There are long-standing benefit-cost analyses for child care. On the one hand, people are clear that the costs are relatively significant at the federal level. To do this right, it's probably about a $5-billion price tag.
On the one hand that sounds very expensive, but on the other hand we routinely increase medical care spending by that amount over a short period of time, and the evidence suggests we don't get as big a bang for our medical care bucks these days. There are interesting trade-offs to consider. Some of the dollars would also be taken on at the provincial level.
The ask from a younger demographic right now is to recognize the opportunity to start talking about how we spend our money across age groups. Currently, the federal government doesn't report that each year it spends over $21,000 per person over 65, and that's an important thing. My grandmother is 101, and she counts on these things. By contrast, we spend just over $4,000 for young adults. The question is, should we not be inspired to ask if we are doing enough right now for a younger demographic?
A generation ago one in three seniors was poor, and most likely they'd be the poorest in the country. Now seniors report the lowest rates of low income of any age group in the country, no matter how StatsCan measures it. It's beautiful, and it reflects a policy win, but the question now is, are there some other policy adaptations we could make to address the needs of a younger demographic?