Child Care Crisis in Canada

The Election

I have voted in every provincial and federal election in my adult life. In the past, I've based my votes on general party philosophies and beliefs as well as media-reported major election promises.

This year, however, I have decided to base my decision on the child care policies and plans of the four parties in my riding: Conservatives, Liberals, NDP and the Green Party. I have researched various aspects of the issue and will continue to learn more over the next week as I prepare to vote on October 14.

The Crisis

There is a child care crisis in Canada right now. This issue is important for those with children and those without. Good child care yields high economic and social returns for the entire country. A Canadian cost-benefit study calculated that every dollar invested in universal, high quality early chidhood education and care would result ina $2 social and economic return to our society (for study details, see references listed on page 3 of this document.)

Here are some of the statistics regarding child care in Canada:

837,923 Regulated child care spaces for children 0-12 in Canada in (2007)

17.2% Percentage of children 0-12 for whom there is a regulated space (2006)

19.3% Percent of children 0-5 for whom there is a regulated space (2006)

4,709,610 Number of children 0-12 years (2005)

3,050,800 Children 0-12 years with mothers in the paid labour force (2005)

Our Childcare Story

We are currently on a 2-3 year wait list for a quality child care centre in our community. Kayla will likely not get back into a daycare centre before she starts kindergarten. We took her out when I was on maternity/parental leave with Nathan because it did not make sense financially or otherwise to have her attending daycare when I was at home with Nathan. Once Kayla does start kindergarten, we will be faced with the challenge of finding quality half-day care. We just fired our nanny for incompetence - we were paying her $2000 per month plus benefits; at this rate, we could not find someone suitably qualified to care for our kids in our home. During our nanny search, we would schedule interviews where the candidates did not show up because they got jobs before coming to meet with us. It is not uncommon to see advertisements for nannies in the $18-20 per hour range; we cannot afford to pay this much.

We've been lucky to find a quality home-based daycare with someone who I've known for some time - I would not be comfortable leaving my children in the home of someone I did not already know. We will be paying $2265 per month for our two children to have care from 8 am - 5 pm - 5 days per week.

Questions to Ponder

• How do single parents afford to work and pay for child care? Does our current system encourage single parents to become depedant on social assistance?


• How is it that Canada is rated last out of 14 developed nations for spending on Early Childhood Education and Care? (according to a report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Stay tuned for information on the policies and plans of the Conservatives, Liberals, NDP and Green Party.