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Since the call of the federal election, the Conservatives, the Liberals and the NDP have all unveiled plans for a new national child care program. Currently, there is a massive shortage of child care spaces and facilities across the country. But will any of their plans fix our country's child care shortage?
The Conservatives have announced a plan that will see $1,200 per child given each year to parents. Parents will be allowed to spend the money however they choose. That means having the option of paying a babysitter, having a relative provide care or putting the money towards a not-for-profit or for-profit childcare space. The Tories say they will also spend $250 million a year to help communities create new childcare spaces.
This plan sounds not too bad, until you examine the details. Every child, regardless of family income, receives the $1,200 per year. So parents who make $150,000 a year will get the same as those who make $40,000 a year. It also means that there will be no funding for child care for children over the age of six. In addition, many families pay hundreds of dollars a month towards their child care bills. The average cost of creating and funding a child care space in Canada is roughly $9,000 per year. The Conservative plan will only cover 13 per cent of the average child care cost.
What is most frightening about the Conservative plan is the lack of child care spaces that it plans on creating. Canada only has child care spaces for 15 per cent of the current need. More funding than $250 million will be needed to fix that problem. In addition, the Tory plan is not committed to a not-for-profit system, which means they would allow child care box malls to pop up across Canada and they would receive public dollars to set up shop.
The Liberal plan is slightly better, but still falls short. The first Liberal five-year plan (2004 to 2009, created before the election) includes $1.8 billion spent on childcare per year, which would create 100,000 new spaces.
Their new announcement would allow for $1.2 billion per year (2009 to 2015), and yet they estimate they will create 625,000 new spaces. How the Liberals plan to create more spaces with less money is beyond me.
And the Liberals will not commit to only creating not-for-profit child care spaces, either. This means that again businesses will be allowed to set up child care facilities, receive government money and make a profit for caring for our children.
The NDP plan will see the creation of 275,000 new child care spaces, at a cost of $1.8 billion annually growing to $2.5 billion per year by the fourth year of the program.
In their funding plans, there are only small differences between the parties&emdash; the real difference lies within their policies.
The NDP is promising to introduce legislation to ensure accountability, quality regulation, universality, accessibility and developmental programming. In addition, they will place public funds only in the not-for-profit sector.
Clearly, there needs to be a change in the way that child care is delivered in Canada. The discussion that Canadians need to have is whether we want a publicly run system.
A publicly run system would ensure that there were national standards; that children in British Columbia and in Manitoba receive the same high quality level of care as those in Quebec and Newfoundland.
A public program would ensure that public funds were being properly spent and that all Canadians would have a voice at the community level on how those funds are to be best administered.
Most importantly, it would ensure that children from all walks of life, regardless of socioeconomic background, receive the kind of care they deserve.
- reprinted from the Brandon Sun