The Canadian Press
Jordan Press
OTTAWA–A new report shows child-care costs are rising faster than inflation, straining pocketbooks and raising questions about whether billions in new federal spending will make daycare more affordable for those who want it.
Toronto remains the most expensive city for child care, where median daycare costs families about $21,096 a year.
The cheapest spaces are in Quebec, where provincially-regulated and subsidized daycare has a median cost of $183 a month, or $2,196 a year.
The annual report on child care-fees released earlier this week from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives also found for the first time that child-care costs in some rural parts of the country are not all that different from the high prices facing parents in many large cities.
“You can categorize your issues in child care–there are not enough spaces, the quality is very variable–but affordability is a pervasive issue across the country,” said Martha Friendly, co-author of the study and executive director of the Toronto-based Childcare Resource and Research Unit.
“It’s not getting better and we still have yet to see if any of the [federal] interventions are going to be enough to really address the issue,” she added.
The Liberals have vowed to make child care affordable for those who need it and can’t afford it.
Federal coffers will dole out $7.5 billion over 11 years, beginning with $500 million this year and increasing to $870 million annually by 2026, in order to fund services in provinces and territories.
The money potentially could create 40,000 subsidized spaces by early 2020 at a cost of $1.3 billion.
The government also is working on a separate child-care plan with indigenous groups that would reflect the needs of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis.
In some First Nations reserves in Ontario, the report found, parents didn’t pay anything for child care, suggesting direct operational funding from the government makes fees much more affordable.
David Macdonald, a senior economist at the policy centre who co-authored the study with Friendly, said it isn’t clear to him that the new federal spending will make a big dent in daycare costs.
Making child care more affordable requires governments to set fees and provide operating grants to defray costs, he noted.
“That may not be what governments think is the case–but the data clearly shows a direct path between setting fees and affordability,” Macdonald stressed.
