Ottawa, Ontario December 2, 2020
Media Release
Liberal Child Care Plan Is a Washout
The Liberal government continues to exist in a bubble, failing to understand that Canadians do not all share its perspectives
Their child care plan announced in the November 30, 2020 economic statement by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, presumes that all women uniformly share her perspective on child care. This is an insult to the intelligence of women, and their integrity.
Chrystia Freeland stated during her speech that “Canada will not be truly competitive until all Canadian women have access to the affordable child care we need to support our participation in our country’s workforce.”
Not all women share Ms. Freeland’s enthusiasm to return to the workplace to assist with the economy or otherwise. They have other priorities such as responsibilities for their families. According to Statistics Canada in 2015, in its report “Women and Paid Work”, 25% of women choose to work part-time because of their children, compared to only 3.3% of men.
However, the government continues to believe that having all women in the paid workforce will relieve its debt-finance spending which is leading to a debt pegged at $1.4 trillion by March 2025.
In its fantasy world, the Liberal government believes that government revenues will easily pay for the extraordinary expense of a national childcare program by way of the construction of hundreds of thousands of new day care centres, and the thousands of dollars in taxes paid by the newly hired day care workers. In addition, it believes that increased labour supplied by women in the work force will be a bonanza since a national child care program will lead women to obligingly work longer hours, and will reduce their participation in part-time work.
Unions, with the expected increase in memberships under the day care plan, and also corporations, may appreciate any increase in female workers, but this is not what parents want.
Child care is a decision of parents since it is the parents who understand what is best for their child. Empirical studies on parents’ views on child care have been carried out for nearly three decades in Canada and indicate that they have a strong preference for a home and family approach to child care. This preference is being ignored by the government child care program that provides only one option for parents.
Also, a sound child care policy should follow the findings of reliable research on children’s wellbeing, which is to provide children with secure attachments with adult caregivers. Studies carried out on Quebec’s highly touted universal daycare program have found worse daycare outcomes for children, including decreased measures of social and motor skills and increased illness and aggression. Children should not be sacrificed in order to advance the economy and the government’s mind boggling debt.
Instead of imposing its own bias on Canadians, the Liberal government should re-think its child care policy to accommodate the actual needs and wants of children and parents and not its ideological friends.
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For further information contact:
Gwendolyn Landolt
National Vice-President
REAL Women of Canada
Phone: 905-787-0348
Email: realwcto@realwomenofcanada.ca
Web: www.realwomenofcanada.ca