ADVOCACY UPDATE - FEBRUARY 25, 2008
Dear Child Care Colleagues:
2008 Federal Budget Watch – GST 2: Child Care 0
Tomorrow brings a new federal budget and with it, one more opportunity for the current federal government to fund the pan-Canadian child care system that children and families need and want. That’s why we should see an additional $1.2 billion in federal cash transfers to provinces and territories, earmarked for early learning and child care programs.
Instead, the current federal government has prioritized 2 cuts to the GST. Together, these cuts cost $12 billion annually – enough to fund quality, universal child care services for all young children in Canada.
In fact, in 2007/08 the federal Conservative government cut child care funding commitments to provinces and territories negotiated by the previous Liberal federal government1. So, in the 2008 budget we expect to see federal child care transfers to provinces and territories remain at only $600 million, far less than what’s needed and what was previously committed.
When tomorrow’s budget is released watch for the ‘wishful thinking’ approach to child care services that we saw in this government’s 2007 Budget. Tax cuts, payments to parents, and the remaining federal transfers will be hyped with the hope of providing families with child care choices but the reality is:
- Tax cuts and payments to parents don’t ensure that quality, affordable services actually exist. Tax cuts may represent a small gain to the individual, but they represent a huge loss to our country’s ability to pay for valuable services and infrastructure. More than 1 in 8 children in Canada live in poverty2 and less than 20% have access to regulated early learning and child care services, making tax cuts an irresponsible way to spend our collective resources.
- Without legislation such as Bill C303 in place, the reduced federal child care transfers will continue to provide minimal federal investment in and minimal accountability for child care services across the country.
Clearly, wishful thinking doesn’t work. Lack of access to quality, affordable child care services has created a predictable, growing and widely recognized crisis. Accepting the wishful thinking approach to child care services means accepting an under-performing economy, accepting that women should pay an economic penalty for parenting and working, and accepting little if any progress on critical social issues in communities across Canada.
Canada cannot afford to go without a child care system. Collectively, Canadian citizens and businesses must commit to generating sufficient revenue to make quality, universal child care services a reality, by prioritizing surpluses accordingly and/or by implementing effective tax policy. Our economic and social well-being depends on it.
Jody Dallaire
Board Chair,
Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada
For further information on a focused public investment strategy for child care services in Canada, see the CCAAC’s Priority for Prosperity: Replace Patchwork and Wishful Thinking with Focused Public Investment in Child Care.
For further information on how a focused public investment strategy can be part of a progressive budget see the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ Alternative Federal Budget 2008: A Budget Canadians can Count On which was released earlier today.
[1] Previously committed: $1.2 billion (2005 Bi-laterals) + $350 million (2003 Multilaterals) = $1.55 billion total. Current commitment: No Bilateral + $350 million (2003 Multilaterals) + $250 million space initiative = $600 million
[2] Campaign 2000, 2007 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Canada.