Earlier this summer, Canada’s minister of families, children and social development, Jean-Yves Duclos, predicted the new Canada Child Benefit (CCB) would reduce child poverty in Canada by 40%, bumping 284,000 children above the poverty line between 2013 and 2017 (using the LICO-AT version of poverty). This was similar to the…
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The Ontario government has prorogued the provincial legislature, returning September 12 with a new throne speech. The impending throne speech has been cast as government “pressing the reset button” following a recent by-election loss and ongoing controversies such as election finance scandals, hydro privatization, and high hydro bills. Each of…
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As the Premier is fond of saying, the worst is behind us, and Quebec is now set to enjoy more prosperous days. Despite Mr. Couillard’s assurances, it was hard to take his word for it at the beginning of the year. The announcement last month that daycare funding is under review…
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Maybe you take the quietude of the holiday season as a time to unplug and reflect. Maybe, like me, you curl up with a pile of progressive reading that you’ve been meaning to catch up on. If so, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ Ontario office is at your service. Embrace your…
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Child care—in theory and practice—has signposted my life for well over a decade. The practice part started in 2004 when, newly pregnant with a daughter, my partner and I called every child care centre in Ottawa to try and secure a space for when she would need it 18 months…
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News that two nannies have been hired out of the prime minister’s household budget produced the first real controversy of the new Liberal government… for all the wrong reasons. Media and online discussion has ranged from the fundamental question of whether tax dollars should pay for the PM’s child care,…
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If this election were a restaurant, Gen-Xers and Millennials would be staring at a lone option on the social policy menu: a triple-decker sandwich they can barely afford, and that leaves most who try it with indigestion. On the bottom slice—the foundation—we have the long shadow of the 1995 Paul…
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With the NDP offering a national child care program – capping fees at $15 a day – in this election, quality, affordable child care has become a hot issue on the federal campaign trail. It’s also an issue that will likely resonate with many Ontarians who are concerned about high…
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Many Canadians don’t know that Quebec has the least expensive childcare in the country at $7/day (well actually $7.30 now). Meanwhile in Toronto parents pay $49/day, and in Vancouver it’s $41 a day for toddlers/preschoolers. It’s no surprise that $7/day childcare is wildly popular in Quebec. It’s far cheaper than the national average, and…
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In 1995, Canada made historic commitments to implement gender equality in all policies, programs, and laws when it adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. That same year saw the adoption in Canada of The Federal Plan for Gender Equality to secure gender equality in all aspects of social,…
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