In the year of 2005 I participated in the Rural, Remote and Northern Child Care Coalition.
We were drafting up a report and recommendations for Minister Ken Dryden on child care for Canadians living in the RRN communities. At this time, advocates working for increased government spending and policy change for national child care was 30 years in the making. At the time, I sat on a board for a daycare centre in a small community. A daycare we had resurrected literally out of the ashes. We were desperate for this additional funding. So many had failed before us- our only hope of survival was at the national level.
At our Ottawa meeting you could feel the excitement in the air- finally, finally, finally- all that we had been fighting for as women, mothers, was coming to fruition. Provinces were lining up. All the advocacy groups were cheering and cheering and cheering. It was not perfect, but for the first time we were so close- in some provinces, deals had already been signed sealed and about to be delivered.
Then, the unthinkable-
Prime Minister Harper came into power-
brandishing his powerful sword-
shred all the agreements!
He has decided money in the pocket what all the parents REALLY want.
I am ashamed as a Canadian that we have this patriarchal leader taking us women backwards. I am outraged that any woman would even consider him a good leader. This man who has failed us where it matters the most- our equality and our children. Equality IS everything- it is everything.
We have outrageous, simply outrageous, amounts of people living in poverty- women, children, men. We have people working one and two and three jobs to feed their families and to have a life. What does Harper do? HE LOWERS CORPORATE TAXES! He talks about lowering taxes like he is doing us a favour! Well, Harper, it is not the lower and middle income we want you to raise the taxes for- it is those people, like you, who are making 1oo's of 1,000 of dollars! The corporations who are laughing themselves silly at the world race to the bottom- who can offer up their country the cheapest!
Jack Layton was there with us in Winnipeg. He was there talking about the importance of having a national child care program- he agreed and was committed. At least he was listening- he was there talking to us. Minister Dryden, Liberal, he was there listening to us and working with us.
Action, Harper, - that is what matters- your track record for women and families is terrible. Do you even know that within the provincial/federal gov'ts if either parent takes parental leave they will have a black mark against them???? Do you know what it is like to be a lower or middle income family in Canada today? Perhaps you should take Linda McQuaig out for lunch so you can be educated on our tax system.
As to the women and families of Canada- be smart about this. Do your research- Harper is all about Harper. He is not about our families- if he was, we would have seen evidence of it by now. All these ridiculous tax credits for this and that-gives us what we really need!
Below is what the OECD said about Canada in 2004. Nothing has changed.
To all you young people out there- what kind of country do you want to have?
Make Your VOTE Count!
Love and all good things,
The Peaceful Matriarch
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Comparisons: Does Canada measure up? (Link for the full PDF: click here )
For Canadians, a key question to be answered by this international study is: “Where does Canada fit internationally? How does Canada measure up?” Both the Canada Review (2004) and the comparative reports (2001 and 2006) provide good data and valuable analysis that will be useful to Canadians with an interest in early learning and child care.
The Canada Country Note began with an observation by the OECD’s expert team about where Canada fits, noting that:
It is clear that national and provincial policy for the early education and care of young children in Canada is still in its initial stages. Care and education are still treated separately and coverage is low compared to other OECD countries. Over the coming years, significant energies and funding will need to be invested in the field to create a universal system in tune with the needs of a full employment economy, with gender equity and with new understandings of how young children develop and learn (OECD, 2004:6).
The Canada report made a series of recommendations including: substantially increased and better focused public spending; a national framework for quality; much wider access with universality as a goal; participation of parents and experts in quality frameworks; defined action plans by provincial governments; better inclusion of children with special needs; improved access for Aboriginal and disadvantaged children; improved ELCC physical environments; and better data and research.
The OECD team’s detailed comments on Canada’s early childhood situation included the following observations:
• Other than Quebec, there has been no significant expansion of the system in Canada over the past decade. Less than 20% of children aged 0-6 years find a place in a regulated service compared to, for example, Belgium 63%; Denmark 78%; France 69%; Portugal 40%; U.K. 60%.
• Long waiting lists exist in community services, including in centres catering for children with special needs;
• A general stagnation in quality across the board has been reported (although several centres that the OECD team visited were of high quality);
• Low public expenditure rates per child in child care. Public child care expenditure for children 0-12 years averaged $386 per child, and $3,200 per child care place compared to $6,120 per child in kindergarten and almost $15,000 per student at university;
• A market-determined fee structure (except Manitoba and Quebec), resulting in high parental contributions to child care costs, ranging from 34% to 82% of costs. The average across the country, excluding Quebec, is just under 50% of costs compared to a maximum 15% parental contribution in Finland or approximately 25% across Europe;
• An inefficient subsidy system with widely varying and complex eligibility criteria, accessed by only 22% of lone parents and around 5% of married mothers from low-income families;
• Generalised under-funding in the child care sector with respect to wages, learning environments and infrastructure both physical (premises, outdoor spaces) and non-physical (the infrastructure of planning, administration, training, monitoring, evaluation, data collection). Even in those provinces/territories that are keen to develop their ECEC systems, child care services in particular are under-funded, and frequently, neither the quality nor the quantity of provision meets the aspirations of parents and professionals (OECD, 2004:8).
The cross-national data available in Starting Strong II provide support for these comments and the OECD’s recommendations for Canada. Below, data drawn from the report shed light on the question “How does Canada measure
Child-care programs in nine countries: A report prepared for the OECD Working Party on the Role of Women in the Economy (Cross-national studies of social service systems)
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