Child Care Choices

Toning Down the Rhetoric – Working Together To Provide Child Care Choices

It’s great to be back in the riding for the summer and away from Ottawa where the political rhetoric had reached a fever pitch by the end of the session. Where was the meaningful discussion? Hopefully the break will help us all remember that we were elected not to focus on our differences but to find the common objectives that will benefit our constituents and Canadians.

Take the childcare debate for instance. In the last year there has been much discussion on what hasn’t been done and very little about what people are doing to try to work together toward the common goal of providing the parents of children under 6 in our community with good quality choice in childcare.

Every level of government, childcare providers and parents has an obligation to ensure that our community provides quality childcare choices. So why waste time arguing? Let’s just get it done!

As the federal Member of Parliament I know that many of you have questions about the government’s commitment to childcare. Contrary to what you may have heard or read, the Government has not cut funding to child care. In fact, more money is being invested now in child care than by the previous government. So when someone tells you the childcare agreement struck between the Province and the last government was cancelled, keep in mind that the funding was maintained but not all of it will go directly to the Province. Instead some of it is being allocated directly to parents and a very small portion is committed to help the businesses where parents work, create childcare spaces directly within our places of employment.

When it comes to raising children, every family has its own needs and should have some flexibility to make choices based on their own circumstances. On that basis the Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB) was created. Since July 2006, all families of nearly 2 million children under six have been receiving $100 a month. That is $2.4 billion in the hands of Canadian parents each year and for families in British Columbia it means that from July 2006 to February 2007, $185,503,652 went directly to them.

One of the criticisms of the UCCB is that it is taxed. Since it is a universal benefit, it is going to all families with children under the age of 6 regardless of income level including families who have the financial means to meet their childcare requirements alone. The tax, based on income, is a way of ensuring that lower income families, those with the greatest need, get more help from the Government than higher income families who can provide for themselves. And don’t forget the Government also provides a tax deduction for child care expenses.

The important point is that the payment goes directly to parents so they can decide the best way to balance home, work and other commitments. A February 2007 survey by the magazine “Today’s Parent” backs up the Government’s decision to provide choice in childcare. Of the over 5,000 parents surveyed, only 15% are choosing licensed child care. 38% prefer to have one parent stay at home and 17% use a relative. For parents, this might mean using the benefit to pay for some of their child care fees. Some stay-at-home parents are using the Benefit for preschool programs while others are choosing to deposit all or part of the Benefit in a Registered Education Savings Plan.

With the child care benefit program up and running, the government has turned its attention to the second part of the Universal Child Care Plan – child care spaces. In Budget 2007, the government announced it will provide $250 million in ongoing Canada Social Transfer (CST) funding to provinces and territories to create new child care spaces. This will contribute to the $1.3 billion in social transfers the province receives from the Government to help the province deal with social issues including childcare, education, and homelessness.

In addition, the Government has contributed an extra $250 million to the provinces outside of the CST, a new investment tax credit of up to 25 per cent for businesses that create new child care spaces in the workplace, and new $2,000 Child Tax Credit that will provide up to $310 for parents of children under age 18.

In total, the Government will provide nearly $5.6 billion this year in support of early learning and child care through transfers, direct spending and tax measures.

$5.6 billion is a lot of money but you can be sure that if local and provincial governments and organizations do not work together effectively the potential for waste and duplication means that not enough of every dollar will help each child that needs it.

I am hopeful that in our community at least we can keep the rhetoric at bay and work together to provide the best care we can for our children. I have spoken with key childcare advocates in the community and they agree. Previous governments may have made some lofty promises but they spent a lot of time talking about a national child care program that never materialized. The government we now have made a commitment to act with a plan that gives parents real choice in child care and has provided the funds to do it. If we work together with the same objective we can ensure that each dollar is spent wisely to achieve our objective of caring for our children.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.