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Public financing is best directed to not-for-profit child-care systems, which are superior to commercial child care models. Yet, the Frontier Centre has recently rhapsodized about the merits of Alberta, contrasting it harshly against Manitoba's and Saskatchewan's virtually not-for-profit systems. The primary cause for Alberta's superiority, they allege, is that its large commercial sector is fully eligible for government funding. Other provinces, claims the thinktank, "discriminate" by giving preferential funding treatment to not-for-profit child care centres.
A close review of parent fees, quality and compliance and the inclusion of children with special needs tells a different story about child care on the prairies.
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In all three provinces, low-income parents can qualify for help paying child care fees. In Alberta, however, less than 20 per cent of parents receive a fee subsidy, compared to Manitoba and Saskatchewan, where over 40 per cent of parents qualify. Parents with school-aged children are completely shut out of subsidies in Alberta. While Alberta's lower per space cost may look "efficient, " this translates into higher costs for families and worse access for low- income households.
What about quality? A substantial body of North American research concludes that commercial status is a predictor of poorer quality. While high-quality child care may be found in some commercial programs and low-quality care can be found in some community-operated programs, the overall pattern is conclusive. In setting aside these findings, the Frontier Centre points out that provincial regulations apply to all centres, regardless of their ownership status. On this basis, they conclude blithely, "we would expect the quality of for-profit and non-profit centres to be identical."
While provincial regulations set out minimum criteria for safety, they are only a floor -- and the best-quality programs regularly exceed them. In Alberta, where over 53 per cent of child-care centres are operated by private owners, the ombudsman was so alarmed about child care complaints that he initiated an investigation. His 1994 report found 90 per cent of complaints were made against for-profit daycare centres. Moreover, he found startling examples of centres which were not held to provincial standards: "in the space of four years and ten months," the ombudsman wrote, "one daycare centre had to be visited 87 times and accumulated 276 identified non-compliances with the legislation."
Recent experience in Alberta confirms the problems found by the ombudsman. In July 2005, licensing officials refused to renew the licence of a for-profit centre in Red Deer, on the heels of 12 noncompliance incidents. Early in 2005, in a well-publicized incident, staff closed up an Edmonton centre for the evening and went home, having locked up an infant inside. Three weeks later, after a second child was left alone at the same centre, provincial officials revoked the private owner's licence. In February 2005, a for-profit centre in Calgary was also closed for quality and safety violations.
Provincial policy also addresses inclusion of children with disabilities and special needs. Some critics suggest inclusion of children with special needs is better in commercial programs, or in jurisdictions with higher rates of entrepreneurs. Canadian evidence shows this confidence is misplaced. Children with special needs are welcomed into Manitoba and Saskatchewan's non-profit centres at much higher rates than in Alberta's commercial programs. In Alberta, just 386 children with special needs are found in the 66,288 spaces. In contrast, Manitoba includes 1,392 children in its system of less than 26,000 spaces; and Saskatchewan's rate is even better.
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Child-care services in Manitoba and Saskatchewan have an important advantage over Alberta. But all three provinces are behind Quebec, and even further behind Western Europe. UNICEF recently ranked Canada at the very bottom of industrialized countries when it comes to early childhood education and care. In a market-based environment, non-profit child-care services are better than commercial ones. Governments seeking to strengthen their child-care systems should not be looking at Alberta. Instead, they should draw on the policy successes of western Europe, where child-care services are publicly funded and managed. Until then, public dollars should be reserved for the more efficient and effective nonprofit child-care sector.
- reprinted from the Winnipeg Free Press