Thread re: National Childcare in #ThroneSpeech:

I'm thrilled to see this promise today & have fed govt say we cannot have a healthy economy without women in the workforce. But this idea is far from new - it's more than 50 YEARS OLD. Also key to note it's been promised before...

The Royal Commission on the Status of Women proposed it back in 1970. https://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/200/301/pco-bcp/commissions-ef/bird1970-eng/bird1970-eng.htm
What followed were THREE MAJOR ATTEMPTS on the part of the federal government to get this implemented nationwide.

There was the 1986 Task Force on Child Care (aka the Katie Cooke Task Force). Then came the 1987 Special Committee on Child Care. Nearly 20 years later, in 2004, there was the Foundations Program, then cancelled two years later. These were all attempts by the federal Liberals.

Here's my source on that, if you wanted to read up in greater detail https://childcarecanada.org/documents/research-policy-practice/12/02/canada%E2%80%99s-history-never-was-national-child-care-program
Point being, there is a 50 year history of semi-action to no action on this. And no injections of $$ to provinces have magically given us a nation-wide Quebec-model just yet.

I'm as hopeful as the rest of y'all that this will happen. We NEED it to happen. ECE workers deserve solid pay, children deserve excellent care. This is a solid investment in future generations that will pay dividends. BUT...

We need to hold the government to account on this. We need timelines. Plans. Taskforces are great, but only if there is political will and industry support to back them up. If provinces also have legislators fighting to make this happen.

I'm seeing tweets saying this scandal-plagued government is promising the moon, and it *sounds* like pre-election rhetoric. But whether a writ drops amidst the pandemic or not, this IS an issue of national importance. Don't let it get dismissed as rhetoric. Put weight behind it.

Again, I'd urge you to read the brilliant @ArmineYalnizyan on this for more on why childcare is critical for recovery & also for building an economy that treats care with the respect it deserves and sees it as a complete building block of our country. https://atkinsonfoundation.ca/atkinson-fellows/posts/investing-in-early-learning-and-child-care/