Limited Space | At the Garneau/University Child Care Centre, the waiting list is one and a half to two years long.
Like many daycare workers, Vivian Turner has witnessed her fair share of tearful moments, and often the ones in emotional distress are not the toddlers in her care, but parents with little ones at home and no place to send them when their maternity or parental leave ends.
Despite new election funding announcements from both the NDP and the Liberals, none of the federal parties have offered a plan that properly addresses the immediate need for child-care spaces, says Turner, the executive director of the Garneau/University Child Care Centre.
The federal Liberals have promised a child tax benefit of $350 per year per child, in addition to the Conservatives’ current $100 monthly cheques. The NDP promise a national child-care system similar to health care.
Taking their proposed Early Learning & Child Care Act and turning it into an election plank, the NDP would also require provincial governments to show that federal dollars were indeed spent on child care.
During Alberta’s provincial election, Bill Moore-Kilgannon lead a campaign to find out what happened to $26 million dollars in federal child-care funding which was transferred to Alberta. The executive director of Public Interest Alberta, an umbrella organization of unions and social justice groups, filed a freedom of information request to track the money, which was put in general revenue before going towards child care programs, he says.
“You can’t just ship off a bunch of money to the provinces and hope they do the right thing,” says Ray Martin, the NDP candidate in Edmonton-East. (He lost his seat in the provincial legislature as the MLA for Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview in March to Tory Tony Vandermeer.)
Martin believes the federal government does have a role to play in important social programs like childcare. Certainly, the provinces have the authority to administer the programs, but Martin feels there should be stings attached to the funding.
The NDP would invest $1.45 billion in childcare in the first year of the program, in addition to the current $100 cheques currently given directly to parents. (The NDP have not yet released details of how they will fund their campaign pledges.)
Turner supports the idea of a universal childcare program.
“As a childcare provider, and a parent, I want some stability,” she says, regardless of the political situation at either the federal or provincial levels.
But even Martin says it will take years to establish a nationwide system, and Turner has parents waiting now.
Whatever party forms government after the Oct. 14 election must offer a range of choices, Turner says, adding that parents who chose to stay at home should not be penalized.
In the 2005 election, the Tories promised $100 monthly cheques for families with children under six years old. The Tories delivered, but with daycare in Alberta costing an average of $649 per month, according to the provincial government, the issue has not disappeared. (At the time, Liberal staffer Scott Reid called the cheques “beer and popcorn” money.)
Moore-Kilgannon has no problem with giving young families income support, but argues that the $100 cheques should be targeted at low- and middle-income Canadians who need the money. “Just don’t call it a child-care plan,” he says.
For her part, Turner wants more flexibility. Staying at home is not always an option for parents, she says, adding that many of the parents served by the Garneau/University Child Care Centre are highly skilled workers such as doctors and nurses the province desperately needs. And one income is not always enough to support a family. Single parents have an especially hard time because they don’t have a partner to help pay the bills. Support from grandparents and other extended family networks are not available to all families, she adds.
The Grits have promised to keep the Tories’ $100 cheques, in addition to a $350-per-year-per-child tax benefit. The Liberals will also invest money directly into developing childcare spaces, topping out after four years at $1.25 billion annually. The increase will be covered by taxes collected though the proposed Green Shift election plan.
Stephenie Laskoski, the newly nominated Liberal candidate in Edmonton-East, says the Liberal plan will focus on regulation, ensuring quality care.
But the Liberals under Paul Martin promised a similar program in the 2004 election, and long before that as well, under Jean Chrétien.
“I can’t comment on past governments,” Laskoski says. “I can only comment on the plan today.”
abrunschot@see.greatwest.ca
