{"id":816,"date":"2021-11-11T14:30:15","date_gmt":"2021-11-11T19:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/pandemicpublicpolicy\/?post_type=chapter&p=816"},"modified":"2022-01-17T14:19:53","modified_gmt":"2022-01-17T19:19:53","slug":"national-childcare-system-must-support-childcare-workers","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/pandemicpublicpolicy\/chapter\/national-childcare-system-must-support-childcare-workers\/","title":{"raw":"5c. \"National childcare system must support childcare workers\"","rendered":"5c. “National childcare system must support childcare workers”"},"content":{"raw":"
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National childcare system must support childcare workers<\/a><\/span><\/h1>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
First Policy Response<\/em>, MAY 20, 2021\u00a0<\/span>| <\/span>IN\u00a0CHILDREN, YOUTH + EDUCATION<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>| <\/span>BY\u00a0MONICA LYSACK<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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\r\n\r\nPublished as part of a collaboration between First Policy Response<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>and the\u00a0<\/span>Toronto Star<\/a><\/span>.<\/em>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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\r\n\r\nWith last month\u2019s federal budget, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland declared her commitment to a Canada-wide childcare system not just as Canada\u2019s first female finance minister, but also as a working mother.\r\n\r\nFreeland\u2019s conviction may come from her own experience, but the principles outlined in Budget 2021 reflect an understanding of\u00a0<\/span>Canada\u2019s childcare crisis<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>as a double-whammy for women and the economy. With childcare fees in Canada among the most expensive in the world, many women can\u2019t afford to work, while many others spend nearly all their after-tax income on childcare.\r\n\r\nBut it\u2019s not yet clear if the new childcare plan will go far enough to support another group of working women: the professional early childhood educators (ECEs) who work for poverty wages, often in poor conditions. Dozens of ECEs\u00a0who recently\u00a0<\/span>shared their experiences<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>spoke about working long hours with no benefits, sometimes working multiple jobs to make ends meet.\r\n
Without significant government investment, we cannot resolve the tension between the cost of childcare and the wages of childcare workers. For decades, Canada\u2019s market-based childcare system has been pitting the interests of working women against those who work in childcare, and the pandemic has laid bare the cost to Canadian families \u2014 and our economy.<\/em><\/div>\r\nIn a<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>new survey<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>of Ontario ECEs from the Association of Early Childhood Educators Ontario and the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care, 43 per cent say they have considered leaving the sector since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
\r\n\r\nThe problem is the free market. Compensating ECEs more fairly would drive up childcare fees beyond what most families can afford, pushing even more tax-paying women out of the workforce.\r\n\r\nWithout significant government investment, we cannot resolve the tension between the cost of childcare and the wages of childcare workers. For decades, Canada\u2019s market-based childcare system has been pitting the interests of working women against those who work in childcare, and the pandemic has laid bare the cost to Canadian families \u2014 and our economy.\r\n\r\nFreeland has promised to reduce childcare fees to an average of $10 per day, which will address affordability for parents. But she hasn\u2019t explained where ECE wages or working conditions might fit into that $10-a-day plan.\r\n\r\nCanada can\u2019t realize Freeland\u2019s childcare vision without a robust workforce strategy, beginning with addressing the immediate ECE retention crisis.\r\n\r\nFirst of all, direct operating funds are necessary to stabilize childcare services in the aftermath of the pandemic, as many centres have been forced to close their doors and lose out on user fees because of public health guidelines.\u00a0The federal government recognized as much when it provided Safe Restart funds for childcare to the provinces last fall. This funding must be continued, and in some provinces, expanded while a full workforce strategy is developed and implemented.\r\n\r\nOnce the immediate crisis is addressed, the new federal childcare legislation should require provinces to take a three-pronged approach to an ECE workforce strategy:\r\n\r\n \r\n