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In February 2005, opposition MP Rona Ambrose became a political celebrity when she rose in the House of Commons to denounce the Liberal government's national early learning and child-care plan. It was her "hockey mom, pit bull, lipstick" moment: feisty, memorable and meaningless. Ambrose squinted at social development minister Ken Dryden and said, "Working women want to make their own choices; we do not need old white guys telling us what to do."
The "old white guys" line was often repeated in the following months, as a federal election approached. The Conservatives won a minority government and one of its first acts was to cancel a shared agreement with all 10 provinces that would have set up a $5-billion national child-care program. Instead of affordable, high-quality early education and child care, with trained staff, national standards and up to 600,000 new spaces, Canadian families received tax breaks and a monthly (taxable!) $100 cheque, per child.
Two and a half years later, waiting lists for quality child-care centres in Edmonton and in other cities across the country are enormously long. It still costs between $700 and $1,200 per child, per month. Professional child-care workers still struggle to make a living wage and many day cares are forced to hire untrained staff.
In short, the Conservative plan to provide choice, above all else, has accomplished precisely nothing. Since the national child-care plan fell apart in 2006, provincial governments, including Alberta, have stepped in to help prevent a crisis.
"The Universal Childcare Benefit was supposed to create choice for parents and create spaces by providing tax incentives to employers in child care," said Jody Dallaire, chair of the Childcare Advocacy Association of Canada, on Wednesday. "It's been a total failure. The data show that there has actually been a slowdown in the creation of space across the country."
According to an Environics poll released Wednesday morning by an organization called Code Blue For Child Care, Ambrose and the Conservative Party misread working women, old white guys and just about everyone else. Three-quarters of Canadians on the Prairies say affordable child care is a very or somewhat serious problem. Eighty-four per cent of Canadians with children under six say it is a serious problem. An equal number say governments play an important role in child care.
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An early learning and child-care system that works isn't just convenient for working parents. It's essential for our economic and social well-being. It improves and enhances the lives of children who need it, especially those in lower income brackets, and allows well-educated women to stay in the workforce if they choose. Of the four national parties, all but the Conservatives are pledging to create a national program.
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The polls are in flux, but as of today it seems Canadians are preparing to choose another minority Conservative government. Stephen Harper and the old white guys would be well-advised to put partisanship aside, to do the will of a vast majority of Canadians, to meet with the provinces and re-establish a national early learning and child-care program. We teach our kids it's always right to admit when you're wrong.
- reprinted from the Edmonton Journal