First of all, we're talking about both public and not-for-profit systems being better.
A public system of early learning and child care.... A public provider is a government. In most countries with fully developed early child care systems, local government plays a key part—either municipalities or what we know in Canada as school boards. One of the reasons why they pay higher wages is because they have a more secure base of funding. Public employers have that.
The same is true for not-for-profit, but the main difference between not-for-profit and for-profit is that we have to look at the budget and see where the money is being spent. As I said earlier, in a for-profit business, what you're looking at is the bottom line. It's paying your bills and also ensuring you end up with a profit. That's why you're in business.
Not-for-profits don't have that concern. As a result, they tend to spend their money on delivery of service and high quality. That includes ensuring better wages. They also want to make sure, as part of their not-for-profit mission—and this is also true for public employers—that they're accessible, so they try to keep their fees down.
The problem is that neither the for-profit nor not-for-profit sector can keep fees down if public funding is not sufficient. That's why we also call for more public funding.