Youth-Child Care
Better child-care is an issue that's pushed its way up the priority list with employers as well as workers.
For example, in September 1999, Ford Motor Company of Canada included a $10-a-day child-care subsidy in its new collective agreement with its workers.
Other employers, including Ontario Hydro, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc.
in Montreal, and the City of Toronto, have set up daycare centres on site or nearby, and sometimes pay for some of the operating costs.
In its 1999 Throne Speech, the federal government announced its long-awaited national children's agenda.
Here's what Ottawa promised in the next two to five years: Increased maternity and parental leave benefits; A federal-provincial agreement on more supports for early childhood development; More after-tax money in the hands of families; More family-friendly workplaces; Modernization of family law; A third significant investment in the National Child Benefit (for lower-income families); and, Strengthened learning opportunities through an expanded School Net.
Prime Minister Jean Chretien said, after the Throne Speech "...
Together with the provinces, we have begun to put in place the National Children's Agenda to improve supports for families and children.
I believe this work has to be accelerated.
So do provincial premiers...
" Ottawa's first "children's budget" was planned for February 2000, with hundreds of millions of dollars slated for early childhood development.
But, at the same time, the Ontario government cut $25 million from its child-care budget.
This meant a loss of about 3,500 child-care spaces in the province.
The provincial government announced that it was squeezing welfare, low-cost housing, child care, and dozens of other programs to cut $309 million from its projected spending for 2000.
In January 2000, the Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD) wrote in its report State of Canada's Children: "Despite broad public support for child care, trends in the 1990s have been contrary.
Child-care services have experienced erosion, fragmentation, and disparity.
" The report gives plenty of examples.
Since 1992, the number of regulated child-care spaces in Alberta fell by almost 5,000.
Between 1995 and 1998, the Ontario government cut its spending on child care by more than $70 million.
Only Quebec added new day care spots (by 100,000) and doubled its budget between 1996 and 1999.
The report suggested using Quebec as a model: the province has universal, regulated, $5-a-day care for all children under the age of 13, including pre-school daycare, and before- and after-school care.
The province stresses early childhood development and supports parents while they work or study.
The child-care programs cost the province about $1 billion a year.
The CCSD is not alone in its criticism of child-care in Canada.
In 1990, the child care research and resource unit at the University of Toronto reported that "Canada does not have a system of child care.
Unlike other developed nations, Canada has not taken a proactive or even a facilitative approach to developing a system of high-quality child-care services.
The current child-care system does not meet the needs of children, families, or women.
" Ten years later, in 2000, U of T researchers said it was depressing that what "was true at the beginning of the 1990s...
is as true today as then.
" Some progress is being made.
In January 2000, British Columbia became the country's second province (after Quebec) to launch a publicly funded child-care program.
Starting January 2001, 19,000 places in licensed child-care facilities will be available at $7 a day.
They will provide care before and after school for children from Grade 1 to the age of 12, saving parents about $1,100 per child per school year (current child-care costs average around $12 a day).
The province is aiming for a publicly funded child-care system for all kids, from birth to the age of 12.
The program is expected to take at least five years to fully implement.
In September 2000, the federal government agreed to provide $300 million in 2001, and $500 million within three years for a host of provincially administered programs for early-childhood development; Ottawa expects the money to go into daycare, programs to combat fetal alcohol syndrome, and parent support centres.
For example, in September 1999, Ford Motor Company of Canada included a $10-a-day child-care subsidy in its new collective agreement with its workers.
Other employers, including Ontario Hydro, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc.
in Montreal, and the City of Toronto, have set up daycare centres on site or nearby, and sometimes pay for some of the operating costs.
In its 1999 Throne Speech, the federal government announced its long-awaited national children's agenda.
Here's what Ottawa promised in the next two to five years: Increased maternity and parental leave benefits; A federal-provincial agreement on more supports for early childhood development; More after-tax money in the hands of families; More family-friendly workplaces; Modernization of family law; A third significant investment in the National Child Benefit (for lower-income families); and, Strengthened learning opportunities through an expanded School Net.
Prime Minister Jean Chretien said, after the Throne Speech "...
Together with the provinces, we have begun to put in place the National Children's Agenda to improve supports for families and children.
I believe this work has to be accelerated.
So do provincial premiers...
" Ottawa's first "children's budget" was planned for February 2000, with hundreds of millions of dollars slated for early childhood development.
But, at the same time, the Ontario government cut $25 million from its child-care budget.
This meant a loss of about 3,500 child-care spaces in the province.
The provincial government announced that it was squeezing welfare, low-cost housing, child care, and dozens of other programs to cut $309 million from its projected spending for 2000.
In January 2000, the Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD) wrote in its report State of Canada's Children: "Despite broad public support for child care, trends in the 1990s have been contrary.
Child-care services have experienced erosion, fragmentation, and disparity.
" The report gives plenty of examples.
Since 1992, the number of regulated child-care spaces in Alberta fell by almost 5,000.
Between 1995 and 1998, the Ontario government cut its spending on child care by more than $70 million.
Only Quebec added new day care spots (by 100,000) and doubled its budget between 1996 and 1999.
The report suggested using Quebec as a model: the province has universal, regulated, $5-a-day care for all children under the age of 13, including pre-school daycare, and before- and after-school care.
The province stresses early childhood development and supports parents while they work or study.
The child-care programs cost the province about $1 billion a year.
The CCSD is not alone in its criticism of child-care in Canada.
In 1990, the child care research and resource unit at the University of Toronto reported that "Canada does not have a system of child care.
Unlike other developed nations, Canada has not taken a proactive or even a facilitative approach to developing a system of high-quality child-care services.
The current child-care system does not meet the needs of children, families, or women.
" Ten years later, in 2000, U of T researchers said it was depressing that what "was true at the beginning of the 1990s...
is as true today as then.
" Some progress is being made.
In January 2000, British Columbia became the country's second province (after Quebec) to launch a publicly funded child-care program.
Starting January 2001, 19,000 places in licensed child-care facilities will be available at $7 a day.
They will provide care before and after school for children from Grade 1 to the age of 12, saving parents about $1,100 per child per school year (current child-care costs average around $12 a day).
The province is aiming for a publicly funded child-care system for all kids, from birth to the age of 12.
The program is expected to take at least five years to fully implement.
In September 2000, the federal government agreed to provide $300 million in 2001, and $500 million within three years for a host of provincially administered programs for early-childhood development; Ottawa expects the money to go into daycare, programs to combat fetal alcohol syndrome, and parent support centres.
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