EXCERPTS
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The issue: whether or not a government (even one with a $21.3
billion deficit) could afford not to finance childcare. The optics and
economics were clearly more compelling on this one for spending rather
than saving the experts argued. That may be how money to save 8,500
subsidized child care spaces, which would have been lost in Ontario
after $63.5 million in federal funding was not renewed by the Harper
government, magically appeared in yesterday's budget.
Consider this: The government announced in the Throne Speech it
had "made education its highest priority," promoting its $1.5 billion
legislation on new full-day learning for four and five year olds, as
"a plan to help more children get a strong start in school . . . lift
more children out of poverty . . . help busy parents balance their
work and their family lives . . . and build a stronger economy for
Ontario." But where was childcare funding, which experts say has gone
beyond a social service to become a mainstay of infrastructure for any
city vying for a top spot in the global knowledge economy? Among the
reasons the cabinet may have initially excluded it, sources told the
Briefing:
A powerful lobby from private day care companies, including
Edleun, which has well-connected former Mike Harris government
education minister John Snobelen as a board member.
A gender split on the issue that may have included a battle
royale at the cabinet and caucus level of the Liberal government.
The province playing hardball with the Harper government, which cut the
former federal Liberal government's funding to the provinces for
childcare, to force it to stop downloading costs to the province. And,
of course, the $21.3 billion deficit, that left Finance Minister Dwight
Duncan little room to manoeuvre.
So what turned the tide?
Shortly after the throne speech, several childcare advocates,
including representatives of both from the Childcare Resource and
Research Unit, Campaign 2000 and the City of Toronto were invited to
make presentations to politicians and staff in a general meeting, and
to two finance ministry staff in a separate meeting. As well, labour
representatives, including Stella Yeadon of the Canadian Union of
Public Employees, which represents about 8,000 childcare workers, met
with Duncan. Also making a presentation to ministry staff was Robert
Fairholm of The Centre for Spatial Economics. His work shows that for
every dollar invested in childcare there is a $2.54 cent return to the
economy and that investing in childcare is the highest job creator
stimulus money can be used for, much higher than investing in
construction projects, for example. In fact, childcare workforce
shortages cost the economy $140 million and 50,000 person years in the
six years between 2001-2007, his research found. More importantly, in
the presentation he made to finance ministry staff after the Throne
Speech, he pointed out: Even a 1 per cent increase in the cost of early
learning and care, leads to a 0.38 per cent drop in parental labour
force "and could push some onto welfare."
Further, he found:
The total impact on GDP if the Ontario government didn't replace
the $63.5 million for childcare subsidies the federal government cut:
$148.3 million.
Loss of childcare and related jobs: 3,030.
Possible losses of an additional 3,480 jobs, as parents drop out of the workforce because of the loss of subsidies.
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The female lobby in cabinet, 11 of 26 ministers are women,
combined with the work of women across the province on this issue, may
have won the day, Yeadon believes. "This is their constituency, female
voters in urban centres," Yeadon said of the Liberals. NDP leader
Andrea Horwath told the Briefing that women at the Liberal cabinet
table had remained mum on the issue in the weeks leading up to the
budget, "But if I was a woman at the cabinet table, I'd have been
working hard to make sure the government does the right thing." Horwath
also pointed out that childcare has gone beyond being a social services
issue. "It's an economic imperative that families have access to
childcare so they can engage in the workforce and retrain in this
economic climate." If the government didn't see this "as a big part of
getting Ontario back to work," they would have been missing something
important.
In the end, childcare speaks not only to the government's focus on
early childhood education to make Ontario more globally competitive but
also to the government's focus on anti-poverty measures, since it helps
single mothers enter the job force, who otherwise couldn't, she said.
"They want it to be their legacy," said Martha Friendly of the
Childhood Research and Resource Unit. "This is one of their best
initiatives."