Bill C-303 (Historical)

Early Learning and Child Care Act

An Act to establish criteria and conditions in respect of funding for early learning and child care programs in order to ensure the quality, accessibility, universality and accountability of those programs, and to appoint a council to advise the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development on matters relating to early learning and child care

This enactment establishes criteria and conditions in respect of early learning and child care programs that must be observed before payments are made by the Government of Canada to a province, territory or aboriginal peoples' organization in support of such a program. It also provides for the appointment of a council to advise the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development on matters relating to early learning and child care.

[Michael Savage, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Well, they are still the new government. I guess maybe it takes a little bit of time to establish that.

One way in which the previous early learning and child care agreement was going to benefit Nova Scotia was that in Nova Scotia it was going to be used to provide better training for child care workers and also better wages. I had people suggest to me, “Look, we already have people working. Why would you want to just put money into the system and increase the wages?” But it's really unconscionable in this country that among the lowest-paid full-time workers are child care workers--and perhaps artists and other creative people as well.

Can you talk a little bit about how you think Bill C-303 might do something about training and wages for child care workers?

[Jamie Kass]

I think we've supported the CCAAC's position around grandfathering existing facilities. We understand that the small programs in child care are usually not making a profit, are in there trying to meet good-quality program standards. But all the research, including the new research by Gord Cleveland, again underscores the importance, if you're building a publicly funded system, of doing it in the non-profit system.

So when you see that there'll be an injection of public funding, then you clearly have to make sure that it's a non-profit system. We've really looked a lot at this. We had someone from Australia come on a cross-Canada tour. What they said to us was quite sobering--namely, that they opened up public funding in large ways to the commercial sector, and that child care sector now represents over 70% of the child care. It's meant that the small for-profits, including the non-profits, have closed their doors.

So what we've seen is that in fact it then will be open for those large commercial programs to come in. We think Bill C-303 is very important in that it focuses on the non-profit sector.

[Michael Savage, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Okay. Thank you very much.

Everybody here supports Bill C-303.

I'd like to ask a question, if I could, to CUPE first of all.

I support Bill C-303, but the concern I have is around the not-for-profit sector. I understand some amendments are coming from the proposer. I have a great concern about these commercial child care companies, these McDonald's of the child care business, coming into Canada and sweeping up.

On the other hand, I know an awful lot of good private child care facilities that exist would be grandfathered, but if they exist now, it means they might be able to exist in the future. Do you have any concern about possibly getting to the level of child care spaces we need if we don't allow some of those to be part of the new mix?

[Michael Savage, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Dr. Shanker, I listened with great attention. Are you in support of Bill C-303?

[Jody Dallaire, Chair, Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada]

My name is Jody Dallaire. I am the chairperson of the national organization called the Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada.

With me today is Monica Lysack, our executive director.

I'm going to be giving my remarks partly in French and partly in English, and I'm going to start in French.

This year, the Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada celebrates 25 years of advocacy for quality child care. Our membership reaches more than four million Canadians from across the country, including parents, educators, researchers and students, as well as various organizations at the provincial, territorial, regional and national levels.

I am here today to express our support for C-303. When passed, this bill will ensure accountability for funds that are directed towards building a learning and child care system. All federal parties agree that we want the best possible experiences and outcomes for our children.

Child care supports healthy child development, reduces child poverty, promotes women’s equality, deepens social inclusion and advances a knowledge-based economy and therefore ongoing economic prosperity. Moreover, improving child care services will help Canada meet its commitment to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which names child care services as one of the fundamental rights all children should enjoy.

Quality child care is a public good, and should be treated as such in terms of public policy, public investment and public accountability. Bill C-303 represents a significant step forward for child care services in Canada. This legislation lays the foundation for us to move from the current patchwork of expensive services of varying quality, funded primarily by user fees, to a framework that provides families with a choice of affordable, high-quality, community-based services, in licensed homes and centres, with both part-time and full-time programs.

The members and partners of our association envision a Canada where all children are supported by publicly funded, quality child care services. Like libraries and schools, child care programs should be a natural and expected part of our neighbourhoods. They should be available, accessible and affordable for all families that choose to use them.

Bill C-303 supports the community's vision for child care in Canada. In 2004, following a year of consultations, our vision was to translate it into a set of policy recommendations, which were put into a document called “From Patchwork to Framework: A Child Care Strategy for Canada”.

The first recommendation calls for legislation that defines and frames the implementation of child care in Canada. Our organization believes that when substantial public funding is available to build a system, as outlined in Bill C-303, new growth and expansion should be in the public and not-for-profit sector.

We advocate for the grandfathering of existing commercial facilities, as outlined in Bill C-303. This recommendation is based on the lessons learned about market failure and the current user fee subsidy approach and on extensive research about how public, community-owned and -operated child care promotes quality and accountability for public funds.

Bill C-303 acknowledges that child care falls within provincial-territorial jurisdiction and supports the communities to develop their own priorities. Having said this, we support the clause recognizing that Quebec has expanded its early learning and child care programs to ensure better accessibility than other provinces and territories.

Nevertheless, recognizing the diversity of Canadian communities does not mean accepting the existing disparity in services. All children and families, including those with disabilities, those from rural, remote, and northern communities, aboriginal families, and families from various backgrounds, should be entitled to quality and affordable child care services.

With child care legislation in place, communities and governments at all levels can work together to plan and implement a pan-Canadian child care system. We can build a system based on the existing government commitments to improve access to quality, affordable, and inclusive child care services, as outlined in the multilateral framework agreements in 2003, and we can begin to actually achieve these goals. The CCAAC has developed tools, such as a child care system implementation model, that support communities and governments in their joint efforts to advance a universal system.

Finally, legislation such as Bill C-303 is essential to accountability. Our experience in Canada over the last thirty years clearly demonstrates that we cannot leave the development of quality and affordable child care services to chance, nor can we rely solely on the minimal accountability provisions of existing intergovernmental agreements, such as those found in the multilateral framework.

Recent federal transfers have only required governments to report to the public, not to their legislatures. We note that most provinces and territories have not reported on how the federal transfers have been spent since 2004-05.

Since the only real accountability mechanism for analyzing and commenting on new investments is through public monitoring and pressure, this accountability mechanism places a lot of responsibility on communities. While community capacity-building, such as that provided by the CCAAC, can support citizens in this important work, our preliminary observations raise questions about the heavy reliance on this approach as the primary accountability mechanism when parents and community groups are already strapped for time and over-burdened.

In addition to reporting to the public, governments need to report to their legislatures. Public reporting should be complemented with legislated standards, such as those outlined in Bill C-303. Accountability for public funds requires no less.

It's easy for us to say that supporting children and families is important, but we call on our elected representatives to make these words real by passing Bill C-303.

Thank you.

[Shellie Bird, Education Officer, Local 2204, Child Care Workers, Ottawa, Canadian Union of Public Employees]

Thank you.

CUPE Local 2204 represents 230 early childhood educators, cooks, cleaners and clerical staff in 12 child care centres here in the city of Ottawa, and we count ourselves among the 10,000 child care workers whom our national union represents.

Our members, along with thousands of other child care workers, support Bill C-303 because it acknowledges the direct relationship between quality early learning and child care and the need to invest in the child care workforce.

In our submission, we point out what you have no doubt heard countless times: our world has changed. A majority of parents with children are in the workforce, and consequently, millions of Canadian children require access to non-parental child care.

We also know that who these children spend their day with has huge implications for the kind of care and education they receive, yet child care workers are largely undervalued, underpaid, and unrecognized. The failure of governments to acknowledge staff as a key linchpin for quality or to take action to address chronically low wages, poor benefits, and working conditions in our sector means fewer people are coming into our field or choosing to stay once they do. We cannot expect to improve quality early learning and child care if we are not prepared as a nation to recognize the vital role the people who work with young children play.

My training, knowledge, and 26 years of experience working with young children gives me a real advantage in providing them with supportive and intentional learning opportunities that help them to grow. At the risk of boasting, I liken what I do in supporting children in our program, purposely and with intention, building their trust, their respect, their comfort and sense of belonging, and their efficacy in managing their environment to the skill and precision of a surgeon with a scalpel.

Supporting children to build relationships with their peers, find positive ways to work out their differences, to make their needs known, to share, to be angry, to be hurt and to make up, and to learn and experiment without judgment are specific skills I have developed and honed over my years, to the benefit of the children I work with. We need more of this, not less.

This bill, if adequately funded, will give our sector the ability to improve wages, benefits, and working conditions so that we can attract and retain a highly motivated and engaged early learning and child care workforce and ultimately give children what we know they need to flourish and grow and go on to become productive and engaged citizens.

Thank you.

[Peter Dinsdale, Executive Director, National Association of Friendship Centres]

Thank you.

I'd like to begin by thanking the committee for the opportunity to present before you today on Bill C-303.

My name is Peter Dinsdale and I am the executive director of the National Association of Friendship Centres.

In case you're not aware, friendship centres are community agencies that are mandated to improve the quality of life of urban aboriginal people. We are a service delivery body, not a political voice or representative body, and we are there for urban aboriginal first nation, Métis, and Inuit peoples.

Today there are over 117 friendship centres across Canada from coast to coast to coast and, hopefully, in most of these MPs' ridings as well.

According to the 2001 census, 50% of all aboriginal people live in urban areas, 50% of all aboriginal people are under the age of 25, and 50% of all aboriginal people do not graduate from high school. We are very young, very urban, and a very impoverished population. And according to research conducted by the Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres, 50% of all aboriginal children grow up in poverty in this country today.

In short, we work for an incredibly important segment of the Canadian population to be served by this legislation.

Friendship centres are active in early learning and child care as well. Across the country, there are over 30 friendship centres providing direct day care facilities through over $7.5 million in programming supports. These programs are only one portion of the $19.5 million spent on general family programs out of the total $114 million provided in programming across the friendship centre movement each year.

Like all who are here before you, we have certainly read Bill C-303 and are prepared to make our comments on it. I only want to raise for your attention that we have submitted a brief that details our support for early learning and child care programming. There is no question that the friendship centre movement sees the need for a national network to be in place.

But with Bill C-303, we would like to make a number of observations, and we have some concerns based on it. We're not sure that the appropriate framework exists for directing provincial areas of responsibility with such vigour. Will the appropriate resources be secured to fund the rigorous standards outlined? However, my most troubling question and the most troubling for us in general is how this bill impacts aboriginal people and the friendship centres that we serve. How will this bill apply on-reserve?

The bill does not discuss the challenge of this program, paid for by the federal government, monitored by the provinces and territories, and administered by local profit and non-profit organizations, to navigate the jurisdictional minefields that exist in this area. It is also not clear how this bill would impact friendship centres as potential non-profit partners for the delivery of these services.

Using the lens of friendship centres and the clients we serve, I'd like to comment on five troubling aspects for us.

The first is the notion of universality. What would this mean for urban aboriginal access? It needs to be understood that equal access does not always mean equal outcomes. Given the tremendous social barriers facing aboriginal peoples, it is essential that aboriginal-specific programming exists.

It is important for a number of reasons. Culture-based programs have been shown to be more effective at reaching aboriginal clients. Intergenerational reconnection is an important element to aboriginal programming. Positive role models, community reconnections, healing for the family and their extended family, traditional skills rediscovery, and comparable services all mean a more successful outcome for that child and the parents.

The second area of concern is the notion of tariff. Even the most modest of tariffs for access will be a significant barrier for urban aboriginal people. The average income for aboriginal people is $14,533, according to the 2001 census, versus $19,000 for non-aboriginal people. Aboriginal household income is 87% of that of non-aboriginal households. And aboriginal people's unemployment rate is 19.1% versus 7.4% for the non-aboriginal population.

We're impoverished. Any tariff for aboriginal families is a significant barrier that must be addressed.

Our third area of concern centres around the notions of indicators of availability. While it is clear that the minds of the bill's drafters are turned to ensuring that the widest possible geographic access is being considered, it does not once again provide any comfort that aboriginal people are considered an important client for availability and programming.

Our fourth area of concern rests with the indicators of affordability. It states that service fees should be set at a percentage of average wages for each jurisdiction. It simply reinforces that aboriginal people will have unequal access, as our wages are far behind any average in any jurisdiction.

The fifth area of concern is around the indicators of accessibility. Once again, the drafters' minds are turned to ensuring broad access in terms of eligibility requirements, with a percentage for special needs and other geographic considerations. There also appears to be an inherent contradiction in using income levels of parents as an accessibility measure. Single parents and their prevalence in our community will certainly skew our access, and the ability to pay the aforementioned percent of the region's average wage will further reinforce that.

Finally, and maybe most troubling, the bill does not recognize the jurisdiction of first nation, Métis, or Inuit peoples to provide for their own programming and to serve their own people. It seems not to have considered aboriginal people from either a governance, service delivery, or access basis. But we want to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. There is no question that more early learning child care spaces are needed across this country, and this is a noble attempt to do that. However, it is our assessment that should this bill in its present form become law, it will have a minimal impact for aboriginal peoples for all the areas raised.

Once again, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to appear before the committee. I look forward to any questions you might have.

[Carol Gott, Co-Manager, Rural Voices for Child Care]

Good afternoon.

My name is Carol Gott, and along with my colleague Jane Wilson, I co-manage Rural Voices for Early Childhood Education and Care.

Rural Voices is a broker of knowledge, learning, and best practices in early childhood education and care locally, provincially, and nationally.

Each of you has our submitted brief, so our intention today is to say a few words to summarize our views.

Jane and I both volunteer our time and energy to provide this link between rural, remote, and northern communities across Canada because we know first-hand how difficult it is to develop responsive, flexible, quality services in our rural communities for families and children.

It is difficult, but not impossible. It's not impossible, but it's certainly not probable, simply because, as a country, we have not made it a priority to ensure that every child in this country receives the best start in life and that every parent, regardless of their work status, receives our utmost support in their parenting role.

This will not be achieved by leaving leadership on child care issues at the provincial-territorial arena alone. To hope that, as a country, each province and territory will have the political will or the financial ability to ensure equity of access to quality child care services and supports is not socially responsible. For decades, child care has been the jurisdiction of provincial and territorial governments, yet the most critical issue in rural, remote, and northern Canada remains access to quality child care services. This is true whether you are in rural Alberta, Ontario, Nova Scotia, the Yukon, or any other province or territory in this nation.

We can only assure equity of access to services through federal leadership, a leadership that begins with the approval of Bill C-303.

As each community across rural, remote, and northern Canada sees themselves as different and distinct, so does each province and territory. Although this diversity does us well at a local level, it hinders our ability to act as a nation, a nation that needs to strongly support our youngest citizens.

We have research that affirms the benefits of quality child care for children and families, and now recently we have rural research from the University of Manitoba that affirms the economic benefits of child care as well.

We can tell you, from our travels and work with Rural Voices across this country, that the benefits of quality child care for children, families, and communities are much more powerful and long term than any document could adequately attest. Although it's only a beginning, Rural Voices believes that Bill C-303 will develop a framework to support the challenges that rural, remote, and northern Canadians live every day.

Thank you.

[Judy Streatch]

Nova Scotia signed. Your colleague down the way was at the ceremony. The Government of Nova Scotia of the day definitely did sign.

But I see a big difference between that agreement and Bill C-303. The challenges I articulated earlier, whether it's jurisdiction or the administrative costs that would be downloaded to the provinces, are real. The biggest challenge in Nova Scotia would be the inability for anyone other than a non-profit to offer child care in the future. We cannot do that. Today over 50% of my centres in Nova Scotia are commercial. I need the commercial sector to sustain family home day care. So for me, that component is a reality piece that I can't ignore.

[Janet Davis, Councillor, City of Toronto]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to thank the committee for the opportunity to participate in your deliberations on Bill C-303. I'm pleased to be here in person to represent the City of Toronto and to express, on behalf of city council, our full support for the provisions of Bill C-303.

I'm a member of Toronto city council, vice-chair of our board of health, vice-chair of the community development and recreation committee, as well as the children's advocate for the city of Toronto.

I'm here with Petr Varmuza, the director of Toronto Children's Services.

I too am a parent of two children who were fortunate to attend excellent regulated child care from infancy to school age, and who have benefited as a result.

Toronto is Canada's largest city and sixth-largest government, and home to a diverse population of 2.6 million people. The City of Toronto manages the largest child care system in Canada outside of the province of Quebec, with a budget of $336 million in 2007. As you know, in Ontario municipalities have a legislated role in the delivery and management of the child care system.

Toronto recognizes the significant contribution that high-quality, accessible, and affordable child care and early learning programs make to the healthy development of young children and the economic and social well-being of families and communities.

Toronto's child care system provides a range of services for over 65,000 children, including directly operated and community based licensed group child care, family home child care, after-school and summer programs, family resource centres, and special needs programs for children from infancy to school age.

Currently the city provides child care fee subsidies for 23,844 children in 16,000 families. Of those who receive subsidies, 50% pay no fee. Despite the size of our programs, Toronto still only provides services for about one-quarter of the children who need child care, and there are over 10,000 children on our waiting list for subsidized child care.

As you can see, Toronto has made a major commitment to child care and has a critical interest in the future of child care legislation and funding in Canada. Toronto's child care system is guided by a comprehensive service plan and operating criteria with established principles, service levels, program priorities, and program standards to ensure quality.

Toronto's service plan is focused on providing equitable access to services, high-quality programs, and planned growth in underserved age groups and communities. However, the city has been unable to make any significant progress, as the public policy environment and financing of child care and family programs has shifted dramatically over the past 12 years. Federal and provincial governments have changed program and funding priorities, forcing the city to change policy directions, fund services beyond its legislated cost-sharing levels, and often struggle simply to protect rather than expand services.

This has made the municipal role in service delivery and management challenging and unpredictable. Under ECDA, the previous Ontario government invested all the federal transfers in programs other than child care. This became known as the “ABC” policy--anything but child care.

Under the federal-provincial early learning and child care agreement signed in 2005, the Province of Ontario developed the Best Start plan to expand child care and early learning programs for children under six. As required by the province, the city developed a three-year service and infrastructure plan in partnership with school boards and other community service providers to develop new integrated models of service delivery.

Our plan is here and I've brought copies for you, if you're interested.

Toronto created over 3,000 new licensed spaces and 2,000 fee subsidies in 59 centres in the first year of Best Start. This was funded through the federal transfers, of course. An additional 3,400 spaces were planned, and provincial transfers were slated at $125 million annually. All expansion under Best Start or any new future funding program in Toronto will be delivered in the not-for-profit sector, or delivered by our municipally directly operated sector.

In 2006, when the federal-provincial early learning and child care agreement was cancelled, Ontario chose to distribute the final year of funding over four years. As a result, funding for Toronto was reduced from $125 million to $27 million per year.

These funding changes have meant the cancellation of further expansion under our Best Start plan, and a serious funding shortfall for the remainder of our child care system. Toronto is now facing a shortfall of $35 million, which, if not solved by the end of 2007, will result in the loss of 3,500 subsidized spaces.

The 2007 federal budget allocated $97 million to the province of Ontario for child care. The 2007 Ontario budget allocated $25 million for child care this year, and $50 million next year. Toronto has been allocated $6.8 million in 2007, and $9.1 million in 2008, far short of the $35 million needed to prevent service cuts, and far short of its per capita share of the federal funds. The remainder of the federal funds transferred to Ontario have not been allocated, and there is no indication whether they will go into child care or into other government priorities. The Ontario finance minister told the Toronto Star that the funds did not have to go to child care because they were unconditional transfers.

Toronto and other municipalities in Ontario, the level of government responsible for delivering programs, want and need a national legislative and regulatory framework to ensure that funds slated for child care go to child care.

Toronto supports Bill C-303 because it enshrines in legislation the critical elements of a Canadian system of high-quality early learning and child care services. This important piece of legislation will provide a legislative and regulatory framework to ensure that federal funding is transferred to provinces and service providers for high-quality child care and early learning programs; it will create a funding framework that requires provinces and service providers to meet criteria and standards that ensure programs are accessible, high-quality, universal, and developmental in nature; it will ensure that programs are delivered on a not-for-profit basis--and that is important, and we support it; it would require provinces and service providers to develop plans for a system of service; it will provide, through new reporting requirements, transparency and accountability for spending, which is also important to Toronto and to other municipalities in Ontario; and it will establish an advisory council to monitor and report on the operations and effectiveness of the act. We support this as well.

This is important legislation that will assist in protecting and enhancing early learning and child care in Toronto and in every province in Canada. Toronto is not alone in supporting federal child care legislation. Other municipalities, as well as provincial and local organizations, fully support the establishment of a national child care program entrenched in legislation and will be submitting letters of support to your committee.

In closing, I want to say that Toronto’s ability to succeed depends on the ability of our residents to contribute to the economic and social life of our city. Toronto’s future also depends on our ability to ensure that all children have the best chance possible to succeed. Investing in high-quality early childhood programs achieves both these goals.

In closing, I wish to urge members to support Bill C-303.

[Charles Dent, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Government of the Northwest Territories]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good morning, committee members.

I'd like to thank the committee for providing the opportunity for the Government of the Northwest Territories to make a presentation to you this morning in respect of Bill C-303.

We're concerned by the manner in which this bill will insert federal influence into an area of jurisdiction that is exclusively provincial and territorial in nature. That this is proposed with no consultation with our territory is unacceptable. Just as our government consults with aboriginal governments when appropriate, such as when considering a wildlife act, we expect and deserve the same consideration from the federal level.

It is especially frustrating when this bill comes forward with no expectation that there will be new money attached. Right now, the lion's share of money expended in the early learning and child care field in the Northwest Territories comes from the Government of the Northwest Territories' coffers. This year, we have increased the funding in our early childhood programs by 20%.

We are concerned that, should this bill pass, it will make it difficult for us to renew the funding agreements we have with the federal government, which, while being minor parts of our total spending for early learning and child care, are nonetheless important to the operation of our system.

Before I get into some specific comments on Bill C-303, I would like to provide some background about the Northwest Territories. I hope this will help explain the implications that Bill C-303 would have on the way we support the delivery of early learning and child care programs and services in the Northwest Territories.

I would like to begin by giving you some of the demographics of the Northwest Territories.

We have 32 communities in the Northwest Territories. The largest is the city of Yellowknife, with a population of approximately 19,500, and the smallest is Jean Marie River, which has a population of 70 people.

It may interest you to know that the school in Jean Marie River has seven students this year. Given that, I'm sure you'll understand that it's very unlikely we'll see a child care centre developed in that community or in others that are similarly small.

There is no or very limited road access to the majority of communities in the Northwest Territories. Many are only accessible by road during a brief winter ice road season. The remoteness and isolation have a great impact on many things in a community, including the availability of program materials. Facility development or activities requiring resources require detailed planning well in advance in order to place equipment orders for arrival by barge once a year, or residents must face the high cost of flying in materials.

The NWT population is approximately 50% aboriginal, with our smaller communities being primarily aboriginal. There are 11 official languages in the Northwest Territories, and we are seeing significant declines in aboriginal language use by our young people in many regions.

The Northwest Territories has a very healthy employment rate and a very low unemployment rate, but the territories-wide nature of those numbers masks the sometimes very high unemployment rate in our smaller communities.

Currently the Northwest Territories has 110 licensed early learning and child care programs operating. These include child care facilities, part-time preschool programs, family day homes, and after-school programs. From these programs, we have access to 1,711 licensed spaces for families.

There are licensed early learning and child care programs in 28 of the 32 communities in the Northwest Territories. The majority of full-time early learning and child care programs are within the city of Yellowknife.

Right now, the individual needs within each community determine the type of program that is required. Many small communities deliver programs on a part-time basis, recognizing the needs and hours of employment in a small community. A lot of our programs are offered by family day homes.

We believe fundamentally that early learning and child care programs in the north must be community based. This means programs are developed and operated by community groups or individuals to meet community needs. They know what's best for their children.

Locally determined and locally driven programs not only provide the opportunity to reflect the individual community needs but also allow a focus on language and culture of the community. In recent years, we've been working to help revitalize aboriginal languages by providing young children with opportunities to learn their language. Following the Maori and Hawaiian examples of language nests, in 2003 the Government of the Northwest Territories began investing funds to assist existing early learning and child care programs to develop their program into a language nest.

Aboriginal children who attend these language nest programs have daily interaction with elders and speakers in the language and culture of the community. Traditional practices and ways of learning are used in the centres, and operators ensure that a variety of learning styles are addressed.

We're finding that language nests in the north are inspiring parents and other adults in communities to learn their aboriginal language.

Mr. Chairman, family day homes can also support immersion in the language and culture of the community through exposure to traditional language, ways of learning, and culture.

The proposed bill would require the Northwest Territories to meet certain criteria to be able to access federal funding supports. We agree that it is important to strive to achieve programs and supports that promote quality, universality, accessibility, and accountability. In fact, we already have well-established standards and reporting processes in place.

We know these reflect the realities of our jurisdiction and support the development and operation of culturally appropriate child care spaces. We are concerned that new federal standards developed as a result of this bill may impact on the mandate of the Government of the Northwest Territories for early learning and child care and may remove the flexibility that is inherent in the way authority and jurisdiction are divided among provinces and territories and the federal government.

Mr. Chairman, a national early learning and child care act will be hard pressed to deal with the diverse needs and circumstances across the country. The factors involved in providing early learning and child care opportunities in rural, remote, and isolated communities are quite different from those of large urban environments.

Bill C-303 stipulates that funding be linked to a requirement for service to be provided through not-for-profit individuals or groups. While the bill proposes to grandfather for-profit service providers that are in the place prior to the coming into force of the act, new for-profit individuals or groups will not be included. This causes us significant concern.

Right now, family day homes provide 40% of licensed child care in the Northwest Territories. Family day homes are not registered not-for-profit organizations and they fill a valuable need in our small communities, where there's limited infrastructure and little need for larger programs.

As you would expect, there is turnover in family day homes over time, so if this bill proceeds we fear that when it comes time to renew the agreements we now have with the federal government, we will find that we are unable to equitably support a vitally important part of our day care system. That result would greatly impact the flexibility we have in using a range of service providers. In turn, this will impact the availability of services to children and their parents.

As well, since family day homes are run for profit, this would also limit the opportunities for individuals in our smallest communities, where employment prospects may be limited from setting up a for-profit service as a career choice.

Mr. Chairman, the fiscal reporting that the bill calls for would also cause problems in the north. Clause 8 calls for a report to Parliament within 60 days of the end of the fiscal year. Meeting such requirements will be a challenge for small operators. We don't require reports from operators that quickly now, and ensuring that they could meet that sort of deadline so we could report to the federal government would require more support. Funding to support administration to comply with such reporting would be better used for programming to support children.

In conclusion, early learning and child care is clearly a provincial and territorial jurisdiction, allowing provinces and territories to meet child care needs in this diverse country. We take that responsibility seriously.

I don't think this bill is necessary. We already cover these matters through our existing territorial legislation that reflects our unique situation in the Northwest Territories. We have the NWT Child Day Care Act, which lays out the requirements for child care programs in the NWT, including licensing, operating requirements, and offences. Regulations further lay out the duties of child care operators, physical requirements for child day care facilities, daily programming, nutritional standards, health care, hazards and emergencies, and staff qualifications and training.

We can't help but note the clause referring to the unique circumstances of Quebec when it comes to delivering early learning and child care programming, and respectfully suggest that all provinces and territories be recognized similarly.

We don't need more rules to deliver quality programming in our territory, Mr. Chairman, we need more money. While we would welcome a meaningful federal contribution to assist us in supporting quality early learning and child care in the north, it will not be meaningful if it's done in isolation, with no input from the territory.

I encourage you to scrap this bill and press the federal government to continue discussions with the provinces, territories, and early childhood stakeholders to ensure that decisions about investments in early learning and child care support the diversity of Canada--its geography, communities, and families.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[Judy Streatch, Minister of Community Services, Government of Nova Scotia]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Good morning. My name is Judy Streatch. I have the privilege of being Nova Scotia's Minister of Community Services.

I am joined today by a representative from our department to help provide Nova Scotia's view regarding Bill C-303. l would like to introduce Virginia O'Connell, director of early childhood development services. Mrs. O'Connell manages the licensing, monitoring, policy, and standards for all licensed child care centres in the province. She has worked in the field of early childhood development for more than 25 years.

Personally, as a mother of four and a teacher for 15 years, I am passionate about the direction, progress, and diversity of early learning and child care in Nova Scotia. Let me tell you a little about the progress we've been making.

Nova Scotia offers programs that support families and foster healthy child development between the ages of newborn and 12 years, in accordance with the Nova Scotia Day Care Act and regulations.

In recognition of Nova Scotia's commitment to quality child care, my government created a 10-year early learning and child care plan for Nova Scotia last May. In developing the plan we took into account consultation sessions and heard from more than 2,600 Nova Scotians regarding their specific issues and priorities, including from commercial and non-profit licensed child care centres and parents. They told us to increase salaries, decrease the cost of care for all families, increase funding for child care, assist in stabilizing the workforce, provide more accessible child care for children with special needs, and increase spaces in licensed child care centres and family home programs.

Folks, l'm happy to say that we're doing all of this. The early learning and child care plan provides a foundation for licensed child care in Nova Scotia that will promote a more inclusive, accessible, and equitable system. To achieve this, we are focusing on the needs of Nova Scotian families by investing more than $137 million in our plan. The recent federal budget provides an additional $7 million per year to support the creation of child care spaces in our province, and it complements our made-in-Nova Scotia child care plan to further help our families access quality care for their children.

We will provide the opportunity, through capital funding, for the creation of at least 1,000 child care spaces. We are creating 550 more portable, subsidized spaces for low-income families. Funding for children with special needs will double.

We recently announced the child care operating grant funding. It provides funding per occupied space for children and infants, and is a key component of the plan to help stabilize the system and facilitate enhanced recruitment and retention of staff while allowing centres to consider future expansion.

We have also made available $1 million in repair and renovation funding across the province to make energy-efficient and accessibility improvements to centres.

We have embarked on our long-term vision for quality and sustainable child care in our province. As you can see, Nova Scotia has a plan, and our plan is well into the development of a child and youth strategy that will address the needs of children, youth, and their families by improving the accessibility of a range of supports and services. Our vision is this: that all Nova Scotia children enjoy a good start in life and are nurtured and supported by caring families and communities.

Bill C-303 presents a serious intrusion by the Parliament of Canada into an area of provincial responsibility. Although Bill C-303 does not compel the federal government to transfer funds to provinces and territories for the purpose of providing early learning and child care programs, it does establish criteria and conditions that provinces and territories would be required to meet related to the expenditure of these transfers.

The provision of early learning and child care is a provincial responsibility. Bill C-303 defines the means by which child care is delivered within each province and territory.

The bill refers to specific criteria. Nova Scotia's plan is built on a set of principles that includes each of the bill's criteria. In fact, these principles have their basis in the word CHILD--comprehensive, high-quality, integration, longevity, and developed on the basis of evidence and accountability.

As you can see, Nova Scotia is not standing still. We are already on the path of implementing a range of services and programs that reflect the diverse needs of Nova Scotian families.

Bill C-303, as federal legislation, would be used as a policy instrument to implement a one-size-fits-all approach to child care. Folks, one size does not fit all in Nova Scotia.

In order to access the funding that would need to accompany the bill, each province or territory would have to abide by all components of the bill's criteria and conditions. This approach would strictly limit the design and delivery of our current and future programs. This approach would require that all funded programs be regulated by provincial governments, and that all new programs or services be delivered by a non-profit agency or service. This would stifle provinces and territories in the creation of new and innovative programs that do not meet these restrictive requirements.

In order to meet the requirements of the bill, taxpayers' dollars would have to be invested in additional administrative and infrastructure costs rather than enabling the development and implementation of programs to best meet the needs of the young children and families of our province. Its administrative and reporting requirements would hamper Nova Scotia's current efficiencies and effectiveness with respect to the initiatives we already have under way and that already envelop the requirements of Bill C-303.

Nova Scotia is moving forward. We are doing so in respect of our families, our children, our early childhood sector, and our diverse cultural and geographic environments. We are currently amending our day care regulations and creating new family home regulations, heightening the standard for care and early education.

We also know that some services needed to support families, such as family resource, parent education, and early intervention programs, require further funding allocations to grow and reach out to the community if we are truly ready to provide comprehensive integrated programs and supports to families. Bill C-303 would severely limit this work.

Our hope as a province is to partner with the federal government to make those initiatives that are respective of Nova Scotians and that enable the flexibility to truly make a difference in the lives of children and families.

In closing, I would like to say that Nova Scotia wishes to continue to be an equal partner in the implementation and development of programs that will best serve the young children and families of Canada and Nova Scotia. We do not need Bill C-303 to do this.

The 2001 ECD and 2003 multilateral ELCC agreements are good examples of how governments have negotiated to provide additional funding to early childhood development, learning, and care programs and services. Nova Scotia would prefer to negotiate agreements like this with the federal government rather than having conditions imposed upon us.

I thank you very much for the opportunity to provide you with an overview of the great strides we are making on child care in Nova Scotia, and for listening to our views on Bill C-303.

Thank you. Merci.

[Jeanette MacAulay, Deputy Minister, Department of Social Services and Seniors, Government of Prince Edward Island]

Thank you very much.

Good morning, Chair, and members.

Thank you for the opportunity to present to you. I wish to express the regrets of Minister Gillan to the table. He had hoped to join you, but I think the Premier may be announcing something in the next two or three days, and he doesn't want to leave home. That's why I'm here.

The Government of Prince Edward Island has worked closely with provincial stakeholders in the early childhood sector to develop a plan for early child development that meets the needs of our children. We have also shown leadership in work with colleagues from other jurisdictions. In fact, Minister Gillan, the Minister of Social Services and Seniors, has been the co-chair of the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Ministers Responsible for Early Learning and Child Care, which created a national vision to guide early child development.

The 2000 First Ministers' Agreement on Early Child Development and the 2003 Multilateral Agreement on Early Learning and Child Care were precursors to this work, and established an important focus in our province on the early years. With funding from these agreements, Prince Edward Island has made significant progress in the support of healthy child development and specific early learning and child care needs.

For example, our province has implemented a universal newborn hearing screening program; financed a province-wide best start home visiting program in collaboration with family resource centres; improved programming for children with special needs in our licensed child care centres; implemented a community-based, integrated kindergarten program; developed curriculum resources, program delivery, and parental engagement supports for all licensed early childhood programs; and enhanced the child care subsidy program so that more low- and middle-income parents can access licensed early learning and child care programs.

The province of Prince Edward Island has unique needs and strengths. We understand the long-lasting impact of quality early childhood experiences for our children. In February, Premier Binns announced details of a long-term plan for investment in regulated child care programs in our province.

Our framework is built on working with our local early learning sector to address the principles of quality, universality, accessibility, and accountability. Our government was successful in advancing the vision for early learning and addressing these principles in concert with our provincial partners. I believe this is the essence of what this bill is trying to accomplish.

However, Bill C-303 has a number of features that are problematic for provincial and territorial governments. I would like to highlight those impacts for Prince Edward Island.

P.E.I. has approximately 8,500 children aged five and under, and a high rate of labour force participation among mothers of these children. At 80%, it's the highest in the country. P.E.I. is in an enviable position. We have licensed spaces available for 46% of our children from infancy to age five. Canada has spaces for less than a quarter of our children.

There are three points that I would like to highlight when discussing the impact of Bill C-303: overlay with provincial jurisdiction, exclusion of private operators, and impact on small jurisdictions.

One, Bill C-303 is prescriptive regarding funds provided for programs that are in an area of provincial jurisdiction. A national vision should support our collective effort to enhance the awareness and understanding of quality early experiences, while enabling jurisdictions to respond and evolve based on the specific local needs of children and families. Governments cannot, in good conscience, do anything to further restrict the child care sector. We would be in effect crippling an already fragile system by imposing further funding restrictions such as those described in Bill C-303.

In P.E.I. we are seeing a high rate of turnover in staff and operators, and our centres are operating below capacity, at 67%. Like all provinces, we are committed to supporting and strengthening our early learning sector and need federal support in doing that, but we all have unique features that need to be understood.

Prince Edward Island has just implemented a new direct funding grant program to centres that will be based on adhering to quality principles. We have also enhanced our child care subsidy program and doubled the number of infant spaces available in our province.

Our provincial challenge is to complement planned provincial initiatives for children and families in P.E.I. by encouraging flexibility, supporting new and existing partnerships, and being creative within the existing system. This needs to happen in concert with our local communities and be reflected in our provincial child care act and regulations, policies, and practices.

Second, Bill C-303 would limit funding to early learning and child care programs administered by the provincial government or operated on a not-for-profit basis only. Of our early childhood centres in P.E.I., 46% are non-profit and 54% are private.

The majority of our full-day centres--in fact, 74%--which also offer our community-based kindergarten program in a seamless day setting, are also private. This is an enviable component of our community-based program for parents who work. Sixty percent of our licensed early childhood centres that have children with special needs, and 90% of the centres that provide infant care, are private centres.

As you see, private operators on Prince Edward Island provide invaluable services to parents and communities in areas that are not well compensated and that require extensive investment of human and material resources. Private and non-profit early childhood centres are equally distributed across urban and rural communities. Both auspices are viewed as integral components of our communities.

Some communities would feel a significant impact, and our sector would be divided, if funding were allocated according to the criteria of Bill C-303. Prince Edward Island prefers to use the term “private” rather than “for profit” because these centres are not businesses that carry healthy profit margins, if any.

Third, Bill C-303 establishes a mechanism for the transfer of early learning and child care funding from the federal government to provinces. Funding levels based on a typically per capita formula do not allow smaller provinces to fully implement systems that realize the obligations outlined in Bill C-303.

In conclusion, we are committed to working with our partners to strengthen an early learning and child care system in P.E.I. that is based on broad availability, accessibility, universality, and the capability of measuring and monitoring quality.

A national vision by the federal government is indeed supported and encouraged. However, the unique circumstances of jurisdictions need to be recognized, and adequate funding should align with provincial planning, priorities, and realities. However, as outlined in Bill C-303, the criteria and conditions required to be met for the transfer of funds to provinces and territories are onerous, inflexible, and without consideration of existing provincial plans. They would result in an erosion of our system, not a strengthening of our child care sector.

Thank you.

[Christian Beaulieu]

It depends on the instrument creating the appropriation, the authority to pay the provinces. If you have proposed legislation like Bill C-303, the purpose of which would be to attach conditions to transfers to provinces, the purpose of the bill is to set out those conditions. The bill could very well set out as well what provinces are to do to account for the use of those funds.

If you take the example of SCPI--I forget what the new name is--that's a contribution program. It's not established by legislation per se. Of course there is a broad appropriation in the annual appropriation acts, but for the rest, the program is established via policies of the Treasury Board. There are terms and conditions governing the program, and it is by virtue of those terms and conditions that agreements of a legal nature are entered into with each and every organization.

The agreements are quite stringent in terms of the accounting they require from organizations. Legislation could be as stringent. Parliament has to choose.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Order.

Pursuant to the order of reference of Wednesday, November 22, 2006, Bill C-303, we will now pursue going through the bill and hearing some witnesses.

I would like everyone to welcome, from the Department of Human Resources and Social Development, Mr. McCombs and Mr. Beaulieu.

I believe you gentlemen have a short statement, and then we can hear some questions from our members of Parliament relating to Bill C-303. Once again, gentlemen, thank you for being here this morning.

You have the floor with your opening statement.