough, especially given our aging demographics.
Conversely, Ontario is heading in the opposite direction. Premier Doug Ford’s cuts to child-care supports are just about the worst thing you could do for an economy searching for growth and clamouring for a more robust workforce.
In its spring budget, Ford’s new government cut a total of $80 million from licensed child care, including $50 million to offset costs for licensed childcare providers. Provincial government officials say the cuts are targeted at administration and should be shouldered responsibly by municipal governments — through finding efficiencies or finding new sources of funding elsewhere.
With the city of Toronto warning that more than 6,000 daycare spaces for low-income parents are now in jeopardy, Ontario cities are only beginning to calculate the potential damage to their children’s services.
Ford’s officials point out that the provincial budget has also introduced a new child-care tax credit that will help parents better afford daycare.
But that won’t do much to take the edge off for families in big cities like Toronto, where the median price for a daycare spot is more than $1,600 a month. Couple those high daycare expenses with a bruising housing-affordability problem in Canada’s largest city, and you’ve got an unsustainable mix for many two-income families, let alone single parents.
The Conference Board of Canada had a look at the OECD’s child-care analyses and drilled down to figure out what would happen in Canada if governments took the situation in hand and ensured children ages 2 to 4 were enrolled in daycare at the same average rate as the rest of the industrialized countries in that organization. Here’s what they found:
134,000 more kids would have access to early childhood education programs.
58,000 women would enter the workforce.
Children who spend more time in quality day care would build the foundation for higher wages down the road.
Economic benefits of expanding child care outweigh the costs over time.
23,000 families would be lifted out of poverty.
The gap between rich and poor would diminish by 2.3 per cent, as measured by the Gini coefficient.
When federal Families, Children and Social Development Minister Jean-Yves Duclos signed a three-year funding agreement with Ontario’s previous Liberal government, it committed to spending the money on providing accessible and affordable daycare, helping vulnerable families with young children and bolstering gender equality. In return, the province receives about $145 million a year.
In the wake of the news that the city of Toronto sees 6,166 subsidized daycare spots for low-income families now at risk, Duclos says he is alarmed.
“I find it counterproductive,” he said in an interview.
“In 2019, investing in child care is not a luxury. It’s a necessity.”
The federation being what it is, however, Ottawa has no authority to say the provincial government can’t or shouldn’t cut supports for daycare. The two governments agreed on general direction, and the province then decides how to go about its business — a point that Duclos, as a fine Quebecer, is quick to point out.
He has his eye on the broader agreement on principles, though, and on common sense.
“We are expecting that agreement to be held.”