In anticipation of the Federal Election, taking place Monday, September 20th, HELP has been sharing links trelated to child care. In case you have missed some, here is a round-up of what’s been shared:
Child care: A key election issue
Unpacking Party Platforms on Child Care
Generation Squeeze’s 2021 Voter Guide and Score Card on Family Affordability (including child care, parental leave and work-life balance). View the other Voter Guides on important topics in this election including: Housing Affordability, Climate Change, and Wellbeing Budgets
David MacDonald, senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, provides detailed analysis of the impact on families based on the child care platforms of each political party. Families would save more with $10-a-day child care fees than with tax credits.
In this Generation Squeeze blog, Dr. Gordon Cleveland, emeritus professor of economics at the University of Toronto, member of the Expert Panel on Early Learning and Child Care Data, clearly outlines the core debate around child care in this election – Tax Credits vs. Direct Funding: What’s Best for Child Care?
Dr. Gordon Cleveland answers the question What’s Wrong with For-Profit Child Care? in this online Child Care Policy resource.
Gordon Cleveland, Sophie Mathieu & Christa Japel outline the key features of Quebec’s long-standing affordable child care approach in this article: What is ‘the Quebec model’ of early learning and child care?
Opinion Articles
The Globe & Mail (Aug 21, 2021): Child care will be the defining issue of the election
The Edmonton Journal (Aug 24, 2021): Why universal child care is a better choice than subsidies
CBC (July 13, 2021): How ‘choice’ in child care might play out in the coming federal election
Child Care in BC
The Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC has provided a detailed Roadmap for Child Care in BC outlining the key steps to implementing a $10-a-day universal, quality child care system in B.C.
The B.C. government has committed to moving toward a universal child care system – with $10 per day child care as the goal. Starting in 2018, the B.C. piloted $10 per day child care in 50 sites across the province. Learn more about the “life-changing” impacts for the families involved in this Childcare Resource and Research Unit post: https://childcarecanada.org/documents/research-policy-practice/21/09/10aday-child-care-life-changing-impacts-bc-families
Government of B.C., Child Care B.C. Caring for Kids, Lifting Up Families: The Path to Universal
Child Care Across Canada
Child Care Now, the national organization of child care advocates from across the country, has outlined what that roadmap could look like at the national level in their Affordable Child Care for All Plan.
To find out more about the details of the Bilateral Early Learning and Child Care Agreements between the eight province/territories that have signed with the federal government as of August 2021, check out the Childcare Resource and Research articles in their series: Building a Canada-wide early learning and child care system.
Childcare Resource and Research Unit (CRRU):Early Childhood Education and Care in Canada 2019
Child Care & COVID-19
Canadian Pediatric Society (June 25, 2021): COVID-19 and Early Childhood Mental Health: Fostering System Change and Resilience, Policy Brief
Childcare Resource and Research Unit, Canadian Child Care Federation & Child Care Now (June 30, 2021): Canadian child care: Preliminary results from a national survey during the COVID19 pandemic
Unicef (July 22, 2021): Why we can't afford to let ECE fall through the COVID cracks
Benefits of Child Care
Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development: Why is high quality child care important for child development?