A national child care plan with affordable rates is essential to Canada’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, reads an open letter signed jointly by 50 prominent Canadian women.
The letter, released in the last week of Canada’s 44 federal elections, calls on all party leaders and candidates to make child care a national priority, highlighting the need for politicians to address a long-standing gap along the way. toward economic prosperity for Canadian mothers. .
“It’s simple: Canada will not return to pre-COVID prosperity levels if mothers cannot go to work. And moms can’t go to work without better child care, ”the letter says.
“Any economic recovery plan is not a plan at all unless it includes a child care plan.”
The letter is jointly signed by a number of distinguished figures from Canadian business, politics, academia and the media. They include child welfare advocate Cindy Blackstock, former Deputy Prime Minister Sheila Copps, columnist and former Crown prosecutor Sandy Garossino, Enterprise Canada Senior Advisor Supriya Dwivedi, Toronto Star economist and columnist Armine Yalnizyan, and the Former Ontario Prime Minister Kathleen Wynne.
The signatories, led by Kate Graham, a teacher and liberal candidate in London, Ontario, say they want all leaders and candidates to commit to affordable and accessible child care before the Sept. 20 election.
“We would say, ‘it’s time’ but it’s been ‘time’ for a long time,” the letter says. “Don’t mess with the moms. Do it “.
The fight for a national child care plan intensified during the pandemic when the economy suffered an alarming drop in female employment. As of February 2020, approximately 177,000 women left the workforce, compared to 51,000 men. According to a study by RBC Economics, women’s participation in the workforce fell from an all-time high to the lowest level in more than 30 years during COVID-19.
Female employment almost returned to pre-pandemic levels in August following the lifting of restrictions across the country, but the figure is still considerably lower than that of male employment: 56.7 percent of women aged 15 and over have a job compared to 64.4 percent of men, according to Statistics. Canada.
Affordable child care programs drive female participation in the workforce, says Lindsay Tedds, an economist at the University of Calgary and one of the signatories to the letter.
“Mothers need the ability to make a real decision between where they are going to allocate their human capital: at home with the children or working full time. Right now they don’t have that option, ”Tedds said.
A Deloitte study of the economic impact of investing in early childhood education shows that serious investment in high-quality child care will boost economic growth while reducing poverty and dramatically improving education levels among young children. .
Signatories to the letter say affordability is key. In Toronto, where daycare fees are among the most expensive in Canada, families pay an average of $ 22,000 per year for each child in a licensed daycare, according to the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives.
In Quebec, the only province with a universal child care program, the effect on the economy has been largely constant since it was implemented in the late 1990s. While the program is short on space and advocates say provincial governments have not invested enough, the province has seen a steady decline in poverty, an increase in women’s participation in the workforce, and fewer dependent mothers. of social assistance.
The federal elections have put the Quebec program at the center of the political debate, with Liberals pledging $ 30 billion to implement the province’s model in the rest of the country if they are reelected. Federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has promised that the system will cut average regulated child care rates in half by the end of 2022 and result in $ 10 a day of care by 2026.
Meanwhile, the Conservatives have offered a counterproposal of $ 2.6 billion for refundable tax credits for child care expenses that would cover up to $ 6,000 per family earning less than $ 150,000.
A CCPA report recently found that a Toronto family paying full fees for a child in a licensed daycare could save $ 10,000 more per year with the Liberal Child Care plan than with the Conservatives tax credit.
However, the issue of childcare only goes so far. Party proposals were only briefly mentioned in the debate by English-speaking leaders last week. When Abacus Data asked potential voters what questions would determine how they would vote, only four percent said “make child care more affordable.”
“I was hoping there would be a more national conversation on this topic, but I don’t think it was the most important thing,” said Kim Furlong, executive director of the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, and a co-signer of the letter.
Ultimately, I don’t give much credit to the platform’s promises. We are waiting to see how these parties will act in office, and the letter we write implies that we will be paying attention, even after the elections.
Reference-www.thestar.com