Abstract:

Non-parental early child care "is now the norm for pre-school children in Canada," writes Jane Jenson, a Canada Research Chair at the Université de Montréal. "With the exception of Quebec, Canada is lagging far behind its peers" in OECD countries "in providing preschol education and other developmental services." While over half of Canada's preschoolers are now receiving non-parental care, three-quarters are in family daycare or babysitting rather than public daycare, again, except in Quebec. The provincial premiers, she adds, "were caught off guard by Stephen Harper's promise, during the election campaign, to revive what are essentially family allowances, presenting them as an alternative to the federal transfers promised by the agreements-in-principle.