Mr. Speaker, I am once again raising in the House the question of where the plan is to make child care affordable for all Canadians. I raise it in the context that it is not only about social policy but is also good economic sense.
The group of organizations called A Living Wage for Families put out a public policy document that talks about how much good economic sense this is. It indicated that:
In 2007, over 75% of Canadian mothers participated in the labour force, yet, there were only child care spaces for 20.3% of children under age six in Canada. Moreover child care costs are on average 22% of the net family income for Canadians, well above other developed countries which average at 13%. Parents cannot work or take training without affordable, high quality, secure child care.
The article gives an example:
A publicly funded child care system in BC, similar to the one in Quebec, would reduce monthly child care costs to $280.00, or from 19.9% to 6.3% of the overall budget. This results in the hourly living rate decreasing to $14.72 an hour, a reduction of $4.09.
Of course, there are two things about this.
One is that quality, licensed, regulated, publicly funded child care actually contributes to the economic bottom line because it allows mothers and fathers to go to work and be assured that their children are well looked after.
Second, the submission to the finance committee 2012 pre-budget consultation by First Call: BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition makes a recommendation that Canada place a high priority on increasing Canada's annual investment in early childhood care and early learning from our current 0.25% of GDP to the recommended UNICEF benchmark of 1% of GDP. We can see that we have a long way to go on that.
In addition, although this is provincial, here is the impact of what is happening in my riding of Nanaimo—Cowichan. The Kaatza child care in Lake Cowichan is closing its doors as a result of a provincial government announcement around subsidized funding, and in the last six months, the following child care programs in my region have closed: Footsteps Preschool, Serenity Cove Children's Centre, Jitterbugs Childcare, Majestic Cedars Child Care, Just Like Home Family Child Care, and Tree Tops Daycare.
An article today in one of the Nanaimo papers said that adjustments to child care subsidies worry parents. It talked about the fact that Nanaimo's poorest families are pulling their children out of after-school care because they can no longer afford the fees.
The bottom line result is that children under the age of six, five-year-old children in kindergarten, are sometimes being given a key and sent home to look after themselves because their parents simply cannot afford the after-school child care for their kids and they cannot afford to quite their jobs. Surely in this day and age we should be looking at the consequences that will have for children and their families.
In the same article, the owner of an after-school care facility says, “Parents have been put between a rock and a hard place. I'm seeing them choose between paying for daycare or putting food on the table...and if they choose food on the table, what happens to their children while they're at work?”
It goes on to say that parents have said they are working fewer hours to be home with their children after school, or they're sending their five-year-old home for a few hours with a house key, as I mentioned.
The NDP MLA, Leonard Krog, said that the new policy rules are forcing families to make poor choices that could potentially put children at risk.
My question to the parliamentary secretary is this: where is the plan for a national child care strategy?