How do we measure up?
Comparing Canada’s family policy to other nations
Introduction
Family policy debate in Canada in recent years has focused almost exclusively on the lack of a national child care program in this country. Groups such as the Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada have argued that Canada should match the efforts of European nations such as Sweden in creating a universal system of publicly- funded, unionized, non-profit daycare centres across Canada. With this end in view, the Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin established a $5 billion-five year pilot program for a national child care strategy in its 2005 budget. The ultimate cost of a completed national daycare program could exceed $13 billion per year, using the standard of 1 per cent of GDP set by Sweden.1
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Endnotes
- While the Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada promotes a 1 per cent of GDP expenditure on child care for Canada, the group misrepresents the actual cost of this as only $10 billion. In fact Canadian GDP is $1.3 trillion and 1 per cent would be $13 billion.
